Steaks on the Barbie

it was 81° today.  That's BBQ'n weather.

I've gotten a couple of good deals on whole eyes of round, so knife in hand, I've cut up some steaks, cubes, roasts... The freezer is looking good, right now...

These were simple salt-and-pepper steaks over charcoal.  Irish steak sauce on the side.

The potatoes were cubed sweets with a drizzle of honey, butter, dill, walnuts, and raisins.  Baked, covered, at 350° for about 45 minutes.  And baby broccoli.

Simplicity.

The weather is getting hotter this weekend - up to 90° Saturday and Sunday.  Not my idea of pleasant weather.  I'll probably be grilling all weekend...

And for those of you keeping track...  at today's weigh-in, I lost three pounds!  I am now exactly where I started 8 weeks ago.

My mantra really does have to start being *moderation*moderation*moderation*.

Next week.


Meatloaf Sandwiches

I dreamt of this all day long.  A fresh baguette, slices of French Rustic Meatloaf, and a triple cream brie with just a hint of mayonnaise.  It was a dream come true.

Sometimes the most simple of things can be the best - and this is definitely one of those times.

I just can't get over how good this meatloaf is!  I mean, I knew it was going to be good when I first read the recipe.  I just underestimated how much I was going to enjoy it.

This one is a keeper.


French Rustic Meatloaf

Meatloaf?!?  Did he say MEATLOAF?!?

Yes, I said meatloaf.  Victor's all-time favorite meal is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas.  It's his birthday.  Who am I to argue?!?

However... meatloaf doesn't have to be boring - as tonight's dinner proved!

Back in December I found a recipe for a French Rustic Meatloaf that sounded intriguing...  Made with ground veal, ground pork, and ... chicken livers.

I've cooked long enough to know that many ingredients can simply blend into a dish and even powerfully-flavored items such as chicken livers can disappear, leaving an undefinable under-flavor that has nothing to do with its natural state.  And that is exactly what these chicken livers did, tonight.  They added a layer of richness that is totally unrecognizable as livers of any sort.  If you hate chicken livers you could make this and not even know they were in there.  Really.  And if you do make it - don't leave them out.  Really.  Trust me on this one.

A couple of hints for when you make this - and I really do believe that everyone should.   It's that good.

  1. It bakes at 475°.  Starting with a reasonably clean oven would help alleviate the billowing clouds of smoke I had in the house.
  2. Placing the loaf pan on a sheet pan to catch the over-spills will also help alleviate the billowing clouds of smoke.
  3. The recipe states 50-55 minutes to cook.  Mine took closer to 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Rustic French Meatloaf

  • 1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs (preferably from a rustic loaf)
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 pound chicken livers, separated into lobes, trimmed, and rinsed
  • 3/4 pound ground pork
  • 3/4 pound ground veal
  • 1/4 cup chopped prunes
  • 1/4 cup shelled pistachios
  • 2 teaspoons thyme leaves
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Accompaniment: Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 475°F with rack in middle.

Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl.

Cook onion, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in oil in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly.

Purée livers in a blender, then transfer to a large bowl. Add pork, veal, prunes, pistachios, thyme, eggs, bread-crumb mixture, onion mixture, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and gently mix with your hands until just combined.

Transfer meatloaf mixture to an 81/2- by 41/2-inch glass loaf pan (see cooks note, below) and bake, covered with foil, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 165°F, 50 to 55 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes. Cover top of meatloaf with parsley before slicing.

Serve with:
buttered boiled potatoes

Cooks' note:
You can use a metal loaf pan, but the meatloaf will take about 15 minutes longer to cook.

I made some cheesy scalloped potatoes in place of the traditional mashed, but we did have the peas.  I can't totally mess with tradition!

This really was one of the better meatloafs I've ever had.  Totally nontraditional, yet comforting at the same time.

Tomorrow, in honor of its French ancestry, I'm going to bring home a baguette and some triple cream brie.  I think nontraditional meatloaf sandwiches are in order.

And in just a little while...

Birthday Cake.

Strawberry Cream.....


Birthday Weekend Part Trois

Many moons ago, I subscribed to Eating Well magazine.  I liked it so much I bought a cook book from them in 1991 or so.  I used to make one recipe in particular on a fairly regular basis: Northern-Style Shredded Beef With Tomatoes.  It's relatively easy to do and the meat can be used for just about anything - from tacos or burritos to just eating as a snack.

We did a kind of a burrito-with-taco-fillings tonight.  Not exactly traditional, but it was really, really good.

I don't follow the recipe verbatim, but this will give you a good idea of what you can do!

Northern-Style Shredded Beef With Tomatoes

  • 1 lb lean boneless beef chuck, well trimmed and cut into 1 1/2" pieces
  • 1 medium-sized onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 large scallions, chopped into 1/4" pieces
  • 2 ripe tomatoes. roasted or broiled, cored, peeled and chopped, or 1 15oz can tomatoes, drained and chopped
  • 2-3 fresh hot green chilies (roughly 2-3 serrano chilies or 1-2 jalapeño chilies), stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
  • salt to taste

Bring 2 qts water to a boil in a large saucepan, add meat, then skim off any grayish foam that rises the first few minutes of simmering.  Slice half of the onion and halve 1 clove of garlic; add to the meat.  Partially cover and simmer over medium to medium-low heat until the meat is very tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  let the meat cool in the broth.  Strain the liquid and spoon off all the fat that rises to the top; set aside.  Finely shred the meat with your fingers, then dry with paper towels.

Dice remaining onion and garlic.  heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  When hot, add onions and shredded beef and cook, stirring frequently, for 8 to 10 minutes, until well browned.  Reduce the heat to medium, add garlic, scallions, tomatoes, and chilies, and cook, stirring frequently, until tomatoes have softened, about 4 minutes.  Stir in 2/3 cup of the reserved broth, then simmer until the liquid has evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes.  Season with salt.

Makes enough for 10 tacos.  Serves 3 to 4 as a light main course.

I generally use maybe a 3"-4"-thick piece of eye of round and season the cooking water pretty well with onions, garlic, chipotles, cumin, basil, Mexican oregano... Canned tomatoes are easier (and much more flavorful) this time of year and substitute canned chipotles in adobo.  I like the smoky spiciness.

It can be played with and tweaked to whatever mood you're in!

I made a spicy everything-but-the-kitchen-sink rice, and had bowls of iceberg lettuce, black olives, avocado, diced tomato, shredded cheese, salsa, and sour cream to add to the flour tortillas.

Brownies and ice cream later for dessert.

Since Victor's favorite meal is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas, tomorrow's Birthday Dinner is going to be a variation on that theme.

I found a recipe for a Rustic French Meatloaf that I'm going to try tomorrow.  Chicken livers in Meatloaf?!?  Eh.  Why not?!?


Panini

The experiment with the brioche dough to make buns worked!  I patted out the dough on a floured counter and cut them out with a big biscuit cutter.  I let them rise for about 45 minutes and then baked at 350° for about 25 minutes.

They made excellent panini!

Mayo and dijon mustard, sliced ham, roasted red peppers, and fresh mozzarella.

Simplicity.


Blackberry Ice Cream

If ya don't have an ice cream maker, consider going out and getting one!

The recipe comes from Cuisinart.

Blackberry Ice Cream

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups blackberries, sliced
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

Mix blackberries with 1/2 cup sugar and macerate for about 2 hours.

Combine the milk and cream in a Cuisinart® medium saucepan and bring to simmer.

Combine eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a medium bowl. Use a hand mixer on medium speed to beat until the mixture is thick, smooth, and pale yellow in color about 2 minutes.

Measure out 1 cup of the hot liquid. With the mixer on low speed, add the cup of hot milk/cream to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream. When thoroughly combined, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk/cream mixture and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Transfer to a bowl, stir in vanilla, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap placed directly on the custard, and chill completely.

Pour the chilled custard into the freezer bowl and add the juice from the berries. Turn the machine on and let mix until thickened, about 20 minutes.

Add berries and continue mixing another 5 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.


Birthday Weekend Part Deux

What a fun day today has been!  Victor spent the day outside - at the garden store, planting tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and all those bulbs he got from Holland...  General fun yard stuff.  I spent the day being Cinderella, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen floor, cooking dinner...

It was a bit of role reversal.  Usually I work Saturday and Victor does the laundry, cleans the house... does the basic chores.  It's not that I don't do housework, but, for example, we had our vacuum cleaner for two years and one day I decided to do a bit of cleaning.  I had to ask him how to turn it on!  What can I say?!?

So...  laundry properly sorted, washed, dried, and put away (I actually do know how to do all of these things.  Really.) I started on dinner.  Chicken Cannelloni.

Back in the Dark Ages when I worked at Pirro's in San Francisco, we had a great cannelloni on the menu.  I decided to take that old concept and update it a bit.

Chicken Cannelloni

Sauce

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup finely grated Romano or Parmesan

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over moderately low heat. Whisk in flour and cook about 2 minutes.Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat then whisk in salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese.

Filling

  • 2 chicken breasts, minced in a food processor
  • 10 sun-dried tomatoes, minced
  • 1 1/2 cups finely grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 lb ricotta
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp sage
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 6 "no-cook" lasagne sheets

Cook lasagne noodles in a wide pan a few at a time.  Place in a bowl of ice water to cool and stop cooking.

Cook minced chicken breasts in a pat of butter, breaking it up as much as possible.  Cool.

Mix chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, ricotta, egg, sage, and pepper.  Set aside.

To assemble

Cut lasagne sheets in half to make 2 squares from each.

Butter 9x13 casserole dish and cover bottom with 1/3 of the cream sauce.

Place filling in a row along top side of square and roll.  Place seam-side down in dish.  Repeat with remaining pasta.

Cover with remaining 2/3 sauce.  Cover with foil and bake at 350° for about an hour.

I served them with a side of arugula sauteed in a splash of olive oil, salt & pepper.

The cannelloni we made at Pirro's had a much finer-consistency filling.  It really was all ground together and served in our all-purpose red sauce.  This had a bit more texture, a few less ingredients, and served with a classic white cheese sauce.  While I have some fond memories of that cannelloni, I liked this one better.  We both cleaned our plates.

And then I made fresh Blackberry Ice Cream.

It's in the freezer right now.....


Let The Birthday Weekend Begin!

Victor's birthday is Monday.

After being together for almost 16 years, we've finally reached the point where we no longer have to go out and buy tons of ridiculous and/or extravagant presents we just don't need.  Those early years are chock full of new cameras, new sweaters, new this, new that...  but when you look in the closet and you haven't worn the last three sweaters, yet, there's just no reason to get a fourth.  Besides, it's actually good to be sensible now and again.

It does, however, mean that a little extra thought and effort needs to take place to make the special day actually special.

Thank goodness for food!  (Seven bouquets of flowers do not count as ridiculous and/or extravagant!)

To start the birthday weekend, I made a Pork Marsala.  I sliced a pork tenderloin into medallions and pounded and then dredged them in a seasoned flour (salt, pepper, garlic, sage).  I then sauteed them in a splash of olive oil.

I removed them from the skillet and added a pat of butter and then sauteed about 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms.  When they were cooked, I added about 3/4 cup of Marsala.

When it came to a boil, I added the pork and cooked it down a bit.  I then added about a half-cup of beef broth.

Brought it all to a boil and then thickened it with a bit of corn starch.

Rigatoni and spinach on the side.

The surprise part was throwing Victor out of the kitchen after dinner!  Usually, if I cook, Victor cleans and if Victor cooks, Victor cleans.  It's a great system.

Brownies have come out of the oven and I think I might even make frosting for them.

What the hell.  It's Victor's birthday!


Brioche and Beef

 

I've been thinking that the no-knead brioche dough would make great hamburger buns so tonight I did a bit of an experiment...

Using over-sized muffin tins, I made some rolls.  Fantastic tasting.  A wee bit too big!  Definitely no way they could be used as a bun, although I did make sandwiches with them tonight with grilled london broil.  Did I say a wee bit too big?!?  Let me rephrase that...  really too big!  But dayum, were they good!

I made the dough last night using the basic recipe.  I didn't weigh them when I made them today, but I have a pretty good idea of how big they were - a little larger than a jumbo egg.  I'll need to cut the size in half, at least.  I see another experiment in a day or so!

In the meantime, here's what I did for dinner tonight.  Sliced grilled london broil with a chipotle powder rub on the rolls with a green chili mayonnaise.  And fries.

I didn't even try to pick it up.  I made it open-faced and ate it with a knife and fork.

This recipe is direct from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day website.  I have now made it twice and it's completely foolproof!

Brioche dough

(makes about 4 loaves)

  • 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup honey (this is my all time favorite!)
  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours.

The dough can be used as soon as it is chilled. This dough is way too sticky to use after the initial rise, but once it is chilled it is very easy to handle. It can be used to create the Tatin or any of these brioche recipes: caramel sticky buns, grilled fruit tart, Fresh Fruit Muffins, Brioche à tête, apricot pastries and fabulous doughnuts! The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. After that you can freeze the dough.

It's gonna make an awesome burger bun!


Back Home

To quote Simon and Garfunkle: Gee, but it's great to be back home.  Home is where I want to be.

Yep.  So true.

The wedding was a blast.  We had a great time with the family, meeting Jessica's new in-laws, finally meeting my nephew Jacob's wife, Rachael.  And little Phoebe Rose - the sixth to carry the name Phoebe in our family.  I wish we lived closer.

The downside of travel - other than the airports and airplanes which totally and completely disgustingly suck - is not having my own kitchen.  Restaurants are great - but not for every meal every day. Fortunately, we had a local restaurant - not a cookie-cutter chain - by the hotel that had some pretty decent food.  Fresh chilies in my omelette, fresh chilies on a burger... It was great to be back in Civilized California!

So to start counter-acting all of that restaurant food, it's salad-time around here!

Today I made three different salads.  A lentil, a rice, and a pasta.  I'm working on portion control, so I didn't make my normal feed-the-entire-neighborhood-and-the-school-down-the-street batches.  Nope.  Small, reasonable batches.  Enough for dinner and tomorrow's lunch.  I'm workin' on it...

The pasta salad was first.

I cooked up about six ounces of mini cheese-filled ravioli.  I added 3 stalks of blanched asparagus, sliced, a minced green onion, 6 sliced pepperoncini, oil cured kalamata olives, and about a half-cup of red pepper and onion relish and about a half-cup of fig and caramelized onion sauce.  Clean out that refrigerator!

The Lentil Salad started off with about a cup of French green lentils.  I cooked them up and added some golden raisins, currants, walnuts, celery, diced red onion, green onion, herbs d'Provence, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil.

For the rice salad, I cooked up a half-cup of whole-grain brown rice.  To it, I added some walnuts, celery, diced carrots, peas, dill, salt, pepper, and white wine vinegar and olive oil.

They all went into the fridge.

For the salads, I plated some iceberg lettuce and baby romaine, topped it with the three salads and some grilled beef tips.  I made a quick 1000 Island dressing with mayonnaise, chili sauce, and pickle relish.

It's great to be back in the kitchen!


The Last Supper

Well, not exactly, because I rather doubt that pork was on the menu at The Last Supper, but this is our last meal at home for a few days.  We're heading west for my niece Jessica's wedding.

Early.  Really, really, ungodly early.

To add insult to injury, we're flying into Sacramento, so we can't even get a non-stop flight.  Leaving in the dark and having to change planes.  Thank gawd for my iPod and Kindle.  Besides, Jessie's worth it.

So... last meal at home was grilled pork tenderloins.  My dear friend Debbie over at Words to Eat By is writing an article on pork tenderloins and she got me thinking about how much I really do like them.  I almost always have a couple in the freezer.  They are quick to thaw and totally versatile - pork cutlets, pork scallopine, grilled, broiled, baked, and fried.  You name it, you can do it with a tenderloin.

It was also a good choice because we didn't want any leftovers.  Our dog-sitter, Donna (Pals For Pets) is a vegetarian, so leftover pork would be waiting for us when we got home.  Ugh.

I'm not bringing the lap top, so there won't be any blog posts until next week, but I'll try and sneak a few pictures of fun food onto facebook with the phone.

Have fun!

We're going to!


Artichokes

I don't remember the first time I ate an artichoke.  Like many foods, they just seem to have always been.

Artichokes grew just a few miles south of the ancestral home until they were plowed under for the Serramonte shopping center, 280 freeway, and houseshouseshouses. There's a card room in San Bruno called Artichoke Joe's that's been around since 1916.  Artichokes have been around the area for a long time.  They were always on the table in season.  Mom used to put out mayonnaise for dipping, but I wasn't a huge mayo fan in my youth and preferred them plain.  Still do, I think, although I certainly won't turn down a good dipping sauce.

Which leads me to tonight's dinner...

I'm now 3000 miles and too many years away from those artichokes of my youth, but one thing I don't remember are artichokes the size of cabbages.  We're talkin' huge artichokes.  Really huge.

And sweet, and tender, and flavorful.

I loved every one of the million and a half petals that came off as I ate my way to the finish.

Two of them barely - and I do mean barely - fit into a 12 qt stock pot.

I added about 4" of water to the pot and a splash of apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt.  Then covered and cooked for about 40 minutes.

Dipping sauce tonight was mayonnaise with lemon juice and dill, salt & pepper.

And if you happen to find artichokes out there with a nice stalk or stem - cook it, don't cut it all off!  The stem is just an extension of the heart.

It's all good eatin'!