Tangled Threads Publishing

Category: Recipe

  • Primalized Peach Barbeque Sauce

    Primalized Peach Barbeque Sauce

    The original recipe for this came from my mother-in-law, and makes some of the best country-style ribs ever. But the original recipe calls for peach baby food, which it seems like nobody carries anymore (or is that just a midwest thing?). Pre-primal, I’d use peach preserves, but that adds a whole lot of sugar to an already sweet sauce.

    This time I used (thawed) frozen peach slices and made the sauce in my blender – and proceeded to forget that “two 6-oz jars of peach baby food” is not the same as 12 ounces of peaches by weight.  Which meant adjusting proportions. On top of that, I wanted to see if I could get away with reducing the sugar. What I came up with is fruity, tangy, and oh-so-good with pork (probably other meats, too, but I can’t vouch for that yet). Baste your ribs with it while they’re cooking, or dip them in the raw sauce once they’re done, or both!

    (Hmmm. Actually makes me wonder if you couldn’t make a good barbecue with applesauce….)

    What all of this really means is that this is really more “inspired by” my MIL’s peach barbecue sauce. So, with apologies to her, here’s the breakdown:

    mason jar half-full of barbecue sauce

    Primalized Peach Barbecue Sauce

    Servings:
    About 6 cups

    Prep Time:
    5 minutes

    Cook Time:
    n/a

    Category:
    Sauces

    Ingredients

    • 12 oz frozen peach slices, thawed
    • 2/3 c ketchup (I use this, or you can make your own)
    • 2/3 c apple cider vinegar
    • 1/2 c coconut sugar
    • 3 T tamari
    • 1/2 t ground ginger

    Directions

    1. Puree your thawed peach slices in the blender.
    2. Since your blender is already dirty, add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and let it do the blending for you.
    3. Use as you ordinarily would.

    Notes

    This can be made ahead by at least one day. The flavors will deepen overnight in the refrigerator.

  • Sausage and Mushrooms

    I once again failed to take a photo before I sat down to eat, but this was too tasty not to share (and simple! Oh-so-simple.) Feel free to change out sausage type or seasonings according to your whim.

    Sausage and Mushrooms

    • Servings: 1
    • Time: 45 min
    • Difficulty: easy
    • Print

    Ingredients

    • 1 link Italian Sausage, sliced. I used Garlic & Parmesan, because it was leftover and we still do dairy, but it’s really not going to matter.
    • 1 sm sweet onion, diced
    • 4 mushrooms. I used plain ol’ white mushrooms.
    • 1 T butter, for frying
    • 1 t olive oil, for frying
    • Italian Seasoning, crushed, to taste
    • Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
    • Splash of broth or wine, for deglazing
    • salt and pepper, for serving

    Directions

    1. Melt your butter in a mid-sized skillet.
    2. Over med-low heat, caramelize your onions (~30 min). About mid-way through the caramelization, add your Italian seasoning and your red pepper flakes.
    3. Once the onions are ready (or at the point when the smell makes you drool and you look in the pan and say good enough), add your mushrooms. Saute until they begin to soften.
    4. Add the sausage and turn the heat up to med-high.
    5. Once the sausage is brown, splash in a little of your broth and continue to cook over med-high heat, scraping frequently with the spatula, until the broth has reduced to where you like it.
    6. Plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

    If you try it, I’d love to know what you think!

     

  • Old-fashioned Fried Pork Chops

    It’s taken a lot of trial and error, and more than a few near-misses, but I think I finally  have a primal flour for breading pork chops (or chicken pieces, or maybe even fish…) that (a) has good crunch and (b) doesn’t have an “off” flavor.

    So. Here goes. All flour measurements are ballpark. Tonight I started with 1/4 cup of each and had to mix more, and then had some leftover.

    Old-Fashioned Fried Pork Chops

    allene
    Print Recipe
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine American
    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 4 pork chops
    • 3/8 c toasted sesame seeds
    • 3/8 c white sesame seeds
    • 3/8 c arrowroot starch tapioca or potato starch would probably also work, but I haven’t tested them
    • salt to taste
    • black pepper to taste
    • garlic powder to taste
    • onion powder to taste
    • Italian seasoning or other herbs, to taste
    • 1-2 eggs thinned with milk or water
    • Oil for frying

    Instructions
     

    • Grind your sesame seeds to flour in a spice grinder.
      3/8 c toasted sesame seeds, 3/8 c white sesame seeds
    • Mix with arrowroot starch on a plate, then season to taste. My suggestions are above, but that’s just how we like them.
      3/8 c arrowroot starch
    • Heat your oil in a large skillet. I have a newfound love for ceramic nonstick, because nothing sticks to it. It’s fantastic, and it has joined my cast iron in the rarefied strata of “pans I will wash by hand.”
      Oil
    • While your oil is heating, bread your pork chops. Take each chop individually and coat it in your flour mix. Shake off the excess, then dunk it in the egg wash and give it another coating of flour. I found 2 eggs was too much for just 4 pork chops, but I’ve often found 1 egg insufficient. YMMV.
      4 pork chops, 1-2 eggs
    • Once your oil is hot, put your chops in the pan and cook until the meat is done and the breading is brown. I used cold-pressed Sunflower Seed oil tonight, but you could use basically whatever fat you wanted.
    • Serve immediately with a side salad and/or homemade applesauce.

    Notes

    Update (11/4/2024): In the years since this was first posted, I have discovered a wonderful product sold under the name “pork panko” in our grocery store. It is literally powdered pork rinds, sold in the bread crumb aisle. Either plain (if you can find them) or Italian Seasoned work just fine here.
    Also, I now have an oven with an air fryer function. To cook pork chops in the air fryer, heat it to 380. Place them on a wire rack, and air fry for 6-8 minutes a side. You may need as long as 10 minutes a side if they’re particularly big chops.
    Keyword paleo, primal

    If you try it, I’d love to know what you think!

     

  • Japanese-style chicken curry

    Back in 2008, after making the basic yogurt-based curry from Joy of Cooking several times and never being entirely pleased with it (by the time the sauce started to thicken, it was so spicy I could barely stand it), I stumbled across a Japanese-style chicken curry on the No Recipes blog. He’s updated it several times since then, but I’m still using a slight adaptation of the old one because it worked well for us and the ingredients were easy to come by.

    Then came Primal eating, and all of a sudden one of our favorite recipes was verboten, because it called for making a roux (and because rice and potatoes were questionable at the time). Finally, in the last several months, I found a solution.

    If you won’t/can’t do potatoes, sweet potatoes would also be tasty. Cauli rice works in place of rice, although you might want to reduce the water a bit, as it can be a bit soupy. Beef or shrimp would also be tasty. So, without further ado, curry rice!

    Japanese-style Chicken Curry

    Serves 8

    Roux

    • 3 T butter
    • 2 T curry powder
    • 3/4 t cayenne pepper
    • black pepper, to taste
    • 1 T tomato paste or ketchup (I use this)
    • 1 T Worcestershire sauce (I use this, or make your own)
    • 5 egg yolks

    Curry

    • 2 t oil
    • 2 large onions, sliced thin
    • 2 lb chicken thighs, cleaned and cut into chunks
    • 2 carrots, cut into chunks
    • 4 C water
    • 2 large yukon gold potatoes, cut into large chunks
    • 1 t Real salt
    • 1 t curry powder

    Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium low heat and add the onions. Saute the onions until they are golden brown and caramelized (about 30 minutes). Turn up the heat to high, add the chicken and brown.

    Add the carrots, and the water then bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and add the potatoes, salt and curry powder. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until you can pass a fork through the carrots and potatoes and the meat is tender.

    For the roux, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the curry powder, frying just until fragrant. Add the cayenne and some fresh ground black pepper and stir to incorporate. Add the tomato paste and worcestershire sauce and combine. Remove from heat and set aside until the meat and veggies are ready.

    To make the curry, ladle about 2 cups of liquid into the fried spices and whisk in the egg yolks until it’s smooth. Pour this mixture back into the other pot and gently stir until thickened.

    Serve over white rice, cauliflower rice, or vegetable noodles.

  • Tex-mex Chicken

    For dinner tonight, neither of us particularly wanted chicken florentine, so I came up with this. It’s primal-ish at worst, and while I was a lazy cave-girl it would be easy enough to put together a salad or some greens.

    I measured nothing, by the way. All seasonings are to taste.

    Ingredients

    • Chicken, to feed
    • Rice, to feed
    • 1 can good-quality refried beans (I used this)
    • Bone broth, to cook the rice in
    • Bacon fat
    • Salt & pepper
    • Cayenne pepper
    • Cumin
    • Chili powder
    • Oregano
    • Garlic powder
    • Onion powder
    • Fresh cilantro
    • Shredded cheese (I was once again lazy and used a 4-cheese blend we  happened to have in the house)
    • Salsa, for serving

    Blend the rice with what looks like a good amount of seasoning (this is where I used the chili powder and cilantro). Melt some of the bacon fat in your saucepan and toss the seasoned rice in it until it starts to turn colors. Add your broth and cook as normal.

    Meanwhile, dice and season your chicken (I used cayenne rather than chili powder here, and no more cilantro, but that’s just me). Melt more fat in a skillet and add the seasoned chicken. 

    While the rice finishes and the chicken cooks, heat up your beans, then sprinkle with cheese.

    Once your chicken is cooked, add cheese to that pan, too, and let it melt.

    Serve with salsa and the salad of your choice.

  • Homemade Chicken “Rice-a-Roni”

    Why, you may be asking yourself, would anyone bother making this from scratch when a box is just a buck? It’s a rice pilaf convenience food.

    My first answer is to point you at the list of ingredients for their flavor packet. This also allows you the option to either brown the broken vermicelli before you add the rice or omit it entirely for gluten-free.

    DH has a couple favorite meals from childhood that require chicken Rice-a-Roni, so this is what I came up with so that I can make them without the ingredients list making me blanch.

    Homemade Chicken “Rice-a-Roni”

    Serves: 2

    • 2/3 c long-grain white rice
    • ~1/4-1/3 c vermicelli noodles, broken into small pieces (usually ~1 inch)
    • 4/3 c chicken broth: I use Pacific brand bone broth
    • Onion powder, to taste
    • Salt & pepper, to taste
    • Parsley flakes, to taste
    • 2 T butter or ghee, for sautéeing

    Melt your butter or ghee (or other oil of choice) in your skillet of choice. Add the broken vermicelli noodles and sautée until they begin to turn golden, then add the rice and sautée briefly. Add chicken broth, onion powder, salt, pepper and parsley flakes and bring to a low boil. Cover your skillet and reduce heat: simmer 20-25 minutes, or until rice is done.

    I haven’t tried it myself, but I’m sure you could use beef or vegetable broth instead. If you play with it, let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear how it comes out.