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Archive for the ‘Main Dishes’ Category
I don’t get to read as much as I’d like these days – blogs being the exception, of course. However, I’m slowly but surely making my way through Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes (there’s a picture of a piece of toast topped with a pat of butter on the cover; I love it) and have read the introductions to The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved and Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. So while I’m appalled at the history behind how we’ve been convinced following a government-sanctioned diet is the right thing to do and alternately delighted by the thought that “eating well has become an act of civil disobedience” I am struggling with what to write about for my next Fight Back Friday post. Do I continue with the ills of vegetable oils and segue into healthy animal fats, or do I jump into the fray that is the debate over raw milk?
I’m open to suggestions.
In the meantime, I give you this recipe for Beef and Green Bean Stir Fry. Normally, my stir fries are of the “grab a bunch of stuff, hurl it in a pan and pray” variety; not so this one. This one, in fact, is a huge pain in the tookus to prepare, but it is oh, so very good that it’s worth it (even if I only make it two or three times a year). Based on a recipe by Barbara Fisher at her now-abandoned blog Tigers & Strawberries, it employs a method called “dry frying” which confuses me, because there’s nothing “dry” about it. Dry frying involves frying thin strips of beef in “a moderate amount of oil” (or in my case, rendered beef tallow) for an extended period, cooking most of the moisture out of it – perhaps that’s why it’s referred to as dry?
Beats me – all I know is that the method of cooking gives a marvelous chewy texture and absolutely wonderful, well, beefy flavor. Add to that some fresh green beans that are cooked in the beef-flavored fat for an extended period, leaving them with a wonderfully soft texture in contrast to the chewy beef, the addition of fresh ginger and other vegetables cut into matchstick-size pieces thrown in at the last minute and a spicy, savory “sauce” and you have what I consider to be the best darn stir-fry I’ve ever tasted.
The original recipe (Barbara is a professional chef, btw) calls for Sichuan chili bean paste, which I don’t normally keep on hand so I used red curry paste, which I always have on hand; she also uses Sichuan peppercorns and fresh chili peppers, something else I didn’t have when I made this last night, so I used dried pepper flakes and regular black peppercorns. I throw in different vegetables, depending on what I have in the kitchen, although carrots and fresh ginger are a must as far as I’m concerned; last night I seeded and cut a lone yellow summer squash into little matchstick-sized pieces and slivered a good-size shallot because that’s what I had on hand.
You can, of course, serve this over steamed rice – I’ve tossed in cooked rice noodles before – but it is just fine on it’s own.
Note: Shao Hsing wine is a Chinese cooking wine; you can find it in most Asian markets. Barbara also warns to be cautious of flare-ups from drops of oil igniting or that the wine may catch fire while adding it to the wok but I’ve never had that happen. Which is kind of disappointing. It could be that I’m just not doing it right.
Beef and Green Been Stir Fry
Serves 4 to 6
1 lb. top round or flank steak cut into slices, then into thin strips
1/3 cup melted tallow, lard or vegetable oil
2/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2″ pieces
1/4 cup Shao Hsing wine or dry sherry
2 tablespoons red curry paste
pinch of salt
1 large shallot, peeled and slivered
1 two-inch piece of ginger, peeled and slivered
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried pepper flakes (optional)
2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick-size pieces
1 yellow summer squash, seeded and cut into matchstick-size pieces
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Heat your wok or large, heavy skillet over high heat until it until it begins to smoke. Add your fat or oil and heat for about a minute; add the beef. Cook, stirring continuously, for about ten minutes; the fat/oil will become cloudy with the moisture from the beef. Keep cooking until the moisture evaporates and the fat/oil becomes clear again and the meat sizzles and browns.
Remove the beef with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.
Add the green beans and cook, stirring continuously, until they are wrinkled and browned and becoming soft. Add the beef back to the wok or skillet, and stir to combine. Drizzle wine carefully around outer edge of wok or skillet, and stir. (It’s at this point that Barbara warns that the wine may catch fire; she says this is fine, just be prepared for it and stay out of the way of the flames – they should die down fairly quickly as the alcohol burns off.)
Add the curry paste and stir it into the beef/green bean mixture until it becomes nice and fragrant. Add the salt, shallot, ginger, garlic and pepper flakes; stir fry, tossing it all about vigorously inside the wok or skillet. Add the carrots and squash and stir fry about another minute longer. Add soy sauce and peppercorns and stir fry for another minute. Turn out onto a platter and serve (with steamed rice, if desired) immediately.
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Here in the States, cherries are in season. They aren’t something I cook with very often, and when I made this dish Friday night, I wondered why – it was really simple and absolutely delicious.
We had scored some really nice, bone-in pork chops at the little retail store of the people who butchered our half a cow (more about the marvelous Perkins family of White Feather Meats in a later post) and I was rather at a loss with what to do with them. Then I spotted the inexpensive cherries I’d picked up earlier in the week and wondered if they could be used to sauce the chops. The answer was a very happy “Yes!”
After an extensive search of my cookbooks and the internet, I found this recipe on the Serious Eats website and immediately thought, “This is it!” Unlike most cherry sauces, this was low in sugar and didn’t use cornstarch to thicken it (a lot of the recipes I found online used canned cherry pie filling, which I have never liked). The original recipe did call for a pinch of sugar on the pork chops themselves, as well as pan-frying in canola oil – both of which have been banned from my kitchen. I simply seasoned the chops with a little salt and pepper and cooked them in a little beef tallow I’d rendered myself a few days earlier, and they came out just fine. The recipe also called for placing the pork chops on a cold skillet and turning the heat on underneath – a sure-fire way to get them to stick. Heat the skillet first, then add your fat and the meat, and you will greatly reduce any problems with it sticking to the pan.
And if you don’t eat pork, this would be just lovely on roasted or grilled chicken.
Pork Chops with Cherry Sauce
Pork Chops with Cherry Sauce
serves 4
1 cup cherries, pitted
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon thyme leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Pinch of salt
4 thick, bone-in loin pork chops
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of fat – oil, clarified butter, lard, etc.
Place the cherries into a small pot and pour in the water, red wine, red wine vinegar, honey, thyme, mustard, and a pinch of salt. Bring to simmer and cook for about 10-15 minutes, smashing the cherries with a wooden spoon about half way through, or until the sauce becomes slightly syrupy.
In the meantime, heat a large, heavy skillet over medium high heat until quite hot. Place your fat of choice in the pan, making sure to coat the bottom. Season the pork chops lightly with salt and pepper, reduce the temperature slightly and pan fry them until they reach an internal temperature of 140º F, or are no longer pink in the center or close to the bone, 4 to 5 minutes on each side.
Serve immediately with the cherry sauce.
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I think that I mentioned here recently that I’m a wee bit tired of beef. Don’t get me wrong, I love it but we’ve been eating quite a bit of it lately in our quest for some grass-fed, 100% pastured beef (which we found, but that’s a subject for another post). So there’s been a lot of chicken and pork and not enough fish on my table lately.
I think I’ve also mentioned before that Podunk isn’t the best place in the world to get Mexican food (there are “Mexican” restaurants here that give you a hunk of bell pepper wrapped in ground beef and deep fried when you order a chile relleno). Then there’s the fact that Mexican food isn’t exactly the best thing in the world if you’re reducing refined carbohydrates and grains in your diet.
However, there are Mexican dishes that are lovely and delicious and perfectly acceptable if you’re willing to bypass the rice and tortillas (or even if you’re not; if, unlike me, you can eat rice and tortillas without blowing up like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, go for it I say). Carnitas is one of those dishes.
Carnitas literally means “little meats” in Spanish and is traditionally made from the rich, heavily marbled shoulder sections from the animal. It’s usually braised or simmered, then roasted briefly at high heat until the outside is brown and crisped, then shredded or cut into bite-size chunks. It’s usually served with lime wedges, cilantro, chopped onion and tomato, salsa, guacamole, refried beans and eaten with tortillas – and is absolutely delicious.
I made the process a little easier by putting a bone-in shoulder roast in the crock pot, then shredding and chopping it before roasting. Not quite traditional, but still quite good, especially served with homemade guacamole and pico de gallo (recipe to follow this week). The Young One ate his in tortillas, but Beloved wrapped his in lettuce leaves. I simply layered mine on the plate and ate it with a fork.
Whichever way you choose to eat it, it is delicious.
Carnitas
Carnitas
serves 6 to 8
3 to 4 pound bone-in pork shoulder roast (it might be labeled “boston butt roast”)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
about 1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup spicy salsa (any jarred variety is fine)
Rub the outside of the roast with the salt and pepper, then place in the crock pot. Pour the water around, but not over, the roast – you want to surround it, not cover it. Spread the onion and garlic over the top of the roast, then pour the salsa on top. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or until the pork is very tender.
Preheat the oven to 400º F. Carefully remove the roast from the crock pot, and shred the meat with two forks or cut into bite sized cubes (or both). Place the meat on a large, shallow baking pan and pour a little of the cooking liquid over it. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are brown and crispy.
Serve with lime wedges, cilantro, chopped onion and tomato, salsa, guacamole, refried beans and
tortillas, if desired.
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Today, I’d like to discuss “theoretical cooking.”
As in, “Theoretically, the chicken breast in this picture should have been pounded much more thinly, evenly spread with the cream cheese mixture, rolled into a perfect cylinder and geometrically wrapped with the bacon, creating a visually pleasing as well as tasty dish.”
Theoretically speaking.
The reality was that the chicken was pounded just thin enough to slap a hunk o’ cream cheese mixture in the center but not thin enough to actually envelop it, to say nothing of wrapping bacon around the entire thing, requiring a minimum of 6 toothpicks to hold it all together so the cream cheese wouldn’t ooze out all over the pan and make a huge mess.
What can I say – I was in a hurry.
There’s nothing theoretical about how absolute wonderful it all tasted, though. ‘Cause this? WAS GOOD (even if it wasn’t so pretty). Or it may have just been that I was so thrilled to be eating chicken after going on a beef bender while looking for a source of grass-fed beef…but I don’t think so. It really was tasty.
And have a lovely weekend, y’all.
Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken
Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Serves 4
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts trimmed of visible fat
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons fresh tarragon, finely chopped
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 slices bacon
2 to 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 350º F.
In a small skillet, sweat the onions over medium-low heat in the butter or olive oil until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
In another skillet, sauté the bacon over low heat until soft and the fat is beginning to render out, but don’t allow it to brown. Remove to a paper towel and set aside.
Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of waxed paper and evenly pound to 1/4-inch thickness, either with the smooth side of a meat mallet or a small, heavy pan. Season on both sides with the salt and pepper.
Stir the onion and garlic into the cream cheese until well blended; divide evenly between the chicken by placing a dollop in the center of each breast. Roll or fold the chicken around the cream cheese mixture, tucking the ends under and securing with toothpicks. Sprinkle the tarragon evenly over the chicken packages, and wrap each with a piece of bacon. Place in an 8″x11″ baking dish and drizzle with the melted butter.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken is done, the bacon is browned and the cream cheese is heated all the way through. Serve immediately.
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I recently announced that we’re changing the way we eat here at the Sushi Bar. I’m moving away from the government-sanctioned, high-carb, low-fat, overly-processed Standard American Diet and venturing out into what some people would consider dangerous dietary territory. That’s okay…but hold on to your collective arteries, because I have an announcement to make.
Fat is not bad for you.
Okay, okay; yes, some fats are bad for you – hello, trans fats – but that’s a subject for another time. For the purpose of this post, though, we’re talking butter.
Wonderful, glorious, golden, delicious, fat-laden butter.
I’ve always loved it. When I was little, I smothered anything I could in it – my mother was fond of asking me, “Would you like a little muffin with your butter?” No one said much of anything else until I was a teenager, when the low-fat craze cranked up in earnest and butter became a forbidden pleasure. Then, like a lot of people, I purchased, consumed and fed my kids margarine and “buttery spreads” for years. My bad, my bad. However, when I met Beloved he declared his disdain for margarine and I began my love affair with butter all over again. And I’m glad I did.
Because butter is good for you, folks.
This recipe is the most wonderful vehicle for butter I’ll probably post all year. The three principal ingredients, besides freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice, are butter, heavy cream and white wine. Poured over pan-seared scallops and fresh spinach garnished with slivered almonds and dried cranberries.
I’ll just wait here while you drool.
Scallops with Beurre Blanc Sauce
Seared Scallops with Spinach, Cranberries and Citrus Beurre Blanc Sauce
serves 4, with sauce to spare
1 pound sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil or clarified butter
salt and pepper, to taste
8 cups fresh spinach
1/2 cup dried cranberries (preferably processed without added sugar)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Sauce
The juice of one large orange, freshly squeezed
The juice of two lemons, freshly squeezed
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1 2-inch strip orange zest
1 2-inch strip lemon zest
1 garlic clove, minced
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed, cold
Place all the ingredients for the sauce except the heavy cream and butter in a 1-quart saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce until the liquid is nearly evaporated, 12 to 14 minutes. Reduce the heat a bit and add the heavy cream to the pan; reduce by half, 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and reduce the temperature to low.
Add a few cubes of the butter to the pan, return the pan to the heat and use a whisk to stir constantly until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and add a few more pieces, returning the pan to the heat and whisking until the butter is melted. Continue to place the pan on and off the heat, adding a few cubes of butter to the pan each time and whisking until all the butter is used.
Remove the sauce from the heat and strain through a fine-mesh strainer. Keep warm until ready to serve — do not allow the sauce to boil or it will separate.
Heat a small, heavy (preferably cast iron) skillet over high heat until very hot. Add the olive oil or clarified butter to the pan and sear the scallops about 2 – 3 minutes on each side. Be careful not to over-cook them or they will turn rubbery.
Divide the spinach between four plates and top each with an equal amount of the scallops. Scatter the almonds and cranberries equally over each plate, then drizzle with the beurre blanc sauce (you don’t have to use all of the sauce unless you want to – it’s very rich).
Serve immediately.
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