Tamale Pie II

Tonight's Tamale Pie notes:

Total prep & cleanup time: 65 minutes (timed via my egg timer)
Total cooking time: around 80 minutes

Recipe from the Cast Iron Skillet cookbook.

Notes:

1. In my 10" cast iron skillet, there appeared to be too much "stuff". It's almost like you could cut tomatoes & chili in half, and it would be fine.

2. Last time I made this, I think I made the cornbread from the Albers Corn Meal box recipe, which turned out like tasty, typical cornbread. Beckey's biggest complaint last time was that the meat/sauce-to-cornbread ratio was too meager (too little meat to cornbread). The Albers recipe really plumps up, this one doesn't seem to as much. It could be my baking powder was too old.

Around 10 more minutes to go. It's nice to cook dinner for my sweetie. The tradeoff is that she has to set the table & do the dishes. I try to clean as I cook, so that there's less mess.

We'll get Beckey's taste results later.

(PS - Beckey really liked it. It was delicious, and leftovers lasted several days. It seemed that I left it in too short to cook; I had to put it back in the oven to let the cornbread finish for another 5-10 minutes longer, as it was uncooked/gooey towards the bottom of the bread).

salmon and lemony potatoes

I'm not a big fish fan, but I like certain fish, including salmon. Based on a food show we saw, I made this tonight for my girlfriend and me. My girlfriend thought the potatoes were too lemony; I thought they were a delicious counterpart to the salmon. She also didn’t like the salmon skin, which was perfectly crispy and delicious. I used a cast iron griddle for the fish, it worked out awesome. Total salmon cooking time was around 8-9 minutes: 6 minutes on skin side, 3 minutes on flesh side.

I used my new Lodge Logic cast iron griddle for the fish, which worked like a charm. I agree with the reviews that the factory seasoning is poor. A bit of scrubbing, a few coats of Crisco and some time in the oven have helped.


Salt and Pepper Salmon with Smashed Potatoes with Peas, Lemon and Onion

Courtesy of Tyler Florence/Food Network
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

1 salmon fillet (about 2 pounds), skin on, 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick
Kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Run your finger up and down the center of the salmon feeling for any pin bones. Remove any that you find with a needle-nosed pliers or tweezers. With a sharp knife cutting across the width of the salmon, divide it into 4 equal portions. Lightly salt the salmon and let sit a couple minutes; this will help you get crispy skin.

Heat a 2-count, about 2 tablespoons, of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is almost smoking. Season the salmon with pepper, and rub about 1 1/2 tablespoons butter on the skin side of each fillet.

Add the salmon to the pan, skin-side down. To get super crispy skin, cook the salmon almost to completion, about 6 minutes. Flip the salmon and cook until flesh side is nicely seared, 1 to 2 minutes.

Transfer the salmon to a platter and serve with the Smashed Potatoes.

Smashed New Potatoes with Peas, Lemon, and Pearl Onions

1 1/2 to 2 pounds red bliss potatoes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 (10-ounce) box frozen pearl onions, defrosted
Pinch sugar
Splash freshly squeezed lemon juice
5 slices lemon
2 (10-ounce) boxes frozen peas, defrosted
1 lemon, zested
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 heaping tablespoons roughly chopped fresh dill
1 bunch watercress, stems trimmed just above the rubber band

Put the potatoes into a large pot, cover them with cold water, and add a large pinch of salt. If they're large, cut them in half. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain. Stick a fork into the potatoes, 1 at a time, lift them out of the colander and peel with a paring knife. Toss the potatoes into a bowl and roughly crush them. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoons olive oil with the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the pearl onions, sugar, and lemon juice and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the lemon slices, peas, and lemon zest and continue cooking until the peas are hot. Season with salt and pepper. Dump the vegetables over the potatoes in the bowl, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil add the parsley and dill and taste for salt and pepper. Scatter the watercress over the top, fold it in just until it wilts and call it a day.

black bean memories

My mom used to make feijoada, as my dad grew up in Brazil, so that was familiar "home" food to him. In any case, I've liked black beans for a long time, so this recipe looked good, and as it turned out for a nice Mexican-style dinner tonight, tasted delicious as well, despite (yes!) being vegetarian.

I've adapted this recipe to make it quicker to fix (stewing the beans for 2-3 hours? You've got to be kidding). For an additional kick, mince the dried chipotle chile when you add it to the onions. You can save even more time by making the beans ahead of time (the day before) and simply reheating when ready to cook. The beans by themselves are creamy and delicious.

Black Bean Stuffed Chiles with Chipotle Cream Sauce and Spanish Rice
(adapted from San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook)
Serves 4-6
Prep & Cooking time: 1.5hr

Beans
2 15oz. cans black beans (1st can drained, 2nd can 1/2 drained)
1 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 dried chipotle chile (also called "chile morita")
Black pepper to taste

Sauce
1 tablespoon chipotle en adobo, pureed
1 cup sour cream

8 very large Anaheim (green) or New Mexico chiles
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, or 50/50 jack/cheddar, grated
Spanish or Mexican rice mix (comes in a box or a bag)

1. Start the beans: In a large pot, heat olive oil until almost smoking. Add onion and dried chipotle and saute until onions are soft and a little brown, about 7 minutes. Turn up heat to high, add garlic and saute for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add water, then black beans all at once, heat to a simmer, then reduce heat, cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally until ready to assemble chiles (about 30-45 minutes). After about 20 minutes, using the back of a large spoon, mash some of the the beans and stir to make the sauce creamy. Add more water as necessary to keep the beans just covered.
2. Meanwhile, char the chiles: On a broiler pan lined with aluminum foil, assemble chiles and place under broiler. Broil for 8 minutes on one side or until nicely charred. Flip, then broil for 4 minutes on other. Remove chiles from oven. Place chiles in paper bag, close top, and set aside until cool enough to handle.
3. Start the Spanish Rice: takes around 10 minutes to prepare. When done, keep rice covered and set aside off of the heat; it will stay warm.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Stuff the chiles: remove the skin from the chiles (should be easy to do). Slice them open on one side, and using a knife, scrape out the ribs & seeds. Place opened chiles, "ribs" side up, into baking dish Using a slotted spoon, scoop out a scant 1/4 cup of beans, letting the excess "bean juice" drain. Place beans on 1/2 the chile, and wrap the other half of the chile around/on top.
6. Finish assembly & Bake: top chiles with sauce and grated cheese. Bake for 15 minutes at 350, until cheese in nice and melty.
7. Meanwhile make the sauce: combine pureed chipotle en adobo with sour cream, and set aside (or if ahead of time, cool and refridgerate). TIP: puree the whole can of chipotle en adobo, put leftovers into a plastic ice cube tray, freeze them, take them out of the tray, put them in a plastic back, and freeze them. Will keep 3 months.
8. Plate and serve: serve with Spanish rice, leftover beans, and leftover sauce. Garnish with cilantro as desired.

Enjoy!

moorish chicken kebabs

Made "Moorish Chicken Kebabs" and "Patatas Riojanas", from a Williams-Sonoma Spain & Portugal cookbook last night.

The downside of the book is that prep times are not listed. Potatoes, with 15 min prep time took 1 hour total to do (15m prep + 45m cook); even then the potatoes were a tad bit underdone, due to the large potato chunks.

The chicken, on the otherhand, was modified from a pork recipe, so it didn't marinade overnight (1.5 hours was enough), was relatively quick: without marinade time, prep + cooking was under 25 minutes (15m prep + about 8 min cooking).

Would definitely make this one again. My girl liked it, especially the chicken. The potatoes could've used even more spice/flavor. One thing that didn't work was the chorizo. I used pork chorizo from the supermarket, one that does not have a cookable casing, so it disintegrates into sausage "mush" when you cook it. This was fine, except that the recipe called for sausage pieces in with the potatoes, so I imagine in the future some linguica, hot links or other naturally cased spicy sausage (maybe one of the delicious Aidell's variety?) could be used in its place.

Recipes to come...

pork and hummus

Just because I haven't written doesn't mean I haven't been cooking.

My girl bought me the "America's Test Kitchen" cookbook over the holidays. I really like it; the recipes are well-tested and taste great.

Two things I made recently: hummus (from ATK recipe book, customized ever so slightly), and pork in red chile sauce, based on a recipe I saw "Daisy Cooks!", a PBS cooking show.

Hummus
Serves 2-4

My "trick" is adding cumin...this tip was in the recipe my first cookbook/textbook called "On Cooking". After looking at that cookbook today, I appreciate it more. I think I screwed up some of the recipes because I didn't measure accurately by weight and/or by volume, which is critical. You need to know when to use weight measure (dry ingredients especially) and volume measure (wet ingredients mostly). In any case, I also added another clove of garlic (preferred by Beckey); reduce it for a less garlicky flavor. Roasted garlic would probably also work really well in this recipe, if you like a mellower flavor. The cumin really helps break up any "metallic" flavor that canned garbanzo beans occasionally pick up.

1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans
1/4 cup tahini (a special sesame paste you find in the ethnic food aisle)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 tsp kosher salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin

Throw everything in the food processor and blend for 40 seconds. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. It will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge (if you don't eat it all).

Pork with Guajillo Chile Sauce
Serves 4

When I made this from my memory of the recipe of the show, I substituted some leftover BBQ'd pork ribs I had made. It still turned out great as a leftover dish, although the pork loin would probably be even better. The sauce really becomes a luscious, smooth and almost "creamy" after it reduces. It's got some kick, but it's not particularly hot.

6-8 dried guajillo chiles
1.5 pound pork loin, cut into 1" cubes
1 can (15oz) Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes
2 fresh tomatoes
1 yellow onion, sliced in half
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375. Cover baking sheet with foil, place onion and fresh tomatoes on baking sheet, brush lightly with olive oil, and roast for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot, put cubed pork, bay leaves, and cover with just enough water to cover the pork. Heat over medium-high heat until simmering, about 15 minutes.
3. Tear tops off of chiles & discard tops & seeds. Heat a skillet on high heat and toast the chiles on each side about 20-30 seconds, pressing down with grill press, heavy plate or spatula; flip chiles, toast on other side another 20-30 seconds, and remove. Place chiles in bowl and cover with warm water (or microwave bowl with chiles & water for 1 minute), nest another bowl on top and add weight to help keep the chiles underwater while they rehydrate, about 20 minutes. Drain chiles well and discard liquid.
4. Once tomatoes and onions are roasted, and chiles are rehydrated, add roasted tomatoes, canned tomatoes, onions, chiles, and about 1-2 cups of the pork braising liquid in a blender. Blend until smooth.
5. Add blended chile mixture back into pot with pork. Raise heat to bring mixture back to a simmer, and simmer uncovered at medium-low heat for at least another 1 hour, or until the mixture reduces to a slightly thicker consistency.
6. Server pork and sauce over steamed white rice.

smoky fejoida

Friday night I made a quick, smoky fejoida that exceeded all my expectations. And, it was even better for lunch the next day. I had some roasted pork loin leftovers from earlier in the week, and combined with some shredded smoked turkey I had left over from a Christmas present to Beckey, it turned out to be a tasty combination. Fejoida traditionally has many "meats" in it, including "carne seca"; in this case, bacon, sausage, pork loin, and smoked turkey make a great, full flavored substitute.

Smoky Fejoida
Serves 8
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 65 minutes

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup smoked bacon ends, or smoked bacon pieces, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1/2 of a polish sausage (polska kielbasa), sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 cup cooked pork loin roast, shredded or chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 cup cooked smoked turkey (breast, leg and/or thigh), chopped into 1/2" pieces

1/2 yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, smashed & rough chopped
1 can (14oz) Muir Glen whole tomatoes
2 30oz cans (60oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 cups chicken stock

1 large sprig (3") fresh thyme
5 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 small sprig fresh Mexican oregano, chopped (about 1-2 tbsp)
2 bay leaves

1 tbsp worcheshire
1 tbsp Tabasco

Spices for the end
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

1. In large pot, heat olive oil, and add bacon. Cook over medium-low heat, about 5-7 minutes, to render out fat.
2. Add polish sausage pieces, and cook another 2-3 minutes.
3. Remove meat with slotted spoon, and drain and reserve grease.
4. Leave 1 tbsp of grease in pot, and return heat to medium.
5. Add onion & thyme, saute for 5 minutes
6. Reduce heat to low. Return bacon & sausage to pot.
7. Add rough chopped garlic, pork loin, smoked turkey, and stir to combine.
8. Meanwhile, put can of tomatoes (liquid and all) in blender or food processor, pulse quickly 3 times to crush.
9. Raise heat to medium. Add tomatoes, black beans, chicken stock, spices, chicken stock, and enough water to just cover the mixture. Stir briefly to mix, cover, and heat until it reaches a slow simmer.
10. Once simmering, lower heat to low/medium-low and simmer for at least 60 minutes.
11. After 60 minutes, stir in parsley & minced garlic. Let heat for 5 minutes further.
11. Serve with steamed white rice, collard greens sauteed in butter & garlic, and slices of orange.
12. Let the fejoida cool at room temperature, then store it tightly covered in the fridge for up to 5 days; or freeze it for up to 1 month.

bread troubleshooting

Good resource for troubleshooting issues with bread:

http://allrecipes.com/advice/coll/baking/articles/152P1.asp
http://www.baking911.com/bread/problems.htm
http://www.breadmachinedigest.com/beginners/troubleshooting_chart.html

Thus two problems with grandma's bread from this last time may be resolved:
1. Forgot to add the salt, so the rise was really high!
2. Gumminess probably due to either insufficient cook time or too high temperature at start of baking.

the great zucchini

Went to Brazilian restaurant "Picanha" in Burbank today with some friends, and had a tasty side disk of zucchini, which I normally don't like but was delicious. It consisted of:

zuchinni, sliced into 1/3" rounds (or slightly thicker than 1/4")
red onions, sliced & sauteed
scallions (green parts only)
teriyaki sauce
a bit of oil

Warm, fresh and delicious! Zuchinni was tender but not soggy (still some tooth), red onions were soft and transparent, all rounded out by the nice sweet, salty flavor of the teriyaki sauce. Excellent.

bread results

This year's recipe turned out good flavor, with a couple of comments:

1. Interior of bread was really too moist (although fully cooked), even after cooling down. Need to find some way to deal with this excess moisture. Maybe it means initial dough was too moist? Maybe it means longer cooking time? Maybe some further online research is warranted for dough/bread "troubleshooting".
2. Crust turned nice and black brown.
3. Too much dough for 2 loaves, even with 1/2 quantities. Recommend dividing into 3rds for final shaping & baking. One loave puffed up so high it was almost 2 loaves!

Grandma's bread revisited again

OK, so here's my revised take, reduced quantities for 2 loaves (instead of original version, which is for 4 loaves):

2 c. buttermilk
1.5 c. water
1 lb. + 1/2 lb. rye flour, unsifted (1.5 lb. total)
1 lb. + 1/2 lb. (8 0z) + 1/2 lb. (8 oz) unbleached white flour, unsifted (2 lbs total)

2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 packet)
1 tbsp. unbleached white flour
1/2 c. warm water (120 degrees)

1/2 c. honey
1/2 tbsp. salt

1. Over medium-low heat, warm buttermilk and water in a pan to 110 degrees (stirring constantly so it doesn't curdle) and remove from heat. Stir in 1 lb. rye flour, cover tightly and leave in warm place overnight. Or, refrigerate and bring back to room temperature before continuing

2. The next day, combine yeast, 1 tbsp. flour, and warm water, and stir to dissolve. Let sit for 5 minutes until yeast mixture gets bubbly.

3. Into dough mixture, add yeast mixture, honey and salt. Stir in remaining 1/2 pound of rye flour, and stir in 1 lb. of white flour until mixture is uniform. Then, split dough in half by weight. Set half of dough aside. It gets split in half because the full amount of dough is too much for the small stand mixer to handle!

4. Take one-half of the dough and add dough to mixer set to "1" or "2" (low speed), and knead with dough hook, gradually adding 1/2 lb. of white flour. You will need to clean the dough hook a number of times at the beginning (every 30 seconds or so). After a couple of minutes, it will stop sticking. Total kneading time should be about 5-7 minutes.

5. Repeat step 4 for the remaining dough.

6. Grease two bread pans with butter, and dust them with rye flour. Shape dough into loaves and place in bread pans. Cover with towel, and leave in warm place to rise for 2 hours or until approximately doubled in bulk.

7. Preheat oven to 425. Place bread pans in oven and bake for 3o minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake for 15-20 more minutes.

8. Take bread from oven, remove from pans, and drape with damp cloth while they cool. This supposedly will help keep the crust from separating from the dough.

That's my story, and I'm stickin to it! We'll see how they turn out this year.

UPDATE 12/26/2005:
This year's recipe turned out good flavor, with a couple of comments:

1. Interior of bread was really too moist (although fully cooked), even after cooling down. Need to find some way to deal with this excess moisture. Maybe it means initial dough was too moist? Maybe it means longer cooking time? Maybe some further online research is warranted for dough/bread "troubleshooting".
2. Crust turned nice and black brown.
3. Too much dough for 2 loaves, even with 1/2 quantities. Recommend dividing into 3rds for final shaping & baking. One loave puffed up so high it was almost 2 loaves!

bread in progress

So grandma's bread is in progress. I'm trying to scale the recipe down (from 4 to 2 loaves) because last year, I simply made too much of it. The base is "fermenting" right now; hopefully this year's proportions will make it right. I think this is the 4th or 5th time that I'm making the bread.

I've purposely passed on the Lithuanian black rye recipe (incidentally, the same one online as in the cookbook), in lieu of my grandma's recipe. I know my grandma's recipe works reasonably well, but needs some tweaking to make it right. Last year's was pretty good, as I recall. This means that hopefully this year's will be good as well. I decided to read up on rye flour, in Nancy Silverton's "La Brea Bakery" bread book. Apparently rye flour is tricky: easy to overmix, tends to be wet, not a lot of gluten. A recipe in Julia Child's "Baking" tome got me thinking about the correct proportions for this bread (wheat flour-rye flour-liquid ratio). I need to read up more on "golden ratios" for flour to liquid to yeast. I remember that "The Man Who Ate Everything" had some of this info, which was pretty good, at least in terms of making a batch of starter from scratch. Last year's recipe put rye-to-wheat flour at around 6:12 or 6:13 by weight. I'm going to shoot for a more even ratio this year, closer to 6:7. I hope this will yield something closer to what I'm looking for.

Grandma's Rye Bread part II

OK, so there is a fairly comprehensive web site on Lithuanian cookery at:
http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/food/fcont.html

There is a recipe for black rye bread, similar to my grandma's, at:
http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/food/bread.html

I wonder if this is the same recipe from the cookbook that I used? I wonder how it compares? This might just be the year to find out! I did have some excellent bread in Lithuania (I believe at Cili Kaimas restaurant in Vilnius) which tasted almost exactly like hers: soft, semi-dense but very uniform texture; thin, hard, black crust, delicious!

I do remember that last year, it turned out abysmal when I followed the cookbook recipe.

tis the twisted season

Winter is here again, another year has come and almost gone.

Made pretzels for the first time last night. Beckey's a real pretzel fan, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Here's the recipe I used:

Soft Pretzel Recipe
From: http://www.kitchenproject.com/german/soft_pretzel_recipes1.htm

Servings: 6 large or 12 small

Ingredients:
3 ½ cups of flour
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp. salt (sea salt preferably)
1 tbsp dry yeast, dissolved in the water
1 cup water (120°) fairly warm but not hot.

2 tbsp baking soda mixed with 1 Cup hot water (in a small bowl)

Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water (in a small bowl)

Directions: Mix water/yeast, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor, or a large mixing bowl. Add flour and mix until dough is smooth. Add more flour if sticky. (If possible let the dough sit overnight in a bowl or plastic container in the refridgerator.)

Divide the dough into 6 or 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope, a bit thicker than a pencil, but not quite as thick as a cigar. Shape into an upside down U shape on your table. Bring the ends together and twist them. Flatten the ends and bring to the top of the pretzel and press in the dough to secure making it look like a pretzel. Place on a greased cookie sheet.

Now let the pretzels rise for 30-45 minutes in a warm place or till about double in size.

Boil 4 cups of water and add 2 tbsp. baking soda. Drop the pretzel in there for about 10 seconds and then lift out with a strainer or pancake turner. Place back on cookie sheet. This will give a nice chewy crust. If you skip this, the crust will be crispier.

Brush with egg wash. This gives the pretzel a nice shiny glaze.

Sprinkle with toppings like
coarse salt (grind rock salt in a coffee grinder); garlic and parmesan cheese; Cinnamon and sugar; or sesame seeds.

Bake in a hot oven 450 degrees (225 degrees C) for 10-12 minutes or until well browned. (Interesting note: Homemade pretzels and soft pretzels are often made much the same way as bagels, by poaching them in boiling water before baking, the difference being that bagels are usually poached in salt water rather than water and baking soda.)

So how did they taste? Pretty good. Nice golden brown crust, nice and soft with a tiny bit of tooth, and the inside was nice and chewy, although a bit more dense than I would like. Several adjustments needed to be made:

1. You may need more than 1 cup water. The dough was not very soft/sticky, and it was clumping together while being mixed. I think a softer dough will yield a softer, chewier pretzel.
2. I don't think the dough rose enough after the knotting.
3. Rolling them out was tricky, because the dough was too dry, I think. I found wetting my hands from a little bowl of water gave me the necessary traction. This may not be necessary if the dough is sufficiently soft.
4. I would try with a slightly longer boil time than 10 seconds, or maybe more baking soda in the water mixture. I was hoping the dough would have a bit more "tart" kick, somehow.

In other baking news, time to go to the store to buy supplies to bake Grandma's bread.

Risotto con carne

Earlier this week, I felt like a hearty meal so I decided to make another risotto, which turned out quite nicely. In the last few months I've made several risottos. The first was with chorizo, the second was with mushrooms/onions/thyme, and this week's was my "risotto con carne", an almost chili-like risotto with hot links, chorizo, and tomatoes. Turned out delicious!

Risotto Con Carne

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, rough chopped
6 oz pork chorizo sausage
1 cup fresh tomato, diced
1 hot link
3/4 cup arborio rice
2 tbsp Emeril's Essence or Wolfgang Puck BBQ pork rub
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano or 1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

1/4 cup tequila
1 box chicken stock
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp worcheshire sauce
1 tsp Tabasco

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 scallion, sliced into rings

In a large pot, melt butter and oil over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Remove casing from chorizo. Turn up heat to high, add chorizo and hot link and stir until cooked, about 3 minutes. Add rice & cook for 2 minutes. Start timer (17 minutes). Constantly stirring, add tequila, let rice absorb, then add chicken stock about 1/3 cup at a time, always stirring until rice absorbs liquid. Do this for about 10 minutes.

At 10 minutes, add diced tomato.

At 15 minutes, add Essence, chili powder, paprika, oregano, vinegar, worcheshire, and tabasco. Continue to cook & add liquid for another 2 minutes (you should use up approx. 1/2 box of stock).

Remove from heat, and stir in 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese. Serve while hot, garnish with scallions & remaining cheddar cheese.

tri tip revisited

Made another tri tip earlier this week. We ate it with caramelized onions, petite peas, mashed potatoes and fresh heirloom tomatoes from our garden. A whole tri-tip will last the two of us at least a week, usually. It's great for leftovers (sandwiches, burritos, cold or reheated by itself).

Tips on the 'tip:

1. This time I cooked the tri tip for about 27 minutes (around 13 minutes on each side) over charcoal, with about 5 minutes rest, so total time of about 32 minutes. Came out medium rare to rare in the center. Probably could've been a bit more well done, but it was just past purple/wobbly but still pretty bloody.

I would recommend for next time, 30 minutes cooking time, 15 min per side, with a 5 minute rest, for a total time of 35 minutes.

Also, the coals were stacked on one end of the BBQ, and the tri tip was placed across the edge of the coals and the cool zone.

2. Petite Peas - Trader Joes has excellent "petite peas"; much sweeter and snappier flavor than the regular grocery style ones. Go for it!

3. Caramelized onions. Here was my technique: After the tri-tip is on the grill, slice two yellow onions in half. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat, add onions and toss in oil. Turn down heat to medium-low. Let slowly cook without stirring for about 5 minutes without turning. They will start to brown. Then season with salt & pepper. Now start stirring them every few minutes while they cook and to prevent burning. Once they are quite brown and soft (about 20 minutes), add about 1 tsp brown sugar and 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar. Cook for 2 minutes. Next remove from flame and CAREFULLY add 1 tbsp of brandy. If you're careful, light it on fire and let it flame off. This will leave a lovely, sweet glaze.

4. Heirloom tomatoes: what more can I say? I planted a few "brandywine" variety last season, and this year, one just sprang up by itself (self-seeded), resulting in many delicious tomatoes. I like to eat them with a sprinkle of salt & pepper, a few drops of balsamic vinegar and maybe a spritz of olive oil (from a "Misto" pump sprayer).

Speaking of which, I think I'll go downstairs now, have an onion bagel with cream cheese and tomato. Mmm...

Authentic Café Mini Meatloafs with Carmelized Onions
A delicious recipe from Roger Hayot's Authentic Cafe in Los Angeles, from the "Dinner at the Authentic Cafe" cookbook

Caramelized Onions:
1/4 c. olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 or 5 sweet onions, such as Vidalia

Meatloaves:
1.5 lbs ground chuck
2 large eggs
1 large carrot
1 small onion
1 celery rib
¼ cup evaporated milk
¼ cup unseasoned bread crumbs
¼ cup ketchup
4 cloves garlic
4 sage leaves
1 tbsp. thyme leaves
¼ tsp ground pepper
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Sauce:
2 tbsp olive
1 large shallot
2 cups beef stock
2 tsp. thyme leaves
2 leaves sage
½ tsp. ground pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Mixed vegetables, cooked (frozen peas+carrots, etc.)

Prepare caramelized onions: heat oil & butter over low heat, cook onions for 30 minutes until limp and deep brown in color.

Preheat oven to 350. Knead meatloaf mixture for 2 minutes, no more. Divide into 5 equal portions, and shape into mini loaves. Brush loaves with oil. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees, then increase temperature to 400 and bake 10 minutes more.

While baking, prepare the sauce: heat oil in small saucepan, add shallot and cook about 1 minute. Raise heat to medium. Add stock and bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer until reduced in half, about 15 minutes. Just before serving, reheat sauce to very hot. Off heat, whisk in fresh herbs, and add salt & pepper to taste. Quickly whisk in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Once butter has been added, serve sauce immediately.

To serve, mound onions on large plates. Spoon mixed vegetables around onions. Place meatloaf on mound of onions. Ladle sauce over meatloaves. Serve immediately, and pass extra sauce.

monday nite meals

I'm not a big fan of Mondays. So it's nice to site down with a nice meal with your loved ones to unwind.

4th of July is an excellent time to buy beef, and I got an amazing deal last week on NY Strip Steaks ($3.99/pound on sale). So I bought a "Value Pack" of 3, froze them. Today coming back from work, I decided to BBQ.

Fired up the charcoal grill. Made au gratin potatoes from the box (kicked up with a few smashed cloves of raw garlic thrown in before cooking), some frozen mixed vegetables (kicked up with SmartBalance, raw garlic, fresh thyme, salt & pepper). What a delicious meal. I think it helped my girlfriend, who was a bit hungover from the night before.

Meals don't have to be complicated to be satisfying. In many cases for me the company and the setting (at a table, with no TV on) is as important as the taste of the food. Needless to say, NY Strip Steak is very flavorful, and it completely reminded me of eating T-Bone steaks at my Grandma's house on Friday afternoons when my brother and I would get out of school early.

do you want a punch?

I made a "kicked up" punch yesterday:

1-1/2 oz strawberry vodka (such as Stoli)
1-1/2 oz mango rum (such as Captain Morgan's)
3/4 oz triple sec or Cointreau
1-1/2 oz orange juice (strained, no pulp)
1/2 cup pineapple juice
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Club soda
Splash of grenadine

In a cocktail shaker, add ice and combine vodka, rum, triple sec, orange juice, lemon juice, pineapple juice, and shake vigorously. Fill wine or tall cocktail glass 1/2 way. Top off glass with club soda and splash of grenadine (grenadine will give it a sunset/layered look). Garnish with a piece of pineapple, mango, or strawberry if desired.

chickada-china-da-chinese-chicken

Improvised a tasty Chinese chicken stir fry for two tonight, with sugar snap peas fresh from the garden. Beckey really liked the flavor of the chicken; with the marinade, it does have a nice velvety consistency. Sliced thin, the chicken cooks in about 1 minute; the key is to do it in batches in a hot pan so that the meat doesn't steam.

Chinese Chicken Stir Fry with Snap Peas
Serves 2

Marinade:
4 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sake
1 tbsp sesame oil
Fresh ground pepper

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced across the grain into 1/4" thick slices

4 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
4 tbsp corn oil
4 tbsp. sake
2 tbsp. soy sauce
12 sugar snap peas
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine marinade ingredients and mix until smooth. Slice chicken (it helps if it's slightly frozen), add to marinade, stir well to coat, and set aside. Let sit 30 minutes minimum.

Chop garlic, wash sugar snap peas.

Heat skillet over high heat and add 2 tbsp. oil. Fry chicken in 3 batches, cooking each batch about 30 seconds per side, remove and drain on paper towels. Remove all chicken from pan.

Over high heat, add 2 tbsp. oil, add garlic and stirfry for 30 seconds. Add snap peas & stir fry for another 30 seconds. Add remaining sake & soy sauce and stir for 15 seconds. Add chicken, stir for 30 seconds, and remove from heat. Serve immediately in bowls.

Philly cheese steak

In Pennsylvania to visit my brother, so we went to get cheese steak today at Tony Luke's. Here's a pretty accurate recipe for authentic Philly cheese steak, courtesy of Pat's King of Steaks. People have almost religious arguments here regarding which is better, Pat's or Tony Luke's.

http://www.patskingofsteaks.com/recipe.htm

Here's more information:
http://philadelphia.about.com/library/howto/htmakeacheesesteak.htm

So what else is Philly known for culinarily? Apparently soft pretzels and Italian sandwiches (hoagies). See: http://www.bg-map.com/foods.html