Sun
Jan
22
Meyer lemons are in season in California, and are therefore in the supermarket all the way here in DC. Meyer lemons are originally from China, and are thought to be a hybrid of a lemon and a mandarin orange.
Having them in the house reminded me of how a little squeeze of lemon (or lime) can lift a dish. Keep citrus around and you can find many uses. This week I used meyer lemon juice in:
-garlicy greens
-balsamic chicken marinade
-maple syrup on French toast
-salad dressing
-stir fry sauce
I was inspired to make meyer lemon curd, but could not get it together.
Thu
Jan
5
For Christmas, my mother-in-law put some Blush Cabernet Sea Salt from Hawaii in my stocking. I don’t play with flavored salts very often, but I thought this would be fun.
Tonight I seasoned my skirt steak with a bunch of it (liberally distributed over both sides of the steak with some pepper), and it turned out great! I don’t know if it was the blush cabernet flavor (I’m not even sure what that is), or that I was so awesome at cooking the steak, or that the steak itself was so awesome because it was from Ecofriendly Foods, one of my fav farmer’s market vendors, but I was quite pleased.
Good job, Mother-in-Law!
http://www.bluehawaiilifestyle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=27_28&products_id=119
Skirt Steak:
Ingredients
skirt steak
salt
pepper
olive oil
Directions:
1. Liberally sprinkle salt and pepper all over the steak.
2. Heat a pan with a little olive oil until the oil is shining. If it’s a thicker steak, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
3. Place the steak in the pan, letting it brown for about two minutes. Once the steak is golden brown, flip it over and do the same on the other side.
4. If the steak is thin, it should be done. If it’s a bit thicker, place it the oven.
5. Deglaze the pan with a little red wine, beef, or veal stock to get off all the “sucs” and make a jus.
6. Let the steak rest for 5 minutes per pound.
7. Slice the steak thinly with the grain and enjoy!
Mon
Dec
19
My family was in town last night, so we had an early Hanukkah celebration. We ate: brisket, braised in balsamic vinegar, red wine, and veal stock, roasted brussel sprouts, and of course, latkes. The new food processor wedding present was a huge help!The veal stock addition is very exciting, as it was the stock of choice in culinary school. I obviously and shamefully do not make my own stock, but if I were, it clearly wouldn’t be VEAL stock, as you can’t find veal bones even at the farmer’s market.
Anyhoo, am loving the gaining weight this holiday season, and am looking forward to roasting my pre-brined heritage turkeys.
I went to a holiday party a few weeks ago and had the best Christmas cookies I have ever had! They were Martha Stewart’s chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies. Very light and chewy, such great gingerbready-flavor, and the chocolate is a really nice touch.
Recipe:
Ingredients
- 7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate
- 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Directions
-
Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.
-
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.
-
In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.
-
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
I baked them for my office holiday potluck. They didn’t come out as light and cracked as they were supposed to. Honestly, I am a pretty lazy cook, and so did not chill the dough for long enough—I only did 20 minutes for the first chill, and didn’t chill them at all after rolling the dough balls into the sugar.
But whatevs. They still tasted great!
Peep the pictures for some of the steps done correctly:-)
Sat
Nov
19
To get all up in my Vita Mix again, I made myself some acorn squash soup (roasted acorn squash, chicken stock, cinnamon, salt & pepper). I also had a lentil/rice blend in my pantry, so I cooked up some lentil soup, as well (with onions, carrots, spinach, and beef stock).
