Mafia Cooking

[Kaylee]

Lol nice additions

[Basel Gill]

We actually wound up throwing out the cherries.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

nonetheless they would have been lovely.

 

mental note - need more cherries.

[Yates]

Gouda Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Grilled Chicken

This is like... chicken for steak lovers. That's about the best way I can describe it. The chicken is moist and well seasoned without being too salty or too overbearing. Surprisingly, the gouda is hardly noticeable. It imparts a nice smokey moisture to the center of the chicken. 

Make sure you let the chicken sit overnight in the fridge. When the chicken and bacon are cold, they hold their shape better. Another important point is be ready for flare ups when the bacon fat starts to drip. If you get your grill hot enough, it's ok to move the chicken up to the top rack away from the flames!
 
The next logical step is to try this with gouda and some thin sliced canadian bacon in the middle!

 

 

1) 1 to 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts per person
2) Smoke gouda cheese (I usually use a small round for every six breasts)
3) Pepper Bacon, thick cut
4) Plastic Wrap
5) EVOO

My choice of seasonings:
Garlic powder, garlic salt, onion powder, kosher salt/sea salt, fresh ground tri-color pepper, smoked peprika, montreal/canadian steak seasoning.

Prepare the chicken the night before:
Butterfly and pound out chicken slightly with a meat mallet, season inside. Put a slice or two of smoke gouda in center of 'fillet' and try to seal by folding and bunching chicken onto self. Wrap two sliced of bacon around 'ball' tightly.

Place each breast onto a large piece of plastic wrap, bring all edges into the center, and twist to get plastic wrap as tight as you can. Place in fridge for at least a few hours.
Reserve a small square of cheese for each breast for the next day.
The next day:

Heat up grill (I have it between 400 to 500F)

Meanwhile, remove wrap from chicken, brush with a little olive oil, and season the outside. On top of the chicken, I usually toothpick another slice of cheese and a small slice of jalepino, but that is optional.

Make sure to use a little non-stick spray on the grill before grilling. Should take about 20 - 30 minutes on grill. Start out on high for about 5 minutes, then turn down.
 
The pics:

 

 

[Kaylee]

Yum!

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

nice one, w pics and everything!

 

sounds better than cordon bleu :)

[Sooh]

That looks SO GOOD Yates!

[Yates]

Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes.  You read that right.  Candied Bacon - finely chopped [the size of bacon bits]

To make the bacon:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper, set aside.

- Lay thick cut bacon strips on a wire rack and coat evenly with raw sugar.

- Lightly press the sugar into the bacon, sprinkle them with smoked cayenne pepper and transfer them onto the lined baking sheet in a single layer.

- Bake for about 12 minutes or until deep red and caramelized.

- USE TONGS to remove the candied bacon from the baking sheet and transfer the slices onto a wire rack.

- Cool completely.

*NOTE: I am NOT joking about using tongs. That caramelized sugar is basically home made napalm. You have been warned.
*NOTE 2: I always make extra bacon b/c I eat some while I'm cooking. This also lets me cut the fat off and mince only the meaty parts of the bacon for a better product. If you do this, use 4 pieces instead of 2.

Cookies:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract [REAL vanilla - not imitation]
1 tsp. maple syrup [REAL maple syrup is key]
2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour [if at all possible, please weigh the flour]
3/4 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt [or 1/2 tsp Kosher salt]
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips [i use 4 3.5 oz bars of Cadbury or Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate cut into pieces. Do NOT skimp on chocolate quality!]

- Preheat oven to 330 degrees.

- Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy [about 3 minutes].

- Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.

- Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated [another minute - don't over mix].

- Finally add chocolate chips and 2 pieces of candied bacon finely minced.

- Mix by HAND.

- The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper [seriously - spend $2 on parchment paper. It's worth it.].

- Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown.

- Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes [the sugar inside is hot and will finish cooking the cookies].

- Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface.

- Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!



To the left we have our candied bacon seasoned with smoked cayenne. To the right, a crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside chocolate and bacon chip cookie.

To the left you can see the nice gooey center and small bits of bacon. To the right you can see some of the melted chocolate deliciousness oozing out onto my thumb.

[Sooh]

Yates, you just made me drool...

[Yates]

You have no idea.  They are even better than they look.  The last batch I added 1/2 teaspoon of espresso powder to amp up the chocolate a touch.  Ridiculous.  I have also refined my chocolate chip base cookie recipe a bit by caramelizing the butter first and letting the dough refrigerate over night.  I haven't used that as a base for the bacon chip cookies yet but the regular chocolate chip cookies are out of this world.  Like three steps above my original cookie recipe base.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

ah cool - I read that elsewhere and was going to ask for the recipe. ty!

[Sooh]

I want a Yates to cook for me... 

[Kaylee]

Oh my husband would love those!

[Clovdyx]

Literally the best barbecue pulled pork sandwiches

 

Start this in the morning.

 

What you need:

 

1x Bone-in pork shoulder.  As big as your crockpot can reasonably contain.

1x white onion

1-2 12oz cans of dark pop.  I typically use Coke, because that's what MrsClov drinks, but Pepsi or Dr. Pepper suffices. 

1 bottle of barbecue sauce.  I recommend Sweet Baby Ray's, or find something smokey that's not mainstream.

1 bottle of hot sauce.  I recommend Texas Pete's.

1 bottle of apple cider vinegar.

Salt.

Pepper.

 

-Cut the onion into 16th's.  Layer the bottom of the crockpot with the onion chunks.  Make your pork a comfy onion bed.  

 

-Put the entire pork shoulder in on top of the onion.

 

-Pour salt and pepper on one side, then rotate and apply to bottom.  1 normal sized spoon of equal parts salt and pepper should work.

 

-Pour your dark pop around the pork, with just a little on top.  It should cover MOST of the pork, but you don't need to submerge it.  

 

-Pour vinegar on top of the meat.  Three large spoonfuls.

 

-Put lid on crockpot.  Turn to medium heat.  Do not touch crockpot during cooking, do not continuously poke meat to check tenderness, do not allow spouse to unplug crockpot halfway through.

 

Go to work or school.  If you do not have work or school, binge watch Arrow on Netflix for four hours.  Switch to Price is Right.  Take a nap.  After your nap, check to see if you've been NK'ed in mafia game.  It wasn't me - I promise.  

 

Total cooking should be about 8 to 10 hours, depending on the size of the meat and your crockpot.  You CAN turn it once during cooking but you shouldn't need to.

 

Very carefully remove the pork from the crockpot and set on a large cutting board - if cooked properly, it will literally fall of the bone.  You don't need to use Yates' tongs.  Strain the onions/pop from the crockpot.  Pull the pork apart using two metal forks until you have very tiny pieces.  Put the pork back in the crockpot.  Pour the strained onion slices on the cutting board and dice them up.  Add to pork.

 

Fill a measuring cup about halfway with your barbecue sauce.  Add between 8 - 10 drops of hot sauce.  Mix it up and pour over pork.  Stir well.  It should be pretty saucy.

 

Re-fill measuring cup about halfway with your barbecue sauce.  Add between 8 - 10 drops of hot sauce.  Mix it up and pour over pork.  Stir well.  Now it should be REALLY saucy.

 

Turn the crockpot to warm and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Serve on top of a large sesame seed bun, top with thin pickle slices and cole slaw.  Pour potato chips around sandwich on large plate.

[Clovdyx]

Simple baked ziti

 

Start this an hour to an hour and a half before you eat.  Do not start in the morning, as it will burn your house down.  Poor villagers.

 

What you need:

1 or 2 boxes penne noodles.  1 box usually works for up to three people.  Recommend Barilla brand.

1 jar tomato sauce.  Recommend Prego "Traditional".

1 bag shredded cheese.

1 can mushrooms (optional)

Sausage.  I don't know how sausage comes. :( (optional)

1 loaf of garlic bread (not optional)

 

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

-Bring a medium-to-large sauce pan of water to boil.  Add half a spoon of table salt.  Bring water back to a boil and add your pasta.  If you are using sausage, you can use this time to brown it a bit, though you don't NEED to.  

 

-Cook pasta to al dente.  Should be about 9 minutes.  If you're not sure if they're done, bite into a noodle - there will be a thin white circle in the middle of the noodle if ready.  Strain.

 

-Add half of the noodles to a large baking pan.  Cover in sauce, stir.  I use between one-third and one-fourth of the jar on this layer.  Add a THIN layer of cheese.  If you are adding mushrooms or sausage, mix them into this layer.

 

-Pour remaining noodles on top of the cheese layer.  Add a relatively thin layer of sauce (go heavier if you didn't use as much before).  You shouldn't need to mix this as heavily.  Add a thicker layer of cheese.  

 

-Cover in aluminum foil and bake for 25 - 30 minutes.  You don't have time to binge watch Netflix on this one, so I suggest dinking around on facebook or drunk dialing your ex.  Remove from oven with bare hands*, remove aluminum foil, and bake for another 10 minutes (or until top layer of cheese has a nice light brown color...can skip this if already baked pretty well).  Put garlic bread in the oven at same time.

 

 

You can mix it up before serving, but I don't recommend it.  Serve with a side salad of your choice and garlic bread.  In fact, put the ziti ON the garlic bread and eat like pizza, OR add another slice of bread and have a ziti sandwich.

[Kaylee]

Those sound yummy!

[Sooh]

ok now I want Clov to cook for me...

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Mr. Gill makes most of our BBQ sauce, but I am definitely going to try the pork shoulder in dark pop. that sounds awesome.

 

I've been doing our shoulders mojo style (OJ, sour citrus, garlic, Cuban type seasoning) in the oven for 12 - 16 hours, but I think Dr. Pepper will work very nicely here... and the crock pot will do very well.

 

thanks, clov!

[Yates]

Remind me to post my "Panty Dropper Chicken" recipe... As the name suggests, it's a good recipe for bachelors trying to impress the special lady in his life.

[Kaylee]

Oh my

[Yates]

Oh my

FTR - *I* did not name it that... Naming credit goes to my roommate who noticed the pattern.  

[Kaylee]

Lol

 

Hmm might have to my hubby make it. Married ladies need luv too.

[Basel Gill]

1 bottle of barbecue sauce.  I recommend Sweet Baby Ray's, or find something smokey that's not mainstream.

Bottled sauce? Pfffft. Make your own from scratch.

 

(that being said, Dinosaur BBQ Sensuous Slathering Sauce is Da Bomb.)

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

tony M. used to

always make this before he went away.

 

squid and angel hair

 

clean a bunch of squid, score, cut into rings and manageable tentacles.

 

sauté briefly in butter and olive oil

with garlic. add fresh lemon juice, salt, black

pepper, fresh parsley. add angel

hair and heat together for moment.

 

tony was a great cook.