Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Improvisation leads to some wonderful discoveries.
Our oven was broken for about a month last October-November, so we had to use our toaster oven for baking which was pretty limiting.
Braising, which is one of my favorite ways to cook, was off limits.

Then, Tom came up with the idea of using the grill, which has a thermometer on it.  He got it heated at 350 degrees and monitored it on and off. 
The grill cover prevented me from putting the top on the pot completely.  I had to leave it cocked off to the side slightly.  What resulted was a thick wonderfully rich, syrupy sauce for the short ribs.

We made the recipe again, in the regular oven, and it was fantastic once again.

I am posting it so we enjoy it in the future.  It's the best beef short ribs recipe I have found so far. 

A note about beef short ribs:  Wegman's says they switch from boneless to bone-in every other shipment. So, grab them if you see them and freeze for future use. Also, be careful to select only the beefy, meaty ones. I have noticed that Wegman's is very inconsistent. If you don't pay attention you will end up buying mostly bones, and that will defeat the whole purpose of this recipe. Bone-in is best because the bones add to the flavor of the dish.  Oh, how I wish we had a real butcher shop!

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
(adapted from Bon Appetit, Oct 2011)

5 lb. bone - in beef short ribs, cut crosswise
salt and pepper
3 T. oil
3 medium onions, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 T.  flour
1 T. tomato paste
1 750 ml bottle dry red wine (Cab or Zin or Syrah)
10 springs flat leaf parsley (or 1 T. dry)
8 springs thyme (or 2 t. dry)
4 springs oregano (or 1 t. dry)
2 dried bay leaves
1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
4 cups low salt beef stock

Preheat the oven or grill to 350 degrees.  Pat dry, and season short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.   Working in batches, brown short ribs on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch.  Don't overcrowd.  Transfer ribs to a plat.  Pour off all but 3 T. drippings from pot.

Add onions, carrots, and celery to pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onions are browned, about 5 minutes.  Add flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly  until well combined and deep red, 2-3 minutes.  Stir in wine, then add short ribs with any accumulated juices.  Bring to a boil; lower heat to medium and simmer until wine is reduced by half, about 25 minutes.  Add all herbs to pot along with garlic.  Stir in stock.  Bring to a boil, cover, and transfer to oven.

Cook until short ribs are tender, 2 to 2.5 hours.  Ribs are done when the bones slide out easily. Transfer short ribs to a platter.  Strain sauce from pot into a measuring cup.  Spoon fat from surface of sauce and discard.  Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve in shallow bowls, over mashed potatoes if you wish, but we skipped them, with sauce spooned over.

B

Making Ethiopian Stew with Ann N. (Sphonny)

One of my most unique and fun food experiences of the 2011 was cooking in the kitchen with Ann N.(also known as Sphonny).  I was the sous chef and interviewed her as she cooked.

Why do you make Ethiopian Stew, have you ever been there?
No, but Barry and I went to an Ethiopian restaurant in San Francisco a long time ago and we had something very similar there.
Where did you get the recipe?
A woman in one of the Supervisor Effectiveness classes I taught brought it in.
Was she Ethiopian?
No. (laugh)
What exactly is Ethiopian Stew?
It's onions, chicken, whole eggs and a special blend of spices.
Whole eggs?
Yes, lots of them. You'll see.
And it is spicy. There are pancakes to go with it, to offset the heat.
How spicy?
You'll see.

So, here's the story of How Ann and I made Ethiopian Stew:

Ann N. (Sphonny):  First we need lots of onions.  I don't think onions in Ethiopia are this big, so we will use only 8.

B (Me):  I think to myself.  Boy, I am glad she is willing to chop all of those onions.  I might cry.  I volunteer to do the eggs.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Voila!  The onions.

B (Me):  Voila! The eggs.  (Is this a duel?)

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Now, we need to cut up the chicken.  I'll do the breasts.  You bone the thighs.
B (Me):  Harrumph.  Yes, Chef.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Now poke all the pieces with a fork, so they can absorb the sauce.  And do the eggs, too.
B (Me):  Yes, Chef!

B note to readers:  We are following an actual recipe, in case anyone wonders.  Doro Wot is the name of what we are making.  It is the national dish of Ethiopia.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Now we move to the stove top.  Melt the butter.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Get the tomato paste and water ready.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Add the onions to the melted butter.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Add the special spices.  Berbere, pronounced "bari baray"
B (Me):  ?????

Ann N. (Sphonny):   I made it myself!  A fresh batch this year!  It's cumin, coriander, ginger, cardamon, fenugreek seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, onion powder, allspice, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, black pepper. 

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Add the chicken.
B (Me):  I see you have a bigger pot now. 
Ann N. (Sphonny):  Yes, it is hard to judge.  You may have to size up midway.  Be flexible.  Add the eggs.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  On to making the pancakes. (called Injera as shown in the recipe below.)

Ann N. (Sphonny): Now I need to do some sophisticated measuring of the flour.

Ann N. (Sphonny): I know how much I used before so I know approximately how much is left in each bag.  No need for cups. First the self- rising flour.
B (Me):  I raise my eyebrows, but I know she is an engineer.

Ann N. (Sphonny):    Then the whole wheat flour.
Ann N. (Sphonny):  And baking powder. 

Ann N. (Sphonny):  To the flours and baking powder...

Ann N. (Sphonny):   we add carbonated seltzer water.
Ann N. (Sphonny):  Add more seltzer if you need it.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Then, get ready to dip and spread.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Put the batter in a hot skillet and let the batter spread out, by rolling the pan around, to make a thin pancake.

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Flip over and finish cooking each pancake.

Ann N. (Sphonny): Place them under a towel on a plate to keep them warm.

Ann N. (Sphonny): Stew is ready to serve!

 Ann N. (Sphonny):  One egg or two?

B (Me):  Two.

Fellow guest, John S. :  Holy Mother of xyz!  That soup is hot!

Ann N. (Sphonny):  Eat your pancake to cool off your mouth!

The End.

Thanks to Ann for inviting me into her kitchen.  It was lots of fun cooking together.

If anyone would like the recipes shown above, just send me an email at BarbBlumer@aol.com

B

Two Biscotti Recipes: Chocolate-Almond and Pistachio-Dried Cherry

Biscotti Production for our Neighborhood Giftgiving

Several people have asked me about how we made our biscotti cookies.  Are they hard to make?  Absolutely not.  But we learned the hard way.

This past Christmas Tom and I thought it would be fun to make biscotti, Italian dipping cookies, for our annual Christmas Eve goody exchange with our neighbors.

But we had very little experience with them.  I knew they were twice baked cookies which should be crispy, not soft.  I can remember making them a long time ago, but didn't have a recipe on hand.

So, I first started looking in the Italian cookbooks, since biscotti are Italian dipping cookies.

Mario Batali had a chocolate one, based on traditional Italian grandmothers' way of making them.   Plus the ingredients were simple and were items I had on hand.

Then, I found a festive-sounding one, which called for pistachios and cranberries with white chocolate.  I decided to go with dried tart cherries instead of cranberries.  (Seems like cranberries are shoehorned into too many holiday recipes.  Dried cherries are so much better tasting!)

Chocolate Biscotti
from Mario Batali's, Simple Italian Food
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 t. baking powder
3 large eggs
4 egg yolks
1 T. Amaretto (almond flavored liqueur)
1 t. almond extract (my addition)
3/4 cup hazelnuts, skin on
1/2 cup chocolate chips (he says mini, we used regular ones)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks, Amaretto and almond extract. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until the dough comes together, about 1 minute. 

Add the hazelnuts and chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated.

Roll the dough into 3 logs about 10 inches by 2 inches and place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 20 minutes until light golden brown and remove from the oven.

As soon as they are cool enough to handle, cut the logs on a slight diagonal into pieces 1/2 inch thick and arrange cut side down on the sheets.

Lower the heat to 275 degrees, return the pieces to the oven, and bake 20 minutes longer, until crisp and dry.  Allow to cool.

Pistachio Cranberry or Cherry Biscotti 
by Lou Seibert Pappas from Food&Wine online

1 cup shelled raw pistachios (look in the bulk section or specialty foods section)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries or dried tart cherries (look in the bulk food section)
2 ounces white chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the pistachios in a pie plate and bake until golden, about 6 minutes; let cool. Turn the oven down to 325°.
In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, followed by the vanilla. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients. With a wooden spoon, stir in the pistachios and cranberries.

Butter and flour a large cookie sheet. Pat the dough out on the sheet into two 14-inch-long logs 1 inch wide and 1 inch high; leave 3 inches between them. Bake in the lower third of the oven until golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack; let the logs cool for 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, slice logs on the diagonal 1/2 inch thick.

Bake the slices for 7 minutes on each side.

Transfer the biscotti to a rack to cool completely.

Drizzle with the melted white chocolate and refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes.

There aren't any photos of the chocolate ones because things in the kitchen were totally out of control!! We couldn't remember what if we had added sugar or not, so we just added more. And we ended up triple baking ours.

Nonetheless, I can highly recommend Mario's recipe. It is a more authentic, break-your-teeth-if-you-don't-dip-it-first, kind of biscotti.

And the second one, a Louise Seibert Pappas recipe, is more of a cake-type cookie. The flavor combinations are great. Pistachios and cherries are yummy together.

Meanwhile, the doorbell kept ringing with deliveries from the neighbors, while we were still stressing in the kitchen to get ours finished. Why did we try to make something we've never made before?
Next year, we aren't going to try something new, under pressure, during the holidays.  That's what I always say.  We'll see.

B

Soup of the Week: Italian Sausage Veggie Soup

Italian Sausage Soup with Veggies

My older sister, Jane, sent me the link to this soup with this note:
I made this soup this week. Very quick to make but very good if you like Italian Sausage. I made it as stated but you could use other fresh vegetables and it would be fine too. We had fresh sourdough bread but cornbread would be good too!  ---Jane
We do like Italian sausage and always have some in the freezer.  So, all I had to do was buy the fresh veggies.  I adapted it -- no surprise there.  It is a good winter soup.  It's on my "make again" list.

Italian Sausage Veggie Soup
(adapted from Allrecipes.com)

1.5 pounds Italian sausage (we used spicy, but you can use sweet), chopped into bite size pieces or casings removed, and crumbled like hamburger meat
lots of garlic, minced
1 liter (2 14 ounce cans) beef stock
1 large can crushed tomatoes (28 ounces), including juices
1 - 2 T. dried basil leaves
3 sliced carrots
1 can (14.5 ounces) cannelini beans, undrained
2 small zucchini, bite size
2 cups of spinach- packed, rinsed and torn
salt and pepper, generously, to taste
shredded Parmesan, for garnish

In a large soup pot, brown the sausage, and remove all but 2 T. fat.  Add garlic and saute until soft but not brown.  Stir in broth, tomatoes, basil, carrots, and season with a little salt and pepper, just a little or none.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the beans and zucchini.  Add a little hot water to be sure all the ingredients are covered.  Cover, simmer another 15 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender.

Remove from the heat, and add spinach.  Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach leaves.  Soup will be ready in about 5 minutes.

Taste and season with salt and pepper, as needed.  I didn't add any because the stock and sausage made it salty enough.

Garnish with grated Parmesan.

B

Chinese New Year Margaritas by Jeanne

2012 Year of the Dragon

I thought it might be fun to expand the blog into good drink recipes! So here goes with a recipe for margaritas that is pretty darn good. It’s courtesy of Alan’s younger son who went to bartending school awhile back. We served them last night at a party we hosted to kick off the Chinese New Year holiday. It seems like a pain to juice all the limes, but it is so worth it!

          ---Jeanne

Chinese New Year Margaritas

The recipe:
1 part sour
2 parts sweet
1 part triple sec
2 parts tequila

My standard “part” is one cup. For the sour I squeeze fresh limes. They can be squeezed ahead of time and the juice stored in the refrigerator. For the sweet, we make a simple syrup, which is made by boiling 1 cup of water, remove it from the heat and add in one cup of sugar. Stir continuously until the sugar is completely dissolved. If you are using one cup of lime juice you’ll need to ~ double the simple syrup recipe.

Put all the ingredients in a blender. Add enough ice to make it slushy or to the consistency you desire. Salted rims are optional....

If you are serving this at a party, I make a pitcher full ahead of time. That way I just pour it in the blender, add ice and serve...saves the hassle of having to measure everything every time you want to make a batch.

Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year in Mandarin)

It’s the year of the dragon!

  ---Jeanne

Family Pierogies by Sarah

Ever have one of those family projects you've talked about doing for YEARS? Literally. Years. It's one of those things we talk about doing most family get-togethers with the adult grandkids and just never ever get around to actually scheduling.

My husband's family has been cooking pierogies during the winter (and to indulge out-of-town relatives in the summer) for as long as anyone can remember. With a Monday off as an excuse, and with my sister-in-law and cousin leading the charge, we made pierogies using the family recipe that's been passed down generation to generation.

The recipe is simple and super easy if you use a food processor or a stand mixer fitted with a dough blade. If you are a purist, Grandma used to mix by hand on her giant wooden cutting board. Rolling, cutting, and stuffing the pierogies takes a little finesse and a lot of time so we scheduled an afternoon of cooking and letting the kids run amok.

Dinner was fantastic and it was agreed that the pierogies were almost as good as Grandma's! (because could anyone ever make them as good as Grandma?!)

Family Pierogies

Dough:
3 Cups Flour
2 Eggs
1 Cup Water

Filling:
2 Cups (or so) Farmers Cheese
Sugar to taste

Add flour followed by eggs until combined. Grandma does this by hand; we used a stand mixer and food processor. Add water slowly checking consistency as you go. Dough should be dry and not too sticky to the touch.

Flour a clear work surface and rolling pin and roll out to desired thickness; Grandma's are pretty thin but held their shape without issue. Once they are rolled out to a consistent thickness cut into uniform two inch squares.

Using Grandma's special cutting board made the process more authentic.

Fill with a combination of farmers cheese and sugar - we used around two cups of farmers cheese with 2-3 tablespoons of sugar. To fill, pick up a dough square and hold on the diagonal. I probably used half of a tablespoon of the farmers cheese for each pierogie. Put on half of dough, fold in half, and then pinch shut on all sides.

Grandma's storage trick is to line a tray or plate with the assembled pierogies and freeze for 15-20 minutes so they begin to get firm and then transfer to a storage bag to prevent from sticking together.

Aren't they cute? If you are cooking and enjoying the fruits of your labors now, add the assembled pierogies to a pot of salted boiling water for seven to ten minutes to cook through. Once finished cooking, mix with melted butter and enjoy with family. Be sure to tell stories about making pierogies as a kid with Grandma between bites.

This picture doesn't do them justice!

This project was a great excuse to have some family time and share a really special meal together. The kids (who are all under the age of eight) weren't into the pierogies, but I think in the coming years as they get older and can share stories they will grow to love them like we do!

 

           ---Sarah

Feast Everyday #3

Lemon Cupcake with Tangy Lemon Frosting and Toasted Pistachios

Hard for me to believe but it was three years ago this week that I started Feast Everyday. 

To celebrate, I made one of our favorite recipes from the blog, Lemon Pound Cake, but made cupcakes instead of a loaf, and added frosting and toasted pistachios. 

As usual, this twist created some problems I had to solve.  The cupcakes stuck to the pan, because I didn't remove them before poking and dousing them with the lemon syrup.  Had to cut the top off, and "glue" it back on with frosting, once I dug the cupcake out of the pan.

I still had fun, and that's what this blog is all about:  enjoying the adventure of creating good food in the kitchen ---discovering new techniques, ingredients, and recipes---then sharing it with family and friends.

Thank you to everyone who follows the blog, and/or contributes their comments, and recipes.

And a special thank you to my husband, Tom, who supports whatever crazy thing I do.

B

Sesame Crusted Salmon

Sesame Crusted Salmon

This is a simple, and quick way to cook salmon.  To get the sesame seeds to stick to the salmon,  a slurry of egg whites and cornstarch is used.  You can have this fish dish on the table in less than 15 minutes.

Sesame Crusted Salmon
(found this technique in Quick from Scratch Fish & Shellfish, a Food & Wine cookbook)

Serves 4

4 5-6 ounce, 1 inch thick salmon fillets  (we used 2 Atlantic wild-caught)
fresh sesame seeds
1 egg white
2 T. cornstarch
oil for the pan

Whisk together the egg white with the cornstarch in a flat bowl. 

Dip the salmon steaks to coat them well, then place them, skin side down on a plate and sprinkle them with sesame seeds.

Heat a non stick pan or griddle until it is hot, then coat it lightly with oil to prevent sticking.  Place the fillets, sesame seed sides down, in the hot pan and cook on medium high for 3 to 5 minutes and turn when the seeds become dark, golden brown but are not burning.  Flip the fillets over (skin side will be down now) and continue to cook, about 5 minutes more, or until the fish is opaque and firm to the touch.

Serve the fish, sesame seed side up, with a finishing sauce.

We used the one Wegman's offers, a lime soy sauce.  Or try Food & Wine's recommended sauce of 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 T. dry sherry, 1/2 cup chicken stock, 1/2 t. sugar, 1/5 t. grated fresh ginger, 1 clove garlic, minced, 2 t. cornstarch, and 3 T. water.

B

"Entertaining with Ease" Goal

Little Plates Party Tray

I snapped this photo just before our guests arrived last Friday.  We had two couples over for drinks.

One of my goals has been to make entertaining easier and less of a big production so that we actually invite people over!

Everyone I know has an aspect of entertaining that really gets them frustrated or intimidated, so they put it off.

In my case, I have never enjoyed the hors d'oeuvres aspect of entertaining.

Over the last few months, I solved my "problem" by taking one of my Dansk trays and placing little decorative plates and bowls in it.  Some are from our travels, and others are finds from tag sales or consignment shops. 

In the little dishes, I have found that finger foods work the best, with little serving spoons and toothpicks.

A bowl of nuts is popular -- cashews or pistachios.  A mix of pitted olives, too.  We put cheesespread on little toasts or crackers. Little halves of sweet cherry tomatoes with goat cheese and sprinkled with basil.  Fresh dates with marscapone, an almond and sprinkled with cinnamon.  Slices of a fresh fruit -- we used persimmons before Christmas, and now we are using the Texas grapefruit we received as a holiday gift.  (A slice of grapefruit doused with basalmic vinegar and pepper is quite tasty.)

We vary what goes in the plates based on what we have on hand and what we see at Wegman's.  It could be little bites of anything. 
Salmon on rye with dill.  Peanut butter on Triskets for kids.

This same approach could be done in any style from contemporary to country.  It's the tray that pulls it together and makes it look great.

The tray makes it easy to pass the hors d'oeuvres.  You can have extra little plates staged in the kitchen ready to go and take the tray in and swap them out.

And the tray minimizes spills and drips on your furniture.

At this party, I also served bite-size crab cakes to have something hot.  They are super easy.  If you didn't see the recipe the first time, click here:  Quick Crab Cakes.

--B

Ropa Vieja (Dinosaur BBQ) by Tom

Shredded Beef in Cuban Creole Sauce

UPDATED 2020
Quite a few years ago Sarah and David gave me for Christmas the Dinosaur Bar B Que cookbook.  It has proven to be a very good cookbook, and I frequently make recipes from it.  This recipe I first made in January 2002 and we very much liked the taste and the appearance.  Tastes good; looks good.  What's not to like about that!

But as I was trying to decide what to make for the NFL playoff games, I discovered much to my chagrin that I had never posted this recipe on Barbara's blog.  So that became my mission.  Made this excellent tasting recipe for the halftime of the Steelers-Broncos game, and added another entry to the blog.  Fortunately my results were far superior to that of the Steelers. 
---Tom

Ropa Vieja: Shredded Beef in Cuban Creole Sauce
(Adapted from the Dinosaur Bar B Que Cookbook)

Serves 4-6

The Steak:
1 flank steak (1 1/2 - 2#)
Kosher salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large carrot, cut into large chunks
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
4 large garlic cloves, crushed
2 or 3 bay leaves
2 cups beef broth (I substituted one bottle of beer and about a cup of chicken stock)

The Sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
Kosher salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups barbeque sauce or 2-16 ounce cans of tomato sauce (I used ~1 cup of Dinosaur BBQ Slathering Sauce and 2 cups of a Colorado Hot & Spicy Barbeque sauce)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano

The Accoutrement:
4-6 cups white rice (I used Texmati rice)
10 ounces fresh or frozen peas, cooked (Actually any green vegetable works.  I used baby lima beans.)
1 red pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and cut into strips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Season the flank steak with salt and pepper, and brown each side for about 4 minutes each.

Next throw in the carrots, onions, bay leaves and garlic around the edges of the meat and let them saute for another 4-5 minutes to get a little carmelization.  Season everything with a little more salt and pepper.

Add the broth and bring to a simmer.  Then cover and put into the oven for about 2 hours so that the flank steak becomes fork tender for shredding.

After 2 hours in  the oven, take the flank steak out of the pan and place it on a large sheet of aluminum foil.  Save the juices in the cooking skillet as you will use them later.  Remember that the pan is hot, so use an oven mitt or hot pad to avoid burning yourself.

Wrap the meat tightly and let it sit for another 20 minutes or so.

Time to make the sauce while the meat is resting.  Dice the onion, green pepper and jalapeno pepper.

Saute the veggies with an added pinch of salt and pepper in heated olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until the onions are translucent and the peppers are soft.   This will take about 8-10 minutes.  Then add the garlic and saute for an additional minute.

Once the vegetables are sauteed, add the barbeque sauce and the spices - cumin and oregano.  Bring the mixture to a simmer and keep it that way for at least 15 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  (A word of warning.  Be sure to taste your concoction to make sure it does not become too salty.  Remember that the barbeque sauces will be bringing their own salt into the recipe.)

From the skillet removed from the oven, remove the vegetables and bay leaves.  Don't worry if there are a few "stray vegetables" in the liquid.  Boil it down until there is roughly one cup of liquid remaining.  This is intensifying the flavors in the cooking broth.

Meanwhile, shred the flank steak with two forks pulling against the meat along the grain.  This creates the shredded meat, or the "ropa" of the recipe's title.  Now add the shredded beef back into the reduced liquid mixture and stir it up well to get the meat to reabsorb most of the liquid from the skillet.

Now dump everything into the sauce and mix this up well.  Simmer just so that everything is heated through.

To roast a red pepper, just put it right on top of the cooking grid on a gas range.  Using tongs, turn the pepper frequently until you have  a good char on the outside and the pepper itself is feeling a little soft.  Then pop it into a paper lunch bag for about 10 - 15 minutes.  The skin should easily peel off, and it should be easy to slice to remove the seeds.  Slice into strips.

Make the rice per the cooking directions on the container.  Make the peas (or other green vegetable) as well per the cooking directions on the package.

Plate by spreading the rice down on the plate.  Cover that with a generous portion of the Ropa Vieja, and then top with the peas and red pepper strips in that order.  Makes for a colorful, and very tasty, meal.

              ---Tom

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Not Your Everyday Lima Bean

Rancho Gordo Chestnut (Christmas) Lima Beans

Laddie sent us a New Year's package from Napa Valley, these large speckled beauties.  Not your everyday lima bean.

They are grown by Rancho Gordo, a specialty food grower in Napa, California, specializing in heirloom varieties.

I checked out their website to see how to cook them. http://www.ranchogordo.com/  It's very retro.  Worth a look. 

They say they are reminiscent of chestnuts, but think more the flavor and texture of French lentils.  They go well with goat cheese.

Very earthy.  A nice change from all of the rich food over the holidays. 

Laddie's timing was perfect for our post-holiday, get-healthy regimen.  Thanks, Laddie!

We kept the pot in the refrigerator and reheated them as needed.  They got better and better each time.

Chestnut Lima Beans

Basic Prepartion:

Pick over the beans, place them in a large saucepot, cover with fresh cold water.

Soak 6 hours.

Drain and rinse. They will swell up and get bigger.

Saute an onion, 2 chopped carrots, and the interior stalks and leaves of a celery bunch until onions are translucent.

Add beans.  Cover completely with water.  Add bay leaf.

Bring to a complete boil, then turn down to a simmer, a very low simmer.

Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours or until cooked.

Add a generous amount of salt, and then cook again on very low heat for another 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop up your toppings:  drunken goat cheese for me, ham for Tom.   Extras will go in containers not in the beans.  You don't want your toppings to be soggy. 

Use a slotted spoon to remove beans to a bowl.

Drizzle with olive oil and top with either the goat cheese or ham or both.

B

Angel Food Cake

Angel Food Cake

I view leftover ingredients as an opportunity.  I can use them for inspiration or to make something new.

The holidays created a container of leftover egg whites.  What can I do with a bunch of egg whites? 

Angel Food Cake!

I looked in American Cookery by James Beard.  I would need 1 1/2 cups of egg whites.

And that's exactly what I had leftover in the fridge.  Woohoo!  (Yes, I get excited about coincidences like this.)

So, for New Year's dinner I made a mess making angel food cake, and had lots of fun doing it.

Angel Food Cake
from James Beard's American Cookery

1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cup fine granulated sugar (look in the baking aisle)
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 cups egg whites (about 10 - 12 eggs), at room temperature
1 t. cream of tartar
1 T. water or part water and part lemon juice
1 1/2 t. vanilla or 1 t. vanilla and 1/2 t. almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

You will need an ungreased baking pans -- a 10 inch tube pan, or 2 loaf pans.

Make sure the egg whites are at room temperature.

Sift the flour, measure, then sift 5 or 6 times with 1/2 cup of the sugar and the salt.

 I used two bowls and a fine sieve. Hold the sifter high to incorporate as much air as you can.  Messy but fun!

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy,

then add the cream of tartar and continue to beat.

When the bubbles are uniform, start adding the remaining 1 cup of sugar a few tablespoons at a time.

Add the flavoring while adding the sugar.  (I forgot to do this.)

Beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks, and the sugar is dissolved.

I had to add my vanilla at this point.  No worries!

Fold in the flour while sifting and spooning over the egg whites.  I used a large spatula to gently incorporate the flour mixture.
When the flour is thoroughly combined, but not overmixed, turn the batter into a 10 inch tube pan, or two loaf pans.

The pan must be absolutely free of grease, for the cake to cling to the sides as it rises.

Bake the tube pan about 50 minutes, loaf pans about 45. 

Test by pressing lightly in the center -- if the cake springs back it is done. 

Remove from the oven and invert the pan until the cake cools.  The edges of the pan must be lifted at least an inch or so while it cools.

When the cake is cool, remove from pan by pulling the sides away with a fork.

Frost or serve plain, as you prefer.

To serve, pull servings with two forks.  A knife won't work.  It will mash the cake.

Toasted with Warm Berry Mix and Drambuie Cream

Ideas for serving:

fresh or frozen berries, with or without whipped cream
drizzled chocolate
butterscotch or caramel sauce
warmed fruit jam

The cake can be sliced and toasted first.

The cake can also be frosted.

Angel food cakes does not freeze well due to the low fat content.

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