Happy New Year!


This weekend, my wife was away on a family trip...
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…and while it was extremely difficult to function without her, I managed to put together Sunday dinner for my son and me. I made our favorite meal, oven broiled barbecue jerk chicken wings. The combination of flavors thrilled our taste buds. Along with my dry seasoning and blended fresh herbs, I used three main ingredients that were store-bought. (1) Spicy Jamaican jerk marinade, (2) mild Jamaican jerk seasoning and (3) Hickory Smoke barbecue sauce. Here are a few photos from the kitchen…

No leftovers, lol.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! This was my first time using a pressure cooker to make my oxtail stew. It was delicious, so I think I did ok, lol. I saved about 3 hours of cooking time using the cooker. It was easy to prepare the oxtail but once you close the pressure cooker lid, that's it, you can't taste or add anything until it’s done.


​Oxtail Stew Directions
​Served with rice and peas.
Serves 4.
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3 1/2 pounds of oxtail in lime and vinegar water, wash oxtail thoroughly then drain water. Season to taste, add to the oxtail (1 1/2 teaspoons each garlic salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, basil) along with 1/2 cup each chopped ingredients - onion, garlic, green pepper, red pepper, ginger and 2 stems thyme. Then add my recaito recipe mix of blended 1/2 onion, 1/2 green pepper, 1 scotch bonnet pepper, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh ginger, 2 stem thyme, 5 pimento seeds, 2 stem cilantro, 3 garlic cloves. Add your secret ingredients, 2 tablespoons ketchup and 2 tablespoon Gravy Master Browning.
 
Put gloves on and mix everything together and place in the refrigerator overnight or 1 hour. Sear the oxtail - in a large nonstick pot over high heat, add a little olive oil then oxtail and cook, stirring, for about 2 to 3 minutes, until they are dark browned. 
 

Pressure Cooker Directions
Seasoned to taste, marinaded overnight and seared in a separate pot, I placed the oxtail in the pressure cooker and poured in 2 cups of water. Then added chopped carrots before closing the lid. I cooked the oxtail with all its juices in an Elite Platinum pressure cooker for 50 minutes and sat for about 20 minutes without releasing the pressure from the exhaust on the top of cooker. After 20 minutes release the rest of the pressure and carefully open the lid. 

Asenath and I thought it would be a cool idea to find one or two cheeses that we can have for our holiday snack treat, so we decided to have a cheese tasting at home.

I took a trip to Di Bruno Bros. in Philadelphia and purchased an assortment of cheeses we could try. Di Bruno Bros. has a great selection of “signature cheeses, to the blues, the Bries and creamy cheeses, cheddars, fondue, fresh & chèvres, Goudas, Parmigianos, pecorinos & grating cheeses, provolones, the stinky & funky, and truffle cheese—WHEW!” I went a little over my budget but picked up these cheeses…

​Cheeses:

Auricchio Stravecchio Provolone. “Imported from Italy, and aged for 12 months. It smells slightly pungent, and its flavor is robust, nutty, and piquant.”

Normandie Brie. “Soft, mild, buttery and creamy taste.”

Cabot Habanero Cheddar. “Sharp cheddar taste with flavors of habanero peppers that gives a spicy kick.”

Drunken Goat. “Pasteurized goat's milk cheese. Aged for a short period of time then immersed in wine for at least 72 hours. Mild and creamy taste.”

Etxegarai. “Unpasteurized sheep’s milk cheese aged 6 months and smoked over Hawthorne and Cherry woods.”

Campo de Montalban. “Aged for three months. 60 percent cow’s milk, with the remainder being a mix of goat and sheep’s milk. Mild buttery with notes of nuts and a balanced acidity.”

Our favorites were the Drunken Goat and the Campo de Montalban. I particularly liked the subtle flavors of the Drunken Goat cheese and Asenath enjoyed the Campo de Montalban. She said, “I liked the texture and the flavor. It was firm but smooth.”

Gigi's Tostones, an insanely delicious Father's Day weekend breakfast food event. They were incredible!! We had her tostones with saltfish and johnny cakes (fried dumplings), along with scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. The combination of flavors thrilled our taste-buds. Tostones are slices of unripe green plantains smashed and twice-fried to a golden crisp. The yummy goodness will remind you of a true Caribbean breakfast. Here are photos from the kitchen…

Please leave comments, if you like.

Johnny cakes (fried dumplings)

Saltfish

Turkey bacon

Scrambled eggs

I prepared my favorite dishes on Mother's Day for Asenath and the kids, fried jerk fish bites and fried red snapper (pescado frito). Here is a link to my fried fish bites and a few pics of how I made the fried red snapper...

Select the link below…
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Fried Fish Bites with Homemade Jerk Sauce - my homemade jerk sauce recipe, leave a comment below. Here are some photos on how I made ...

​I know you all agree that a salad with jerk wings on it is a great idea, lol. While the wings are in the air fryer I prepared my salad with the following ingredients; green peppers, cherry tomatoes, spinach, iceberg lettuce, carrots, red cabbage, olives, cucumber, marbled sharp cheddar cheese and salad seasoning. Select here to see how I made my jerk wings. Enjoy...

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• Air Fried Jerk Wings​ It couldn't be easier. A great way to cook jerk wings has become my new favorite. Trust ...