Spiced Beef Cornbread Cobbler
I thawed some burger yesterday, but didn't want any of my basic burger dishes. I hit epicurious.com and found this:
Spiced Beef Corn Bread Cobbler
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 pound ground beef chuck
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 (14- to 15-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
- 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 ounces coarsely grated sharp Cheddar (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly oil a 9 1/2-inch (6-cup capacity) pie plate.
Cook onion in 2 tablespoons oil in a deep 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until edges are golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add beef and cook, breaking up large lumps, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add sugar, spices, and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juice and briskly simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup, 8 to 10 minutes.
While beef simmers, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, egg, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a small bowl, then stir into cornmeal mixture until just combined. Fold in 1/2 cup cheese.
Spoon cooked spiced beef into pie plate with a slotted spoon, reserving juices in skillet. Skim off and discard fat from juices if desired, then pour juices over beef in pie plate.
Spoon 4 mounds of corn bread batter over beef, then sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons cheese over batter. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted into center of corn bread comes out clean, 15 to 25 minutes.
Serve cobbler warm.
It was actually pretty good! I used a quarter teaspoon of some really great Guamanian hot pepper we got from Marie's nephew, Jay, and it was juuuuust this side of fire. It was most excellent!
It took a lot of willpower not to keep going back for more - and more - and more! perfect comfort food on a cold night!
Beef Wellington and Christmas Pudding
One of the fun things about working in a (relatively small) grocery store is seeing all of the food come in every morning. The cheeses, the breads, the meats... all of it gets my creative gastronomic juices flowing. As I'm stocking the different products, any number of fantastic dishes and menus are formulated.
Most of it is fantasy - I don't follow through with most of the extravagant things my over-active mind comes up with - but every now and again something clicks and sticks. Tonight's dinner is a perfect case in point.
I was stocking the fresh meat yesterday when I spied two absolutely perfect filet mignons. That in itself is not unusual - our steaks are pretty good. What was unusual is that I immediately grabbed them and put them aside for myself. My immediate thought was individual beef wellingtons. I haven't had or made beef wellington since I made it for Linda and David almost one year ago to the day! That dish was Julia Child's classic. This one was a bit of Julia and a bit of Tim.
Beef Wellington
- 8oz mushrooms
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 shallots
- 2 slices cooked bacon
- 1/4 cup brandy
- 1/2 cup red wine.
Finely dice the mushrooms, shallots, and bacon. (I used my trusty food processor.) Saute the mushrooms and shallot in butter until dry. Add the brandy and cook until dry. Add the red wine and - you guessed it - cook until dry. Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Set aside in refrigerator to chill.
Salt and pepper filets and place them in a HOT skillet and sear both sides. Seconds, only. Into the refrigerator to chill. You want everything cold when you put it together.
I used half of a puff pastry sheet per filet, rolling it a bit thinner to be able to wrap completely around the steak.
In the center of the pastry, I spread half of the duxelle and then topped that with some duck liver pate our friends Nancy and Leigh-Ann gave to us a while back. (Our kitchen cabinets are a fascinating story unto themselves...)
I wrapped the steaks and placed them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and brushed them with a bit of egg yolk and water. Into the 'fridge to chill.
Then I started the:
Duchesse Potatoes
- 1 large russet potato
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 egg yolk
- salt and pepper
Peel and boil the potato in salted water until done. Drain. Add a tbsp of butter and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Mash really good. (I used a hand mixer.) Add the egg yolk and whip it all together.
Place in pastry bag with a big star tip. Pipe mounds onto a parchment-lined pan.
The Sauce
Julia Child starts her sauce from the marinade. I didn't marinate the steaks, so I took the basic ingredients and boiled them all together:
- splash olive oil
- 2 shallots
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- pinch thyme
- pinch sage
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 allspice berries
- 6 peppercorns
- pinch salt and pepper
- 1 cup dry vermouth
- 1/3 cup brandy
- 2 cups red wine
- 2 cups beef broth
I reduced it all to half, and then strained through a very fine strainer. Back into a clean pot and then thickened with about 2 tbsp softened butter blended with 2 tbsp flour and whisked into the pot.
The wellington went into a 425° oven for 30 minutes. After 10 minutes, I put in the potatoes. Simple math: The potatoes cooked for 20 minutes.
It was downright delicious!
And we have a Traditional English Christmas Pudding for dessert!
This was absolutely delicious! An English couple who shops at the store brought this in for me! We've chatted about puddings and fruitcakes and the like for quite a while and they brought this in, handmade by a ladies group in Kent, England!
I steamed it and then served it with a sauce made of butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, brandy, and an egg yolk.
It was heavenly!
THANK YOU!
Chipotle Brisket
I picked up a brisket at the market this morning and immediately started thinking "Mexican" tonight. Brisket with Chipotle Sauce, slow-cooked in the oven. Yum. Definitely not your Bubbe's Brisket!
Since the local Super Fresh became a PathMark, I've noticed some new Mexican items on the shelves (they may have always been there, but I'm now noticing them because of their remerchandizing...) But whatever the reason, I picked up a can of La Morena Home Made Style Chipotle Sauce and decided to give it a try.
Can we say nice and tasty, boys and girls?!? Great smoky-spicy flavor. I put a bit in the bottom of a shallow covered casserole, added the brisket, poured the rest of the can of sauce over it, put on the lid, and into a 250° oven for about 4 1/2 hours. The smells were wafting through the house. It was great.
Tender, rich, spicy... all of the above. I thickened the juices with a bit of cornstarch - it didn't need anything else at all.
I did use about 1/2 cup of the juices to add to the rice. I also had refried black beans, handmade tortillas, buttered corn, and Happy Hal's Black Bean Bruschetta.
And... there's leftovers
.
Cleaning out the 'Fridge
It's been fun getting creative with what's in the house and not going shopping! Tonight was a really simple affair - Swiss Steak with mushrooms and bacon, rice, and peas.
I had three slices of bacon sitting in the 'fridge from Sunday's breakfast, a carton of mushrooms, there are always frozen peas in the freezer, and rice is an automatic - as is the flour to make the gravy. Instant dinner.
In cooking tonight, though, I realized I was a bit too good at clearing things out... Our dog-sitter, Donna, will be here, as will Victor's mom for a couple of days this weekend. I have to make sure there's at least milk, bread, and eggs - as well as some quick meals for Nonna to just heat and eat. Nonna and Donna. Cybil the wonder-dog is going to be quite spoiled while we're away.
Methinks I shall be doing a bit of shopping after work, after all...
Plus... I plan on cooking Thanksgiving Dinner on the Saturday after... It's our traditional weekend to decorate for Christmas, so I think turkey in the oven and Christmas Carols on the stereo will be the perfect welcome home for us!
Big Beef
I do love a deal And when the local butcher had whole bottom rounds for a mere $1.49/lb, I had to grab one - all 13 pounds of it!
Armed with my trusty knife, I went to work. Within minutes it was reduced to steaks and cubes for brochettes.
It actually took longer to vaccuum seal it all than it did to cut it! And now it resides in the freezer, awaiting another culinary feat!
Hot Taco Dip
I don't often make the items we serve for Demos at home. By the time we've tried it, tested it, and served it for several days, I'm usually looking for something else. There are, of course, exceptions. I would like to introduce you to one!
Jessica and I were working on Saturday and we were trying to come up with something to serve the week of July 4th. We have our July 4th weekend covered (recipe contest winner) but we needed something right before that. We were thinking July 4th weekend party food, and I said "Hot Taco Dip." We have the ability to cook from raw, now, so ground beef was an automatic ingredient. We al;so have wanted to feature our new Corn Chip Dippers - totally yummy Frito-like corn chips that are not only organic, but downright yummy! We spoke back and forth for a few minutes and Jessica disappeared. She reappeared not long after with one of the best damn dishes I have tasted in a long time! It is just wonderful.
I made a batch for lunch today and Victor was swooning! This will definitely be going to my next party - and most likely become part of the lunch/dinner rotation. It can be changed by using different cheeses and different salsas. But here is the perfect original:
Hot Taco Dip
- 1 lb ground beef, cooked
- 1 container whipped cream cheese
- 1/2 jar Salsa Autentica
- 1 cup Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend
- Corn Chips
Cook beef. Stir in cream cheese, salsa, and about 3/4 of the shredded cheese. Place all in an ovenproof dish or bowl and top with remaining cheese.
Heat at 350° until heated through.
Serve with Corn Chips and enjoy!
I ate way more than I should have. My stomach is smiling!
Vaguely Korean
I grew up eating Korean food. And Filipino food, and Chinese, Mexican, Italian... While my father had a bit of a midwestern opinion about certain foods, my mom - the consummate Californian - embraced it all with a flair that could only have come out of the 1960's. Filipino neighbors across the street had me eating Lumpia and Adobo before I could spell them. And we were eating Chinese food at Kwan's on Geary Street when there were only three kids in the family. (Numbers four and five were born in 1957.)
For years I lived up the street from a great Koren restaurant. First time I walked in, I was a bit intimidated with the menu. The waitress, sensing my discomfort, asked if I would trust her. I said YES - and what a dinner I had. From then on, I never ordered from the menu, I just said "Dinner for two" (or three, or four) and food would magically appear. Magic, indeed.
While I have cooked a fair amount of Asian foods in my life, I have never really cooked a lot of Korean. No particular reason, other than bazillion condiments to prepare, and I always had immediate access to a really good Korean restaurant.
That was then, this is now.
Out here in my white-bread Philadelphia suburb, ethnic food of any stripe is difficult to find. Restaurants tend to be a bit more upscale (read expensive) or national chains, which I tend to avoid at all costs. (I generally don't care for cookie-cutter food.)
So, I tend to cook a lot at home. It's good, because i eat healthier, but bad, because I cook for 12 when there's only two of us. Healthy+big portions+quitting smoking=weight gain. Yeah, I'm getting fat.
Which really has nothing to do with tonight's meal. A Korean-inspired beef. "Inspired" because it was about as authentically-Korean as I am, but it did have those great flavors.
I took some thin-sliced beef and marinated it in a pseudo-Bulgogi marinade:
- soy sauce
- sugar
- rice wine
- white vinegar
- sesame oil
- garlic
- leeks
- sesame seeds
- cayenne pepper
- black pepper
Into a zip-lock it went. Onto the grill. Onto the plate. Into my tummy.
I had a bunch of mushrooms in the 'fridge that needed cooking, so I sauteed them in a bit of butter, soy sauce, a splash of fish sauce. garlic, a splash of rice wine... they wre great!
And simple white rice to round it all out.
Now to find some good kim chee!
Bacon Bleu Cheese Burger
Ready for a heart attack on a homemade bun? This was definitely one of my better burgers!
Okay... other than the bacon and the blue cheese (and the avocado) it wasn't really all that bad - I did use 90% lean beef!
Freshly baked buns (I had some leftover dough in the freezer...) beef patty, thick slices of white onion, half an avocado, 3 strips of bacon, sliced tomato, sliced pickles, bleu cheese, and alfalfa sprouts... Pure heaven.
And... since I cooked the bacon on a sheet pan in the oven, I put the fries on the same pan and cooked them in the bacon grease. OMG they were good.
I don't really eat like this often, but when i decide to be bad - I'm bad!
And that burger was g-o-o-d!
Chinese Takeout - At Home!
I had a hankerin' for Chinese food the other night. I really miss our weekly Andy's delivery. Chinese food outside of San Francisco just isn't the same...
So... I decided to do a bit of a noodle stirfry...
First, I marinated the beef in soy sauce, rice wine, chili paste, and lots of garlic. Then I grilled it (Yum all on its own...)
I boiled up some thin spaghetti (Chinese noodles not readily available at my local Super Fresh) and stirfried celery, carrots, red bell pepper, onion, broccoli, garlic, and water chestnuts.
I put them off to the side and stirfried the noodles in a bit of oil, browned them a bit, then added the vegetables back in, along with some Mandarin oranges and bean sprouts. I heated it all through with some fish sauce, rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and onto the platter it went. Beef on top, and dinner was served!
Sides of rice in our new Vietnamese Dragonfly bowls from Cost Plus, and dinner was complete.
Okay - it wasn't nearly as good as Andy's, but it worked! :)
Beef Braised in Guinness
St Patrick's Day... I have a few vague memories of the last time I actually went out on St Patrick's Day. Well over 20 years ago, I was in San Francisco, had just opened up a Westin Hotel, and we had a banquet captain named Sean Hennigan who had just transferred there from Chicago. I showed him how San Francisco celebrates the day - and night... Somehow, we survived...
Fast forward to this weekend...
My cousin, Tom and his lovely wife Barb were in town from Omaha for a conference. They had limited time because of 2 functions they had to attend. After almost 6 years, my schedule had just changed a few weeks ago and I was now working Saturday. I did a quick “I need to leave early on Saturday” plea with work (no problem!!) and made plans to meet at 3:30 at an Irish Pub a few blocks from their hotel.
What we didn’t plan for was it being March 15th - 2 days before St Patrick’s Day. Every college kid and their Italian roommate had put on their green and were packing the city’s three Irish bars. So much for a quiet cocktail and conversation. We ended up at the Bellevue (Park Hyatt) and spent a lot of money for quieter surroundings. It was worth it!
St Paddy's Day was a fun one in my youth, but - let's face it - I ain't no youth, anymore. Today, I'm more apt to want to enjoy a nice dinner than a noisy, crowded bar with beer being spilled on me. Growing older is a good think...
So... we invited Victor's mom over and I made Beef Braised in Guinness.
We came up with this recipe years ago. It's a great dish for parties, because it can be doubled, tripled, or quintupled with ease. It was definitely a huge hit when we had Pop's cousin's from Omaha over for St. Paddy's dinner years ago. They still talk about it! I also brought it in to UCSF one year and it became a staple on the Moffitt Cafe menu for St Paddy's Day. It's a refreshing change from Corned Beef and Cabbage!
Beef Braised in Guinness
- 2 pounds beef steak, cut in pieces
- 3 medium onions, sliced
- 1 pound carrots, sliced into sticks
- all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
- Garlic powder
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp fresh basil, minced
- 1 bottle Guinness
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 cup beef broth
Cut the meat into serving sizes. Pound them to tenderize and for a uniform thickness. Peel the onions and slice. Peel the carrots and slice them into sticks. Place the flour in a dish and mix in 1 tsp of salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic powder. Heat the butter in a sautè pan, add the onions and cook until soft. Transfer them to a large, shallow, greased ovenproof dish.
Dredge the pieces of meat in the seasoned flour and brown. Remove as they are cooked and place on top of the onions in a single layer. Arrange the carrots around them. Add a little more butter to the pan and stir in the seasoned flour to make a roux.
Cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly and scraping up all the browned bits then add the Guinness. Allow to boil for a minute or two, then add the basil, honey and the broth. Return to a boil and pour over the meat. Cover the dish and bake at 325° for 90 minutes.
I made up a pot of mashed potatoes and dinner was served.
Light-years away from those noisy bars, but somehow, even more satisfying...
Potage Français D'Oignon
J'aime le potage! Thin soups, thick soups, as a side, as a meal. Serve me a bowl of homemade soup and I'm a happy boy.
I especially like soups because they're so easy to make and (depending upon the soup) use up all the bits and pieces of whatever I have left over or lying around the fridge or kitchen. Just about anything goes.
Late this morning I was at the grocery store and saw a huge display of onions. Big onions. 2 lbs for $3.00. (Who would have ever thought THAT was inexpensive?!?) So I bought about 8 pounds...
I sliced them up, put a half pound of butter into the pot, added the onions, and let them slowly start cooking. Slowly. Slow is key to properly caramelized onions. I came back into the kitchen every 15 minutes or so, stirred the pot a bit and then went away. They can't be rushed.
After several hours, they started looking like this. Almost there. They had cooked down to about a third of their former volume. Rich caramelized color, and the scent wafting through the house had me going crazy! I knew it was going to be a good batch!
And I was right. It was GREAT!
Burgers on the Barbie
I've had a hankerin' for a burger, lately. One of my most favorite meals in the world is a good, greasy burger - and I mean a real burger, not one of those microwaved things you get at a {urp} drive-thru with clowns or crowns...
So, having the fixin's at home, I set out to create...
I had a package of meatloaf mix in the freezer - the ground pork, veal, and beef mixture - and figured I'm not going to be making meatloaf any time soon (it was another scorcher with high humidity, today) so time to get creative.
I minced half an onion and 3 cloves of garlic, added chipotle powder, a bit of cumin, and a bit of cheddar and caramelized onion cheese, salt and pepper, and formed into patties. (I froze four for another day and time...)
I quartered some baby purple and yukon gold potatoes, added some olive oil and S&P and set them on the grill. When they were about 3/4ths done, on went the burgers... A couple of slices of cheese on top and voila! Dinner!
The buns were dressed with mayonnaise, thinly sliced onion, yellow tomatoes and avocado. I came thiiiiiiis close to cooking up some bacon to add, but resisted at the last minute. The burgers didn't need it!
They were properly gooey and juicy, with avocado and tomato sliding all over the place, making a mess of everything.
I have a theory that the more napkins one needs when eating a burger, the better the burger. We both went through several...
I'm trying to think up something fun for the 4th of July... Our friend Dorrie is coming down from Boston with her 13 year old son to stay with us for a week, and I'm thinking an all-day food fest while lounging around the pool is definitely in order. I'll keep ya posted! :)