Meat Entrees | MJ's Kitchen

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Homemade Mexican Chorizo Sausage

by mj on March 9, 2013

Let’s make some Mexican Chorizo, one of my favorite sausages. Making my own sausage is something I’ve always wanted to do, but after seeing the process of grinding, stuffing, curing or smoking, I decided to take the easy way out and choose a sausage that doesn’t need any of that. Mexican Chorizo can be made with ground pork bought from your local market, and herbs and spices found in any well-stocked spice cabinet. Because it’s normally used as a bulk sausage, no casing is needed. I do like to let mine sit in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 days in order to let the seasoning meld with the meat before using it, but that’s not really necessary. You can use it right away, the next day, 3 days later, or freeze it for another time.

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Skippin’ Jenny (aka Hoppin’ John, Black-eyed peas)

by mj on January 2, 2013

My favorite way to serve black-eyed peas is as a Hoppin’ John which is a pot of black-eyed peas cooked with a ham hock, a few vegetables, and a touch of something spicy. As with most traditional dishes, there are several variations of Hoppin’ John. My version uses ham hock and smoked ham or andouille sausage. The spice comes from Tabasco and homemade pepper sauce which is basically a chile pepper infused vinegar. The peas are served over rice and with my favorite side for anything served in a bowl – buttermilk cornbread.

Eating black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year’s Day has been a tradition in this household for a very long time. Of course this comes as no surprise having been raised in the south. In case you didn’t know this already, eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is intended to provide good luck and prosperity throughout the year. According to Wikipedia, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day goes back to the middle ages which I found very interesting. Serving the peas with greens such as collard greens, turnip greens or kale, increases one’s potential prosperity because greens are “green” representing money. However, I like to go for the “gold” and serve my peas with cornbread.

When Hoppin’ John is served the day after New Year’s, it’s called Skippin’ Jenny, and provides even more luck for a prosperous year. If you are like us, you’ll have this dish on January 1 and 2 and a couple more times in winter, racking up as much luck as possible. Does it work? Who knows. We’re obviously not going hungry, so something’s going our way.

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Shepherd’s Pie, New Mexico Style

by mj on December 14, 2012

Several months back one of my nieces posted on her Facebook page a picture of a Shepherd’s Pie she had made. It looked delicious and made me aware that I had never made one and I’m not sure if I had ever eaten one. Growing up my mother made a lot of casseroles with meat and veggies topped with potatoes, biscuits or cornmeal mush, but I don’t remember anything being called “Shepherd’s Pie”. Now that I’ve made one, I realize that I’ve been missing out on a delicious little classic.

I’d like to thank Andy of Today’s the Day and Today’s the Day I Cook for giving me that push I needed to make this dish. Andy is the hostess of the Daring Cooks’ December 2012 challenge. She shared with us a traditional French Canadian classic, the Paté Chinois, also known as Shepherd’s pie, cottage pie, fish pie, St Stephen’s Day pie and even Shepherdless Pie. When Andy stated, “If one dish says comfort food.. this one is it!”, I was hooked. It’s definitely the season for comfort food, so I accepted the challenge and got to cooking.

I tried to stay as close to the heart of Shepherd’s Pie as I could; however, like most recipes, I had to give it my own personal little twist. This recipe keeps the traditional layers of meat and potatoes, but between these two layers is a layer of sauteed mushrooms followed by a layer of feta cheese. The meat mixture is ground beef and Mexican chorizo, corn and a touch of New Mexico red chile sauce. (Bet you didn’t see that coming. ). The result was amazing! I can’t believe it took me so long to make this dish!
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Cooking en Papillote (in Parchment): July 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge

by mj on July 14, 2012

June was extremely hot here. In fact, it went on record as being the second hottest June ever for my fair city. In an effort to keep the heat out of the kitchen, we’ve been grilling and making lots of salads. Like every summer, we try something new on the grill to expand our grilling repertoire. This summer it was Cooking en Papillote (pah-pee-YOHT) or cooking in parchment. I give credit for this idea to Sarah of All Our Fingers in the Pie!. Sarah was the host of the July 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge. She challenged us to learn this new cooking technique and to even go beyond the more typical form of cooking en papillote in the oven and to use the stove top or barbeque instead. So that’s exactly what I did.

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A Celebration of Garlic

by mj on May 21, 2012

For anyone who has been following my blog for more than a day knows that I LOVE, I mean LOVE garlic! So in honor of this versatile and tasty bulb, I am dedicating this post to all foods garlic. Through the last several months I have found others that celebrate garlic as much as I do, so I am sharing their love and my love with you through a variety of recipes, all of which use a respectable amount of garlic. Cook and Enjoy!
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Baked Pork Loin Chops

by mj on April 20, 2012

I guess you can tell by the picture that I’m not a vegetarian. The other day I noticed that the “Meat Entrees” section of my Recipe Index was very short, so I decided it was time to post my pork chop recipe. We love this recipe! These chops are so easy to make and the flavor – well, you’ll just have to make them for yourself, and believe me, you won’t regret it!

I’ve always found pork to be the most difficult meat to cook perfectly. It’s so easy to overcook. I think many of us were raised eating rubbery pork chops that had been cooked to death, so they had to be smothered in gravy to be palatable. It has taken me a while, but I’ve finally learned how to cook the perfect, juicy pork chop. It’s easy when you use a meat thermometer. Imagine that!

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Mafe’ – A West African Stew

by mj on October 21, 2011

I love eating peanut butter straight from the jar. I’m not a big PB & J eater, but I do love sticking my ~~finger~~ spoon in the PB jar and scooping up a mouth full of peanut butter. So what does peanut butter have to do with Mafe’? Mafe’ is a west African stew with a peanut butter sauce as the base.

German Mama of Arepas to Zwetschgen, the host of Cook Around the Globe selected West African cuisine for October, another region of the world with a cuisine I am totally unfamiliar with – until now. While surfing several sites I kept coming across recipes called mafé, groundnut stew, and chickennat. All of the the dishes were stewlike, one pot meals that used at least 1 cup of peanut butter in the sauce. Most used a meat such as beef or chicken, and the recipe I selected mentioned a vegetarian version. Since I’ve never really cooked with peanut butter, I decided to go for it.

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Green Chile Stew and Video

by mj on October 2, 2011

In the fall of 2011 we shot a short video for a contest sponsored by Chile Monster, a supplier of New Mexico chile, tortillas and tamales. The goal of the video was to “represent ANYTHING about New Mexico Chile, your LOVE for chile, Eating Chile, ANYTHING CHILE!” It sounded like fun, so we went for it!

Bobby came up with a great idea that required his brother Jeff, a person who loves eating hot food (the hotter the better), to eat a bowl of really hot NM green chile. The premise of the idea – let’s make Jeff sweat!!! For the video Bobby shot Jeff eating a bowl, actually two bowls, of fresh roasted New Mexico chile with a few beans and a little hamburger meat (recipe follows). The video should make you smile. It sure makes me smile! (NOTE: You can watch in HD if you choose. Once you hit play, click on the “360p” and select “720pHD”, then go to full screen so you can really watch Jeff sweat! )

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