Deus Ex Culina

Roast Herb Chicken with Tomatoes and Onions

Consider this another entry in the "What to serve during the week" category. I'm generally pressed for time most weeknights. The kids are up to something; I try to spend quality time with my wife; there is always something to do when I get home from the office. So- I have tried to find recipes that are tasty and quick for consumtion during the week. Anyway read on for Roast Herb Chicken with Tomatoes and Onion...

4 large boneless/skinless chicken breasts
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 pints of grape tomatoes
1 large yellow onion / med dice
2 Tbls marjaram- divided
2 Tbls chervil- divided
2 Tbls thyme- divided
1 Ts salt
1 Ts cracked black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine

salt and pepper to season

10oz baby spinich leaves, washed and dried
--------------------------

Preheat oven to 400'

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper

Combine-garlic, tomatoes, onions, 1 Tbls of each spice, oil, wine in a bowl

Place chicken breasts into a roasting pan. Pour garlic tomatoe mixture over chicken, making sure that tomatoes and onions are around, not on top of chicken.

Sprinkle remaining spices over chicken.

Roast for 30-35 min. In my oven, the chicken was juicy but cooked through after 32min. The tomatoes were just starting to split and the the onions were browned on the edges, translucent and sweet in the middle.

SERVE- mound 1/4 of spinich leaves in center of plate; place 1 chicken breast on top of spinich, pour 1/4 of pan juices and cooked tomatoes/onions over chicken- ENJOY !

Braised Lamb Shanks- Yummmmmm!!

After several weeks of unseasonably warm weather (87’ in November ???) in my neck of the woods, it has finally cooled off ! And with the fall weather has come a desire for hearty comfort food.

Lately, I have had a craving for lamb, so I thought I would try to prepare Braised Lamb Shanks. Having never prepared this before, a little research was in order. Assuming this to be a quintessentially French dish, I first consulted Julia MTAFC and then Larousse Gastronomique. Neither had a dedicated recipe- surprise surprise- but both had recipes for shoulder and other tough cuts of meat that I could easily adapt. I continued my research by looking at Epicuious.com, Foodtv.com, Williams-Sonama.com and a basic web search. I discovered that there is a basic preparation technique and then 2 distinct options. The basic technique is to brown the shanks, sauté a mixture of celery, onion, herbs, add braising liquid then roast covered until the meat is tender. The variations however ensure 2 distinct outcomes: 1)lighter - with chicken stock, white wine, small amount of tomato paste and 2)dark- with red wine, lots of beef stock, chopped tomatoes and juices. The later method seemed a lot like an Italian preparation for pot roast. Sure enough, after consulting a few Italian cookbooks- I discovered that the dark preparation is essentially the method for Osso Buco as well as Italian Pot Roast.

I realized that to do this correctly, I would need to prepare a large quantity- SO another dinner party !! I ended up with more than enough for everyone, with plenty for leftovers. Before the main course, I served a mixed green salad, with herb vinegrete dressing and a round of goat cheese on top.

Overall, I enjoyed the process of learning about the recipe, the preperation and the outcome. When I prepare this again, I will increase the amount of herbs used as I thought the overall flavor could have been more assertive. I wish I had my camera ready as the dish looked outstanding as plated !!

I served this with a generic bottle of Geroge Debeuff Boujolais Village- this stuff is a steal @$12 a bottle. Wonderfull out of the bottle. This dish stands up to a “big” red as well.

Braised Lamb Shanks

6 lamb shanks ~1lb each
flour for dredgeing
4 Tbls Olive Oil
3 stalks celery- diced
3 carrots- peeled and diced
2 lg/ 3sm yellow onions- peeled and coarsely chopped
2 stalks Leek- diced
2 Tbls minced garlic
1 28oz container chopped tomatoes w/ juice
1 bottle Red wine (Cabernet or ??- if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it !)
12 oz low fat chicken stock
12 oz low fat beef stock
1 Tbls chopped fresh rosemary- minced
1 Tbls chopped fresh thyme- minced
2 Ts cracked black pepper
1 Ts salt

1 Ts each/ Thyme-Rosemary-Chives-Oregeno/ chopped fine

Preheat oven to 350’.

Trim fat and membrane from the lamb shanks; wash and pat dry. Dredge in flour.

In a large 6qt+ dutch oven or covered stock pot, heat 2 Tbls olive oil to hot but not smoking. Working in batches, add dredged shanks- they should sizzle when added to the oil. Brown on all sides; ~6-8 min each batch. Remove and set aside.

Add 1 Tbls olive oil to pan before each successive batch of shanks to be browned.

After browning, add carrots, celery, garlic, leeks, onions and sauté for 8-10 min. Turn heat to high and add wine. Scrape bottom of pan to loosen any browned bits. Add tomatoes, stocks, salt-pepper and herbs. Bring to a boil. Remove from top of stove.

Add browned shanks to pot. Shanks should be submerged in liquid. Cover pot and put into preheated oven. Check after 1hr and add more stock to cover shanks if needed.

Braise until meat is falling off of the bone. ~2.5-3hr total.

After meat is cooked, take out of pot, set aside and cover. Put pot on top of stove, heat on high and boil rapidly until liquid is reduced by 1/3. Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly- then add shanks back to pot and hold until ready to serve.

Yukon Gold Mashed Patoes

5 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes- quartered
1 stick butter
4 oz sour cream
Salt- Pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until fork tender. Drain, then immediately add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper. Using a hand mixer, mash to desired consistency.

Variations- add olive oil, garlic, rosemary before mashing. Chop several stalks of leak and add.

To serve: Mashed Potatoes on one side, shank on the other side of the plate. Laddle braising liquid over and around shank. Dust with chopped herbs. ENJOY !!

A Brazilian Dinner

Last night I was inspired to cook some Brazilian food...

These dishes usually aren't served together, but since I made a "sampler" in relatively small amounts (this should be sufficient for four people) I felt it was ok to serve these two recipes at the same time.

Fasten your seat belts...we're off to the tropics.

Carne de Sol

Carne de Sol is a type of jerked beef made from fresh beef flanks. It comes from the Northeast of Brazil and is carefully salted and dried in the sun. It is the best thing in the entire world.

Pantry Raid

1 lb of carne de sol (acceptable substitutes are other varieties of salted dried meat, such as tender jerked or corned beef)

3 peeled Idaho potatoes

1/2 a stick of unsalted butter (or more if you like)

Extra virgin olive oil

1 chopped onion

1 red, 1 green, and 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped into strips

Make It So

It is important to remove most of the salt from the carne de sol, otherwise it will be inedible. You can do it the traditional way, and place the meat in a bowl of water and change the water every few hours. I don't have that kind of time, so I just go ahead and place the meat in a sauce pan, fill it with just enough water to cover it, and bring to a boil. Let boil for approximately 5 minutes. Dump the water. Fill the pan again and repeat the process. You might have to do this at least four times until the meat doesn't taste terribly salty. Some people do more, other less- make sure you taste a little piece each time to see how you like it.

When you go through the boiling process for the last time, don't dump the water-lower the heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes- possibly more. The beef should be tender enough that you can pull it apart with a fork. Once it reaches this point, let it cool and then shred the meat with a fork. Set aside.

While the beef is cooking, you should get started on the potatoes, which you are going to cut into little cubes. Rinse them in cold water and then bring to a boil in a sauce pan with lightly salted water. It should take approximately 5 minutes. Dump water. Set aside.

Get a skillet, and saute the onion with olive oil and butter (as much as you like- but it should be pretty moist). Saute until onions are very tender. Add peppers and sautee for a few more minutes (approximately 5). Add some more butter. Now mix in the meat. Set aside.

Melt some more butter and olive oil in a larger skillet and saute the potatoes until they're golden- about 10 minutes.

Add meat mix to potatoes.

Serve warm. It's soooo good.

Recipe adapted from Christopher Idone's cookbook Brazil: A Cook's Tour

Pseudo-Tutu

Tutu is similar to the Brazilian national dish, feijoada, consisting of black beans cooked in a thick sauce with various cuts of meat inside for flavor. Feijoada is a serious recipe- you need to have the right meats and side dishes. You also need a soft place to collapse onto after eating it because it is heavy...It's traditonally served at lunch on Saturdays so you can recover by Monday... Most Brazilians have some black beans at least once a week (some eat it every day). This milder recipe is also cooked in sauce, but doesn't feature all the meats. It is usually a side dish that tops rice. Tutu is like feijoada, except it has less sauce- it's a little drier and stickier.

I improvised this recipe years ago, before discovering all the little Latin and Brazilian markets in the area. It's easy and delicious.

Pantry Raid

1 big can of Goya black beans (not the soup)

4-5 medium sized sausages- pick something spicy. Can be beef, chicken, turkey, whatever. Just don't stick in hot dogs. That's just immoral.

Extra virgin olive oil

garlic

one small chopped onion

three slices of bacon, cut into little squares

I'm Only Going to Say It Once...

Cook the sausages- you can grill or bake them. Whatever you like. Once they're cooked, slice them up. Set aside.

Saute the onions in olive oil. Add some garlic toward the end. Don't burn the garlic, please. Set aside.

Cook the bacon as you would normally. Set aside.

Warm up the black beans from the can. Add some olive oil (1 tbsp? whatever you like). When it comes to a boil, lower the head and add the sausages, onion, garlic, and bacon. Mix it up and turn the heat to low. Let simmer for a couple minutes and then serve!

Make sure you have some good, fluffy rice to go with this dish. Brazilians here like to use Carolina rice because it is similar to Brazilian rice. I, however, like Basmati rice better.

Enjoy in good company!

Boston Mag article on state of bartending in Boston

The October issue of Boston Magazine had a great article by Anthony Giglio on the state of bartending in Boston (why would this kind of thing not be on their website??).

I believe I have complained here before that I have to recite the recipe for a negroni when I go out in Boston... Mr. Giglio complains about this exact situation. He makes the even better and more universal point that the classical definition of a cocktail, before prohibition, always included bitters...

The finer point he tries to make on this, and I'll allow you to go and find his article or do your own research to be convinced, is that bitters adds complexity to any cocktail, and balances out sweeter or stronger elements in some drinks.

It's almost sad, that in an article in Boston Magazine, he mainly quotes Dale DeGroff, a bartender I met when he was in charge of the Rainbow Room in NYC. Mr. Giglio also quotes Patrick Sullivan and Srdjan Bajas, of the B-Side and Federalist, certainly two of the best bars around. Mr. Bajas has apparently worked at Schumann's American Bar, in Munich. Schumann's book on cocktails is certainly one of the better ones available today (there's a link for it in my booklist).

Anyway, to further entice you in to trying to read the article(even though, in general, I dislike Boston Magazine), I'll quote a recipe, which was "adapted from the Federalist" (the recipe is obviously wrong in the magazine, so here it's adapted from the adaptation):

Prince of Wales
sugar cube
2 dashes angostura bitters
1oz cognac (they call for Courvoisier)
fill with champagne (they call for Clicquot)
float of Benedictine

Obviously an expensive drink the way they serve it. The classic Prince of Wales (maybe not the one destined to be king) is merely an oz Madeira, oz brandy, dash bitters, splash of curacao, filled with champagne. I would make it as above, but with a cheaper cognac and float of madeira instead, so as to keep the drink under $10 as made at home.

Enjoy!

Exotic California-fusion-on-flatbread-with-cheese

So I just made Rob's french onion soup in a pumpkin. There's nothing like post-haloween stocking up. But then I felt guilty for not posting in a while, and decided to post the only meal Rob and I have ever collaboratively cooked. "Exotic California-fusion-on-flatbread-with-cheese," although, we didn't call it that at the time. We called it a pizza.

So the basics of this pizza are dough, steak, and an aged cheese. Think of those three as a canvas, and do like this:

(I also caremelized some onions in the pan before cooking the steak. That's optional.)

For the steak, use flank, hanger, skirt, or some other long skinny cut. Brown it in a pan, and bias-cut it; that is, cut perpendicular to the long line of the steak, and at an angle. You can get creative here; Rob marinated (do you remember how?) and made a pan sauce. I usually don't marinate, but sometimes add some wine into a pan sauce.

For the cheese, you can use parmesean reggiano, because you can always use parmesean reggiano. Last night, I used a 12 month old piave, which is an italian cheese, very similar, about half the price. I just shaved off bits of it.

Scatter the onions on the dough. Take your steak, and arrange in a starburst/sundial sort of pattern, with the ends all pointed towards the center of the ECFoFwC. This makes it easy to cut later. Then scatter the cheese on top. Add a little salt and pepper, bake for 20 or so minutes, until the cheese starts to brown.

Optionally, add a little rosemary on top, too.

St. Louis Style Spareribs

St. Louis is the cut of the meat. Spareribs come from the underbelly of the pig. St. Louis style means that the breastbone has been removed. I happened to notice a sale on these at Bread and Circus, and had been thinking about slow cooking some pork ribs while watching some football, so the stars seemed properly aligned, today being Sunday and all.

Rub: sea salt, fresh garlic, brown sugar, cumin, caraway seed, red pepper, fresh ground black pepper, allspice, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, ground bay leaf, cardamom. I sorta threw all this together with some Emeril's Essence, cause it happened to be here. There wasn't much Essence compared to the rest of the rub, but what the heck. I went a little crazy on the spice rack. Bam.

I dried off the ribs with paper towels, then applied the rub liberally to both sides, and let it sit for a while with the oven preheating to about 225 (the electric oven here is ridiculously inaccurate, so who knows what I really did). Similar to my anything goes rub, I perhaps took some liberties with cooking style. Rob can chime in if I broke any rules, but it turned out well. I set a deep cookie dish with sides in the lower rack, filled this with water, and a liberal splash of liquid smoke. I then put the ribs on a roaster, and stuck them in the upper rack. I left this going for an hour (maintaining water and liquid smoke level) trying to get the smoky flavor in the ribs. I removed the bath, and let it go another 30 minutes to dry it out.

In this time, I made a mop: The rest of the rub (about a half cup), a cup of cider vinegar, a 1/4 cup of jim beam, a 1/4 of olive oil, some more garlic, some more red pepper flakes, more brown sugar, some maple syrup, more fresh ground black pepper and a whole bay leaf, broken in half. Oh, and some more liquid smoke, so we'll never know if the bath really worked. Either way, it smelled up the apartment.

From here on out, every 15 minutes I'd mop the ribs, turning them over relatively quickly from this point in time. After a total of four hours of cooking, the meat was flaking off. I let them sit for 10 minutes or so wrapped in foil. Either shake with bbq sauce to serve, or serve some on the side.

Again, I apologize for the quality of this camera.

Absurd Pumpkin Madness - Base

It has always bothered me that people should use canned pumpkin when pumpkins are in season. Indeed, preparing a basic pumpkin for something like a pumpkin bread is pretty basic, and though I haven't tried it before, according to the Frugal Gourmet at least, it should freeze well enough to be used throughout the year. With that in mind, let's begin.

Ingredients:

1 pumpkin

Ok, so here's what you do. Get a pumpkin. Try to choose one that is misshapen or otherwise unsuitable for use as a Jack-O-Lantern, leaving the perfectly shaped ones for the kids. We're just going to cut the thing up and eat it anyway.

Cut up the pumpkin into 2 inch cubes, throwing away the stringy guts, and reserving the seeds for later roasting. Peel these cubes using your chef's knife. Be careful not to cut yourself. Place cubes in a giant stockpot, put about 1" of water in the stockpot, cover and set over medium heat for about an hour. The cubes should have been nicely steamed, and soft at that point.

Remove from heat, and place in a food processor. And there it is! Pureed pumpkin.

Use this in pumpkin pie and bread or any other recipe that calls for pureed pumpkin!