BARBECUE BRANCH SKEWER

Can one ever have enough barbeque tools? This barbeque gadget, the “Barbecue Branch Skewer”, was under the Christmas tree. It is very unique looking and has a lot of sharp points. It is advertised as being able to hold twice as much food as a traditional skewer and it is perfect for kabobs, sausage, vegetables and more. Well, we shall see.

Tonight’s dinner would consist of a couple of nicely marbled New York steaks from Angelo’s Meats. It probably would be a good idea to put a couple of vegetables on the plate for color contrast. Some nice fingerling potato’s, red potato's, mushrooms and believe it or not Brussel sprouts were blanched in some boiling salted water. This vegetable mixture was cooled and placed into a marinade of garlicky Italian dressing. After a little soaking the vegetables were arranged on this Christmas tree looking skewer device. It did look a little cute.



A hot smoky fire was the trial test of our new utensil. The handle almost caught on fire and will have a permanent scar from its ordeal. It did make the turning of the vegetables easy except I had to wear my welder gloves to grab the handle.

We had a wonderful dinner. This may be the first time I actually enjoyed Brussel sprouts. The Barbecue Branch Skewer did its job as advertised. The handle has some nice fire scarring and will survive. In fact it will have a perfect resting spot in the back of the gadget drawer.

CRAB FEED 101

It is that time of year to put on your plastic bibs and belly up to the table to crack some crab. During the next several month there will be crab feeds galore to feast on buckets of crusty crustaceans. Fundraisers and club events are a great excuse to join a crowd for a crab feeding frenzy. There is a certain etiquette and ceremony to a crab feed. We will touch bases on a few pointers and crab feed rules.

On the West Coast, ‘Dungeness’ crab is king. This crab is very rich but at a crab feed it needs to be even more indulgent by dipping this succulent ‘Meat of the Deep’ into butter. You will have to bring your own butter warmer and butter. It needs to be the real deal. Heaven forbid margarine! Our butter warmer also serves as a mood lamp.

It is a good idea to bring some home made cocktail sauce. Ms. Goofy whipped up this sauce and got rave reviews.

Cocktail Sauce
¾ cup ketchup
½ cup prepared horseradish
½ lemon juice
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Cayenne to taste

Combine all ingredients and add cayenne to desired heat.

If you are the first person to receive the bucket of crab; do not pick out all the claws. Chances are you will have somebody at your table that likes the bodies and will leave all the claws for you. Pace yourself if it is an all you can eat event. Our crab feed had an added bonus of barbequed Tri-Tip. Tri-tip and crab, does it get any better? This crab feed was a trencherman’s delight.

Last, but not least, Have Fun! Enjoy the company, buy a raffle ticket, eat, drink, and then get up and dance. I can do a mean chair dance. Where else can grown-up men and women wear plastic bibs and feast on crab?

NUTS TO YOU

It is foggy and cold Sunday morning at the ‘Walnut Creek Farmers’ market. We are on a mission to find ingredients for our ‘Rosemary Chipotle Roasted Nuts’ recipe. As soon as we arrive at the market a booth sign proclaiming ‘Bacon Chocolate Chip’ cookies grabs my attention. These cookies were sweet and savory. They were so good; they did not even last for a photo. Our recipe called for a mixture of fresh cashews, pecans, walnuts, and almonds. We did find almonds and walnuts and we were satisfied. We rushed back to the house to make our recipe and hunker down for a day of football viewing.

We only used walnuts and almonds. You can use any combination of nuts that you have in stock. I also substituted honey instead of brown sugar.

Rosemary Chipotle Roasted Nuts

1. 3 cups unsalted cashews
2. 2 cups walnuts
3. 2 cups pecans
4. 2 cups almonds
5. 1/3 cup maple syrup
6. 1/4 brown sugar
7. 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
8. 2 teaspoons chipotle powder
9. 4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
10. salt to taste

Combine all ingredients with half of rosemary and approx 2 teaspoons salt. Place nuts on greased baking dish. I put them on parchment paper. Roast for 25 minutes at 350 degrees stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and add a little more salt and rosemary. Cool and stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

 

This was a great snack to go with our frosty beverages while viewing the football playoffs. The rosemary is a nice touch to the sweet salty mixture. We will return to the ‘Walnut Creek Farmers Market’ to stock up on bacon chocolate chip cookies soon.

BLIND BETTY’S ORIGINAL

Put away your snow shovel and grab your suntan lotion. We are going to take a trip to St. John Virgin Islands to try some ‘Blind Betty’s Original’ hot sauce. This sauce is a cornucopia of Caribbean flavors. It is fueled for fire by the habanero pepper. This sauce claims it can be used for multiple purposes such as: stir fry, marinade, and soups or just as an accompaniment for your meal. Today’s sauce is a winner of the ‘Fiery Food Challenge Golden Chile’ award. Put on you sunglasses and join us while we visit the islands.

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SIERRA 30th ANNIVERSARY

So much for New Year's resolutions.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary

PASTA KING

We are following a hot meat market tip from a ‘MMG’ reader named Colleen. She mentioned Ibleto’s in Cotati California. We did a little research on the World Wide Web and found that Arturo Ibleto is the ‘Pasta King” of Cotati. He also shares the same last name as my good friend Angelo from Petaluma. It is a small world because Angelo has mentioned his brother several times and I just have never connected the dots. This will be a double treat for a ‘Meat Adventure’. If Art is anything like Angelo we will have found a new meat destination with pasta.

Ibleto Meats is located a couple of miles off of the main Highway 101. The houses are divided by green and luscious pastures. You will see a couple of signs proclaiming fresh pasta and the “Pasta King”. After pulling into a small driveway you will see a small barn like building. It looks similar to Angelo’s Meats in Petaluma.

We walked into Ibleto’s and saw several people cutting and wrapping various cuts of meat. We asked one of the butchers, Bill, if Art was there. Unfortunately Art was not, but Bill graciously showed us the establishment. Bill is pictured with a wild boar that is prevalent in this area.

There are a couple of freezers full of pasta’s, ravioli’s, soups, lasagna and different sauces. An honor system is Ibleto’s unique way of paying for your purchases. You pick your products and total your purchase and just leave the money on the table. “Wow”. Pasta is King here at Ibleto’s but they do sell a bunch of Angelo’s meat products. They will also custom wraps your meat projects. We loaded up Ms. Goofy’s ‘Formula One Racing Honda” with ravioli’s and pasta and headed home to get some water boiling.

I wish we could have met Arturo. Bill told me his Italian accent was just like Angelo’s, or is it the other away around. We had some tagliarini the first night and it was melt in your mouth good. Fresh pasta is a treat. Some ravioli with prime rib was served several nights later. It was so good I broke out into song, which I will spare you.. From what I have tasted, we will have to agree. Art Ibleto is the ‘Pasta King”.

Ibleto Meats
1492 Lowell Av.
Cotati, Ca. 94931
707 545-1054

OLIO NUOVO

‘Olio Nuovo from McEvoy Ranch’, is the new oil for the year. It is the first pressed extra virgin oil from organic olive trees. It is only available during the November harvest and for a few weeks afterwards. It is prized and sought after for its freshness and unique flavor. It is intensely aromatic and usually has a peppery rich fruity flavor. This bottle was gifted to us from my sister “ThePresidentofcookies”. This bottle is some of the most fluorescent green color I have ever seen. This bottle of olive nectar must be something special coming from McEvoy Ranch. They have the reputation and price tag to command attention. We have toured their Ranch and would highly recommend it to anybody that is interested in a wonderful olive experience. I think we need to stop guessing what this oil tastes like and pop the cork.

We decided to try this with some tagliarini pasta that we just picked up from the “Pasta King” of Cotati. (Details later) This was fresh pasta that only needed to be boiled for several minutes in a hot tub of salted water. Some fresh parmesan reggiano and a slight dusting of salt and pepper was the only fussing our olive oil vehicle required. Olio Nuovo was sparingly poured over this wonderful pasta. This oil is so green it painted a stripe of green gold wherever we poured.

The oil flavor is fruity and grassy at the same time. If you could describe the color green this oil would be the definition. We did not notice the pepper bite usually associated with this type of oil. A little buttery with just a hint of sweetness makes this olive oil unique and very flavorful. The pasta and cheese melted in our mouth. A little drizzle of oil went far in this most tasty dish. If you have an opportunity to try this oil, do not miss out.

McEvoy Ranch