Grilled Lemongrass Beef

Opening kitchen cupboards is always a bit of a thrill at our house.  You never quite know what you're going to find.

I'm pretty good at going through and actually using things, but when I do those wild and crazy shopping treks at places like Assi, there can be a lot of things lurking in the corners...

Like Lee Kum Kee Lemongrass Sauce.

I don't use a lot of jarred sauces, but as I have said before,  Asian cooking slightly eludes me.  These have definitely come in handy!  Asian cooking just isn't as intuitive to me as other cultures can be.  And growing up in San Francisco didn't help matters.  Bad Chinese restaurants are better than most restaurants elsewhere.  Why cook it when you can get it down the street at a great price?  When I lived at 9th and Judah, there was a Chinese bakery 3 doors down from me that had BBQ Pork Buns at 3/$1.00.  There's no incentive to learn to cook!

10 years away from it has me buying jarred sauces.  One of these days I may have to think about honing my skills a bit better.

In the meantime, Lee Kum Kee will have to do!

I had the steak from yesterday all ready to go, so I just sliced thin strips and marinated them in a few tablespoons of the sauce.  Onto a hot grill for a few minutes and Instant BBQ! White rice and broccoli steamed with Asian Mushroom Stew Sauce.  (Sorta like a mushroom soy sauce!)

A really quick and easy - and quite tasty - meal.

 

 


Nutella Pear Tart

Extra pastry dough is a great thing to have around the house.  Especially when Victor is in the kitchen!

We had a mere two pears in the house but he made do with a filling that really worked well!  We had chocolate bars and a jar of the chocolate hazelnut spread I made a while back.  Perfect filling for a pear topping!

Nutella Pear Tart

  • 1 pastry crust
  • 2 pears, sliced wafer-thin
  • 8 oz dark chocolate, melted
  • 1/2 cup nutella
  • 1/4 cup coffee

Roll out dough and place in tart pan.  Bake at 350° about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate.  Stir in nutella and then add about 1/4 cup coffee.  Mix well.  Chocolate may appear to seize.

Spread evenly in warm tart shell.  Cover with thin-sliced pears.  Brush with fruit jam glaze.

Heavenly.


Pasties

I had taken a piece of round steak out of the freezer this morning with no clear idea of what I was going to do with it.  When I got to work, we had the BBC playing on the radio and the idea of making pasties came to me.   Gee.  I wonder where that idea came from?!?

But pasties were on the mind and, I figured I had the ingredients at home.  I love not having to shop.

Pasties for dinner.

For a nano-second I toyed with the idea of buying a pre-made crust but immediately discarded it.  Homemade is better.

And as I was getting ready to chop the beef for the pasties, I saw a pretty good-sized hunk of meatloaf in the 'fridge.  Waste-not-want-not.  The beef went back in the 'fridge and I cubed the meatloaf for the pastie.  Came out excellent!  It really was the perfect way to use up leftovers.

I made a full batch of dough and used half to make four pasties.  Victor used the other half to make a tart.

Pastie Dough

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup pastry/cake flour
  • 2 sticks butter, frozen
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup ice water

Using a food processor, add flours, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.

Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.

Slowly add ice water and pulse until mixed.

Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into two disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.

 

Pasties

  • 3/4 pound beef, chopped
  • 1-2 medium-sized potatoes, small dice
  • 3 carrots, small dice
  • 3 stalks celery, small dice
  • 1/2 onion, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 tsp thyme
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup shredded cheese

Cook vegetables in skillet until almost tender.  Add beef and cook until done.

Add seasonings.  Add heavy cream and heat through.

Remove from heat and add cheese.  Cool.

To assemble:

Divide dough into 4 balls.  Roll each out on floured board to about 8" circles.  Scoop generous cup onto each round.  Brush edges with beaten egg and fold in half to seal.  Use fork to crimp edges.

Bake in 375° oven 35-45 minutes or until well-browned and heated through.

These really were a lot of fun.  Totally different and perfectly filling.

And speaking of fillings... the possibilities are endless!

 

 


Chicken Soup

I am just so over cold weather!

Really.  Over.  It.

And depending upon how Mother Nature decides to play, we may get snow on Friday.  Happy April Fools Day, indeed.

So...  I had a couple of bone-in chicken breasts that would have gone perfectly on the grill tonight - but it was cold outside.  Did I mention how much I am loathing the cold?!?

Chicken soup seemed such a better option, tonight.

I browned the breasts, added 2 quarts of chicken broth and let it all simmer until the chicken was done.

I pulled the chicken out and added a jar of roasted red pepper and artichoke tapinade, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, some dried tortellini, and a bit of pasta.  I cooked the pasta, added the shredded chicken, and dinner was served.

I also made a small loaf of bread since the dough was in the fridge.

The tapenade really added a fun twist to the soup.  Roasted peppers, artichokes, just a hint of tart from the vinegar.

I'm going to have to remember that one...

And, hopefully, this was the last winter-type meal of the season.


Meatloaf and Fresh-Baked Bread

It's still colder than cold outside.  Spring has not sprung.

I have all sorts of plans for the coming warm weather... Lots of salads, of course, but I also want to play with a "BBQ Sauce of the Week" idea... There are just so many BBQ sauce ideas out there that I think it might be fun to see just what I can come up with.  I want to redo the Root Beer BBQ Sauce  - it just didn't have enough of a root beer kick, and I'm thinking different fruits - peaches, definitely - and different chilis, some regional differences...  the possibilities are pretty endless and should keep me busy for a while.

But that's tomorrow - or, next month.  Whenever the weather starts getting better.  In the meantime, it's winter food.  Meatloaf.

Meatloaf is a non-recipe meal, generally.  I just put stuff together and that's that.

But every now and again, I need to do something just a little bit different.  I started hunting through old recipes and found this in an old Gourmet MNagazine:

Meatloaf

Gourmet | February 2008
Ian Knauer

This is the perfect antidote to the Sunday blues, not least because there will be enough left over to pack sandwiches for Monday's lunch. A mix of beef, pork, and bacon ensures meatiness, with Worcestershire sauce, chopped prunes, and cider vinegar added for good balance and occasional suggestions of sweetness. Because the loaf is baked without a loaf pan, there's plenty of well-browned crust to go around.

Yield: Makes 6 servings with leftovers
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 1 1/2 hr
ingredients

  • 1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs (from 2 slices firm white sandwich bread)
  • 1/3 cup whole milk
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 medium celery rib, finely chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 pound bacon (about 4 slices), chopped
  • 1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
  • 1/2 pound ground pork (not lean)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Garnish: cooked bacon
preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Soak bread crumbs in milk in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, cook onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low, then cook until carrot is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, allspice, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Add to bread-crumb mixture.

Finely chop bacon and prunes in a food processor, then add to onion mixture along with beef, pork, eggs, and parsley and mix together with your hands.

Pack mixture into a 9- by 5-inch oval loaf in a 13- by 9-inch shallow baking dish or pan.

Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meatloaf registers 155°F, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Of course, I didn't follow the recipe, but it was my base.

I didn't use bacon, prunes, ground pork, or parsley.  I more-or-less followed the rest of the recipe, using three pounds of ground beef, three carrots and three stalks of celery.

I also didn't bake it in a baking dish.

It really came out good.

And I baked bread.

I've been a bit remiss in my artisan bread-baking and thought it time to get back into it.

The bread is just super-easy to make.

  • 6 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tbsp yeast
  • 1 1/2 tbsp salt
  • 3 cups water

Mix all ingredients, cover, and let rise three hours.  At this point you can punch it down and refrigerate.

When ready to bake bread, cut off 1/4 of the dough and for into a ball.  Place on cornmeal-sprinkled baking sheet or bread peel.  Let rise 30 minutes.  Cut deep slits into dough with very sharp knife.

Preheat oven to 450° with pizza stone on middle rack and rimmed sheet pan on bottom rack.

Slide dough onto hot pizza stone and immediately add 1 cup of hot water to sheet pan.

Quickly close oven and bake for 30 minutes.

You can add different flours to the basic recipe.  I usually do 4 cups white to 2 1/2 cups whole wheat.  Today I did 1/2 cup rye and 1/2 cup buckwheat to 5 1/2 cups white.

It came out great.

 

 


Asian-Inspired Flank Steak

I have a recipe for flank steak that I have been making for years...   It's double-marinated and, served cold, is a great hors d'oeuvre or salad topper, and makes a great sandwich.

I was kinda thinking of that recipe when I picked up this flank steak yesterday, but decide today to streamline the process and just do a simpler single marinade.

Rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, black pepper, and chili paste (sambal oelek.)

And it worked quite well!  Lots of oomph and lots of flavor.

An Asian-inspired flank steak needs an Asian-inspired vegetable to go along with it.  I had green beans and peas in the freezer - the green beans won.  I sauteed a bit of onion in sesame oil, added the beans and a splash of rice wine and soy sauce and a sprinkling of black sesame seeds.

And white rice.  Yes, I know that brown rice is better for you, yada yada, yada, but white rice works so much better with Asian flavors.

I just used up the last of my favorite rice - Lundberg - and none of the local stores carry it, anymore.  It's whole-grain rice with a really rich, nutty flavor and chewy texture. I bought up the last of it when the local PathMark stopped selling it.

However...  the internet and free shipping means I'll be having more delivered next week right to the door. Every now and again, technology really makes me smile.

C'mon Spring!  I'm seeing some nice rice salads in my (warmer-weather) future!

 

 


Chicken with Strawberry BBQ Sauce

A couple of years ago I had a plethora of strawberries and came up with a pretty good Strawberry BBQ Sauce.  I was going through a "let's make a weird BBQ sauce" time.  The Root Beer BBQ Sauce was definitely up there with the weird - but it was pretty good, too.

So...  I had strawberries today and decided it was time for another round of BBQ sauce.  But I didn't want to take the time to make the last variation.  So I made a quick version - and just enough for dinner tonight.

Strawberry BBQ Sauce

  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 1/2 cup chili sauce
  • 1/2 tsp tabasco sauce
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Put all ingredients in food processor and puree.

That simple.

While the original version was really good with a lot of different flavors going on, this one was simple, had a pronounced strawberry flavor, and worked quite well.  Plus it took three minutes to make!

As soon as the weather gets a bit better I think I'm going to revisit the root beer BBQ sauce and see what I can do to make it even more fun!

 

 

 


Chocolate Orange Cake

 

If chocolate cake is my friend, chocolate orange cake is my best friend.  Bestest best friend.

We have lots of recipes for cakes but when it comes to simple, basic, and never-fail, Victor heads straight to his battered copy of the Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book.

Cake-baking is a science, and it can either be a complicated science or an un-complicated science.  BH&G makes in uncomplicated.  Simple, basic ingredients and instructions.

He tweaked the basic chocolate cake recipe by adding orange zest and 1/2 cup orange juice to the batter (and cutting the milk by 1/2 cup.)  The icing is just butter and powdered sugar with orange zest and orange juice.  All fresh-squeezed, of course!

BH&G Best Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

  • 3/4  cup  butter, softened
  • 3  eggs
  • 2  cups  all-purpose flour
  • 3/4  cup  unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1  teaspoon  baking soda
  • 3/4  teaspoon  baking powder
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt
  • 2  cups  sugar
  • 2  teaspoons  vanilla
  • 1-1/2  cups  milk

Directions

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease bottoms of three 8-inch round baking pans or two 8x8x2-inch square or 9x1-1/2-inch round cake pans. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Grease and lightly flour waxed paper and sides of pans. Or grease one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Set pan(s) aside.

2. In a mixing bowl stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder; and salt; set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until well combined (3 to 4 minutes). Scrape sides of bowl; continue beating on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition (about 1 minute total). Beat in vanilla.

4. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to beaten mixture, beating on low speed just until combined after each addition. Beat on medium to high speed for 20 seconds more. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan(s).

5. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes for 8-inch square pans and the 13x9x2-inch pan, 30 to 35 minutes for 8- or 9-inch round pans, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Peel off waxed paper. Cool thoroughly on wire racks. Or place 13x9x2-inch cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly. Frost with desired frosting. Makes 12 to 16 servings.

For the holidays, this also makes a great peppermint chocolate cake by substituting 1 tsp peppermint extract for 1 tsp vanilla.  And peppermint icing, of course!

Love It!


Broiled Salmon and Cauliflower Purée

I knew last night that salmon was for dinner tonight.  What I didn't know was exactly how I was going to make it.

Fish in and of itself is extremely easy to cook.  Almost any fillet can go into a 350° oven for 10 minutes or under a broiler for about 5 minutes.  That's it.  No flipping, no turning.  Done.

And a simple marinade before or a topping of sauce or salsa when it comes out can make ordinary into spectacular.

I went for the marinade and broiler tonight:  Lemon balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and dill.   Under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

The fun part of dinner, though was the cauliflower purée.  I had seen a recipe recently for a scallops with cauliflower purée somewhere, but when I went looking for it today, I couldn't find it.  The only thing I remembered was that it had a potato in it, so...

Cauliflower Purée

  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into florettes
  • 1 russet potato, peeled and cubed
  • milk
  • salt
  • pepper
  • garlic
  • 1/2 cup shredded pecorino romano cheese
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Place cauliflower and potato in pot and add just enough milk to allow vegetables to simmer.  Cover and cook about 15 minutes on low heat or until vegetables can be easily mashed.

When fully cooked, drain milk, reserving some to thin, if necessary.  Add heavy cream and purée vegetables (I used an immersion blender) until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.  Add additional cooking milk to thin to desired consistency.

The salmon went very well atop the purée.  One could taste each of the flavors independently, yet they all blended perfectly together.  On the side was a rice and grain mixture of brown rice, red rice, mahogany rice, black barley, red radish seed, black onion seed, and wild rice.

And for dessert, Victor made a chocolate orange cake with an orange buttercream icing.

More on that, later...


Pork Tenderloin

Tonight's dinner started with a baguette.  I found the perfect baguette this morning and knew that whatever it was, a baguette had to go along with it.

In no time, I thought pork tenderloin.  With sauteed onions and pears.  And a rice medley.  And asparagus.

So I forgot to buy pears.  I got home and decided to marinate the pork in a balsamic vinaigrette and grill it.  I still had a bit of Happy Hal's Balsamic Vinaigrette (it was a private bottling not available to the general public) and it worked perfect.  I cut the tenderloin into six chunks and marinated it for about an hour before grilling.

The rice medley became am Israeli couscous medley and the asparagus got a lemon mayonnaise topping.

Lemon Mayonnaise... Mayo, lemon zest and lemon juice.  How simple is that?!?  Pretty simple.

Dinner was ready in no time.

So it's getting towards the end of March and I'm starting to crave salads.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not cooperating with my taste-buds... A dusting of snow this morning and some pretty cold weather have me wanting greens but thinking soup.

I'm done with winter this year.

 


San Francisco Days San Francisco Nights

 

It was a whirlwind weekend of Fun, Family, and Food.

And what fun we had.  We landed early Saturday morning and, unlike all of our previous visits, stayed at the wharf instead of one of the many hotels dotting El Camino Real in San Bruno.  The Wharf?!?  The Tourist Trap of San Francisco?!?  Yep!  And what fun it was!

My sister Phoebe suggested it.  For the past 10 years we've stayed down the peninsula because it was convenient to the family and, was close to the senior housing where my father was living.  With Pop no longer there, it was time to have fun and play tourist.

It was pouring rain - the forecast was for rain the entire time we were to be there.  Oh well.  I grew up in the city.  Rain wasn't about to dampen my spirits in the least.  Besides, a rainy day in San Francisco is still better than sunshine and blue skies almost anywhere else!

We started the eating frenzy at Pompei's Grotto at the wharf.  My sister, Judy bartends there, and it was the perfect excuse to see her and get together with some of the siblings and offspring.  We only had about 18 for dinner.  Pompei's Grotto is an old-time wharf restaurant.  Unpretentious with great food.  My kind of place.

 

It was noisy and raucous and I didn't take a single picture.  Great cioppino, oysters on the half-shell, and other seafood.  The bill was just under $700.00.  Being that we were there for hours, it wasn't too bad.  It was just a couple of blocks back to the hotel.  We were soaked when we got to the room.  I didn't care.  I was home.

Sunday dawned wet and drizzly, but we headed out to brave the elements. We were still on east coast time.  After a croissant at Peet's and a bit of playing tourist, the weather cleared.

We drove through the city and stopped by our first house on Kirkham Street.  We moved in in early 1995.  It still looks the same.  And still could use a paint job.  It was a great house.

We then headed over to The Tennessee Grill to meet my brother Mike and his family for a real breakfast.

I've been going to The Grill since forever.  Besides being a few blocks away from where I went to high school, it was right down the street from Pirro's where I worked for many years.  It's been owned by the Duenas family since the '60's and Johnny Duenas and I were roommates for a while circa 1974.  The food is unpretentious and good, great portions, and great prices.I had corned beef  hash and eggs over-easy with sourdough toast.  Perfectly cooked.

It's going home every time I walk in the door.

We headed back to my brother's and then down the peninsula to my sister, Eileen's for a few hours of hors d'oeuvres with almost the whole family.

Unbeknownst to us, they were really throwing us a bit of a wedding party since no one could make New Hampshire last October!

Champagne and cake - and presents, too.  I have to admit I got a bit misty-eyed.  It was so much fun.

The food was never-ending.  Tray after tray of goodies kept coming out of the oven, including the family favorite - my mom's Olive Cheese Balls.  No gathering is complete without them.

It's still difficult to realize that all of those nieces and nephews are 21 and older!  Where does the time go?  I was changing their diapers not that long ago and now they're doing shots of Patrón  and actually carrying on intelligent conversations.  It was a great time.  I got to meet my newest great-nieces, Isabella and Gloria, and spend some fun time with the others.  It's great to have a house full of little ones.  And even better to give them all back.

Stuffed with hors d'oeuvres and cake, we headed to Celia's for dinner.

We've been dining at Celia's forever.  While everyone would really love to go elsewhere, it's a guaranteed table for 30.  There just aren't that many places where we can take over.  One day, perhaps.

I actually has a tostada salad for the first time, ever.  My usual combo plate was just too much after eating all day.

Uncle Victor had fun with Madison.

Her daddy just left for Afghanistan last week for six months.  Don't even get me started on that %$#@& war. No one has heard anything, yet.  It's pretty nerve-wracking.

The drive back to the hotel was fun.  I got turned around a couple of times south of Market.  I've been gone for 10 years and the place has changed dramatically.  I used to work directly across the street from Pac Bell Park on King Street back in the mid-'80s.  There's not two streets that are the same.  Oh well.  Native Navigation kicked in and we made it back safe and sound.

Monday dawned clear and sunny.  What was supposed to be a Pacific storm drenching us all weekend went north and south of us.  Perfect weather to take a trek to the zoo!

This was the official portrait when the majority of us first arrived.  More caught up with us as we wandered the trails.

We grew up two blocks from the zoo and listened to the lions roar from our bedrooms at night.  It was part of our backyard and we knew every inch of the place and every way to sneak into the children's zoo and Story Book Land. The '50s and '60s were a great time to be kids in San Francisco.

It's changed dramatically in the past 15 years and the whole layout has been reworked.  It was pretty much a new experience for me.  Not bad.

The little ones had a great time but it was approaching yet another gathering at my sister, Judy's in Pacifica.

Barbecue Time.

More food.  Judy had the grill going in back for chicken and picked up racks of ribs from her friend at Gorilla Barbecue down the street from her.  AWESOME ribs.  Totally awesome.  And homemade potato and macaroni salads, baked beans, sourdough bread... And then five different pies for dessert!  I didn't get any pictures of this food, either.

Talk about slipping!

I really was having so much fun with everyone that the food was secondary.  Everything we ate was fantastic - and not a picture of any of it.

Oh well.  It's San Francisco.  There's no such thing as bad food out there.  It was late when we finally headed back to the city to pack and sleep for a few hours.

The trip ended way too soon and way too early Tuesday morning we were at the airport.

We had the most horrific time with United Airlines that I will never - ever - fly with them again.

Ever.

The worst customer service I have ever had in my life, waiting in a line for 55 minutes and paying a total of $125.00 to check one suitcase that was six pounds over their weight limit was just part of it.

But even the nightmare of dealing with them couldn't dim the fun we had.

And we've already made plans to visit again in October.  Hopefully we'll have more time and actually get to see all you San Francisco friends we missed this trip!

And maybe I'll remember to take some pictures of the food!

And...  Maybe I'll be having too much fun to even think about it.

 


American-Style Kobe Beef Burgers

I just cooked us up some American-Style Kobe Beef Burgers.  I was prepared to say "eh" but they were actually pretty good - and actually worth the $5.99 for two 8 oz burgers.

American Kobe is raised differently than its Japanese cousins.  First off, it's not getting the massages and piped-in music.  The American ranchers are going for genetics and feed more than anything else - and in the case of the burgers, they succeeded.

It's supposed to be high in fat - in Japan they actually call it white steak - but the fat itself is supposed to be better.  It has a higher percentage of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and a better ratio of mono-saturated to saturated fat.

It's still not exactly health food, but it's an improvement.

In other news...  we're off to San Francisco in the wee hours of the morning to see the family.  There's definitely going to be some fun meals there!

Stay tuned!