Category: Main Courses & Meals

Entree to full boat!

Southwest Pepper Steak


You know how when a dish just kind of pops into your head? Then, like an ear wormed song, you just gotta feed the jones, right? Well, pepper steak was what I got stuck with, but the same ol’ version just felt kinda dull. Naturally, I thought of a southwest twist, and here’s what I came up with; works great for just about any cut of beef.

1 Tablespoon whole peppercorns, your choice, (We like black, green, red and white blend).
½ medium sweet Onion.
2 – 3 mild green Chiles, (Hatch, preferably, or Anaheim).
¼ cup Reposado or Anejo Tequila.
1 cup Beef Stock, (Can also use dark chicken stock if you like).
½ cup Crema, (Or heavy cream).
¼ cup Cilantro.
2-3 Tablespoons Canola oil.

Trim your steaks as needed, leaving enough fat for taste. Rub steaks with olive oil and sea salt, lightly, on all sides. Allow steaks to sit in fridge for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cook your steaks in a dry sauté pan on medium high heat: Leave the first side alone for about 3 minutes, (Or one good, old fashioned rock and roll song – Faultless method…), then flip, and leave ‘em on for about another song, then test temp with a thermometer – Follow the guide for finish temps – Rare – 140º F, Medium Rare – 150º F, Medium – 160º F. Remember that meat will keep cooking for a bit after you remove it from the grill, and do NOT cut any flesh for at least 10 minutes after it’s off the heat.

In your dry sauté pan on medium-high heat, roast your peppercorns for a couple minutes, but watch them closely – no burning here – When they start to dance and pop, it’s time to come off.

Remove the pepper, add and heat your oil.

In a molcajete, (Or mortar and pestle), lightly crush the pepper, leaving pretty good sized chunks.

Cut onion and chiles into ¼” strips and sauté in the oil until they start to turn translucent.

Add tequila to deglaze the pan, and allow the alcohol to burn off. Add the beef stock and cilantro when your tequila looks about half gone. Turn down to a simmer and allow the sauce to reduce by about 1/3: You want it to nicely coat a spoon; when it does, it’s time to move on.

Remove the sauce from heat, throw into a blender and blend well. Process results through a strainer, return to sauté pan.

Add the crema and peppercorns and, over medium-low heat, blend well.

Slice your beef and arrange on serving plates.

Serve with roasted corn or a spud, maybe some green beans, or maybe both!

¡Pásatelo bien!

Chicken of the Woods!


This just in from my pal Darcie, who’s become a fountain of vegetarian creativity for us!

OK Eben, I purchased “chicken of the woods” yesterday, a wild looking mushroom . . . now to figure out how to cook with it!!

GREAT catch, Darce! CofW is a wonderful, funky mushroom that I recall with great fondness from days in the northwest. They are truly delicious, with complex, deep flavors. Some think they taste, well, like chicken, (I know, right?), while others lean more toward a lobster/crab kinda vibe. In any case, they’re a great meat substitute that puts tofu to shame.

First caveat: As with any wild mushroom, be sure what you’ve found or bought before you try it! Check a reliable, reputable site for facts before you eat! I like The Mushroom Expert a lot, and that’s where I went to dig up more scoop on these guys.

Second Caveat: Some people don’t do so well with CotW, so it’s best to try a little bit and make sure before you wade into a whole raft of them. Typical reaction symptoms are stomach upset, itchy throat, or swollen lips. Anaphylaxis is not fun, so be prudent!

Third caveat: Some varieties of CotW grow on conifers, cedars, and eucalyptus trees; you shouldn’t eat these guys, as they can contain some nasty toxins specific to those trees that don’t mix well with humans.

That’s a lot to know, but it’s all important. Bottom line is, if you’re buying and your seller can’t answer those questions readily and with clear eyes, don’t buy from them… OK, all that said, whataya do with them once you got ‘em? Here’s a basic recipe that rocks, but first, a couple of notes.

Make sure you’re gtting young, fresh stuff – When these get old, they pretty much resemble plywood in taste…

To clean CofW, wipe them gently with a clean, damp cloth. They are sponges and will absorb a lot of water if you douse ‘em. For the same reason, if you sauté in oil, do so sparingly.

My favorite way to cook these is simple and straightforward, letting the flavor and texture of the ‘shrooms stand out.

Sauted Chicken of the Woods

2 – 3 cups CotW
3 – 5 whole tomatoes
½ cup Vegetable Stock
2 – 3 cloves Garlic
¼ teaspoon fresh Thyme
1 teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Clean CotW and cut into slightly large bite sized pieces. Mince garlic, and fine chop thyme.

Heat water in a large pan to a low rolling boil. Fill a non-reactive bowl with ice water. Blanch tomatoes into boiling water for about 30 seconds and then dunk them into the ice water. Peel and core after they’re thoroughly cooled. Toss tomatoes into a blender and zap ‘em until they’re uniformly sauced. Pour your sauce through a wide mesh strainer to remove seeds, etc. Set aside.

Heat oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Mince garlic and quickly sauté, taking care not to burn it!

Add CofW and sauté for about 10 minutes. As they cook, they turn bright orange-yellow, which is very cool!

Add vegetable stock and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium low heat, taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Serve hot and go wild. I love these with some crusty bread to sop up all the juice with a nice glass of tangy, white wine to refresh the flavors with. Also goes great tossed with a pasta of your choice, or over wild rice.

Enjoy!

Kinda Reader’s Choice


Well, I’m kinda back, and we’ve kinda been cooking, so we’re gonna do a kinda viewers choice post. It’s really easy to play along; here’s how it goes.
We’ll post mouth watering pics of the stuff we made over the Labor Day weekend.
The y’all
1. Look and drool
2. Decide if something there really floats your boat
3. Tell us which one(s), and
4. We’ll do a follow up with complete recipes!

See? Told ya it was gonna be easy…

Home made dawgs sauted in sage butter

Homemade teriyaki steaks

Fridge Pickles II

Death by Potato Salad

Hand ground Burgers with bacon and aged cheddar

Now, I don’t want to be preemptively mean, but, if none of that does float your boat, you’re either dead or way too macrobiotic for moi…

Semi-Greek


Ok, so we suddenly have, shall we say, a whole pantload of cucumbers! What to do, what to do… Can’t preserve much of them, can’t give them all away, so gotta get cookin’. first thing that comes to mind for me is Tzatziki, just ’cause I do love it so. Secondly, we wanted something cool, ’cause it’s bloody 100+ outside and we neither need a bunch of cooking heat nor hot food on days like this, eh?

So off to the market, with a vague idea of a Greek themed dindin. I saw no lamb, so I settled on pork and beef, both USDA Choice, which they had as a Buy-1-Get-3-Free deal, so I bought three of each, of course. Snagged some very nice Greek yoghurt and some flatbread. No Retsina in sight, so a dry white wine, and back to the kitchen I went. I decided to make the protein as Greek-Like as a could and work from there. Here’s what I came up with.

Kinda-Greek Sausage
50%-50% cuts of beef and pork
Basil
Rosemary
Oregano
Thyme
Granulated Garlic
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil

Note: I did this as sausage ’cause I have an attachment for our Kitchenaid – If you don’t, fret not – Just cut stuff to about 1/2″ and go with that, it’ll be fine – You won’t need to freeze/chill the flesh if you go this route, but limit its time outside the fridge strictly for food safety considerations.

Remove meat from packages, cube to about 1.5″ and throw them into the freezer for about 15 minutes. Throw another stainless bowl in there too, to catch the finished product. When making sausage, or really, any forcemeat, keeping your ingredients really cold all throughout the process is critical: This is necessary first and foremost to keep the proteins under 40°F and thus out of the Food Temperature Danger Zone. Secondly, it helps make a more homogenous end product with better taste and texture.

I grabbed the herbs from the garden, of course, (Which you should do too, by the way…) Field strip herbs and chiffenade/mince. Remove protein from freezer, coat liberally with oil, add herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, mix well.

Process through grinder with the wider of the two plates provided. Use chilled bowl for catching the finished sausage and return finished product to the fridge ASAP.

I cooked off the sausage in a saute pan, and M came home as I was doing so – I knew I’d done OK when the first words out her mouth were “Oh that smells soooo good!”

Now for the magic ingredient…

Tzatziki

1 8 oz container of Greek Yogurt, (You can use regular too)
1 med cucumber
2 tbspn olive oil
Juice from 1/2 to 1 lemon, (As you like it)
1 tspn dill, chopped fine, (You can sub spearmint)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt to taste

If you don’t have Greek Yoghurt, plain will do, but find Greek if you can; it is richer, tangier and thicker, all of which are good things when it comes to Tzatziki.
Line a colander or strainer with paper towel and drain the yogurt for 15 to 30 minutes; this is critical in avoiding a runny final product.

Peel, seed and grate cucumber. We used Armenian from our garden, which have wonderful taste and nice, firm flesh. Any decent cuke will do, but make sure it is nice and firm!

Combine everything and mix well by hand, as blending or processing will make your yogurt break down.

Place in a non-reactive bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

Let the sausage cool along with the Tzatziki.

Cut up veggies of your choice for garnish – We went with yellow bell pepper, tomato, cilantro, lettuce, onion, and pimento stuffed green olives – Talk about yummy!

Grill or toast flatbread. I wanted flatbread we could open and stuff like a Gyro, but the stuff I found wouldn’t do that, so we just cut grilled wedges and called it good. If you like cheese, then Feta or Mizithra would rock with this – We didn’t want to cloud the wonderful Tzatziki, so we left it off of ours.

Pile everything on and απολαύστε – εύγευστος!
(Enjoy – Delicious!)