Thursday, January 15, 2009

Good Sloppy Joes

This was quick, easy and, surprisingly, really good. Credit to Rachael Ray here


Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
  • 1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 cups tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 4 crusty rolls, split, toasted, and lightly buttered
  • Garnish: sliced ripe tomatoes, pickles, Deviled Potato Salad, recipe follows

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning. Add sugar and spice mixture to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Wrinlked Potatoes

This is from here:
  • 2 pounds baby potatoes
  • 1 cup salt, plus more as needed
  • Mojo rojo or mojo verde, for dipping

Directions

  1. Place the potatoes in a deep, medium-size pot. Add enough water to cover, and salt. Potatoes should float in the salted water; if not, add more salt.
  2. Place pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of paring knife, 25 to 30 minutes.
  3. Drain water from pot, leaving just enough to cover the bottom. Return pot to low heat and cook, shaking pot until the salt covering the potatoes begins to crystallize, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover pot with a clean kitchen towel until potato skins have wrinkled, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately with dipping sauces, as desired.
Mojo Rojo
  • 8 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons sweet pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika)
  • 2 dried guindilla pepper, or other dried chile pepper
  • 1/2 cup Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons sherry-wine vinegar

Directions

  1. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and salt to a smooth paste. Add cumin, pimenton, and chile pepper; mash until well combined. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while continuing to mash, until all the olive oil is absorbed.
  2. Turning the pestle in a slow, circular motion around the mortar, drizzle in 2 teaspoons water and vinegar. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve.
Mojo Verde:

Makes about 1/2 cup

  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups well-packed chopped cilantro leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 cup Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons sherry-wine vinegar

Directions

  1. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and salt to a smooth paste. Add cilantro leaves and cumin seeds; mash until well combined. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while continuing to mash, until all the olive oil is absorbed.
  2. Turning the pestle in a slow, circular motion around the mortar, drizzle in 2 teaspoons water and vinegar. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Chicken and Rice one-pot Thai (sort of) dish

This is not very sophisticated - but it was easy, fairly quick, and came together all in one pot. I made it with chicken chunks that were too large - and I left them in too long (I put them in for the entire simmer time - they were much too done) Smaller chunks with less cooking time would probably be OK.


1.5 C rice - long grain regular old rice is fine
2 chicken breasts
2 T canola oil
2 medium onions
1 green pepper
1.5 T massaman curry paste
1 can chicken stock
1 can coconut milk (15 oz.)
.5 Can plum tomatoes
3/4 C thickly sliced carrots
1 small can sliced mushrooms
1.5 t fish sauce
1 lime


- Heat oil in a strait sided chefs pan
- Cut chicken into fairly large chunks - pat dry and season with salt and pepper
- Brown chicken chunks in hot oil - place in the pan and do not touch for about a minute or 90 seconds or so - turn each chunk with tongs - repeat until each side is browned - the insides will not be cooked
- remove chicken from pan and set aside
- add another 2T oil and heat
- add rice to pan and stir to coat - stir occasionally for 2 minutes -
- add pepper and onion chunks - continue stirring occasionally until rice is lightly browned
- add chicken stock and lower heat
- add three or four of the plum tomatoes - so not add all of the sauce or paste
- add the curry paste
- stir in the coconut milk
- add carrotts and mushrooms
- add the fish sauce and lime
- stir to combine - make sure the curry paste is distributed - add more chicken stock if needed
- bring the mixture to a simmer, lower heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes -
- stir once or twice to keep the rice from sticking if needed - add chicken chunks - recover and continue simmering for another 10-15 minutes
- serve with a squeeze of lime and sriracha sauce.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Pot Roast To Try

I didn't follow the recipe very closely - instead I did it like this:

- Heat 3 T canola oil in a dutch oven
- season 1-2 lb. pork roast with salt and pepper, brown in hot oil - turning after a few minutes on each side - throuw in some rosemary sprigs
- add the onions and some carrots
- add a can of chicken stock (I couldnt find any beef stock)
- add some red wine - about a cup, some tomato paste, some crushed tomatoes,
- add chunks of potatoes,
- season with salt and pepper, add some red pepper
- put the dutch oven in a 335 degree oven for 1.5 hour or so.


This recipe is from here: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/ideal-pot-roast?autonomy_kw=pot%20roast&rsc=header_1

Ingredients

Serves 8

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 5-pound beef chuck roast
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 cups beef stock or reduced sodium canned beef broth
  • 1/2 cup red wine (optional)
  • 3 onions, cut into large wedges
  • 4 cloves garlic , chopped
  • 2 dried bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 pounds carrots, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
  • 2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast all over with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place in pan, and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.
  2. Turn meat fat side up. Add stock, wine, if using, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Stir in tomato paste. Bring to a simmer, cover; put in the oven, and roast for 3 hours. Add carrots and potatoes, and cook until vegetables are tender, about 1 hour more.
  3. Transfer the roast, carrots, and potatoes to a platter. With a spoon, skim the fat off the surface of the cooking liquid. Cut the roast into thick slices, and serve with the vegetables. Pass the pan juices separately.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Pan-roasted butternut squash

1 butternut squash
1 T ground coriander
1/5 tsp red chili powder
3 T brown sugar or palm sugar
3 T canola oil
Kosher salt

Peel the butternut squash. Cut it in half and remove the seeds and goop. Slice the halves into strips about 3/4 " wide. Chop the strips into cubes.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat - until very hot. Add the coriander and chili powder - stir a few times and then add the squash. Stir for about 3 minutes to distribute spices. Sprinkle on salt to taste and stir.

Lower heat. Cook, covered, until squash is cooked but holding its shape - about 15 minutes. Uncover, raise heat, and gently turn with a wooden spoon for about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and cook until it melts and coats.

This was easy and tasty.

Stuffed Roast Pork Loin

This recipe is adapted from Cooks Illustrated - 9 - 10 / 2007.

I bought a huge - monster-sized Costco Pork loin for this. It was sliced in half - and, each half was large enough to butterfly-cut, stuff, and roll.

Stuffing:

1 C apple cider (I used juice)
1/2 C cider vinegar
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1 large shallot - thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup dried apples
1/2 C packed dried cranberries
1 T grated ginger
1 T mustard seeds (I used 1 T whole grain mustard)
1/2 t allspice
1/4 t cayenne pepper

Bring all ingredients to simmer in a suacepan over medium high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until apples are very soft - about 20 minutes. Push mixture through strainer to extract as much liquid as possible (save this liquid).

- Return the liquid to the saucepan and simmer over medium high heat until reduced to 1/3 C - about 5 minutes. This is the glaze - reserve it. (mine thickened up but was fine after a few seconds in the microwave).

- Pulse the apple mixture in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

For the Pork:

Slice meat to even 1/2 in. thickness - (cut down .5 in from edge - st0p .5 in from bottom - cut across to .5 in from other side - and then cut across to .5 in from the other side - open out, and pound to even it out.

Season inside of pork with salt. Spread the filling over the pork - leaving a .5 inch border. Roll and tie.

Roast roast on rack in roasting pan in oven preheated to 375. Turn over after 30 minutes or so to brown the other side. Brush with glaze and roast for another 10-15 minutes. Check internal temperature - remove when it is 140 degrees.

Remove the roast and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Put pan with over burners on stoves top and add 1 C white wine or vermouth, scrape roasting pan with wooden spoon to loosen bits, add some rosemary sprigs, and then whisk in some flour - add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste - and then pour the gravy into a serving pitcher.

Marbled Chocolate Cheescake

This cheesecake came out smooth, creamy, and mousse-like. It was late when it came out of the oven - I let it cool with a bowl over it for about half an hour - but there was no way I could stay up late enough to let it cool all the way - so I put it in the fridge with the bowl over it and hoped for the best. It cooled the rest of the way without cracking. The next day, I wrapped it in plastic wrap and foil, and froze it. After two weeks in the freezer, I put it in the fridge for 24 hours to defrost and then served it. The freezing seemed fine - it was delicious.

5 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
3 8 oz packages cream cheese
1 1/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

chocolate tart crust:

3 oz. sweet butter
1/2 C sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla
dash salt
1/4 C plus 2T unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 C pastry or regular flour

For Crust:

Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt - process until creamy. Add cocoa and process until mixture is a dark, smooth paste. Add flour and pulse until incorporates but crumbly.

Firmly pat 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of an 8" springform pan. Bake the crust in the springform pan, and the extra dough (loose in a baking pan) at 375 from 10 minutes. Let crust in springform pan cook for another 5 minutes. Cool completely. Pulverize cooked crumbs (these will get pressed onto the sides of the cake when it is finished).

For cake:

-Boil lots of water in a kettle or sauce pan - enough to fill a roasting pan halfway up the sides of the springform pan you are using.

- Heat oven to 325

-Beat cream cheese in mixer on medium speed until it begins to smooth out.
- Scrape down sides of the bowl, gradually add sugar and beat just until completely smooth (do not overbeat here - but be sure it is smooth, once the eggs go in it cannot get any smoother so any grainyness left will remain).
- add vanilla and eggs - one at a time - beat just until well mixed


- Melt chocolate and 1/4 C water (water bath or microwave)
- Measure and set aside 1 C of cheesecake batter - stir warmed melted chocolate into the separate batter
- Pour the rest of the batter into the prepared springform pan.
- Pour the chocolate batter in a ring in the batter in the springform pan - spaces about .5" from the side of the pan. Marble the chocolate batter in with a soup spoon, scooping from edges to center, bottom to top, etc. (I am still not very good at it even though I have made this a bunch of times).
- Wrap the bottom and sides of the prepared springform pan in foil. Put the foil-wrapped pan in a roasting pan and carefully pour in the boiled water until it is halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Carefully put the roasting pan in the oven.

- Check after 25 minutes - it will probably need more time - but bake only until cheesecake shows signs of puffing around the edges but is still very soft in the center. It will not be set in the oven. Overcooking it will wreck it. I think I left it in for about 35-40 minutes the last time I made it.

- remove from oven and cool on rack- covered with an inverted mixing bowl. Unmold when cooled. Press reserved crumbs around sides.

- This was very good served with raspberry and blackberry sauce.


Butter bare sides of springform pan.

This recipe was adapted from a Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts by Alice Medrich and from a Martha Stewart.com recipe for the water bath.

Blackberry Sauce

I made raspberry and blackberry sauces to serve with a cheesecake recently. The sauced were almost an afterthought but they were so good and easy that they ended up being my favorite thing about the dinner.

1 lb. blackberries
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Combine blackberries, sugar and lemon juice in a pan. Cover and cook until bubbling, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from the heat; place in a food processor and blend. Pass through a strainer to remove the seeds. Chill before serving.