Archive for the 'BBQ' Category

Nasu dengaku (grilled eggplant with sweet miso sauce)

Published
by
marc
on May 7, 2008
in Asian, BBQ, Japanese, Vegan, Vegetable and vegetarian
. 13 Comments

Here’s part 2 of last night’s light Japanese dinner. But first I have to tell you about this left over stew I made tonight.

After eating Tacos Al Pastor for 2 nights, I was getting bored with them, but I still had almost half of the roast left. I felt like something a little saucier tonight, so I fried up some garlic and onions, cut the roast into big hunks and added it to the onions with some remaining marinade, cumin, half a can of diced tomatoes and some water. Twenty minutes later I had a delightful “Mexican” stew with big chunks of moist tender meat and an unctuous sauce redolent of chiles and garlic with a mild sweetness coming from the pineapple in the marinade. I served it with some sliced sweet onion, cilantro, limes for squeezing and warm tortillas.

I didn’t take any photos because I was thinking “how good could leftover stew be”, but honestly I enjoyed the stew more than I did the tacos. I don’t think I’d ever make a roast just to make a stew, but the next time I make the taco’s I’ll be sure to make extra to make this stew. Not only did the roast meat add an incredible flavour to the stew, it was also much more moist and tender than a typical braised dish.

Okay back to the eggplant from last night. This is a fairly typical Japanese dish you’d get at an Izakaya (Japanese tapas bar). The eggplant is grilled to bring out its smokey flavour and the miso sauce enrobes the eggplant adding a well balanced sweet earthy flavour of its own. Putting it back under a broiler for a minute caramelizes the miso sauce adding even more depth. It’s great as an appetizer with some beer or as a main with some hot white rice.

This recipe makes way more sauce than you need, but it keeps well in the fridge and can be used on all kinds of veggies or even firm tofu. If you want to put it on meat, make sure you start the meat on the grill first as the sugar in the miso will burn if you put it on too soon.

for sauce
1 C dashi
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs mirin
1/2 C miso (I used 1/4 C red miso and 1/4 C white miso)
2 tsp corn starch
1/4 tsp yuzu kosho (yuzu pepper) optional

for grilled eggplant
4 small Japanese eggplants cut in half lengthwise (or 2 Chinese or Italian eggplants)
vegetable oil for brushing
sesame seeds

For the sauce, whisk the dashi, sugar, mirin, miso and corn starch together. Heat over medium heat stirring until the sauce thickens. Take it off the heat and add the yuzu whisking it in to the sauce.

For the eggplant, slice them in half lengthwise and score a criss-cross pattern into them to help retain the sauce. Brush with oil and grill on a BBQ or under a broiler until the tops are a dark brown and the eggplant is cooked. Give the sliced sides a good coating of sauce, sprinkle with sesame seeds then put under a broiler to get a little caramelization (be careful, this sauce will burn quickly).

Serve immediately with some rice.

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Tacos al pastor

Published
by
marc
on May 4, 2008
in BBQ, Dinner, Mexican, Party and Pork
. 14 Comments

I think the 3 things I miss most about California are owning a car, having a grill, and the Mexican food. The later two are especially salient around Cinqo De Mayo which for me used to signal the start of the grilling season.

Like the Mexican food in NYC, Cinco De Mayo is a bit misguided here in the US. Most people think it’s the Mexican equivalent of July 4th, but it’s actually not even a federal holiday south of the border (Mexican Independence day on September 16th however is). I suspect its prominence in the US has a lot to do with the marketing engines of big tex-mex chains looking for a way to sell more burritos (ironically, this is a food item that doesn’t have the wide popularity in Mexico that it does here). Still, it is a good excuse to cook Mexican food especially something a bit more elaborate that takes about a day to make.

One of my favourite taco’s, Tacos Al Pastor (”shepherd style”) likely originated from Lebanese immigrants who made their way to Mexico and brought with them Shawarma. Like any food that emigrates from one place to another, changes are made to include locally available ingredients and to suit local palettes. In this case, the meats were flavored with various chiles and then topped with a pineapple while roasting.

The pineapple, aside from adding some sweetness and acidity, also has an enzyme called bromelain that breaks down proteins making the meat very tender. Since we don’t all have shawarma spits at home, I’ve adapted this recipe to work in an oven or on a cooler grill. The pineapple goes into the marinade which gets layered into the roast and is then left to marinade for a short amount of time.

The meat is stunningly tender with a distinct earthy-smokey flavor coming from the dried chiles and a nice balance of sweetness, tartness and salt. I like my taco’s simple (like they serve them at taquerias in Mexico) and load up a double layer of corn tortillas with meat then add a bit of minced sweet onion, cilantro and salsa verde on top.

Continue for full recipe

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Carne Asada y Nopales Tacos

Published
by
marc
on May 5, 2007
in BBQ, Mexican and Party
. 1 Comment

Having grown up in an California, Mexican food is less exotic and more comfort for me. Since moving to NYC, I’ve been faced with a serious dearth of descent taco’s and come the 5th of May, I found myself missing my native state almost as much I missed having a BBQ on my porch.

I’m not even going to attempt to claim authenticity here, but this recipe is geared for speed (I didn’t start marinating till 2 hours before I wanted to eat), and the tastes that I remember. The carne asada is tender and comes out of the broiler lightly charred almost as if it came off a BBQ and is the perfect balance of spice, tang and salt.

The slightly tangy nopales with a texture somewhere between asparagus and okra plays nicely with the garlicky ramps, and while they’re delicious on their own, they’re a wonderful complement to the meat. If ramps aren’t in season (which is most of the year), you can substitute garlic chives, or a combination of leeks and garlic, but it just won’t be the same.

Carne Asada

1 lb. hanger steak
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 serrano chilli peppers minced
2 cloves garlic minced
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 ripe kiwi mashed
1 Tbsp. kosher salt (or 1/2 Tbsp table salt)
Pinch of dried oregano
Pinch of ground coriander seed
Pinch of ground cumin seed
Fresh ground pepper

Nopales con Ramps

3 young prickly pears (nopales)
1/4 lbs. young ramps cleaned thoroughly
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Pinch chili powder
Salt & Pepper to taste

Pico de Gallo

2 vine ripened tomatoes diced small
1/4 sweet onion minced
1 serrano chili minced with seeds
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
Juice of half a lime
Pinch of dried oregano
Pinch of salt

Soft corn tortillas

Stick all the ingredients for the Carne Asada marinade (everything except the meat) in a blender and blend, or you can hand chop stuff if you don’t feel like getting the blender dirty (I find washing a blender takes more time than chopping, and it’s definitely less soothing). The kiwi is an amazing natural meat tenderizer, but if you’re going to marinade for less than 2 hours, I recommend cutting 1/4 inch deep slits in the meat so the marinade does its thing faster. Pour the marinade over the meat, massage it in, and refrigerate until you’re ready to cook it.

The nopales need to be cleaned well (nothing will ruin a cinqo de mayo celebration faster than a guest choking on a cactus spine). If they don’t come from the store cleaned, you’ll need to scrape all the brown buds and spines off each nopal. I use the back of a knife to do this (like scaling a fish), then get the remaining bits with a vegetable peeler (you don’t need to peel it). Then just cut the end off each one, cut it in half lengthwise and cut it into strips.

To prepare the ramps, make sure you wash them really well (they grow in sand and mud near rivers, so they’re usually really dirty). I usually use kitchen sheers to cut the leaves off from the stems and wash them separately. Then, just cut the ramps diagonally into 1″ wide strips.

Mix all the ingredients for the pico de gallo together, taste, adjust the seasoning and let the flavors meld.

Move the rack towards the top of your oven and turn it on to broil, line a pan with aluminum foil and place the hanger steak on it. Broil, turning once until the meat is as cooked as you like it. Personally I like it medium rare, so I’ll broil it on each side for about 6 minutes.

While the meat is in the broiler, heat a non-stick pan on high until hot and add the oil. Add the nopales and the stems from the ramps and cook for about a minute or until the nopales are translucent and taste cooked (hint: you can eat them raw). Add the ramps leaves and season to taste. As soon as the leaves wilt remove from heat and transfer to a serving platter.

Once the meat is cooked, remove from the broiler and let it rest for a few minutes. I know it smells damn good, but be patient, otherwise all the juices (moistness & flavor) will gush out onto your cutting board. Once the meat gets it’s beauty rest, chop it up, add some more chopped cilantro, and squeeze some more lime juice on it.

To serve, warm up the tortilla’s in a microwave for about 20 seconds between 4 sheets of moistened paper towel. Let your guests scoop mounds of delectable meat and veggies into a tortilla, add some pico de gallo, grab a Corona and enjoy!

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