About Feast Everyday

Based in Corning, New York and the beautiful Finger Lakes. Started in 2009 by Barbara Blumer with her family and friends. Her husband, Tom, now regularly contributes, too.

Over 900 Recipes and still growing

From muffins to curries with step-by-step photos and how-to tips: see recipe index https://feasteveryday.blogspot.com/p/recipes-index.html

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Sunday, March 24, 2024

Bourbon Beef Stew (NYTimes) by Barbara

 
Deep, Rich Flavors from the Bourbon and the Tomato Paste

Made this comforting stew yesterday.  And will have it for leftovers today.  Perfect for a cold, snowy day while we watch March Madness basketball.

---Barbara
Bourbon Beef Stew
(adapted from a NYTimes recipe by Vallery Lomas)

Serves  6 to 8

For the marinade and browning the beef:
3 lbs. chuck steak, cut into 8 pieces 
1 T. sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (1 large lemon)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

For the stew:
2 -3 T. oil for browning the beef 
3 carrots, scraped and cut into large chunks
2 onions, cut into quarters
5-6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 T. dried French thyme
2 T. tomato paste
salt and pepper
1 quart beef stock (4 cups), unsalted
1/3 cup Bourbon

The day before or in the early moring, remove the chuck steak from its wrapper, pat dry and sprinkle both side with sugar.  Place on a plate, uncovered, and refrigerate to air dry, until time to marinate it.  

Four  to five hours in advance of starting the stew, make the marinade.
Combine lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce in a plastic bag. Add the lemon halves, too. Cut the chuck steak into 8 pieces, pierce them with a fork, and add to the plastic bag, Massage the marinade into the meat, so that all the pieces are well coated.  Place in the refrigerator on a plate for 4 to 5 hours, turning the bag over whenever you remember to do it.  

Time to make the stew:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Remove the top rack, if needed, to allow room for the stockpot.

Prepare the onions, carrots, and garlic.  Measure out the bourbon, tomato paste and beef stock so you will be ready.  

Remove the chuck steak pieces and pat them dry.  (Discard the marinade. I used it for companion roasted potatoes.  But it doesn't get used in the stew.)

Sprinkle the chuck beef pieces with salt and pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.
In a heavy stock pot with a cover, large enough to brown the beef and hold all the ingredients and the stock, heat up the oil on medium-high until shimmering.  
Place the beef carefully in the hot oil, turn up the heat to high, and brown until crusty on all sides.  You may have to do it in batches to have enough room to properly brown the beef.  Remove from the pan, and turn down the heat to medium.

Deglaze the pan with bourbon.  If there isn't enough liquid, then add some of the beef stock.  Use a wooden spoon or spatula and scrape all of the brown bits off the bottom and sides of the pot.
Add the tomato paste, and coat all the vegetables and cook until the lumps are gone, stirring. 

Add the maple syrup and stir in well.
Add the onions, carrots and garlic and coat all them in the hot oil.  Turn up the heat to medium high
Then add the bay leafs and thyme.  Add a little salt and pepper.
Add the stock.
Return the beef to the pot, submerging each piece into the broth.  

Bring to a simmer.
Cover and place in the oven at 300 degrees for 2.5 hours.  
Remove from the oven.  

Using tongs, remove 2 pieces of beef per person and place in a deep plate.  Scoop out a few carrots and onions for each plate.  If desired, pour some sauce over each piece of beef.

You could place the beef over a bed of mashed potoates or rice, and then you might want more sauce.

I served our beef with roasted potates and a creamy arugula salad.

I stored the beef and the broth separately so I can remove the fat to make onion soup for later in the week.  We'll have the meat, and potato leftovers with a salad again tonight.  

B

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Petite Palmiers ( Mini Puff Pastries) by Barbara


Made these to take to a friend this morning.  Originally posted the recipe in 2015.  It's an old Ina Garten recipe that I've made many, many times over the years. It's from her Barefoot in Paris cookbook.

Very simple ingredients--- just puff pastry, salt and sugar.  

Click to see the recipe here.

Follow the steps and photos for how to roll out the dough and fold them into palmiers.  Then, bake for 12 minutes, flipping once to brown and carmelize on both sides.

B

Friday, March 15, 2024

Caraway Pumpkin Soup by Barbara

Welcome Home Soup

Weary from our overnight flight from Hawaii and long layover in Detroit, we had no desire to go to the grocery store.  So, this caraway soup from the freezer saved the day.   It was one of my experiments from last year.  I combined pumpkin, cabbage and caraway seeds with shallots into a surprisingly good soup. 
Caraway has a background anise flavor yet it's not sweet. It's peppery with a citrus note. It is best known for its use in rye bread baking.  

I came up with the idea when I was trying to figure out what to do with a small head of cabbage that was a little past its prime. I also had a small pumpkin I wanted to roast. What if I used pumpkin instead of beets like in a borscht? It worked. This soup is much better than borscht. My caraway soup is creamy, fragrant and filling.

Tom's only complaint was the texture of the pumpkin, so next time, I will puree the soup completely.  

---Barbara

Caraway Soup


1 small to medium Cinderella-type pumpkin (3 lbs.) (or 3 15-ounce cans of pureed pumpkin)
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 large shallots, sliced into crescents
3 T. butter, unsalted
1 small cabbage, outer leaves removed, sliced crosswise 
1/4 cup caraway seeds
4-5 cups chicken stock (4 t. Roasted Chicken Better than Bouillon in water)

To roast the pumpkin:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Carefully, remove the stem and interior seeds and pulp. Cut the pumpkin into quarters.

Oil the pumpkin segments well with salt and pepper, on all sides. Place them in a roasting pan or casserole.

Roast for an hour, check to see if the flesh is fully cooked by testing with a knife. It should go in and come out with no resistence. If needed, roast for another half hour. Mine took 1.5 hours.

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. Scoop out the cooked pumpkin, and discard the skin. But save any juices from the bottom of the roasting pan.

This can be done ahead of time.

In a large stock pot with lid --- I used an 8 quart ---saute the shallots in the 3 T. of butter with a pinch of salt. The butter will flavor the soup and the sauteed shallots will smell heavenly.

Add any pumpkin juices from the roasting pan, and deglaze the pan.

Add the sliced cabbage to the pot. Add the caraway seeds.

Saute, turning the cabbage over and over, until well coated and it begins to soften. Scrape up any brown bits in the bottom of the pot. Don't let the caraway seeds burn.

Add the pumpkin puree.

Add the chicken stock.

Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring until the pumpkin puree spreads out evenly. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Remove from the heat.

Have a serving while it's still hot. Store the rest in the fridge overnight. Portion it out into containers to freeze.

Then, defrost and gently reheat as needed. 

B

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Malasadas


Our rainy day adventure today was to find an Hawaiian specialty called malasadas. 
We found an authentic bakery next to a little mini-mart with the nicest staff. It’s called Paalaa Kai Bakery on the less touristy edge of Hale’iwa. 
Malasadas are similar to donuts. Tom also wanted the flaky turnovers— but I neglected to note what they are called. 
Malasadas come plain or filled with coconut pudding at Paalaa Bakery. 
When I saw them in the case, I said those look like berliners! But they are eggier. 

Malasadas are Portuguese in origin. The Hawaiian islands attracted many people from Portugal to work in the sugar cane fields. And they brought their food traditions with them. You will also find chorizo sausage prevalent here. 

This is a good link by to learn more about malasadas and how to make them: 


B

Monday, February 26, 2024

Lobster Cobb Salad (Beach House)


Another first for me: Lobster Cobb Salad.  

I tried it because I was surprised to see blue cheese paired with lobster. 

Now I know from googling this morning that it is a popular salad with many variations. Ina Garten and lots of foodies have posted recipes. 

This is Beach House in Hale’iwa, Hawaii’s version:

warm lobster and grilled croutons served atop waipoli greens ( similar to butter lettuce) with blue cheese, tomato, bacon, and a 7-minute egg, tossed in an avocado ranch dressing

What I enjoyed about their salad was the variety of creamy and crunchy textures and the little pops of flavor from the bacon and the blue cheese. The lobster was not overwhelmed by the blue cheese which surprised me. 

I want to try making this at home. 

B

Friday, February 23, 2024

Upside Down Pineapple Tip


Local Papaya, Pineapple, Meyer Lemon

Here in Hawaii pineapples are grown locally. We bought this one at the grocery store yesterday. I asked the produce stocker how to buy a ripe one. She said look for one turning yellow and soft to the touch. And the same is true for papaya. 
I read that it is a good idea to turn your pineapple upside down in the fridge overnight. This encourages the sugars that have collected in the bottom to flow throughout the whole pineapple. 

I also watched a tutorial on how to cut a pineapple. It’s not easy but with time I will get the hang of it. 

Be careful. 

Cut the top and bottom off. 
Slice in half. 
Remove the inedible tough core, cutting it out like wedge.
Cut the halves into quarters. 
Slice crosswise about 1/2 inch thick. 
Run knife along bottom of the fruit against the skin. 

You will have triangular chunks  of pineapple! 
And a big mess. 

But it’s worth it.  The pineapple chunks were cold and juicy. The perfect treat after coming back from the beach. 

B
 


Saturday, February 17, 2024

Batayaki (Butter Yaki)


Tom really liked the seafood batayaki dish we had on Valentine’s Day at Aji Limo in Hale’iwa. 

So, I will try to make it when we get home. 

What is batayaki? We didn’t know. It’s a Japanese Hawaiian way of cooking on a griddle using butter to fry the ingredients then dipping or coating them in a special sauce:

1 cup soy sauce (lite)
1/4 cup mirin (rice wine vinegar)
1/4 cup sugar
Sesame oil— just a little— a teaspoon
Lime juice of 2 limes
grated daikon (white radish) 

Some recipes have ajinomoto (MSG)—- which should be avoided due to its questionable health side effects, even though it is a flavor enhancer. 


Some recipes use lemons or orange juice but we really liked lime which was used in our seafood sauce. 

Our restaurant used sake which I will try, too, in place of the mirin. 

It is unclear how much daikon to use. Some recipes call for up to 1/2 cup but in the demos I saw they just grated some in over the top. 

The butter is the main flavoring agent so it is recommended that a good butter, like Irish butter is used. 

B

Friday, February 16, 2024

Hot Pot Heaven


This is something I want to try at home: hot pot cooking.
We had a delicious, fun and healthy late lunch at Hot Pot Heaven in Kailua, Hawaii. 

We had driven down the windy coastal road to Kailua because I was out of books. (I prefer a real book to an e-reader.) We were surprised to find Kailua to be a large mini-city with a Target, Whole Foods and lots of restaurants and little shops. Their small bookstore is called Bookends and was a mix of used and new with piles of books everywhere. Took me a while to make my choices so we were hungry afterwards. 
We googled and wandered around until I happened to see a 4.9 rating for Hot Pot Heaven. You would never guess it would be so good from its looks. But that’s the way many places are on Oahu. 

We’ve never gone to a hot pot place before. Our server was so nice and helpful. You pick a broth.


He brings it steaming hot out to your table’s electric hot plate. 


You pick ingredients from a bank of refrigerators. As many as you want. 

You are charged by the plate and its color. Shrimp, for example, is blue and costs more than the yellow plate of  broccoli. 

We chose

CANH CHA

“Their take on the beloved Vietnamese sweet and sour soup. Chicken broth sweetened with pineapple, tomato & taro stem. Garnished with spring onion and Thai basil.”

And shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms, fresh soba noodles, spinach and veggie dumplings. 

Cook your ingredients in the broth then ladle them out into your bowl. And add condiments like hot sauce or miso sauce. They had a variety. We cooked the dumplings first. While the broccoli and mushrooms cooked longer. Then our shrimp with spinach for about 3 minutes. Noodles went in last for about 5 minutes. We finished the broth which became even more concentrated—-and delicious.  It was sweet and sour at the same time. 

Or you can put it all in at once.There did not seem to be a right or wrong way to cook a hot pot meal. 

So, I’ve done some googling this morning on the sweet and sour broth —-and it could be tricky to find the traditional Vietnamese ingredients at home in rural New York state— but I will adapt, as I usually do. We have an electric warmer that Tom’s mother gave us years ago that I think will work. 

It was the shabu-shabu style cooking at the table that we really enjoyed. It was so much fun— we both like to cook— and this way we can do it together. 

B

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

SPAM Musubi (Sheldon Simeon)



Lucky us. Our rental for the next month on the North Shore of Oahu not only gives us a base to explore the more laid back part of Hawaii, with lots of food trucks, it has a cookbook by Top Chef, two time finalist and fan favorite, Sheldon Simeon. His cookbook came out in 2021 and is called Cook Real Hawai’i. It’s more than a cookbook. I am really enjoying reading it and learning about local ingredients and dishes. 

Yesterday I saw a big display of SPAM which led to researching the snack food musubi is made.  

I’m posting Sheldon’s directions so we can make it at home when we get back. Want to buy one of the musubi molds as a souvenir. 

Note that he recommends the 25% less salt version. 


I also found this nice little instagram demo by @mangomoniica for teritaki SPAM musubi. Click the link.  https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2iNmwaPONX/?igsh=b3BlcDQ5eDA0czh2

B

Saturday, February 10, 2024

The Halekulani Coconut Cake

“Really light and really good!” —-Tom
The signature Halekulani coconut cake did not disappoint. 





 

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Halekulani Mai Tai



 
The Halekulani Mai Tai
We’ve begun our winter escape here in Honolulu at the Halekulani hotel. It’s a Japanese owned hotel and we stayed here many years ago.  It is just as nice as we remembered. My photo above and their recipe below. 
—-Barbara