Spicy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

While perusing the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine, I came upon a section entitled "International Soups."  I'm a soup-lover from way back, and when I saw the recipe for Spicy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup, I knew I had to make it.  And am I ever glad I did!

Everything about this soup is great.  It is totally restaurant-quality in minutes and it is definitely going into the repertoire.  There's nothing to change, nothing to add.

It was 20 minutes start-to-finish, because I had boiled a chicken yesterday and already had fresh stock and shredded chicken in the 'fridge.  It was just what I needed on this rather chilly day.

Spicy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Ingredients

  •     2 teaspoons canola oil
  •     1 cup sliced mushrooms
  •     1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
  •     4 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
  •     4 garlic cloves, minced
  •     1 (3-inch) stalk lemongrass, halved lengthwise
  •     2 teaspoons sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)
  •     3 cups Chicken Stock or fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
  •     1 1/4 cups light coconut milk
  •     4 teaspoons fish sauce
  •     1 tablespoon sugar
  •     2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 8 ounces)
  •     1/2 cup green onion strips
  •     3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  •     2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Preparation

1. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add mushrooms and the next 4 ingredients (through lemongrass); cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chile paste; cook 1 minute. Add Chicken Stock, coconut milk, fish sauce, and sugar; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low; simmer for 10 minutes. Add chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Discard lemongrass. Top with onions, cilantro, and juice.

Seriously good.

 


Mushroom Risotto and Stuffed Artichokes

Another of the goodies Victor brought back from London was a kilo of Vialone Nano rice.  Vialone Nano is a short-grained rice from the Veneto region of Italy. Nano means dwarf - and it is able to absorb twice its weight in liquid.  It makes for an incredibly rich risotto.

I picked up an assortment of mushrooms at the grocery store today, boiled a chicken just to get fresh stock, and went to work.

I hate to say how easy risotto is to make, because I really do want people to think I slaved over this meal.  But...  I didn't.  It was done in less than 30 minutes.

Mushroom Risotto

  • 1/2 onion, chopped fine
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 1 pound assorted mushrooms (chantrelles, crimini, oyster, porcini, etc...)
  • 1 cup risotto rice (vialone nano, carnaroli, arborio...)
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 3 cups hot chicken stock
  • 3 oz pecorino romano, shredded
  • 1/4 cup parsley, minced

Wilt onion and garlic in a mixture of butter and olive oil.  Add 2/3 of mushrooms, and saute until browned.  Add rice and saute until translucent.

Add 1/2 cup white wine and stir into mixture until almost fully evaporated.  Add broth 1 ladle at a time - about 4oz - stirring until broth is almost fully incorporated before adding next.  after 2 cups have been added, add remaining mushrooms.  You may use 2 1/2 to 3 cups of broth, total.

When rice is almost fully cooked - al dente - remove from heat.  Stir in cheese and parsley.  Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.

Drizzle with white truffle oil, if available.

I do have to admit this came out good.

And to make it even better, Victor made stuffed artichokes to go along with it!

Victor’s Stuffed Artichokes

  • bread crumbs
  • grated parmesan cheese (Maybe 3 bread crumbs to 1 cheese.  Don’t be cheap with the cheese.)
  • Italian seasoning
  • red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper

Trim outer leaves.  Mix all ingredients.

Liberally stuff the breadcrumbs into the artichokes.   Pull the leaves out a bit and really go for it.

Drizzle with olive oil and steam for 35 to 45 minutes.

Drizzle with olive oil again just before serving.

It really was the perfect meal - and there's leftovers for lunch!


Squid Ink Pasta with Truffle Butter

You just know that dinner was a success when, after completely cleaning your plate, you're standing over the skillet sopping up the last remnants of the truffle butter with thick slices of bread.

Welcome to my fabulous dinner!

When Victor was in London last week, he brought me home some goodies from Carluccio's.  Carluccio's is a chain of Italian restaurants and shops in the UK with a dozen or so in the greater London area.  One of the goodies was a jar of Burro al Tartufo - Truffle Butter.  I've been looking at it in the cabinet all week, trying to think of what I wanted to make with it.  It came to me last night.  I didn't want to make anything with it - I wanted Victor to make homemade pasta and use it.

And he did.

Not only did he make homemade pasta, he made half of it with squid ink.  I have died and gone to gastronomic heaven!

This was just one of the most fun - and delicious - dinners I've had in a while.  The sauce was simple - the melted Truffle Butter with a pinch of crushed red pepper, a sprinkling of parsley, and a shred of pecorino romano.

The pasta was amazing.  Victor has the pasta-making down to a science.  I don't think I will ever make it, because he does it so well in such a short amount of time.  It is just perfect.

The basic recipe is:

  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • up to 1 tablespoon water, if necessary

Instructions

On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add egg and egg yolk to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.

Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.

Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.

Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.

With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.

To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.

Victor took half of the recipe and added about a half-teaspoon of squid ink and kneaded it in.  It stained his hands and the counter, but washed up quickly with a bit of soap and water.

After cooking and draining, he tossed it into the skillet with the truffle butter and mixed everything well.

After it was plated, he added just a sprinkling more of parsley and cheese.

I want him to go back to London and buy more of this stuff!

Then, again...  we are heading to Italy in June... I wonder what the limit is for bringing foodstuffs back into the country... And I wonder how much I can have shipped...


Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Orange Sauce

I love sauces.  I've always thought them to be easy to make and a sauce really can make the every-day into extraordinary with very little effort.

Sauces and gravies have a lot in common, but they are different.  A gravy is made with pan drippings.  A sauce is made from anything else.  Sauces range from milk-based béchamel  to emulsified  sauces like hollandaise and Béarnaise, and brown sauces, tomato sauces, or juice reductions like the spicy orange sauce I made tonight. We won't even start with the dessert sauces...

Tonight's sauce came about because I still had a few oranges that needed using.  I squeezed a cup and a half of juice and went to work.  This is really nothing more than boiling down liquids to concentrated their flavor and then thickening it a bit at the end.

Spicy Orange Sauce

  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp whole peppercorns
  • 1 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste)
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp water

Combine red wine vinegar, sugar, and peppercorns in small saucepan. Boil until thick and reduced by half.

Add orange juice and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and continue to boil and reduce by half.  Strain.

Return to clean saucepan and add sambal oelek and orange zest.  Continue to boil and reduce by about half.  Lower heat and add cornstarch to thicken to desired consistency.

The sauce could easily be made vegetarian by substituting a good vegetable broth.

I cut a small pork tenderloin into six pieces, flattened them a bit with my hand and put them into a hot skillet.  I browned one side, flipped them over, and then covered the pan and continued to cook them for about 5 minutes.  They came out perfectly cooked.

The potatoes were cut into thick rings, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a mixture of salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and Guamanian boonie pepper.  (I'm getting low...)  I placed them on a sheet pan and baked them at 350° for about 35 minutes.

We both cleaned our plates...

 

 


新年好 - Gung Hay Fat Choy - Happy New Year

 

It is the Year of the Dragon.  An auspicious year, indeed, for those of us born in the year of the Dragon.  The Dragon is the only mythical animal in the Chinese zodiac.  People born in the Year of the Dragon are healthy, energetic, excitable, short-tempered, and stubborn. They are also honest, sensitive, brave, and they inspire confidence and trust in others. They are the most eccentric of any in the eastern zodiac. They never borrow money, are very straight forwarded and tend to be soft hearted which sometimes gives others an advantage over them.

Stubborn?!?  Eccentric?!?  MOI?!?

39 years ago I was in Hong Kong celebrating the Year of the Ox.  It was February, 1973.  You want to experience Chinese New Year?!?  Go to China!  I've seen many a Chinese New Year in San Francisco, but they pale in comparison.  It was one of the most fun 2 weeks I have ever had.  I think.  We stayed at The Excelsior Hotel, I had a set of gabardine Navy Blues handmade for me, perfectly fitting my 155 pound 19-year old body, we traveled by train and local bus to the Red China border just to say we were there.  I bought a dozen of Mao's Little Red Books and the best harmonica I have ever played.  And ate and drank and took copious amounts of illicit substances.

What a fabulous time.

Right now, this very minute, my brother and niece are in Viet Nam, celebrating Tết Nguyên Đán - the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.  Katie is studying in Viet Nam for a while and Mike went over with her for a couple of weeks to travel the country.  I hate them both.

But 39 years after that Hong Kong New Year, here I sit after cooking up a pretty good Chinese dinner to mark the occasion.  I've said many time before that Chinese cooking has never been a strong point for me.  I grew up with Chinese restaurants on every other corner.  Even bad restaurants were good.  Why cook when I could pick up the phone and have fabulous and ridiculously inexpensive Chinese Food Delivered?

But fabulous (and ridiculously inexpensive) Chinese restaurants are in short supply in our present neighborhood.

Victor had mentioned earlier that he wouldn't mind having fish for dinner so I thought a simple steamed fish would be good.  We had Shu Mai in the freezer.  All I needed was a noodle dish.

I found a recipe for a fried noodle pancake.  I didn't have all of the ingredients listed, but I liked the concept.  I decided to see if I could wing it.

The one thing I did have were actual Chinese noodles.  Far too many times I've tried to use spaghetti in place of Asian noodles.  They don't work.  These worked!

It did not easily slip out of the pan so I could easily flip it over.  Oh well.  It tasted good.

Crispy Noodle Pancake

  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp cold water
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tablespoon oriental sesame oil
  • 1 16 oz can bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
  • 8 ounces Asian noodles
  • 4 tbsp neutral oil, divided
  • 2 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 1 carrot, cut into matchstick-sized strips
  • 1 stalk celery, sliced thin
  • 8 oz ground pork
  • 4 oz bottled Szechuan sauce

Mix cornstarch,m water, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil.  Set aside.

Cook noodles according to package instructions.  Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in large skillet.  Add pork and cook until no longer pink.  Add leeks, carrots, garlic, ginger, and celery and cook a few minutes.  Add noodles and bean sprouts and heat through.  Add soy sauce mixture and Sezchuan sauce and heat through.

Cool.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy skillet.  Add noodle mixture and cook, pressing down on noodles to compress, until bottom is browned - about 5 minutes.  Flip out of pan, browned side up, add 2 tbsp oil to pan, and slide back into pan,  Continue cooking another 5 minutes.

Slide onto platter, cut, and serve.

For the fish, I marinated cod fillets in rice wine for about 5 minutes and then layered it in a steamer basket.  Meanwhile, I sauteed carrot matchsticks, julienne ginger, leeks, and black sesame seeds.  When it was all barely-wilted, I added Sambal Oelek - chili paste.  I steamed the fish and the thawed Shu Mai for about 6 minutes.

It may not have quite equaled one of those legendary meals in Hong Kong (and there were some legendary meals in Hong Kong!) but it served its purpose well - and there's enough for a good lunch tomorrow!


Beefy Onion Soup

I love onion soup.

I almost don't even mind the amount of time it takes to make.  Almost.

The key to making a good batch of onion soup is caramelizing the onions - and that takes time.  There are no short-cuts.  It's just a long, drawn-out cook-and-stir-and-watch-and-stir.

Another key factor is, of course, the onions.  I usually use a combination of sweet and yellow onions.  I like the balance the two types give the soup.  All sweet is - too sweet.  All yellow means I need to add a few tablespoons of sugar.  50-50 is how I like it.

Another consideration is how the onions are sliced.  Slicing the onions in half-moons may look pretty, but they disintegrate.  Slicing the onions pole-to-pole gives the best result.

I'm also a beef-and-onion soup person.  Using beef broth is very traditional.  Putting in cubes of beef is not.  But... I'm not exactly traditional. I don't always go with the crouton and cheese, either.  Last night I just made a loaf of beer bread to go along with it.

Beef and Onion Soup

  • 1/2 lb butter
  • 4 lbs yellow onions
  • 4 lbs sweet onions
  • 2 lbs beef cubes
  • 4 qts beef broth
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Slowly melt butter in large pan.  Add sliced onions and slowly cook until golden brown and caramelized.  This is a process and can easily take an hour or more.

Meanwhile, brown beef cubes in another pan.

When onions are caramelized and looking beautiful, add beef cubes, broth, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer until beef is tender and broth has reduced by about 25%.

Check again for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.

If you like, you may serve it with croutons and gruyère melted on top.

As I mentioned, I made a quick beer bread to go along with the soup.  Fresh bread in an hour.  Gotta love it.

George's Beer Bread

  • 3 cups self-rising flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar (raw sugar works best)
  • 12 oz beer

Use a 4″ x 8″ bread pan. Mix and bake at 350° about 1 hour. Top with melted butter before baking.


Spaghetti with Red Clam Sauce

After almost a week of playing bachelor, it's good to be eating regularly, again.  Victor was in London and I was busy redoing the basement. I have to admit that my eating habits just aren't all that great when I'm home alone.  Somehow, the joy of cooking just isn't there.

At least this trip I didn't subsist solely on chili dogs.  I made a huge pot of vegetable beef soup and ate it every day - along with the occasional hot dog, burger, and chicken salad sandwich.  And, I tried my hand at some junk food.  We will call it a fail.  On Monday, I did my normal shopping for Victor's mom at the local Acme.  I saw a small Vanilla Cake in the in-house bakery and thought what the heck.  It was a vanilla cake with a sugar glaze. I brought it home, cut one slice, took one bite, and threw it out.  I wasn't expecting something overly fantastic, but geeze - it really sucked.  It's nice to know that as low as they may be, I still have some standards!

So everything is back to normal and Victor is back in the kitchen on Saturday while I'm at work.  And I am pleased.

Tonight I walked in to spaghetti with a red clam sauce.  A simple throw-together sauce of garlic, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, canned clams (and about a cup of clam juice), a splash of pasta water, and about a half-cup of shredded romano cheese.

Really simple, with a ton of flavor. Just what I needed on a cold, wintry night.

He has another trip scheduled for February.  I'm thinking a big pot of turkey soup will be in order...

And another project.....


Simple Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff may be one of the easiest dishes to make.  Really.

It's a toss-together-in-a-skillet dinner that can be on the table in 10 minutes.  I really love it - and don't make it nearly as often as I should.

It's a cold-weather dish, for sure, which makes sense since it originally hails from Russia.  The original 1800's recipe called for beef cubes in a mustard and beef bouillon sauce with sour cream.  The 1938 Larousse Gastronomique (I had a 1961 English edition.  No idea what ever happened to it...) listed it as being made with beef strips and either mustard or tomato paste.  It was wildly popular in the 1950's and 1960's and least one restaurant I worked in (Red Chimney?  Val's? Too long ago to really remember) made it with tomato paste.  Served over rice.  I've always preferred it with mustard over noodles.

Simple Beef Stroganoff

  • 1 small onion, large-dice
  • 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
  • 12 oz beef, sliced thin
  • 1/4 cup marsala or other wine
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • pinch sage
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Saute onions and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil and butter.  Add beef strips and cook.  Add marsala and bring to a boil.

Lower heat and stir in sour cream, mustard, and sage.  Taste and add salt and pepper, as desired.

Serve over buttered noodles, rice, mashed potatoes...

I made a slight variation tonight.  I had some whole red potatoes that were left over from Monday's pork roast, so I sliced them and added them to the sauce.

Fast food done right.

 

 


Pork Loin Leftovers

The pork roast from last night was re-purposed tonight.  When I was cooking it yesterday, I was trying to figure out a meal for today. We're a waste-not-want-not kinda place here.  No-regrets shopping.  We buy it - we eat it.  It makes for some interesting meals now and again.

Winter is good because a pot of soup or a casserole can hide a multitude of sins.  Spring and summer salads hide the fresh bounty.

It works for us.

So tonight, the leftover pork simmered in a bottle of store-bought BBQ sauce and served on little rolls was the perfect leftover meal.  Store-bought frozen french fries completed the plate.

Yes, even moi takes shortcuts now and again.  I don't always have to grow and mill the wheat and bake the bread in order to make a sandwich.  Not every time, anyway.

I have to get lots of good eating in this week because Victor is heading to London on Sunday for 5 days.  My otherwise stellar eating habits go straight to hell when he takes off for a business trip.  Cybil and I live on chili dogs and corned beef hash with fried eggs for days on end.

The other part of his going away for a few days is coming up with a secret household project while he's gone.

I have a couple in mind right now...

Stay tuned.....


Pork and Figs

When I was grocery shopping last week, I came across a tub of bone-in pork roasts.  It was January 2nd - the pork-and-sauerkraut-for-New-Year's folks had bought what they needed.  These were the leftovers and they were practically giving them away.  I picked up a 6lb roast for next to nothing and immediately put it in the freezer.  I had no idea what to do with it...  I think in all my years, I had never cooked a pork loin blade roast.

I decided that needed to change, today!

I also needed to do a bit of research.  I'm fairly confident in the kitchen, but the prospect of actually creating something good improves immensely when I know what the hell I'm dealing with.

First was to find out exactly what a pork loin blade roast is.  A quick look in an ancient cookbook stated: The pork loin blade roast is part of the loin closest to the shoulder.  It contains part of the blade bone, rib bones, and backbone. It also contains a large loin eye muscle surrounded by several smaller muscles. It is usually prepared by roasting or braising.

Perfect.  Now I needed a recipe.

I looked through a few cook books and magazines but didn't see anything interesting, so i headed over to Epicurious.com.  I immediately saw a recipe for a Fig and Rosemary Pot Roast and knew I had my dinner for tonight!

This was a really easy meal to put together.  It took all of about 10 minutes to get things in the pot and then it braised in the oven for a couple of hours, completely unattended.

It was savory with just a hint of sweetness from the figs.  The recipe called for  Calimyrna figs.  I used Mission figs as they are my favorite and I always have them on hand.

Fig and Rosemary Pot Roast

Bon Appétit | October 2004

Bone-in cuts (like this pork loin roast) require a longer cooking time, but the payoff is big flavor and succulent meat. The meat closest to the bone is always the juiciest, and bone marrow enriches the sauce as the roast cooks.

Yield: Makes 6 servings

ingredients

  • 2 cups dry white wine
  • 1 8-ounce package dried Calimyrna figs, stemmed, halved lengthwise
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 6-rib blade-end or center-cut pork loin roast, chine bone removed, ribs cracked
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 14-ounce can low-salt chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

preparation

Preheat oven to 300°F. Bring wine and figs to boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat and let stand until figs soften, about 15 minutes. Drain figs, reserving wine and figs separately.

Meanwhile, heat oil in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add pork to pot and cook until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Transfer pork to platter.

Add onion and carrot to same pot. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until onion is golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Stir in rosemary and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add broth and reserved wine.

Return pork to pot, meat side down. Bring to boil. Cover and transfer to oven. Bake until thermometer inserted into center of roast registers 150°F, adding figs during last 10 minutes of roasting, about 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer pork to cutting board. Using slotted spoon, transfer figs to small bowl. Tent pork and figs with foil to keep warm. Spoon fat from surface of sauce. Bring sauce to boil. Stir butter and flour in medium bowl to blend. Whisk 1 cup sauce and mustard into butter mixture. Whisk mustard-butter mixture into sauce in pot. Boil sauce until thickened and slightly reduced, about 8 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer pork to platter, surround with figs, and pour sauce over. Carve pork between rib bones.

Came out great.  I have to admit I wasn't totally sold on the mustard, but it really did add a nice flavor.

Thank you, Bon Appetit!

 

 


Breakfast Bruschetta

The other day Victor was flipping through channels and found Rachael Ray making an open-faced sandwich of sorts with pesto, roasted peppers, and fried eggs on top.  We didn't really catch the whole thing, but the gist of it was toasted inch-thick Italian bread spread with pesto, red peppers, and whatever else.  Intriguing, to say the least.

I have to admit that a lot of Rachael Ray's recipes do not have me running into the kitchen saying I have to try this.  She's a very good cook and I enjoy her shows, but a lot of things just don't seem like recipes to me.  I'm not really her target audience.  And if it hadn't been for the combination of pesto and fried eggs, I may have passed this one over, as well.  But it really did intrigue me.  I definitely wanted to try this one!

I searched all over for the recipe - but couldn't find it, so I decided that I had the basics, I'd just create something.  I think she even said something about topping it with different things, using it as a hangover cure... In typical Tim-fashion, I was staring at the plate trying to deconstruct it more than I was listening.

And what a yumlicious something, it was!  A definite surprise hit.

I grilled inch-thick slices of Italian bread and spread them with homemade pesto. (We just happened to have some in the freezer from our bountiful summer crop of basil!) Atop the pesto went roasted red peppers.  On top of the peppers went slices of fresh mozzarella cheese.

That went under the broiler for the cheese to melt.  Meanwhile, I fried the eggs.

I topped the mozzarella with crispy-fried cubed pancetta and slid the eggs atop.  A few extra pieces of pancetta went atop the eggs.

And some fried hashbrowns on the side.

This was definitely a keeper.  The pesto was just perfect with everything.  It came through with every bite, but wasn't overpowering.  It was definitely the "unexpected" flavor in the dish - and it would not have been nearly as good without it.

There are just a million different things one could do with this.  Sauteed spinach or arugula would be great.  Paper-thin slices of ham or prosciutto...  any number of cheeses... But the pesto will always take center-stage.

It rocked!

Thanks for a great idea, Rachael!

 

 


Swiss Steak

Alton Brown's Swiss Steak

 

Back in 1975 (that would be 37 years ago for the numerically-challenged) I moved to Lake Tahoe and started working as the cook for the Old Post Office Coffee Shop in Carnelian Bay.  Carnelian Bay is on the North Shore, and back then wasn't much more than a wide spot in the road.  The Old PO was mainly a local's hangout although the weekends and summer saw a big increase in tourists.

It was a great job for a guy in his mid-20's.  We lived in Tahoe Vista and I either walked or hitch-hiked the three miles to work in the morning, usually smoking a joint along the way before my 4:30am shift.  (It was the '70s.  One was expected to do things like that in the mountains...)

We had fairly extensive breakfast and lunch menus - and I had free reign to create the Daily Special every day.  One thing I came up with one snowy day was a Swiss Steak - Cube steak simmered in an onion and mushroom brown gravy and served over egg noodles.  It proved to be really popular.  So popular, that it became a weekly Daily Special.  We had a great butcher who I could call up and order anything I needed.  He'd send over the beef, I'd pound flour into it and then fry it in bacon grease. Oh, yum.

I didn't have a recipe then, and I don't have a recipe now.  It's one of those things I make in my sleep.

And tonight, I decided it was time to wake up.

37 years is long enough to be making the same dish.  I went to Alton Brown for inspiration.  Alton's website is a lot easier on this soon-to-be 60 year old body that one of those aforementioned joints of days gone by would be.  Sweet youth, indeed!

I started reading the ingredient list and he nailed me at Smoked Paprika.  I found my wake-up recipe.

Alton Brown's Swiss Steak

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds beef bottom round, trimmed of excess fat
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon drippings
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  •  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 1/2 cups beef broth

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325°.

Cut the meat with the grain into 1/2-inch thick slices and season on both sides with the salt and pepper. Place the flour into a pie pan. Dredge the pieces of meat on both sides in the flour mixture. Tenderize the meat using a needling device, until each slice is 1/4-inch thick. Dredge the slices on both sides once more and set aside.

Add enough of the bacon drippings or vegetable oil to just cover the bottom of a 4 to 5-quart Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the steaks to the pan, being careful not to overcrowd. Cook until golden brown on both sides, approximately 2 minutes per side. Remove the steaks to a plate and repeat until all of the steaks have been browned.

Remove the last steaks from the pot and add the onions, garlic, and celery. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Next add the tomatoes, paprika, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and beef broth and stir to combine. Return the meat to the pot, submerging it in the liquid. Cover the pot and place it in the oven on the middle rack. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the meat is tender and falling apart.

I followed the recipe pretty close, although I only used half the meat - there are only two of us, after all, and neither of us had a case of "the munchies."  I also cooked it uncovered in the oven for about half the time - the meat I used was already tenderized.

It was better than I expected and is going to be the new "go-to" Swiss Steak for the foreseeable future.

Thanks, Alton!

The Old Post Office is still there serving great breakfasts and lunches...