Caesar salad & steaks with compound butter

It was Jeremy's birthday yesterday so we celebrated with extra-special dinner plans. He is fond of caesar salad (really, we are all fond of caesar salad, so that worked out well) and it seemed like it would be fun to grill something so we decided to go retro with a strip steak and salad combo for dinner.

Melanie & birthday boy picked out 3 pounds of beautiful NY strip steaks. Seriously, they were perfect. I covered them liberally with salt, pepper and a good drizzling of olive oil and we let them rest at room temperature until the grill was ready.

Caesar salad isn't difficult but it relies heavily on timing well with the rest of the meal because it must be served immediately. So I prepped as many ingredients as I could but did not assemble the salad until the steaks were done grilling. First we made garlic croutons. Melted 3 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauteed 4 cloves of minced garlic until soft but not browned. Sliced 6 pieces of good italian sandwich bread into 1" chunks. This created a little drama with Brian who was sad to see all the bread get used up until he remembered (deus ex machina!) that he had plenty of bagels in the fridge. It was like a little one act play. You can probably use any kind of bread that suits you--this is just what we happened to have lying around. Tossed the bread with the butter-olive oil-garlic mixture in a roasting pan, added salt, pepper, 1/2 tablespoon of red pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon of oregano. Popped it in the oven at 350 degrees and said to Melanie "Ha ha, now I'm going to forget about it!" Of course I forgot about it and remembered in a panic about 10 minutes later; fortunately they were not burnt but I think they easily could have been. Set them to crisp up on paper towels. Meanwhile, Melanie and I washed a large head of romaine lettuce and chopped it into 2" pieces. You don't want huge, unwieldy bits of lettuce while you are trying to enjoy a caesar salad. We also cut a garlic clove in half and rubbed it all over the inside of a wooden salad bowl to get it ready to have the salad tossed in there.

Here's the part where you should be ready to go with eating dinner as soon as you're done putting this together. For the dressing, I brought a small pot of water to a rapid boil and put in 2 eggs. Let them sit in there for 60-80 seconds (keep a good eye on the clock!), then scooped them out and cracked them into the salad bowl. Made sure to scrape out any egg white that had lightly cooked and clung to the shell and got that into the bowl as well. Beat the eggs very well with a fork until they were well mixed up, then slowly added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Continued to beat with the fork and slowly incorporated 6 tablespoons olive oil. When than was all mixed up, added a dash of worcestershire sauce and then about 2 tablespoons of well-minced/mashed up anchovy filets. Added salt and lots of black pepper, mixed well again, then added the romaine lettuce and tossed up from the bottom. This takes a little while. Toss toss toss. You want to make sure the dressing gets evenly mixed up with all the lettuce. Then taste a piece to make sure it doesn't need more salt and pepper, then top with the garlic croutons and a ton of fresh shaved parmesan cheese. Serve tout de suite.

Meanwhile, the steaks were getting finished up on the grill. The only trick is to flip them a lot and keep a close eye. Try to use a really hot grill at first so you can get cool looking cross-hatch marks on them. When the steaks were done, we served them with pats of delicious butter on top. Mashed up 3 tablespons of butter with 1 tablespoon of capers, 1 tablespoon minced parsley and 1 minced garlic clove with my mortar and pestle. Just kept mooshing it until it was all well combined, then scraped it out and put in in a plate in the fridge to chill until it was time to eat. Put a dab on top of each hot steak--a perfect accompaniment to garlicky Caesar salad.

Melanie's mom had made Jeremy a chocolate pound cake for his birthday. We had it after dinner with vanilla ice cream and strawberries and it was indescribably delicious.

Corned beef and cabbage

Well, it has been awhile since I got a chance to post on anything...to make up for the absence, this is the story of how I home-cured a brisket into corned beef then cooked it up with other things on St. Patrick's Day. This should answer the oft-asked question: "What exactly is a corned beef?" and "What do you mean you corned a damn beef?" and so on. Interestingly (or maybe not, you be the judge) the word "corned" in this case refers to the salt you use during the process. I guess large bits of salt were called "salt corns" at one time. So really, we're just saying "salted beef," sort of like pickling it or preserving it; the end result is kind of like a cross between jerky and home-made pickles. Anyway.

First of all, I procured a large amount of flat-cut brisket from the venerable DeKalb Market. I got 7 pounds at first, then figured I'd need more so Marilyn kindly picked up another 3 pounds. Took this 10 pounds of brisket and pricked it all over, both sides, with a fork. I mixed 1 cup kosher salt with 2 tablespoons each of ground allspice, cracked black peppercorns, dried thyme, paprika and about 5 crumbled bay leaves. Notice that there is no saltpeter in there. That's what makes corned beef turn bright pink, which is a color many people expect to see. I don't use it. It's an ingredient in gunpowder and that makes it seem suspect. Probably toxic. Spread this salt & herb mixture over both sides of the briskets, kind of like a dry rub. Packed up the seasoned beef into large ziploc bags and stuck them in the fridge in a large metal baking dish (so they wouldn't get all drippy on the fridge). They stayed in there for about 5 days, getting flipped over every now and then.

The day before St Patrick's Day, I removed the now-corned beef from the bags and rinsed them off. I had to use 3 pots to accomodate all the beef. They got covered in water and I added about 3 tablespoons of pickling spices per pot. Then I set them to boil for a couple hours, until we had to go pick up Francesca and Paul from the airport because they were coming to visit us for the weekend. This is really the only reason that I started pre-cooking the corned beef--I didn't want to get stuck in the kitchen and waste time that I could have been spending with Fran and Paul. If you are doing this, you should just cook it all the day you intend to serve it. This also cuts down on possible foodborne disease (mmm, toxins! Clostridium perfringens, anybody?). I followed instructions from the person at my job who is in charge of restaurant inspections--she gave me very specific directions on cooling it to a safe temperature before storing it in the fridge over night.

Marilyn drove me to the market to get 2 green cabbages and about 5 pounds of mixed red potatoes and tiny fingerling potatoes. I try to get them as tiny as possible--they are so cute and can be boiled whole without any cutting up. She also came over to hang out and help me prep ingredients which was very helpful. She sliced all the cabbage up into chunks and we cleaned the potatoes.

About 1 1/2 hours before we expected anybody to show up, I put the 3 pots of corned beef back on the stove and brought them to boil again. I ended up consolidating into 2 pots of beef (the brisket shrinks down quite a bit) and saving the other pot full of liquid to cook the potatoes in. I added water as necessary to keep the pots from boiling off all their liquid. About 25 minutes before eating, I put the potatoes in to boil and 15 minutes out, I added the chunks of cabbage to the pots with the beef and also about 2 pounds of carrots, peeled and chopped into 3 inch chunks. When the vegetables were done, I drained them and took out the beef, sliced it against the grain and arranged it all on platters with beef in the center, surrounded by cabbage, carrots and potatoes heaped on the side. And let me tell you, that was some tender, delicious corned beef.

We had a ton of people over. Byron was first one there, besides Francesca and Paul who don't count because they were staying at our house. Rick made 3 loaves of his excellent irish soda bread. He's really good at it--seriously, he should open a bakery that only sells soda bread. Katie produced these gorgeous little profiteroles for dessert that she makes with a perfect pâte à choux that I could never duplicate. She sliced them open and we stuffed them with ice cream that Marilyn and I had made the night before. It was vanilla but we added green food coloring to be festive. And we all drank a ton of whiskey and it was a lot of fun.

Maki sushi

This post represents a fairly successful attempt at home sushi! Normally, this is definetely something to be left to the experts, but we had been going out for it so much lately that I felt like the only way to put this craving to rest was to actually try to make some. It was mostly vegetarian, but we also had crab (er, alaskan pollack, pressed, dyed and formed into crab-like sticks) and cooked shrimp. If we seek out some sushi-grade tuna or something, maybe we'll try making the raw fish variety someday, but for time being it seemed best to stick to relatively benign ingredients. We did not make nigiri or anything fancy, just stuck to maki rolls. It was definetely a group effort--in fact, I did very little beyond prepping the ingredients. I am not so skilled at rolling and it was really neat to see Melanie, Jeremy, Ryan and Betsy producing these beautiful maki rolls. Even if our sushi wasn't perfectly authentic, it was a fun thing to do all together.

First, I made the sushi rice so it would all be ready to go. This is probably the most involved part of the whole operation. Sidenote: I heard once that the Japanese word "sushi" actually refers to the rice, not the rolled up bits of deliciousness that you make with the rice. Is this true? Anyway, I have a rice cooker so everything is a little bit easier. I think it would not be too much worse on stove-top though. I rinsed well 3 scoops of sushi rice (I use Kohuko Rose brand) in several changes of water to remove the starch. Drained and added 2 ¼ cups of water and turned on the rice cooker. While this was cooking, I mixed ¼ cup rice vinegar with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar over low heat just until the sugar and salt dissolved. Removed it from heat at that point and allowed it to cool to room temperature. When the rice was done, I scooped it into a wooden bowl and sprinkled the rice vinegar mixture evenly over the top. I covered the bowl with a damp dishtowel and let it sit for 2 minutes. I then enlisted Melanie to fan the rice while I stirred it gently (sort of in an up-down stabby motion, rather than round and round) to keep from breaking the rice grains. It's sort of hard to stir and fan at the same time, so it's good if you can get Melanie to come over and do that part for you. You want to bring the temperature of the rice down and get the grains very shiny but not mushy. Set the rice aside, covered lightly by a towel, until we were ready to assemble. If it's going to be much more than an hour until you eat, you may want to keep the rice in the fridge. Something interesting about quantity: This seemed like a lot of rice but it went pretty quick between all 6 of us making and eating rolls. I ended up making a second batch after we ran out halfway through. The second batch was a little too much--I'd say one and a half batches of rice done this way would be the right amount for 6 people, unless you want leftovers. However, if you only have 4 people, one batch would probably be the perfect amount of rice.

For fillings, like I said, we did not use raw fish of any kind. I had about ¼ pound of cooked shrimp, cut up into little chunks and a package of those weird crab-like sticks (thankfully for Ryan's sake, they were not made from over-fished haddock; apparently alaskan pollack is still OK to eat), which were sliced into thin strips. We also had a can of inari (sweet, fried tofu) which I cut into thin strips. I soaked 1/3 cup of dried, sliced shittake mushrooms in hot water for one hour, then put them in a pan with their soaking liquid, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and a bouillon cube. Reduced off all the liquid and set them aside. For other vegetables, sliced 8 radishes into thin sticks, 2 carrots into matchsticks, 1/2 long english hot-house cucumber into long, lengthwise strips, and one red bell pepper into thin strips as well. I also sliced up 2 avocados and drizzled very lightly with lime juice, just to keep them from browning. Also at the ready was a container each of black sesame seeds and white sesame seeds. I think that was it for filling choices.

Fortunately, Brian had rolled maki before, so he was able to provide guidance. My first one was really bad, but everybody else had good luck. You need to lay a sheet of nori (seaweed wrap) on a bamboo mat and then carefully spread rice over it. Maybe about a 1/3 cup of rice, unless you are Ryan who made a very successful Jumbo Roll with about 3/4 cup of rice. Then you flatten out the rice over the sheet of nori, but leave about a 1/2 inch space from the edges. Jeremy spread his rice with surgical precision, and it was a thing of beauty. Then place the fillings of choice on the end closest to you and begin to roll up. The trick is to get all your fillings in under the first roll over or it will probably not stay together very well (my mistake). Then just roll up, using the mat to press it tightly and keep your roll neat and together. Then slice it up crosswise into chunks of whatever width you prefer. There is a slight learning curve, but everybody at our house was turning out very pretty rolls fairly quickly, and I don't think any of us were what you would call predisposed to good sushi-making skills (well, maybe Brian because he is sort of an artist and Jeremy because he is sort of a doctor, but the rest of us are marathon runners and public health people, so really it must be easy).

Good filling combos were shrimp and avocado and cucumber, inari and crab and avocado, shittake and red pepper and avocado...really, avocado makes everything delicious. We also started sprinkling black sesame seeds on the rice before rolling it up--that was really good.

Pizzas

It turns out that I'm not the only one who likes to make pizzas for Academy Awards night--my younger sister does it too. Anyway, it is sort of a tradition and my other sister once wondered how to make the sauce and George claimed that he really really loved the pizzas, so even though it kind of feels like a junk food entry, I'll write about it a little.

The sauce really does change depending on what I have around. The one I made this time was a little thinner than usual and probably not my best work. Whatever. Sauteed 1 small, minced yellow onion in olive oil until soft, then added 5 minced cloves of garlic. Stirred all together until well cooked and fragrant but not at all burnt (sometimes you can get away with a little carelessness, but a sauce will have a nasty taste if your garlic burns). Added red pepper flakes, a half-can of those whole, peeled roma tomatoes that I like (they come in a big, jumbo 48 ounce can but I always use half), one small can of tomato paste, 2 teaspoons sugar and about 1/3 cup of red wine. Simmered it all together, stirring frequently, and allowed it to get somewhat reduced and thick. After about 30 minutes, took it off heat and put it through a food mill to get a nice, smooth thick puree. Set aside until pizzas were ready to bake.

Toppings: Chopped one small bell pepper and sauteed in olive oil until soft and slightly browned, about 7 minutes. Removed from pan and set aside ina little bowl. Melted 1 tablespoon of butter in the same pan (you could, of course, use as many pans as you felt like washing up afterwards for, but I am lazy and like to see how few pans I can use) and added a 1 package worth of sliced cremini mushrooms. Sauteed over high-ish heat until golden and a little crispy. Took out of pan, laid out on cutting board to cool off (don't pile them up when warm or they get soggy and all your mushroom crisping work is for naught), then set aside in a little bowl. Sliced 5-6 cloves big cloves of garlic into thin slices, then crisped those slowly in a mixture of olive oil and butter until they were golden little chips of heaven. Set aside in a little bowl, after cooling them off (much like the mushrooms). Using kitchen shears, I cut up sun dried tomatoes into thin slices and put them in a little bowl--probably about 1/3 cup's worth total. Brian cut up a pineapple and sliced about 1/2 cup into teeny little 1/2" chunks for me, which also sat and waited in a little bowl. I rolled about 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves into a tube and sliced them thinly to make a chiffonade, and dumped them in a prep bowl too. Minced a bunch of parsley and set aside. I had some pepperoni from the grocery store and some pre-shredded mozzarella ready as well.

Here's the truly lame part--I don't make my own crust. Nor do I use really decent pepperoni or good cheese. My mother's eyes would be rolling and she would shake her hand at me and say "Hey, keeed! What ees theeese?" but I'm like, that's OK. I'll make the dough by hand one of these days and use good, fresh cheeses, omit the garlic and aim for less schizophrenia in my topping choices...and that will really probably be a true and good pizza. But I was raised here in the USA and that means I like a too-sweet sauce, gooey cheese, crackery crust and a lot of crap on top of my pizza. A lot of fidelity to true Italian cooking shows up in my day-to-day cooking, but for some reason I've never cared to do right by pizza. Anyway, I use a Martha White mix. It costs 79 cents per package at Publix. You dump it in a bowl, pour 1/2 cup hot water over, mix it, shape into a ball, drizzle over olive oil and cover it with a dishtowel for 5 minutes. That's it. Stretched it out over the greased back of a cookie sheet (yes, Brian, the BACKS of the cookie sheet. Why? Because no one wants to scoop it out of a ridged pan and it is too hard to spread out. If you have a flat pan with no edges then it don't matter which side you use. And I lost the pizza stone my sister gave me once, which is sad), pricked it all over with a fork and stuck it in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for five minutes. Now it was ready to be covered with a thin layer of sauce, then what ever toppings sounded good in combo, red pepper flakes and a mess of cheese. Threw it back in the oven, kept a good eye on it and pulled it out when all the cheese was golden and bubbly and everything looked good (maybe 10 minutes?). A particularly successful combination was pineapple and lots of pepperoni with red pepper flakes and parsley.

Melanie and I drank a bottle of wine and we bet on Oscar winners with George and Brian. George won. Melanie lost. Brian and I were somewhere in between, but I suspect Brian did better than I did.

Peanut sauce with fried tofu and vegetables

This represents my attempt at making something that Ann and Jim can replicate out in the snowy wilderness (hey guys! how's it going?). They requested something that would feature tofu and readily available vegetables, because they live in the middle of nowhere and it's still winter there (not here! I saw ice cream trucks this weekend!), which limits access to a range of exciting foods. I ended up making this and really liking it a lot. I am calling it "Vegetarian Fondue"--the ingredients are very flexible and it's fun to eat for a family meal. Especially a stuck-in-the-woods-why-won't-the-snow-stop family, who might be sort of low on amusements right about now.

Gently wrung one block of extra-firm tofu in a clean dishtowel and cut it up into 1 1/2 " pieces. Dried out the tofu pieces further on the towel. This is important because you are going to fry it and you want as little moisture in as possible. You can also weight it down in a colander for 30 minutes or so, if you have that kind of time. Just get it as dry as you can. I then heated about 4 tablespoons of canola oil in a deep saucepan with a lid (lid is important to avoid burns). When it was really hot I dumped in about half the tofu pieces (needed to do this in two batches) and put the lid over (it's glass, which helps you monitor the progress but not get spattered). Flipped the pieces when they were golden brown on the bottom and waited until both sides were a nice toasty brown. Probably took about about 3-4 minutes per side of tofu. Removed tofu from the pan, set aside to drain on paper towels and repeated this process with the second batch of tofu. When all were done, I salt and peppered them and set them out in a single layer so they wouldn't get soggy.

Put 1/3 cup of peanut butter in a bowl with 2 tablespoons soy sauce, a pinch of red pepper flakes and 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (if no rice vinegar, just use cider vinegar or a white wine vinegar). I also put in about 1 teaspoon of miso paste, but that is optional. Blended everything together with hot water (added a little bit at a time to keep it in control, I probably added about 1/2 cup total) until the consistency is good for dipping--sort of like heavy cream but a little more runny, if you can imagine that. Set aside.

Now the vegetables! When I did this, I thinly sliced 1 red pepper into strips and trimmed a bundle of asparagus. Then I steamed them until each was just cooked through and tender, but still a little crispy. If there is no red pepper or asparagus, you can use any vegetable that is handy, just lightly steam it first. You want a texture that can be picked up and nibbled on, so not too floppy or overcooked. Carrots or zucchini, cut into thin strips would be nice. Broccoli or cauliflower in small floret and with stalks cut into strips would also be tasty. Even cabbage would be good. It is good to use at least 2 vegetables, but if you just have one then just use one.

We put the fried tofu in the center of a big platter and laid the red pepper strips one one side and the asparagus spears on the other. The bowl of peanut sauce goes next to it (I put it in a bowl of hot water to reheat it right before serving so it is nice and warm--like fondue!) and then you can dip the veggies and tofu into the sauce. Delicious. Also, brown or white rice would be a good addition, on the side.

Applesauce & pork chops with glazed turnips

Pretty much the whole point of dinner this evening was to make applesauce. Everything else was incidental. That's why this post is called "applesauce & pork chops" and not the other way around.

Making applesauce is ridiculously easy--I used 3 different types of apples (Braeburn, McIntosh and one other that I can't remember) and got 2 of each. 6 apples peeled and chopped will make plenty of applesauce for 4 people. The annoying part is peeling but Brian helped me so it went pretty quick. Chopped them into small, uneven pieces (probably less than 1 inch in size). Put them in a pot with a tablespoon of butter and 1/2 cup of mixed apple juice and water. Sprinkled 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom, a teensy, unnecessary smidge of nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into the mixture. Set over medium heat until they were quite soft (about 10 minutes) then mashed them up right in the pot. Tasted and added a tiny bit of salt. The only thing with applesauce is to make sure you get mealy type apples. Usually they are the kind you wouldn't enjoy eating fresh because they aren't crisp enough. You can cook them in any liquid you feel like--Brian said it was cheating for me to use apple juice, but I could have used orange juice or just water instead, if I felt like listening to him.

Peeld and cut 2 turnips into even 1 1/2" pieces and steamed them until they were a little bit soft but still not all done (about 6-8 minutes). Set them in a pot over medium-low heat in a mixture of 1/2 tablespoon butter, 1/4 cup of white wine, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let them cook, gently stirring every now and then, until all the liquid had cooked away and they were shiny and lightly browned. Moved them around to make sure all sides got browned, then removed from heat.

4 gigantic pork chops just barely fit on my grill pan, did you know that? I had to nestle them together. I just stuck them over high heat until they were well-seared on both side with nice, dark grill marks. Then I poured some apple juice and water over them to keep from burning or drying out. Salt and peppered the tops. When they were cooked through, I removed them and tossed 3 cloves minced garlic and 2 tablespoons minced parsley into the empty, hot pan, stirred them around for a couple seconds then poured white wine (maybe 1/4 cup?) over to make a sauce. Poured that over the chops and that was it.

There was also asparagus, but I don't need to get into that.

Salmon with sweet potato & misoyaki sauce

The first time I had salmon like this was at Molly's house and she said that her father made a sauce that he cooked the fish in. Then she thought of covering it with sesame seeds. I started doing something very similar which has evolved into a first-marinate-then-roll-in-sesame kind of thing. And now I'm out of sesame seeds and must buy more.

Sliced about a pound of salmon filets into 4 chunks and marinated in a mixture that was equal parts tamari, orange juice and olive oil (enough to cover the fish). Slapped it in the fridge and left it alone until it was time for dinner (about 3-4 hours). When it was time to cook, I removed the pieces from the marinade and coated them in sesame seeds. Put in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes, until flaky but still moist. Voila. Fish is easy.

Sliced a big sweet potato into 1/2" half rounds. Steamed them until just soft, then put on a sesame oil treated ridged cast iron pan and stuck under the broiler to fake-grill until they had nice grill marks and were done through. Kept warm until dinner and hoped they wouldn't dry out.

Mashed up 2 heaping tablespoons miso with 3 tablespoons hot (but not boiling!) water and 2 tablespooon white wine to make a runny paste. In a small pot over medium heat, mixed 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons white wine. Heated and stirred briskly until it became thick, then whisked this into the miso mixture until it made a smooth, thick sauce. Added a little honey to taste.

About 3 hours before dinner, cut 1/2 hothouse cucumber in thin slices and marinated in 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, 1/2 tablespoon sugar and a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes. Added thin peels of 1 carrot and poured it all over 1/3 thinly shredded red cabbage about 1/2 hour before serving. Mixed well and let it stand at room temperature.

Molly and George came over for dinner. Along with the things described above, we also had broccoli (sadly, I forgot about it and it overcooked. I threw out the leftovers at the end of the night because I hate soggy broccoli and Molly yelled at me, then fished a piece out of the trash. True story) and rice. George brought cherry cheesecake pie and Molly did her laundry.

Spicy lentil, okra & sausage soup

I just had a very frustrating experience--I wrote this whole thing down and then the computer ate it. It was annoying. So I hope I don't leave anything out on my second-go-round of writing this...

Sautéed 1 minced onion in a tablespoon of mixed bacon fat and butter. After it was soft, I added 1 minced carrot and 2 minced celery stalks. After about 3 minutes, added a coil of sausage (handmade by my grandfather in New Jersey!) chopped into 1" pieces and browned those up. Added 3 tablespoons minced garlic, sautéed for about 2 minutes then added waaaaay too many red pepper flakes. It was sort of an accident--dumped in about 2 tablespoons which I had to correct later with seasonings. Put in 2 cups of lentils and about a 1/2 pound of thinly sliced okra. After that had all been mixed up for about 1-2 minutes over medium heat, I added chopped-up tomatoes (I usually get a big 32 ounce can of peeled, whole plum tomatoes and then use half then can at a time) and their juices. Brian had made chicken stock and we had at least 8 cups of it, so I just put it all in, stirred well and brought to a low boil. I then added a drizzle each of balsamic vinegar and worcestershire along with 3 tablespoons of the red wine I was drinking. It was still way too hot-flavored from the red pepper mishap so I added 1 tablespoon of brown sugar which smoothed it out. Lowered the heat to a simmer and covered to cook until the lentils were soft and the soup was thick--about 25 minutes.

Soba noodles with fried tofu

There was so much soy the evening I made this. I actually did not put any miso in the sauce I made for these noodles, simply because I felt it would be over the top to eat that many soy-derived food products in one evening. Anyway, it was highly tasty.

Opened up a package of extra-firm tofu (it was not packed in water, but that kind is fine too) and dried it off by wringing it gently in a clean dishtowel. If you had time you could also weight & drain it to get even more water out. Sliced it into small chunks of about 1 1/2" square. Dusted the tofu pieces with about 3 tablespoons of cornstarch--I was trying to get them pretty well covered. Heated 1/4 cup of canola oil in a deep, lidded pot until it was very hot, then fried the tofu pieces in 2 batches. This isn't too tricky--this particular incredibly handy pot that I was using (thanks Dad!) has a glass lid which makes it easier to monitor frying foods. Flipped the pieces once to brown both sides, then removed them to drain on paper towels. When both batches were done I sprinkled with black pepper and set them aside in a single layer so they would stay crispy. Sliced one red pepper into very thin strips (no more than 1/4") and did the same with 1 peeled & trimmed broccoli stem (not the florets). Minced 4 cloves of garlic and sautéed in 1 tablespoon of sesame oil with a pinch of red pepper flakes. When the garlic was getting soft (maybe 1-2 minutes), added the red pepper & broccoli stem strips and sautéed all together over high heat for about 3 minutes, then set the mixture aside with the tofu. Meanwhile, I put one bundle of soba noodles to boil (they only take 4-5 minutes, so keep an eye on them!), drained them and set aside. To the now-empty pot I added 3 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons rice vinegar and mixed them well over medium heat. Added a tablespoon of tahini and about 3 tablespoons of white wine and continued to mix until sauce was a good, creamy consistency. Added the soba noodles to the sauce and mixed them well so they got good and covered, then added the vegetables and the tofu. Made sure everything was warmed, and then served sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Considering we boiled up some edamame to snack on while cooking, that's 3 entirely different soy types in just one meal! I am now reconsidering the sauce: I think I would have added a little less soy sauce and stirred in 1 tablespoon of miso with a splash of orange juice, before adding the noodles & vegetables/tofu. I am amazed by the versatility of soy.

Beef stroganoff

This is one of those dishes that I had never made before, partly because of its status as a clichéd-come-to-a-dinner-party-in-1961-paprika-reliant-high-goo-factor sort of food. Also, we never had it when I was a kid (go figure). But then I went to Watershed restaurant and had their truly excellent beef stroganoff and became a convert. It was just a matter of time before I tried my hand at it. Screw the snobs--this is delicious comfort food in one of its best incarnations.

Mixed about 1/3 cup of flour with salt and lots of pepper. I had some top round stir fry beef all ready for stir frying before I got the idea for this in my head, so I cut up a little less than a pound into 1" chunks. Sprinkled most of my flour mixture over the beef and covered it well. Set aside the rest of flour mixture for later. Melted some butter over medium-high heat and put the dredged beef chunks in to brown on all sides--probably about 8-10 minutes. Removed beef to plate and added about 2 tablespoons of butter, ½ chopped onion and sliced cremini mushrooms (I think they are usually in 8 ounce packages? Not sure--anyway it was all of one package). When the onions were soft and the mushrooms were starting to give up liquid, added 2 minced garlic cloves. When things were getting a bit browned and well-cooked (maybe about 5-6 minutes), sprinkled over the reserved flour and stirred it to absorb the butter & liquid for about 1 minute. Added 1 ¾ cups of chicken stock (it would have been better with beef stock, but sadly I had none on hand), brought to a boil and stirred until thickened. Added about ¼ cup white wine (probably a little bit more actually), the beef and any accumulated juices, and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley. Stirred well and removed from heat. Before serving, stirred in 1 ½ tablespoons sour cream.

Boiled up ¾ package of cavatappi and put stroganoff over it. Sprinkled with smoked paprika, because that's what you do with stroganoff when you're living in 1961.

Tilapia with coconut rice

The funniest part about tonight's dinner was afterwards when we went downstairs to Melanie & Jeremy's and Brian was talking about how he could probably eat an entire loaf of pumpkin-chocolate chip tea bread in one sitting (he also gave a detailed description of what kind of cake-icing combinations he would or would not be capable of eating and how many rows of brownies). He explained that his entire dinner of "fish, rice and broccoli" was nowhere near a cake-like caloric intake and he had no difficulty polishing it off. I'm not sure what the point was, but I pointed out that he sounded like a spartan health hero when he said dinner was fish, rice & broccoli--he left out the part where I covered everything in coconut milk and butter. Anyway:

Rinsed about 1 ½ cups rice, added it to rice cooker and covered with most of a 16 ounce can of coconut milk, added 2 bouillon cubes and enough water to make 3 cups of liquid. Put it to steam in rice cooker. Before it was done, added chopped broccoli to the veggie steaming rack on top to eat alongside dinner. Rice cookers are great. They are a low-energy way of cooking both rice and vegetables (or shrimp or whatever) at the same time and also ensure that your rice will be perfectly cooked and kept warm at a safe holding temperature until you are ready for it (thereby minimizing risk of Bacillus cereus and accompanying sudden onset of nausea and vomiting). Anyway. Rice cookers. Nifty.

Sautéed 1 clove minced garlic in a couple chunks of butter until golden. Added 2 filets of tilapia, let cook about 2 minutes over medium-high heat, flipped to other side for 2 minutes, then sprinkled a pinch of red pepper flakes in the pan. Added rest of can of coconut milk (maybe ¼ cup) and ¼ cup of white wine. Let the mixture cook down around the fish for a minute or so, then sprinkled the top of the filets with 2 teaspoons chopped parsley, a pinch each of paprika & turmeric, salt & pepper. Let liquid boil down about 2 more minutes, then took off heat, slid the fish onto the coconut rice and poured the sauce over the top, with broccoli alongside. A better way to do this if you have a lot of liquid but don't want to overcook your fish is to remove just fish from heat, then aggressively cook down the sauce.

Stir fry with pineapple & pepper

I had a chunk of flank steak waiting in reserve from grilling to stir fry this week. The pineapple is due to Brian who cut one up the other night and suggested it be included. I don't think I would have thought of it on my own but from now on it will be included in the roster of protein and produce that get considered for stir fry nights.

Halved 1 orange bell pepper, sliced it into very thin strips and set aside. Minced 4 cloves garlic and 1 inch of ginger, set aside. Took the chunk of raw flank steak (not sure how much, maybe it was 1/2 pound?) and sliced it against the grain into thin strips (1/4"-1/2" wide). Chopped up about 1/4 cup of the pineapple that Brian had previously sliced up. Cut a small head of broccoli (including stems, as always) into slightly more bite-size pieces than usual and set them to steam over the rice. Removed when they were just barely cooked and set aside. Heated 2 tablespoons sesame oil in the wok and added the orange pepper strips , stirring them over high heat until they had some brown marks and were a bit wilted. Removed and set aside. Allowed the wok to cool somewhat, then added the garlic, ginger and a tablespoon red pepper flakes and stirred those about 2 minutes, then added a drizzle more sesame oil and the steak. Cooked until browned, then removed and set aside. Added 2 tablespoons soy-ginger sauce, 1 tablespoon tamari, a tiny splash each of rice wine vinegar and apple juice and brought to a simmer. Then added 1 cup chicken broth, stirred well and sprinkled the sauce with 1 teaspoon cornstarch, stirring very well after adding it. When the sauce was slightly thickened, added the steak, peppers, pineapple and lightly steamed broccoli, mixed together well in the sauce and made sure everything got heated through. Put over white rice and sprinkled with sliced almonds to finish.

Grilled flank steak & vegetables

Again with the winter grilling! It was pouring rain but very warm out so we grilled on our porch. It's on the second floor, covered & screened in so it's an ideal all-seasons grilling perch. The only trick is to not burn down the apartment building...

I bought a little more than 2 pounds of flank steak at the venerable DeKalb market. I sawed off a piece to use in stir-fry later in the week (undoubtedly, the next post will cover that adventure) and covered the rest of it in a marinade of salt, pepper, minced garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, olive oil, worcestershire and a little red wine. It hung out in the fridge until about a half hour before grill time, during which I let it rest at room temperature. Sliced 2 red peppers and covered with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cut 2 sweet potatoes into 1/2" slices and steamed them for about 7 minutes, until a little more than halfway cooked through, then added to the red peppers, with a little more olive oil, tossed gently. Brian started the grill for me, which was kind of him, and it burned very hot. Melanie kept me company on the porch as first the flank steak went on, flipped about every 3 minutes or so, then red pepper, then sweet potato, as room became available. The flank steak probably took about 10-15 minutes total, but the veggies just got pulled off as they developed nice char marks. Put the sweet potatoes in their own bowl, tossed with the juice of half a Meyer lemon, and surrounded the flank steak with the red peppers.

I accidentally also made what Jeremy kept calling "croutons" and he said he liked them, even though he doesn't normally enjoy crunchy bread (?). Melted a lot of butter and a little olive oil in a pan with 4-5 cloves minced garlic. Added small rounds of a baguette (sidenote! the DeKalb market appears to have stopped making my usual double ficelle loaves and in the place that I used to find those, there are now bags of misshapen, long, squishy things marked "country baguettes." they still come 2 to a package, so I guess they are the new hotness. They are actually pretty good and I have no qualms, I just think it's weird that I can't find the bread I used to get there), and tossed them in the butter-oil-garlic mixture until well-coated. Spread them on a baking sheet, made sure the garlic was well distributed, sprinkled a little parmesan on top, put them in the oven at 350 degrees...and promptly forgot about them while grilling. Brian eventually pulled them out of the oven and they were a very crunchy, tasty counterpart to our grilled foods.

We had this insane peachy pound cake with a caramel-bourbon sauce for dessert. It was leftover from a party that Melanie went to earlier where all the girls were on some no-pound cake diet, so we destroyed the ample leftovers. It was incredible. Also for dessert: my new Lava Lite that Brian got me for Christmas. It warmed up and started looking pretty groovy by the end of the evening.

Pinto bean stew with avocado and tortillas

This was long known as the famous "Cheesy Beany" dish, as baptized by Jocelyn. Its history began when we lived together in a garret (really? sort of) in Milwaukee and often needed a cheap, easy, tasty vegetarian dinner. Over time it has morphed into what Brian refers to as our version of that family classic, Taco Night. It's hard to describe all the components as it undoubtedly changes depending on what's in the fridge or pantry at any given moment. I used to occasionally top it with cornbread and make a yogurt-lime sauce on the side which was delicious (just mix natural plain yogurt to taste with juice & zest of 1 lime, salt and pepper), but the version I made last night is how it tends to look these days:

Sautéed 1 small, diced onion in olive oil until soft, then added 1 small, diced red pepper. Let cook down over fairly high heat until soft and browned, then added 4 minced cloves garlic. Sprinkled 1 tablespoon chile powder into the hot oiled pan to allow flavor to bloom, then added 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Stirred well, then added 2 tablespoons mole paste, mashed it up and added about 1/2 cup of water to reconstitute it into a thick sauce. Stirred everything together then added maybe 1/4 cup of minced pickled jalapenos, 1 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes, 1 16 ounce well-rinsed and drained can of pinto beans and a drizzle of wine vinegar. Covered and let simmer together, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Then stirred in 1/2 cup of crumbled queso fresco, thought it still seemed a bit too liquidy, so mashed up some of the beans and removed the lid to let it reduce to a scoopable consistency.

Meanwhile, sliced 2 avocados and tossed them with juice of 1/2 lime, salt and pepper and warmed a stack of tortillas in the oven. When the beans were ready, we ate them rolled up in tortillas with the avocado. Simple and delicious.

Black-eyed peas

There is a new year's tradition that calls for eating black-eyed peas on the first day of the year to bring good luck, so that's what we had. They are a really great legume (is there a way to say that without sounding hopelessly dorky?), especially if you are committed to using dried beans rather than canned. Chickpeas take about a million years to cook, even if you soak them. Pinto beans, black beans, great northerns--most dried beans just don't really lend themselves to spontaneous production, hence, of course, the popularity of canned beans. But black-eyed peas? They cook very quickly, sometimes in just 25 minutes or so, without any soaking at all. They are nature's lentils and they are delicious.

Covered at least one cup of black-eyed peas in water and brought to a healthy boil with 2 crumbled bay leaves, 4 cloves sliced garlic, 2 teaspoons each of red pepper flakes and epazote, and a teeny pinch of cumin. Let boil hard for about 25 minutes and tested to see if they were approaching doneness, was pleasantly surprised to find that they were and drained them off. Salted and peppered them, then added butter and about 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar. In another pot I was cooking pearl couscous in way too much chicken broth (don't know how that happened, it was weird) and so drained the excess couscous liquid into the bean pot. Turned the heat back on and let the beans absorb most of the liquid, so they became sort of soupy, full-flavored and fabulously chickeny.

These were excellent along with cornbread, steamed kohlrabi and the aforementioned couscous. Happy New Year!

Flank steak with port-mushroom sauce

Another pre-holiday meal--the task was to make something suitably festive that also managed to use up a half a bottle of port wine that had been sitting around. With that in mind, here's what happened:

Sliced 3 shallots thinly and sauteed them until soft over low-medium heat in about 2 tablespoons of butter. Added another tablespoon of butter, turned up the heat and added 1 package mushrooms, sliced thickly. Sauteed mushrooms until they were golden, probably about 8 minutes. To this buttery mixture, I added 1 tablespoon of flour and stirred well. Added salt, pepper and at least a cup of port. It was probably more than that, actually, because I just poured in what was left in the bottle. Also put in 3 cups of chicken stock at this point. Reduced it down until it was thick enough to coat a spoon, took off heat and set aside.

I ended buying 3 pounds of flank steak in 2 large cuts, so I cooked them in shifts. Salted and peppered both sides of the meat and let them rest at room temperature for half an hour before cooking. Melted olive oil and butter together in a cast iron pan over high heat and added the steak. Each side seared for about 5 minutes, then flipped when well browned and incredibly delicious looking. They were actually sort of rare so you can pull them off for people who like rare meat, cut of a couple slices and then return the rest to the pan for more well done pieces.

I sliced the flank steak against the grain into thin slices, laid them out on a tray, drizzled a little of the sauce over the top and passed the rest of the sauce at the table for people to pour over.

We had this great crab-red pepper mousse from the DeKalb market for an appetizer. Betsy made a great salad for dinner and Jeremy made a baked apple crisp with actual, real-live, homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. We all pretty much stuffed our faces, drank a lot of wine and had an awesome time.

Cream of tomato soup

I should call this something more exciting because it sounds sort of canned and sad when you just say "cream of tomato soup," but it's really sometimes fun and delicious to make comfort food like this from scratch so we'll just go with it.

Heated a lot of butter (maybe 3 tablespoons?) with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sautéed in that one diced yellow onion until very soft and fragrant but not at all browned. Added 4 minced garlic cloves and continued to sauté about 2 more minutes. Sprinkled 2 tablespoons flour over the buttery onion/garlic mixture and mixed well, making sure there were no lumps and not letting it burn up. Added about 44 ounces of whole, peeled plum tomatoes (I say 44 ounces because it was a 28 ounce can and then maybe another half a can of the same size, but I'm not really sure) and mashed them up pretty well. Added 3 cups of chicken stock and brought everything to a boil, then turned to simmer and covered, stirring every once in a while. Added 2 tablespoons minced parsley at some point during a stir. Let simmer for about 25-20 minutes, then added salt and pepper to taste and a couple pinches of vindaloo (you could use ground clove or curry or something else if you liked, but I had vindaloo around so vindaloo it was). Took off the heat and passed the entire soup through the finest disk of my food mill into a clean container (it took 2 batches). Returned the soup to the pot with very low heat and added about 1/2 cup of half and half. Corrected to salt and pepper and made sure it got heated throughout without boiling.

I didn't really expect it, but we got a surprise Wisconsin boost to our meal. We passed Jeremy on his front porch on our way into the apartment and he had a bag of charcoal in his hand so we knew at once they were grilling. Sadly we had nothing to toss on...or so we thought! Discovered 4 Wisconsin brats hanging out in the freezer, boiled them in a dark mystery beer that had been malingering in our fridge and brought them downstairs to take advantage of the fire Jeremy had built. Delicious and totally spontaneous, although probably not what you'd call a natural accompaniment to cream of tomato soup.

Potato pancakes

Another seasonally appropriate dish--it's almost Hanukkah, after all. Actually, I think potato pancakes are good anytime of the year. See if you can get somebody to help you make them (thanks Melanie!) because it can be a pain to do it all yourself.

Grated 1 yellow onion into a really big mixing bowl. Then we grated by hand 3 pounds total (about a half-and-half mixture) of peeled Russet and Yukon Gold potatoes. This is why it's nice to have someone working with you--potatoes get all pink and discolored if you don't work quickly. Of course if you have a Cuisinart it will go pretty quick, but that seems trickier, somehow. As we were going, I sprinkled the grated potatoes with a bit of cream of tartar to slow down the discoloration. Drained the grated potatoes and tried to squeeze out some of the liquid. Added them to the grated onion in the big bowl along with 2 beaten eggs, 2 teaspoons salt and pepper. Mixed everything really well, then added 2 tablespoons matzo meal and let it absorb. The mixture still seemed too liquidy so we added another 2 tablespoons. You want the batter to be not too wet and not too dry. In a dutch oven, got two tablespoons canola oil very very hot, then added heaping spoonfuls of the batter, smooshed it down into a pancake shape. Allowed them to get crispy and browned (maybe 2 minutes?), then flipped sides. Removed to a paper towel lined dish to keep warm in the oven. Added another tablespoon of canola oil, and repeated the process. I got about 3-4 pancakes per batch in my dutch oven, which is not that large. I layered the pancakes between paper towels as they drained to offset the shocking amount of oil.

Potato pancakes are particularly delicious with sour cream and applesauce. I don't think amateurs should attempt making sour cream, but applesauce is pretty easy. I peeled and diced 5 Pink Lady apples (any softish apples will do--Jeremy thinks Braeburn apples would work well also) and put them in a pot with juice of 1 lemon. Added enough water to be visible but not to cover--maybe 3/4 of a cup. Brought to a light boil and covered partially, stirring pretty often for about 8-10 minutes, then uncovered and turned down the heat. The apples should be getting pretty mushy. Added 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, a tiny pinch each of nutmeg and cardamom, and about 5 whole cloves. Let it cook down some more, then turned off heat and kept it covered until everything else was ready. You kind of have to eyeball it--when it looks like applesauce, it's probably done.

We also had a roast chicken, but I have covered that at least twice already. You know the drill--salt, pepper, 400 degrees, flip flip flip. Let rest. The only difference was that I put the separated cloves from about a head and a half of garlic in the bottom of the pan to roast during the last 20 minutes.

We put up our Christmas tree. It looks great.

Lentils and bacon

I made this last Sunday and have done very little else since. I guess I've been busy but it doesn't really feel like it.

Minced about 8 slices of thick-cut bacon and cooked over medium heat until crispy. Set aside bacon pieces and drained off most of the fat (reserved it in case pan got too dry). Sauteed 1/2 minced onion in remaining fat over low heat until very soft but not browned. Added 2 chopped celery stalks and 1 diced carrot and continued to sauté until all was soft, about 5 minutes. Added 3 minced garlic cloves, a pinch red pepper and 2 cups green lentils. Added a little of the reserved bacon fat and mixed everything up together. Added 2 bay leaves, then about half of a 32 ounce can of peeled, whole, plum tomatoes and their liquid, mashing them up somewhat. Added about 3 cups of chicken stock, brought everything to a simmer then turned down the heat and covered, stirring occasionally but mostly reading catalogs and drinking Newcastle. After about 15 minutes, the lentils still weren't soft enough but most of the liquid had been absorbed, so I added about 1/2 cup of water and a little of my Newcastle. Stirred in the reserved bacon pieces. About 15 minutes after that, the lentils became soft and most of the liquid was absorbed. Turned off the heat and stirred in about 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar to finish.

Mixed grill

It was at least 75 degrees out yesterday and sunny, and I saw our neighbors grilling. In a fraction of an instant, poles reversed from probably not cooking to definitely cooking. Despite that we had just brought a ton of food home with us from our trip to New Jersey, despite that we were considering going to the delicious Los Hermanos for dinner, despite that I was still on the fence about even going to the grocery store that day, I had no choice: must grill out for dinner.

I cut two whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts into halves to make 4 breasts. I made a marinade of juice of 1 lemon, 1/4 cup olive oil, a ton of fresh black pepper (maybe 2 tablespoons? I didn't measure, just ground it for ages), 1 teaspoon salt, and 3 minced garlic cloves. I added the chicken and shook everything together in a secure tuppertype container. Actually, I shook it so hard that it sort of emulsified and I felt kind of faint. I left it to marinate at room temperature for about 30 minutes then put it in the fridge for another 30 minutes before grilling, shaking it up fairly often. Meanwhile, I sliced 2 large, red bell peppers into strips of at least 1" thick, and 1 red onion into thick rounds, separating the layers into rings. Cut 2 sweet potatoes in half widthwise, then sliced the halves into pieces about 1/4" - 1/3" thick. Steamed the sweet potato pieces until they were a bit more than halfway cooked through, then removed to the same plate as the rest of the vegetables. I had a tiny bit of red onion left so I shredded it very fine and sprinkled some on top of the sweet potatoes while they steamed. Splashed the veggies with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, a tiny bit of salt, at least 1 tablespoon fresh black pepper, a little worcestershire, and tossed so that they were covered. Somehow I managed to keep the different vegetables from mixing together, while yet mixing the marinade; don't know how I managed that. They marinated for about 30 minutes at room temperature, then I took chicken, veggies and a beer to the back porch and found that my coals were finally ready on the grill. I use an all-natural hardwood type of charcoal from Whole Foods that burns really hot (sorry Charles--it's not Kingsford. Send me some for free, then I'll use it. Maybe). I put the chicken breasts around the perimeter of the grill, turning them often to mind that they didn't burn up. The red peppers were grilled first in the center, flipped often and removed once they became soft and had some nice charring on the skin. Next laid out the onion rings, flipped often and removed once they were soft and had light marks. Then I added 2 teaspoons brown sugar to the remaining vegetable marinade and stirred the sweet potatoes up in that, and then let them grill, flipping once and making sure they got fully cooked and got some nice grill marks. Removed all the vegetables on same platter (but not mixed up) to the oven to keep warm and finished the chicken on the grill until it read 168-170 degrees on my previously lauded instant digital meat thermometer. Removed chicken to same big platter as vegetables.

Jeremy and Melanie came upstairs to hear tales of New Jersey and we ate fudgey cookies with espresso after dinner. They also brought the last of the wine from the pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, and I'd totally recommend it except I've already forgotten what it was.