Cherry Smoked Catfish

I found a wholesale meat truck last weekend, and got some farm raised, locally grown catfish.  Well I have to try the Cherry Smoked Catfish again.  The more I use the Cherry Wood the more I like it.  You can smell Sour Cherry in the smoke.  Its amazing...

I'm running the smoker at about 250 degrees, and let the Catfish smoke for just about an hour.

Southwestern Chili Rice Soup

I had a request for my Southwestern Chili Rice Soup Recipe.  It's not really a secret recipe, if anything it is my cooking technique, and the process that makes my food good, and not just the ingredients.  Sure it is important to use fresh, high quality ingredients, but it is the process that makes it great.

One of these Techniques is called Fire Roasting.  Fire brings the food up to temperature quickly, and causes a fundamental change in flavor which is the effect of Char Grilling.  This is very different from Barbeque, or Smoking processes.  Char Grilling causes a taste that is intuitively recognized by your subconscious mind.  Mankind cooked with fire for thousands you years before the advent of electric ovens, and cooktops, and this is why your primal brain loves Char Grilled Food.

This is one of the components for the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup, Char Grilled Corn.  There are also some fundamental elements that your body craves, and required in the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup.  These are Amino Acids, and Proteins.  The basic building blocks of your body are proteins, and proteins are composed of Amino Acids.  So, the next two components of the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup provides a mixture of Amino Acids that have all the appropriate building blocks to make Human Proteins.  These components are Rice, and Beans, then some vegetation will help.

These are all the same components that go into the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup.  Now the one, critical component of the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup is Chili.  That is where the majority of the flavor comes from.  Rich Chiles like the Ancho, the Pasilla, and the Chile de Arbol have been used in Meso-American cooking for thousands of years, and even in other parts of the world.  These tastes are deeply ingrained into our primal brains, an intuitive taste recognition.  Something like Taco Mix, is very similar to a Curry.  This food spans the entire world.

 Southwestern Chile Rice Soup is composed of five things; Chili, Rice, Beans, Corn, and Chicken Stock.  Here is a baseline recipe, feel free to improvise however you feel is necessary.

First Make a pot of Chili, I use Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit, and add extra Jalapenos, and Onions.

Prepare a pound of dry beans, and cook them until they are soft before adding them to the Chili.

Prepare a cup of dry Rice according to the package instruction.

Roast several ears of Fresh Sweet Corn on the gas grill to get the Char Grilling effect.

When I go to assemble the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup I will transfer the Chili to a Stew Pot for more volume.  When you combine all these things you will have a large batch of food.  You should acquire all the necessary cooking tools, and storage containers before you attempt to do this.

First transfer all of the Chili to the Stew Pot.

Transfer all of the Rice to the Stew Pot.

Divide the Beans, and their liquid in half, then transfer half the Beans to the Stew Pot.

Take the Roasted Corn, strip the kernels off the cobs, and then transfer the kernels to the Stew Pot.

Last, add a quart of Chicken Stock to the Stew Pot.

At this point stir the entire mixture thoroughly, and remove from the heat.

I transfer the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup into meal size containers, label, and refrigerate.

As an individual meal the Southwestern Chili Rice Soup can be preserved for around a week, maybe more.  It is then able to be a good, quick meal that is almost no hassle.  Just toss it in the microwave, and you are eating in two minutes.  Now thatz a Nomlishous Nomnomz...

Fire Roasted Jalapeno Salsa

Fire Roasted Jalapeno Salsa is something that I have been making for a long time, maybe decades.  Ever since I got my Baby Q, and I think that was around 2005.  So, anyway this simple Salsa has a complex flavor because I Char Grill the Jalapenos, and White Onions before I add them to the Salsa.

Char Grilling adds a depth of flavor you can't get with raw vegetables.  I also rely on canned tomatoes for this Salsa.  In the middle of Winter you just can't find good tomatoes.  The ones that you do find are grown in a hot house, picked green, and are generally krunchy, so no...

The Vita Mix machine makes this easy, like 5 minutes per pint.  Add a couple slices of White Onion, and 5 Fire Roasted Jalapenos to the Vita Mix.  Then dump in a 14.5 can of Whole Tomatoes, a tablespoon of Bragg Vinegar, and a teaspoon of Sea Salt, and give it a whirl.

Last, add a handful of fresh Cilantro, and blend that in a while.  I don't spin it too much because I like a little texture in the Salsa.  The result is bright, and not too spicy.  Great for Chips, and Breakfast Tacos.  I need to try this on Enchiladas...