Tango Spice Test Kitchen

Gather Your Stuff

Mix It All Up

Sprinkle On That Midnight Espresso Goodness

Get The Flakes On

Now Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Midnight Cranberry Cornbread

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday food experimentation was the name of the game. New sides were tried out and here is one that we have prepared twice since.

Check out these ingredients and then bake yourself one of these!

Midnight Cranberry Cornbread

Dig In!

What You Will Need

8X8 Glass Pan - buttered or sprayed

One Box Cornbread Mix - I used Krusteaz Honey Cornbread

One Cup Jellied Cranberry Sauce - mooshed up

Tango Spice Midnight Espresso - As much as you like

The Directions

Mix up the corn bread according to the box directions.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan

Sprinkle Midnight Espresso on the top of the batter, using as much as you would like.

Put the cranberry sauce in a piping bag or ziploc bag with a small portion of the corner cut off.

Use this to ‘pipe’ the cranberry sauce across the entire top of the cornbread.

Take a fork and press some parts of the cranberry sauce into the cornbread.

Place the pan in a 350 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes or so, until the top golden and the cranberry sauce is bubbly.

Allow to cool slightly, slice and enjoy.

This also re-heats nicely.

A Few Simple Ingredients

Mixed Up In No-Time

Add Some Midnight Espresso

Pipe On The Cranberry Sauce

Fresh Out Of The Oven

As Always, Thank You For Reading!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Midnight Espresso Beef Ribs!

Oh My! Look At That Smoke Ring!

Midnight Espresso Beef - Oh Yeah~!

Midnight Espresso Beef Ribs!

It was a balmy Saturday in the beginning of November, super day to be outside doing those pre-winter chores which are usually done while bundled up against the fall chill.

Not so on this day!

As happens most days of this sort, while we are out in the yard one of the cookers will have it’s smoke rollin.

Today it was the WSM, a trusty friend who never disappoints. On the grate was an line up of beef short ribs. Usually we do not see quality beef short ribs around here, but lately a few places have been featuring real nice ones. Big & Meaty - just the way we like ‘em.

Set the WSM with the charcoal set for the Minion Method. While the cooker is coming up to temp the beef ribs were generously coated with our one Midnight Espresso Rub.

Beef & Coffee - FTW!

I set the ribs on the grate when the WSM was at 180 degrees, and I was shooting for a cook a temp of around 235 / 240 for the duration. The top vent was wide open, lower vents were set as follows - one totally closed, the other two open 50%.

Setting the ribs on a little early is no big deal, and in some circles rumor has it that it helps with the development of a quality smoke ring.

Using a Maverick ET-732 to keep an eye on the heat levels I set about outdoor chores. A beautiful day, fresh air and hard work all amidst the wafting aroma of BBQ Smoke and all is right with the world!

The ribs went on around 11:00-ish with only a cursory look under the hood after three hours, just to tease myself with the goodness to come.

At the four hour mark the temperature spiked to 165 degrees. This might have been when a particularly dense hunk of apple wood started to get its smoke on. This was a no worry situation, beef ribs are very forgiving and can take some extra heat.

When the hourglass showed it was nearing hour number five it was time to check for doneness. Pressing on the beef showed it was time to pull them. A quick stab with the Thermo-Pen indicated that indeed these were down - 195 / 201 degrees.

Took the ribs off, placed them on a foil lined pan to vent for a minute or two. Then they were tightly wrapped for a little rest.

The most we could stand was 25 minutes of resting & not a second more!

As you can tell from the beauty of the slices, these were awesome! The wait is SO worth it, the taste is fantastic.

Once again - Midnight Espresso & Beef team up for an unbeatable combination.

As Always, Thank You For Reading!

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Here’s a few pics!

Ladies & Gentleman - Start Your Q!

Blocks Of Beefy Goodness!

The Anticipation Builds!

The Magic Of BBQ!

This Is A Lesson In Patience!

Ok, Ok - Let's Take The Off - Please!

This Was Superb Eats!
You Have To Try This!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Jalapeño Poppers - Pulled Pork & Apricot!

Monday, June 29, 2015

Pulled Pork & Apricot Jalapeño Poppers!

Sunday Sunday on Long Island was a misty, rainy, slightly chilly after night of torrential rains.

This put the kibosh on some grilling plans so I started to improvise.

I know, I know, rain should not stop the grill, but sometimes the weather jut down right wears on ya. Hey, I have video of me running the pit on snowy 20 degree days so please, I ask for some slack.

Anyway - In the morning I opened the freezer and pulled out one of the vacuum bags of smoked meats we always have on hand and set about planning.

The food from the freezer was a one pound bag of pulled pork from our Memorial Day stash. The bag was placed in some boiling water to thaw and then into a crock pot with a little apple juice and a few dashes of our very own Southwest Sunset.

Right about lunch time the rain had given way to a fine mist and this meant that it was time to light some charcoal.

On the counter were a few ripe jalapeños which were quickly turned into our famous pepper boats.

Here is the ingredient list for this day’s Poppers!

Pulled Pork & Apricot Jalapeño Poppers!

4 Large Jalapeños / opened and seeded

2 Slices of Provolone Cheese

1/3 Cup Pulled Pork

2 TBS Apricot Preserves

Tango Spice Southwest Sunset

4 Slices Bacon

Place the pork in a bowl, add the apricot and a dash or two of Southwest Sunset. Blend well.

Divide the cheese into four pieces, roll and place in the jalapenos. Tp the cheese with even amounts of the pork. Sprinkle more Southwest on if you wish.

Wrap each pepper with a slice of bacon and add more Southwest.

Set your grill up for indirect heat, placing the peppers on the opposite side. Cooking times with poppers varies quite a bit with grill types, closeness to the heat, thickness of the bacon etc.

Every once in a while take a peak at your poppers, when the bacon is done to your liking the poppers are done.

These took about 50 minutes and we superbly awesome! The combination of the pork, Southwest Sunset and the apricot was outstanding!

As Always, Thank You For Reading!

Here are are few pics of the action

Line Up Your Ingredients!

Jalapeños Stuffed With Provolone

Apricot & Pulled Pork

Add Some Southwest Sunset

Give It A Mix

Top The Cheese With The Sweet Meats

Wrap In Bacon & Dust With More Southwest

Fire In The Hole

Weber Kettle Set For Indirect Cooking

Set On A Frogmat Ready To Cook

Almost Done

Time To Eat!

Monday, March 9, 2015

Rigatoni Pie!

Today I want to share with you a recipe for a great dish which I have now prepared twice after seeing it on the website Tablespoon. The one I saw was posted by Bev Cooks and after reading her recipe I knew I had to try this out.

My version of this soon to be classic dish has as few ingredients as I could get away with. All totaled all you will be needing are five ingredients.

One thing that you will need to cook this dish is a spring form pan, like the one you bake a cheesecake in.

I’d like to present to you...

Rigatoni Pie

Ingredients I Used: Feel free to use what you like.

1 Pound Ground Pork

1 28 OZ Can Crushed Tomatoes

1 TBS Tango Spice Rome Is Burning.

1 Pound Rigatoni / I used the No. 24 size

1 Pound Mozzarella Cheese / shredded

Method:

Brown up the ground sausage, breaking it up into small pieces as you go. Pork will not have a lot of left over liquid, but drain off any that you find.

To sausage add the crushed tomatoes and the Rome Is Burning. Heat that on low for a while, no need to get it too hot, you just want to get all the flavors well combined.

While the sauce is heating on low in another pot boil some well salted water and cook the Rigatoni until al dente.

Here is the fun part, after draining the pasta place them on end in the springform pan. All the holes pointing up. This is a bit tedious, and helps if you hold the pan at a sharp angle.

Once the pan is full of pasta, spoon the sauce on top, swirling the sauce as you go to get some of the meat and sauce to go down into the pasta.

When you have spread the sauce on the pasta place the pan on a baling sheet to catch any escaping sauce and put it on the middle rack of a 400 degree oven. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, spread on as much shredded Mozzarella as you like, and sprinkle some more Rome Is Burning on top.

Place back in the over, bake for an additional 15 minutes, or longer if you would like more browning on the cheese.

When done, place the Rigatoni Pie on a cooling rack for at least fifteen minutes.

Run a spatula around the edge, then unclasp the springform, slightly turn it as you lift.
Viola! A very nice presentation and a wonderful tasting dish.

When you decide to make this dish, please let me know how awesome yours turn out.

As Always, Thank You For Reading!