Morgan, Author at Clay Coyote

If You Make it They Will Yum – Culinary Retreat

February 10, 2023 By Morgan

“Are you curious about what you would eat for dinner in Palestine? Ever wondered what breakfast is like in Madagascar? Or lunch in Brazil? This retreat will satisfy your curiosity AND your appetite!”

Alice Lidell from Food For Everyone is hosting a 4-day 3-night dream foodie retreat in mid August, and is using Clay Coyote Tagines to help tell the delicious story of world food. The retreat takes place at Tipi Village Retreat located in the Mohawk valley near Eugene Oregon (about 30 minutes away).

During the 4 day retreat there will be 8 cooking classes to participate in, both learning about and eating food from around the world. The final dinner is Moroccan themed, and will be using our Clay Coyote Tagines! We love to see and hear about our pottery out in the world!

If this culinary adventure sounds exciting to you, please be sure to reserve a spot, as we are sure this wonderful experience will fill up fast!

You can contact Alice at [email protected] or call her at 541-954-8105

New York Sour Punch

February 9, 2023 By Morgan

From Nic in the Gallery

With the Superbowl this weekend, I thought I would share a party drink recipe. I’m not the biggest fan of football or wine, but for a punch this tasty I’ll gladly make an exception for the both of them.

The author of this recipe, Alison Roman has a fun spin on the drink, where instead of putting a small amount of wine on top of each individual drink, she makes it in a punch bowl and adds a red wine ice ring to float on top.

For one drink you will need:

2 oz of whiskey or bourbon
1 oz simple syrup
1 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz red wine

Mix the whiskey, simple syrup and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker with ice until well mixed and chilled, then pour into your Yunomi or rocks glass. Finally pour the 1/4 oz of red wine on top using the back of a spoon to diffuse it so it will “float” on top.

To make the party version here is Alison’s recipe:

Wine ice ring:

1 cup of dry red wine
1/2 a lemon thinly sliced
2 cups of water

Combine the wine and water in a Clay Coyote chicken baker or in a 9″ cake pan. Add the lemon slices and freeze for a couple hours or preferably over night.

New York Sour Punch:

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
5 cups bourbon or whiskey
2 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice
4x 12 oz cans of seltzer
lemon slices and ice

Combine the sugar, honey and water and bring to a simmer while stirring to dissolve the sugar. Cool this mixture completely.

When it is time to serve it, mix the whiskey, lemon juice and honey syrup together in your punch bowl, then add the wine ice ring and top with seltzer.

To serve pour a ladle full into your yunomi with ice and a slice of lemon in it, then sit back sip and enjoy the game.

Dill Bean Soup

January 27, 2023 By Morgan

From Nic in the Gallery-

One of the criteria for a recipe to truly make it into my rotation is the work (how long it takes to make, how much baby sitting does it need, are there a lot of critical steps) versus the reward (how tasty is the finished dish, is it visually pleasing?) ratio. I found that even if I love a dish, if it is really time consuming I tend to push it to the back or save it for a special occasion.

This dish has a great work versus reward ratio. The author of this recipe Alison Roman, is a New York Times best seller and author of multiple cook books. She uses the term “frizzled” to describe how far to take your onions to develop the depth of flavor needed for this recipe. A frizzled onion according to her is “somewhere between an onion that has been caramelized and fried.” After trying this soup, I am a true believer of the power of the frizzle. Here is what you will need:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper
2 15-ounce cans white beans such as navy, butter, cannellini, drained and rinsed
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
¼ of a head of cabbage, core removed, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar or fresh lemon juice
1 cup dill, coarsely chopped

heat your butter and oil in your cazuela or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add your onions and salt and pepper them, then cook for 5-8 minutes. Alison advises, “You do not want jammy, caramelized onions, but you also do not want burnt onions”. After they are done transfer 1/4th of them into a small bowl or a little dipper and set aside for later.
add your beans and salt and pepper them. Using a large spoon break up some of the beans against the walls or bottom of your cazuela or dutch oven. Only break up some of them, this will thicken your soup, but don’t go to far and make refried beans.
add your broth and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, then add your chopped cabbage and vinegar cooking for another 10 to 15 minutes. Season to taste at this point.
take your soup off the heat, and add half of the dill. I like to serve mine in my favorite joe’s blue soup bowl. Top each bowl with fresh dill and some of the reserved frizzled onions. Alison recommends adding a nob of butter or sour cream also at this point. Personally I like to go a heavy with the fresh dill on top of mine.

In my current iteration of this dish, I add another onion and use it as more topping at the end (like I said I am a true believer of the frizzle). I hope you give this savory soup a try. I know I will be planting dill in my garden this spring with dreams of this dish.

Moco Loco

January 27, 2023 By Morgan

From Nic in the Gallery-

Moco Loco is one of my favorite work week meals. It’s a Hawaiian dish that consists of a hamburger served over rice and is topped with brown gravy, a fried egg and plenty of sliced green onions. It is a comforting, filling, and savory dish that feels familiar, but is definitely out of the ordinary.

If I was going to make a small portion of it, my favorite Coyote piece the Mini-Savory Pie Dish could get the job done, but I highly recommend making more Moco Loco than a single serving. The Clay Coyote Cazuela or Large Skillet would be perfect for the job.

My go to recipe for Moco Loco comes from Chef John and his Foodwishes Youtube channel.

Here is the recipe from Chef John for making two servings: (I double this to serve two very hungry people or two people with left overs for lunch the next day)

Ingredients:

2 ground beef patties
1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 ½ cups beef stock
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons ketchup
2 teaspoons white sugar (Optional)
2 drops sesame oil, or to taste
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons minced green onions, white and light green parts only
2 eggs
2 cups hot cooked white rice

Season your hamburger patties with salt, pepper and cayenne, set them aside.
Whisk together (a Whiskey bowl would work great) soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, corn starch, ketchup, sesame oil, beef stock and sugar and set aside.
Melt some butter in your Large Skillet or Cazuela and cook your beef patties, halfway through cooking them add the sliced green onions, let them brown a bit, once they burgers are done, remove them and most of the green onions and set them aside.
Pour your wet mixture (step 3) into your pan and deglaze all that yummy goodness. Stir and scrap your mixture until a gravy forms, then put it on low heat, just to keep it warm.
Add butter to another pan (your time to shine Mini-Savory or Small Skillet!) and cook your eggs. I highly recommend a runny yoke that you can break into.
Divide your hot cooked rice into two portions and put into Bowls. Put a hamburger over each portion of rice, then top that with a fried egg, gravy and green onions. (I sprinkle a little more cayenne on top).

I hope you give this Hawaiian dish a try, it really is more then its individual parts.

-Nic

[VIDEO] Morgan makes Chicken Stir Fry Pita on WGN-Chicago

January 24, 2023 By Morgan

Thirty years ago, the Clay Coyote was started in a basement in New Lenox, Illinois in 1992.

At that time, Tom was making pots for fun and the basement was becoming overloaded. So Betsy signed them up for the Frankfurt Fall Fest. It was their first foray into selling Clay Coyote pottery.

Betsy and Tom were working at Baker’s Square and pottery was their nights and weekend gig. I was a feisty teenager and helped with shows on the weekend.

In 1994, they decided to make a go of selling pottery full time and we moved (me, mom, Tom, my little brother Josh, and the cats) from our home in Illinois to the farm North of Hutchinson.

We talk alot about those first days, selling pots on-the-honor-system out of the little pump house. I still have the Showroom sign hanging in the Studio today.

Now, 30 years later, the Clay Coyote has grown and reaches people all over the world.

Growing up, we were still very much a Baker’s Square family. When we’d go mom and I would split a Stir Fry Pita and fries so that we’d have room for pie (my favorite was Key Lime when it was in season, or French Apple year-round).

These days there are less Baker’s Squares out there (although you can still get the pies at famous Dave’s BBQ restaurants).

I still love the Stir Fry Pita, so I’ve been trying to recreate it in my home kitchen for years.

To celebrate our 30 years, we were invited down to Chicago’s own WGN to make our Stir Fry Pita live on air.

WGN chicago green room, before Morgan from the Clay Coyote went on live photo of bozo the clown and harry caray

It was a little bit of a “going home” … While Minnesota is our home I was born in Illinois and grew up watching WGN. I was overcome with emotions sitting in the green room waiting to go on next to a picture of Harry Caray (holy cow, amiright!?!?!) and Bozo the Clown.

Little side note about Bozo, apparently he was a franchise character and there were many Bozos all over the country on different networks (mind blown).

Anyways, it was a bit of a dream come true to go on WGN and share the Clay Coyote Story. Here’s the clip for your enjoyment.

Recipe: Chicken Stir Fry Pita

Sauce Ingredients:
2 cups soy sauce
¾ cup sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp garlic minced
1 tbsp ginger grated
¼ cup sesame seeds toasted
¼ cup sesame oil
¼ cup onion dried, minced
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in water

Stirfry Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken (breast or tenders), cut into thin strips
1 bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
2 carrots, julienned
½ cup green sugar snap pea pods
1 cup broccoli, cut into small pieces

Pita Ingredients:
4 Pita
8 Slices Swiss Cheese
1 tbsp sesame seeds toasted

Make the Sauce (should be made at least a day in advance):
In a saucepan combine everything except the cornstarch in a saucepan and whisk, cook over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes until sugars are dissolved. Combine cornstarch and water to make a slurry paste. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan, this will thicken without adding flavor. Cool and refrigerate, overnight preferable.

Make the Stirfry:
Once your oil is hot, add the chicken to the pan to saute until the chicken is white but slightly translucent. Remove chicken. Add in chopped vegetables and saute over medium heat for 5-7 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the chicken back in along with about 1/2 cup of sauce. Cover and simmer until chicken is completely cooked.

Assemble:
Pile swiss cheese on a pita, then add a heaping scoop of the Stirfry, sprinkle with a little more sesame seeds, and close. Serve warm.