The Old City Pirate Fest and Chicken Pot Pie

     The Old City Pirate Fest was a blast!  There were lots of vendors, from leather goods and garb to beard oil and jewelry!  Both Madi Rum and Monkey Rum were there with rum and delicious cocktails!

     The Krewe of the 13 and the St. Augustine Swashbucklers put on a grand event and at one point, the captains of both crews were in the brig!  Capt. Savage was found guilty of not dressing like a proper captain and Capt. Proper Roger was found guilty of mishandling his cannon the day before.  The bail was set high but both captains made bail and were set free.

     I had a wonderful shrimp po'boy at the St. Augustine Seafood Company on Saturday and one of my favorite meals downtown is still the chicken pot pie at the Bull and Crown Publick House.

     So let's talk about the chicken pot pie, one of my favorite dishes to get downtown and very filling as well.

     The kitchen makes the pot pie filling early in the day and once it's gone, it's gone!  They fill a dish with a mix of chicken stew with peas, carrots, and onions.  It's then covered with a puff pastry top and baked off

     This dish comes out piping hot and delicious!  You've never had a frozen pot pie that could come anywhere near as good as this one!  For only $10, it's one of the best deals downtown for the amount of food you get!

Sorry Marie Callender, but your pot pies have nothing on this!

Thanksgiving Leftover Part 2: Turkey Noodle Soup

     So here's the second post about what to do with turkey leftovers, since some of you may have frozen some of that delicious turkey or may be having turkey again at Christmas.

Turkey Noodle Soup

by

The Pirate Chef 

 

Ingredients:

1 Lb of Farfalle pasta

2 - 32oz packages of Chicken Broth

2 C Turkey, chopped

1 C Carrots, chopped

1 C Celery, chopped

Directions:

1) Make pasta according to directions on the box and set aside

2) Bring broth and turkey to a boil over medium-high heat

3) Add carrots and celery to broth and cook for 5 minutes

4) Combine pasta and soup in a boil and enjoy!

Thanksgiving Leftover Part 1: Turkey Dinner Pizza

     So I'm going to do a couple of posts regarding Thanksgiving leftovers. I know it's after the holidays and most of you have eaten through your leftovers but you can save these for next year or bookmark the blog so you can find them again.

The first one I have for you is a Turkey Dinner Pizza, although there's not much pizza-ish about it!

     Here's the thing, there's not much of a recipe but more of a set of vague directions and you can have fun from there!

Turkey Dinner Pizza:

by The Pirate Chef

 

Ingredients:

1 Large burrito tortilla shell

Leftover mashed potatoes

Leftover stuffing

Leftover green beans

Leftover gravy

Directions:

1) Set oven to 350° F

2) Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and rub with vegetable oil

3) Place tortilla shell bumpy side down (if you have a bumpy side) on the aluminum foil

4) Spread a thin layer of mashed potatoes on top of the tortilla shell to about 1/4" from the edge

5) Layer with thin layers of stuffing, turkey, and green beans in that order

6) Drizzle gravy all over but do not fully cover it

7) Place in oven when it hits 350° and let cook until the edges of the tortilla shell start to brown.

8) Cut and enjoy!

     The thin layers of the ingredients are key. If you make it too thick, it'll take longer to cook and you risk burning the edges of the tortilla shell.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Happy Thanksgiving to the lot of you! 

May your bellies be full, the company be cheerful, and your cups never empty!

Happy Veteran's Day!

After a long hiatus to take care of some personal issues, I am back!

     So to start, I want to wish a happy Veteran's Day to all the men and women who bravely served our country! May your sacrifices never be in vain and you always get the respect you deserve!

 

     Secondly, I am working on some stuff and while I can't talk about all of it yet, some of it does include new recipes for you all to enjoy so stay tuned!

Talk Like a Pirate Day and Cooking Without Power

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day to you all!

 

     Because of Hurricane Irma, I decided not to have the giveaway this year but I do have a new post that will help you all in the future with hurricanes and power outages.

Here's how to heat up some soup when the power be out for very little money and some patience.

Items Needed:

Cans of soup or vegetables

4 bricks*

Commercial-grade sterno with wicks**

Small set of camping pots***

Directions:

1) Place the sterno on a non-wooden surface such as your porch.

2) Take off the lid of the sterno and fluff the wick.

3) Place 2 bricks on opposite sides of the sterno, flat side down, touching the sterno.

4) Light the sterno.

5) Open the soup and pour it into the smaller of the pots and place it over the sterno, resting on the bricks.

6) Place the lid on the pot and let cook, stirring occasionally.

7) When the soup comes to a slow boil, cook for another 3-4 minutes and you're done.

8) Put the lid on the sterno and let it go out and cool off before putting away.

Notes:

*You can get the bricks for less than $1 a piece at most hardware stores. I believe I paid $0.50 per at the local Home Depot.

**You can buy commercial-grade sterno from restaurant supply stores for less than $5 each and they run for about 4 hours. My local one charges about $2.50 per.

***I used the small pot and the lid from the Ozark Trail Cookware Set, which I bought at Wal-Mart for $9.88.

So all in all, not counting the soup and extra sternos, I paid around $15 for the basic setup and was able to cook up two cans of soup the first night. The sterno wasn't even halfway gone when I was done so I am able to use it at least one more time without worry.

Pork Carnitas

     Today I have a slow cooker recipe for you the lot of ye! It's for a wonderful dish called pork carnitas which can be used for tacos, burritos, salads, rice, or whatever you would like!

     This dish came out so tasty and wonderful that I don't have a picture of the final product, but the one you see is from the internet and it's pretty close. This made enough to feed two of us for a whole week and we never got tired of it! This has to be one of the more versatile dishes I have made as we used it for tacos, burritos, and I even added it to some homemade pasta salad for a delicious bonus to it!

Pork Carnitas

by The Pirate Chef

 

Ingredients:

4 1/2 Lb Boneless Pork Shoulder (Boston Butt)

1 Medium Onion, chopped

2 Jalapenos, seeds removed and chopped

2 1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

4 Cloves Garlic, minced

3/4 C Fresh Orange Juice (or the best quality you can find)

1 Tbsp Dried Oregano

2 tsp Ground Cumin

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Directions:

1) Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, trim off any large chunks of fat on the outside (don't try to get all

     the fat off the outside you see, just the largest piece or two).

2) Mix salt and pepper in a small bowl and rub all over the pork shoulder.

3) Combine the oregano, cumin, and olive oil in a small bowl (making paste) and then rub all over the

     pork shoulder.

4) Place the pork in a slow cooker (4-6 qt) with the fattier side facing up.

5) Top with the onions, garlic, and jalapenos.

6) Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 8-10 hrs on low

7) The meat should be tender and wanting to fall apart, so remove from the slow cooker.

8) Skim off any fat you may see in the slow cooker then put the l back on and turn to high to reduce.

9) While the juices are reducing, shred the pork with two forks and put into a container if not eating

     right away.

10) Once the juices have reduced to about 1 1/2 - 2 cups worth (it's not exact so just guess when it's

     done) put into another container if not using right away.

To Serve:

1) Heat 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat.

2) Place shredded pork in pan and let cook until bottom side is golden brown.

3) Add in a small ladle-full of the juices and stir with a spatula (breaking up the pork and scraping up

     all the delicious bits stuck to the pan)

4) Cook until all the juices are absorbed/evaporated and you can't see any in the bottom of the pan.

5) Enjoy!