What's Cooking (Take Three!)

I roasted a 12# turkey on Sunday so lotsa leftovers around here. Some very yummy sandwiches tonight, as the turkey shared its toasted bread bed with Purple Haze (a goat cheese made with lavender and fennel pollen) or guacamole.

[Jenise]

We dined at my brother's on Wednesday night. They made a roast leg of lamb but undercooked it. It was about a 4 lb roast, boneless, so good-sized. It had been out of the oven resting for 30 minutes when it's rareness (blue-rare, some of it) was discovered, so they put it back in the oven to cook for 10 more minutes thinking that would make a difference where in fact in that short amount of time all it had a chance to do was warm up to about where it might have been when they removed it from the oven in the first place but not actually achieve any additional cooking. Which I knew--but all I could do was stand there helplessly. It's not my kitchen, and John (Chris's husband, and the primary cook between them) easily perceives observations as criticism. We ended up broiling slices. Tasted good, but.

Meanwhile, I was on the docket to bring a first course to Bill Spohn's house yesterday for lunch. Wine theme: South American. Bill was making a Brazilian feijado for the main. So what makes something distinctly South American? Well, grilled meats and chimichurri sauces in Argentina, for one. And Argentinian red shrimp are plentiful hereabouts, so a salad involving seafood made sense. And I'd recently seen a supposedly Argentinian carrot salad (carrot ribbons with poppy seeds) demonstrated on Milk Street.

I liked the idea of the sweetness of carrots and shrimp together. And most of the people at lunch had been involved in Bill's famous annual terrine event. So I combined all those ideas on one plate: a bed of arugula topped with a 1" thick slice of carrot terrine (finely grated carrots, cumin seed, saffron, gelatine) surrounded by flame-grilled shrimp with a thick cilantro-based chimichurri vinaigrette spooned about. Took me more than one try to get the carrot terrine right--I tested part grated/part puree, other seasonings (nix on turmeric!!!), and timing on the carrot cook (microwave, covered, no water, 7 minutes) to arrive at a texture that felt grated on the tongue but didn't chew raw. In fact Coop asked me if I'd cooked the carrots--they were so perfectly in the middle that an experienced cook like him thought probably so but wasn't entirely sure. Thank goodness I'd bought 3X the amount of carrot I thought I'd need just so I'd have room to play.

Anyway, it was a great course, exactly right for the occasion.

Tonight we're dining out, so no cooking plans beyond whatever I come up with for lunch.

I got weary of the week-long cold snap yesterday, so I made jambalaya to warm things up.

-Paul W.

Beef Burgundy Stew is on for me tonight. Beef is marinated over night in a good balsamic vinegar. Browned then combined with bay leaves, thyme, garlic, tomato paste, burgundy (using Merlot today), fresh rosemary, beef broth, water, small red potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, a little water. At the end, I mix water and cornstarch to thicken the juices a little. I have also made this with chicken marinated in white balsamic. Served with slices of sourdough baguette, slathered with butter, garlic powder and dried herbs.

I roasted a 12# turkey on Sunday so lotsa leftovers around here. Some very yummy sandwiches tonight, as the turkey shared its toasted bread bed with Purple Haze (a goat cheese made with lavender and fennel pollen) or guacamole.

That sandwich sounds out of this world good!

[Jenise]

Karen, love beef burgundy. My next beef 'stew' is going to be a beef guazetta, which may not be the right spelling, but phonetically that's how it sounded. The dish comes from the mountain region of northwest Italy and I watched Lidia Bastianich do it on one of her shows. The sauce is essentially wine and tomato paste (onions were probably in there too, but I'm not certain) seasoned with cloves. I liked, too, that she cut the beef into fist-sized pieces rather than the small bite-sized bits typical of most stews. And of course, she served it over pasta that got tossed in the sauce first. Nothing earth-shaking in the dish, just that unusual addition of cloves.

Jenise, I'd like the fist size pieces of meat. I had a cut called Dodge City Steak in the freezer that needed to be used. It is basically a very thick cut of Sirloin and I cut it into bite size pieces. Original post called for a lean cut of beef and this was lean. I have made it with filet mignon, and it was delicious. So, if one uses the larger size cut of beef, would a chuck roast be called for, with a longer cook time? One could acutally pull the meat apart then, rather than having to use a knife in the stew?
Not sure I am going to like the cut I used, but it still has a bit more time to cook, which I will do tonight when reheating.

[Jenise]

I love sirloin as rare steak, but find it too lean for stews--tried it, didn't like it as much. I'm pretty sure Lidia used chuck in hers. But you're on my wavelength here--I've done whole, and I've done small pieces but it never occurred to me to use tennis ball size pieces like she did. Not that we need anyone's permission to do anything we want, but I have to admit seeing her do that made me go "Now why didn't I think of that?"

[Jenise]

Karen, I found the ingredient list for Lidia's dish--though I'm sure she put more than just four cloves in her braise, and I don't recall that veal shank (who just has one lying around, anyway). I edited the list a bit.

No instructions came with it but we know how to cook, we don't need them. Once the meat was braised she removed it to a platter and added the cooked al dente pasta to the pan, stirred it in and then added the meat back for another 2-3 minutes of melding. That was heaped on a platter to serve family style and surrounded by the big piece of meat.

16 ingredients
Meat
3 lbs Beef stew meat, boneless
3 2-inch pieces Meaty veal shank (yeah right)
2 tbsp Pancetta or bacon

Produce
4 Bay leaves, fresh or dried
1 cup grated carrots
1 Onion, large
1/2 oz Porcini mushrooms, dried
2 sprigs Rosemary, fresh

Canned Goods
4 cups Chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp Tomato paste (heaping), browned in pan after the meat

Pantry stuff
4 Cloves
1/3 cup Flour (for dredging the meat)
1 Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup Olive oil, extra virgin

Liquids
2 cups Red wine, good hearty
1 cup Water, hot (not sure where this went in)

Jenise, I think 4 cloves would be enough they can very easily take over.

As it happens, I use cloves in my pot roast and it's not a problem.

But, generally speaking, I'm with Barb. I once followed a recipe, provided by Art of Eating, for brasato al barolo. In its heart of hearts, this is pot roast made with fancy wine. Well, there were a lot of seasoning in there and the final step was to whirl some of the cooking sauce in a blender... and what I got was a whole lot of very Christmas-potpourri tasting sauce.

I tried to fix the recipe -- less spices, a second jolt of wine near the end of the cooking time -- but I have just abandoned it. My pot roast is better, or if I have a couple extra hours I can make Julia's boeuf, or if I have some dark beer I can make carbonnade, etc.

Jenise, while the stew was very tasty, I did not care for the cut of meat I used. I hate it when meat is cooked in a bunch of great wet ingredients and it comes out dry to the mouth feel. Luckily, I made just enough for two dinners and will finish it up tonight, with maybe a little left over for lunch. The recipe acturally came from someone who posted as Anne from Boston at Gail's Recipe Swap, she was a new poster and made a great first contribution with a home made beef stock, the stew and another recipe that I cannot recall now. All three were great and I have made them several times. For some reason, I stopped using what is called stew meat at our local meat shop. It was cut to about golf ball size, as I remember. May need to revisit that.

[Jenise]

Good description, Karen, so lean it's almost dry. And that's why I don't use sirloin. Chuck's the best. Though I'll add that whole for slicing after the cook, tri-tip braises beautifully. I know of no one else that uses it, but I do!

Barb and Jeff--yes, you have to be careful with cloves. But I would still use more than 4.

[Jenise]

Well, I've got Lidia's Beef Guazetto on the stove right now sans the flour for dredging (just not needed) and the rosemary (as I chopped my rosemary bush down yesterday and it's all in the yardwaste bin), but pretty much everything else. Still good for testing beef+cloves.

Jenise, me favorite way to cook tri tip is to season it with drizzles of soy sauce, coat it with Montreal Steak Seasoning, and place it on a bed of onions, wrap the sheet pan with foil and cook for a few hours until very tender. The meat cutter was surprised to find out I was doing that, so she tried her own version and loved it. I've marinated and grilled them also. I see a lot of pre-marinated ones now too in the markets, but have not tried that yet.

[Jenise]

Grilling is certainly the classic prep for this cut. Your baked version treats it like brisket, which sounds great. This is a cut I love to have in the freezer--frozen, rubbed with olive oil and garlic salt than put on a grill on lowest temp turns into a perfect rare steak in about an hour. Super low maintenance--no thawing required, and it practically cooks itself.

So last night's braised beef? 10 cloves. Four was definitely not enough.

So last night's braised beef? 10 cloves. Four was definitely not enough.

Season's Greetings!

[Jenise]

Today's meatless Monday. Dinner tonight will be charred broccolini, grits and broiled tomatoes.

We made this fish stew last night for a nice early Sunday evening dinner with 2 other couples…. Super easy to make the day before and then reheat yesterday and throw the fish in… we used a mix of cod and halibut. Also cut up a baguette and brushed with olive oil and then sprinkled a cumin/pimenton mix on the toasts and threw under the broiler to toast up a bit…. yum!!!

Served with assyrtiko (white from Santorini) and some 2008 Tondonia (rioja)

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/101 ... -iOS-share

Made this Saturday night with some spectacular veal from our local butcher. Served over thin spaghetti…..it was DELISH!! The sauce was more nuanced than I expected and the Gorgonzola added a depth and roundness but did not overpower.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food ... 101399/amp

Made a new dish last night taken from a recipe in Waitrose's magazine. It uses 4 ingredients, all (no surprise) from Waitrose. I followed the recipe exactly apart from the 25 minutes given for it. I've learnt that such times are not possible (not by me anyway) so I allowed an hour.

Sausage and Cannellini Bean Stew

The four ingredients are:
- Waitrose 6 Cumberland Pork Sausages400g (seasoned with pepper, mace, nutmeg & dried herbs). See Jenise's thread on British sausages
- Waitrose chargrilled vegetable sauce with olives350g (A sauce made with tomatoes, vegetables, olives and extra virgin olive oil)
- Can Essential Cannellini Beans in Water drained 235g
- Baby Leaf Greens200g

The recipe - for six - required two of each of the last three. There were six sausages so that means each portion would have only one sausage. I decided to do exactly what the recipe said and freeze the excess.

1) Cook the sausages and
2) Heat the sauce in a large pan
3) Drain the beans, reserving their water
4) Add drained beans to the sauce
5) Cut half the greens to bite size pieces, discarding thick stems.
6) Cut cooked sausages into 4 or 5 pieces and add the pan
7) Add the greens to the sauce, stir through over a low simmer
recipe says to steam rest of greens and serve on side - I didn't

We ate probably half the stew. Mrs M was very enthusiastic about it. Next time I'll use pak choi or pointed cabbage or cauliflower florets instead of the greens.

We enjoyed a very welcoming Portuguese red with it

sausages.jpg

sauce.jpg

cannellini.jpg

greens.jpg

Tonight is lamb chops which are pressed on both sides into coarsely crushed black pepper. Sear in olive oil, add beef stock and fresh lemon juce, cook to desired doneness (medium rare for me), then place in a 200 degree oven to keep warm. Continue to cook the sauce, scraping up the goodies on bottom of pan. Let the liquid boil until it is to a shiny glaze, then whisk in butter and fresh rosemary/ Add lamb to sauce and serve. Serving with a sauté of zuccchini and yellow squash sliced at an angle, red onion, garlic, and multi colored cherry tomatoes. Tossed with salt and pepper and freshly cut dill, basil and chives.
I completed a project of moving my herb garden onto the patio. I am tired of walking all the way to the back of the house and out into a garden area for herbs when it is pouring rain, or 110 degrees. Now my most used herbs are in a raised planter box, waist high about 3 1/2 feet long box, they get morning son, some filtered afternoon sun and shade in the hotter port of the afternoon. And they are under the protective eaves from a heavy hail storm or drenching rain.
Here is a link to my new project. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Vita-Urbana-He ... 5002026385
It was a lot of fun to plant with the help of a friend. We had to dig the soil out of another pot, and that took the longest time.

[Jenise]

Made this Saturday night with some spectacular veal from our local butcher. Served over thin spaghetti…..it was DELISH!! The sauce was more nuanced than I expected and the Gorgonzola added a depth and roundness but did not overpower.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food ... 101399/amp

Well you just solved my what-to-serve-for-dinner-Friday-night problem. Funny story: the lady half of this couple called last Wednesday to invite us over for cocktails with another couple to see their new RV and also invite us to dinner alone this coming Friday night. The next day she called and asked if she'd invited us for dinner or just cocktails last Friday? I confirmed the latter, which she revised to include dinner, and reconfirmed that the dinner for us only was still on this coming Friday. Yesterday I got an email saying we'd invited THEM for dinner this Friday, and "I know I turned you down but now I'd like to accept". HUH? What can you do when you're friends except say, "yes, that's great!"

This veal dish will be perfect. Thank you!

[Jenise]

So last night's braised beef? 10 cloves. Four was definitely not enough.

Season's Greetings!

Ha ha! But no, not over-seasoned at all. With 4-6, I couldn't even taste the clove. 10 was enough for a very subtle background level. I love subtle clove, hate strong clove. There's a very popular tea made in Seattle called Market Spice which contains a ridiculous amount of clove oil. I hate it. I know clove oil, the dentist who capped my eight top front teeth used it as a natural palliative for sore gums following the procedures that resulted in my new teeth, and they leaked clove oil for months. No thank you!