Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Moroccan Quinoa Pilaf



This week I decided to cook from some other food bloggers. Last night I went with a quinoa recipe from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen blog.

I made a few minor changes due to Whole Foods being out of Kale last Sunday. We had picked up some locally grown Swiss Chard at a market in McKinney, TX called Local Yocal. I also did not have the Herbamare Ingredient but the dish tasted great regardless. I was also low on currants and went with a blend of golden raisins and dried cranberries.

Click here for the full recipe:
Moroccan Quinoa Pilaf



Sunday, April 17, 2011

Embelly White Chili



We had stopped by our favorite locally focused grocery store, Urban Acres, and bought some sweet potatoes. What we did not expect was what kind of sweet potato. Apparently the Japanese Sweet Potato is a white, creamy potato that is very sweet. It has a smooth texture and tasted amazing in a vegetarian curry dish I made.

While looking for more recipes to use sweet potatoes in, my wife follows a good vegetarian blog. Emily Levenson's blog has a post with the most amazing scones that just happen to be vegan. We wanted to try another recipe, this time a vegan soup.

For the Embelly White Chili recipe and other great cooking adventures checkout Emily Levenson's food blog.


Monday, March 28, 2011

Adobo Grilled Steak Tacos



You can buy Adobo from any market, but making your own isn't that difficult and more than worth doing. There is such a richness of flavor and it is a rather simple process.

Here is a taco recipe using a homemade Adobo and grilled skirt steak.

Adobo Grilled Steak Tacos
Serves 4

1 1/2 lb skirt steak
8 flour tortillas
1 large red onion, diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, thinly sliced
2 lemons, cut into quarters

Adobo
3 cascabel chiles
2 guajillo chiles
2 pasilla chiles
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
5 allspice berries
2 cloves
5 garlic cloves
1 inch stick cinnamon
8 black peppercorns

Prepare Adobo by wiping the chiles clean and seeding then roasting chiles for 7 minutes on each side in a toaster oven (or at 350 degree oven.) Place all Adobo ingredients into a blend and blend slowly into a paste. Add a 1 tsp of water at a time to get the right consistency if the 1/2 cup of water does not make it smooth enough.

Rub Adobo into skirt steak and let it marinate for 1 hour or overnight. Cook marinated skirt steak over high heat on a grill. About 10 minutes per side to desired doneness. Remove from grill and slice into small 1/2 inch pieces.

Fill flour tortillas with steak, onion, cilantro, and thin slices of avocado. Plate 2 tacos and include a quarter slice of lemon.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Homemade Ravioli with Ricotta and Asparagus



This dish was requested by my wife. Years ago before we had our twin boys I had made this dish one evening in Northern Michigan staying at my in-laws cottage in Lake Leelanau. It was in my Mario Batali phase where I was watching his cooking show on FoodTV and had even had a few meals at his restaurant Babbo's in New York City.

Two key things I learned from Batali during this phase. One, don't over-sauce your pasta. Just gently coat the pasta. Two, use fresh pasta because dry pasta just doesn't make a great pasta dish.

I took a course at William-Sonoma's at the Somerset Collection a couple years ago that showed me how to make great homemade pasta using our Kitchen Aide mixer with the optional pasta attachment.

Basic Pasta Dough

2 1/3 cups flour
1 cup semolina flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs olive oil
4 eggs
2 Tbs water, plus more as needed

Combine the first three ingredients in the mixer and mix for 30 seconds on a low speed. In a separate bowl, combine the last three ingredients using a whisk to combine.

Pour the liquid mixture slowly in phases to the flour mixture with the Kitchen Aide using the flat beater to combine. Do this until the dough can be formed, but not sticky. Add a little extra water, 1 tsp at a time as needed to get right consistency.

Separate into two balls then wrap in plastic and flatten into discs (see image below.) Let them rest room temperature for 30 minutes.


Dust a cutting board lightly with flour. Cut off a 1/4 of a piece from the wrapped discs of pasta dough and roll out with a rolling pin in a rectangular shape until flat enough to go through the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment on setting #1 (thickest setting.)

Have the pasta pass through the extractor each time lessening the number by one until you pass it through on #7. Fold the pasta over two times and then repeat the process two complete times and now you should have a long, almost see-through piece of pasta. Cut and set aside.

Repeat this process with remaining pasta dough.


Cut each pasta sheet so that you can fold over a piece with a dollup of the ricotta mixture. To make the ricotta mixture combine 1 cup of ricotta cheese, 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and blend with a fork. Place 1 teaspoon of mixture on each pasta square. Wet the edges with a little water and seal each ravioli.


Bring a pot of water to boil, salt, and cook the pasta for about 5 minutes until tender.

In a separate saute pan make the sage butter sauce.

Sage Butter Sauce

5 Tbs of butter
3 Tbs of chopped fresh sage (do not use dried)
salt and pepper to taste

Add the butter and brown it on medium-high heat. Once all melted and getting a dark color add the sage and cook for 15 seconds and then add the cooked ravioli. Toss in some cooked asparagus too (optional) and serve immediately with some grated Parmesan.

Enjoy!


Friday, March 18, 2011

Sweet Potato and Chard Stew



This by no means is a favorite dish, but it is a good choice to mixup a week's meals with a vegetarian selection that uses a couple vegetables that are not often used - sweet potato and chard. The coconut milk adds a rich flavor and the squeeze of lime juice makes this more of a Spring dish than a Fall or Winter month choice.

Sweet Potato and Chard Stew
serves 4

2 Tbs. olive oil
2 cups yellow onion, diced
1 large sweet potato
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1Tbs. fresh ginger
1 tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. Curry powder
1 1/2 cups water
1 can (14oz.) coconut milk
1 bunch of Swiss chard
squeeze of lime for garnish

Directions:

Warm the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan; add the onion and a bit of salt. Cook while stirring for about 4 minutes.

Add sweet potato, garlic, pepper, ginger, spices and sauté for a minute or two.

Add 1 1/2 cups of water, coconut milk and a bit of salt; bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes, covered.

Add the chard, and continue cooking for about 8-10 minutes until the chard

Serve over quinoa or jasmine rice. I used a quinoa and lentil mixture sold by Trader Joe's


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Slow-Cooked Achiote-Marinated Pulled Pork Tacos



Every cook has shelves and shelves of cookbooks, but most of them ever get opened more than once or twice. Then there are the cookbooks you can't live without. Roberto Santibanez, chef of the NYC restaurant Rosa Mexicano, wrote an excellent book Rosa's New Mexican Table.

I've tried a few recipes before and wanted to get deeper into the book now that I'm in Texas where there are tons of local Mexican grocery stores and amazing made that day tortillas.

So I tried what is essentially Mexico's version of pulled-pork. It's the Slow-Cooked Anchiote-Marinated Pork on page 102 (I wanted to post the full recipe but that's a copyright violation, so pardon my select ingredients that follow as they are more for me to remember what I need to buy at the grocery store in case I failed to check the book. One of the great side-effects of a food blog is that you can pull up the blog's recipes on a smartphone.)

The recipe calls for a 3 1/2 pound pork butt, 10-ounce package of fresh banana leaves, a couple of limes, anchiote paste, and several spices. The pork is marinated for a couple hours or over night. Once marinated the pork is wrapped in the banana leaves in a casserole dish and cooked for 2 1/2 hours.


Above is what it looks like before entering the oven and below is what it looks like after being unwrapped and pulled. Keep all the liquid from the pan as this will be used to coat the pork. Simply pull the pork and place it in the pan with the marinade juices from the oven. Stir and serve the pork with some sliced onions, cilantro and tortillas.


You can also add some hot sauce, but the tacos do not need it and you'll get more of the sour and hot flavor from the pork without adding more heat to the dish.

The shredded pork can also be used for burritos, quesadillas, or use it like BBQ pulled pork and make a sandwich. There should be plenty of leftovers to play around with.

A friend informed me this is also known as Cochinita Pibil.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Bistro Chicken Tarragon


There is nothing as simple and obviously delicious as a recipe that calls for the following key ingredients: chicken, wine, and a fresh herb. Add some broth, butter and a few shallots and you are on your way to a very flavorful meal that's great any time of the year.

I took a French Bistro cooking class in Portland, Oregon back in 1993 and the teacher/chef, worked at the Heathman Hotel, made a few recipes from a classic book on French Bistro Cooking that is an excellent source for such classic recipes. The following is not from the cookbook, but rather a modification from the course I took almost 20 years ago.

Bistro Chicken Tarragon
Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs., cut into pieces
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
2 bunches tarragon, leaves removed from stems, coarse chop
4 shallots, minced

In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and brown and cook on both sides, about 10 minutes on each side. Adjust the heat, if necessary, to avoid burning the skin. Transfer the chicken to a platter and cover loosely with foil. Pour off some of the excess oil.

Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add the wine. Deglaze the pan by scraping any browned bits down from the sides and reduce the wine by about half. Add the shallots and cook for several minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and reduce by about half. Whisk in the butter. Return the chicken to the skillet and coat with the sauce. Cover and cook until chicken is warmed through, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the tarragon leaves and turn the chicken pieces to coat. Serve immediately.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Vegetable Korma


If you haven't noticed, I've been on a bit of a vegetarian/vegan kick lately. My wife Stephanie decided to give it an extra boost for my birthday by getting me "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It's a brilliant book.

Here is one of the recipes from the book. It's called 2nd Avenue Vegetable Korma and was an interpretation from one of the author's favorite restaurants in New York City - Madras. Sounds like I have a new restaurant to checkout when I head back to New York in late March.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Lentil and Cauliflower Curry Stacks



The flavors in this dish make up for its lack of beauty in presentation. The yellow curry with cinnamon really brings the dish to life.
If you don’t want to use Pappadums (a crisp Indian flatbread), you can also use the lentil mixture to fill a piecrust with for a vegetarian Indian Pie. Or you could make pastry stuff turnovers with the mixture too.

Lastly, if you want to make this dish Vegan, substitute the butter with a product like Earth's Balance.

Lentil and Cauliflower Curry Stacks
Serves 4

2 Tbl butter (or Earths Balance for a vegan version)
1 medium onion, sliced thin in to quarter moons
1 1/2 Tbls yellow curry paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 cremini mushrooms, thinly chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups dried brown or green lentils
1 (13 oz) can chopped tomatoes
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 head of fresh cauliflower, cut into small florets
oil for deep-frying
8 small Pappadums

Heat butter in a large pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 2-3 minutes. Add the curry paste, garlic and mushrooms cooking all for 2 minutes until mushrooms are soft.

Add the vegetable stock, tomatoes, lentils and cinnamon and mix well. Bring to a boil and cook for 40 minutes until lentils become tender. Add the cauliflower in the last 10 minutes and cover. If the curry is too wet after 40 minutes, cook longer uncovered until most of the liquid is evaporated. Remove cinnamon sticks.

About 5 minutes before the lentil mixture is done, heat oil in a saucepan on medium-high. Drop Pappadums, one at a time, into oil. They will quickly puff up so act quick and flip using tongs to straighten out the Pappadum. Each one takes about 4 seconds on each side. Remove and pat both sides with a paper towel.

Assemble by putting one Pappadum on a plate and spoon lentil mixture into it. Place another Pappadum on top and add some more lentil mixture. Serve.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Coffee Rubbed Skirt Steak with Onion Date Compote



Like food blogging, my watching Food TV also goes in spurts. In a recent channel surf I came across a show new to me called Aarti's Party where I watched an episode making the following recipes. I modified both a little to my taste and also felt the amount of the onion compote was a bit much in the original recipe. Depending on how many guests you can adjust. I found the recipe below made enough for 4 people.

Coffee Rubbed Skirt Steak
Serves 4

1 1/2 Tbls chili powder
1 1/2 Tbls brown sugar
1 Tbl ground coffee
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 (1 1/2-2 pound) skirt or flank steak

Place all spices in a bowl that you'll then use to let the steak sit and marinate for 2 hours or overnight. Mix the spices together and then add steak and rub into all sides.

Heat grill and cook marinated rubbed steak to desired taste. It's a fairly thin steak so cooking on the grill for 10 minutes on each side is good for a medium to medium-well finish.


Onion-Date Compote

1 Tbl olive oil
2 medium onions sliced into thin half-moons
Kosher salt
3 dates, pitted and minced
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup water

Heat olive oil in small sauce pot. Add onions when oil is nice and hot on medium-high heat. Add salt and dates after a minute. Let it all cook until the onions become translucent. Add balsamic vinegar and water and cook on medium heat so that it is bubbling for a good 10-15 minutes until most of the liquid is gone. Serve with skirt steak.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Fusilli Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Broccolini



My wife and kids like a simple pasta dish that is on California Pizza Kitchen's menu. This is my attempt at mimicking it, and according to everyone it was a success. It's fairly basic garlic and oil coated pasta dish that I'm sure a lot of restaurants offer as it is quick and simple.

I substituted Bartolini brand Torcetti for the Fusilli. Highly recommend.

Fusilli Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Broccolini
Serves 4

1 lb fusilli pasta
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 Tbl dried Thyme or 2 Tbls fresh Thyme
8 oz. oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
1 bunch broccolini
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a dash of salt, and cook pasta to desired doneness, see package directions usually 10 minutes.

While pasta is cooking, add olive oil to a sauté pan over medium heat. Add garlic and salt and cook for 2-3 minutes before garlic slices burn. Add sun-dried tomatoes, thyme and broccolini to pan and coat cooking for 4 minutes on medium heat. Turn heat down to simmer.

What pasta is done, drain the water and add cooked pasta to sauté pan turning up the heat to medium and tossing to coat the pasta with the olive oil and vegetables. Add the 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese last and turn to coat.

Serve immediately. You can add more cheese if you like after plating the dish.


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Pizza Rustica Insane-ica



In a world of $5 Hot ‘n Ready pizzas, why would anyone ever make a pizza from scratch at home? First of all it costs a small fortune with the San Marzano tomatoes, organic shredded mozzarella, and “sustainably raised” pepperoni. Secondly, it takes 30 minutes to cook the sauce, you have to roll the dough, and then you have to watch it incessantly in the oven to make sure it doesn’t burn yet the crust gets crispy.

Homemade pizza is for the insane.

There I said it. It really is, but sometimes it comes out perfect and puts the $5 pizza to shame. Tonight was one of those nights.

We had made what looked like a foolish decision last weekend at the local Italian market here in Dallas, Jimmy’s Food Store, when we purchased some frozen store-made pizza dough. The one great thing about pizza is how fun it is for our twin 4 year old boys to put on the toppings of their personal pizza. Kids love making pizza and it really is ideal for getting kids involved in cooking.

With easily $20 spent on ingredients we were ready to make some home-made pizzas.

Pizza Rustica
Makes 2 Pizzas

Make 1 recipe of Pizza Sauce (see below)

Pizza Dough (preferably from a local Italian Market)
1 Green Pepper
1/2 Red Onion, sliced in half-moons
Small can of sliced black olives
1 package of Applegate Farms Pepperoni
1 lb of shredded mozzarella cheese

Thaw the dough if frozen. I put it in the refrigerator the night before using and by dinner time the next day it is ready for use. It’s best to also place it on the counter a hour before using to let it come to room temperature, but this step is not necessary. It just makes the dough a little easier to work with.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Move the oven rack to the lowest position if your heating element is on the bottom of the oven. This works best to help the dough cook. If your oven has the heating element at the top, move the oven rack near the top, but you will have to gently cover the pizza with foil on top after 6-7 minutes of cooking and continue cooking 5 more minutes so as not to burn the top of the pizza.

Slice dough into 2 pieces and dust a board lightly with flour and work dough either by hand or by hand and rolling pin. What you want to do is make the dough really thin, almost where you can start seeing through it. Don’t worry about it being perfectly round or square, shape isn’t important.

Once the dough is ready move it on to parchment paper (or aluminum foil though the pizza will stick a little if using foil.) Spread some of the pizza sauce on the dough then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Add toppings to desired taste. Then move the pizza leaving it on the parchment paper to the oven rack. Place on oven rack and cook pizza for 6-7 minutes watching closely after 5 minutes to get to desired brownness on top. Gently place a piece of foil on top of the pizza when the top looks done, then cook for another 5 minutes. The final 5 minutes of cooking helps cook the pizza crust which can be doughy if taken out too soon.

Slide the parchment paper on to a cookie sheet to remove the pizza from the oven and let it cool for 2 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve.

Pizza Sauce
Makes enough for 2-3 pizzas

2 Tbls olive oil
1 Tbl butter
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
16 ounces of tomato puree
2 Tbls grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp basil, dried
1 tsp oregano, dried
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf

Heat butter and olive oil in a small pot. Add the onion, celery and garlic to the pot and heat until translucent, about 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Do not burn. Add tomato puree and remaining ingredients and stir and heat to a boil. Once at boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf and set aside to cool for 10 minutes and use on fresh pizza dough.


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Lentil and Rice with Garlicky Kale



We are trying to add more vegetarian dishes to our weekly dinner menu. I'm finding a lot of rice and lentil dishes are a great way to do something other than the typical vegetarian pasta dish for a reluctant vegetarian.

Here is a recipe I modified quite a bit from an article in Men's Journal magazine. I go pretty light on salt and pepper while cooking. If you like a more robust flavor, add salt and pepper at the dinner table. This dish isn't particularly flavorful but it does have a good mix of flavors for a rice and lentil dish.

Lentil and Rice with Garlicky Kale
Serves 6

2 cups dried lentil
2 cups of cooked rice
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 leek, white and light-green parts only,
split lengthwise and cleaned
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch kale, stems removed, chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp red-wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

In a large pot place lentils, carrot, onion, leak, bay leaf and dried thyme then cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Drain water.

While the lentil mixture is cooking, pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a nonstick fry pan and add garlic heating at medium temperature and let the garlic cook for about 2 minutes, do not burn. Add kale and salt and pepper cooking it for about 5 minutes until slightly wilted.

Add kale to drained lentil mixture. Add cooked rice, red pepper flakes, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, red-wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Heat mixture at medium low heat for about 3-5 minutes for flavors to gel.

Remove from heat and serve as a vegetarian main dish or as a side dish.