Archive for the 'Winter' Category

Warm winter salad

Published
by
marc
on March 26, 2008
in Fall, Salad, Vegetable and Winter
. 1 Comment

Warm winter salad

Continuing on the no-meat kick after the ridiculously-bad-for-you-but-oh-so-delicious braised bacon, I decided to start experimenting with grains. Stopping by the Union Square Whole Foods, I picked up some roasted buckwheat and quinoa. What I really wanted was some delightfully chewy wheat berries, but they were completely out so I decided on the subway that I’d give the buckwheat a go.

The smoky roasted buckwheat reminded me of barley tea and added some nice depth to the salad, but next time I’m definitely going to hunt down some wheat berry. The salad is served warm with roasted winter veggies and a sweet balsamic vinaigrette. The celery adds some nice crunch in there, but I was thinking sunchokes or asian pear would work just as well. A soft poached egg on top lends some creaminess and body that makes this a one plate meal.

for salad
1 cup cooked wheat berries (or some other whole grain)
1/3 C celery cut into small cubes
1 Tbs chopped parsley

1 Tbs good olive oil
1 C cubed kabocha or butternut squash
1/2 C cubed parsnip or celery root
1 spring onion sliced (or small sweet onion)
1 tsp kosher salt

for dressing
2 Tbs good olive oil
2 Tbs real balsamic vinegar
8 sage leaves cut into thin ribbons
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

for serving
1 poached egg per serving
Mache or Frisée

Prepare the wheat berries according the the box directions and dump it into a large bowl. Toss the hot wheat with celery and parsley in a large bowl.

Heat 1 Tbs of good olive oil over medium heat and saute the kabocha, parsnip, onion and salt until the vegetables are soft enough to eat (but not mushy). Add to bowl with wheat.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour enough on the wheat and veggies, tossing gently, to lightly coat everything.

To serve, put down a bed of greens, layer on the wheat and veggies, top with a soft poached egg and drizzle on a little more dressing.

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Cherry Coke braised “ham”

Published
by
marc
on March 23, 2008
in Dinner, Dinner party, Meat, Pork and Winter
. 5 Comments

Cherry Coke braised “ham”

I’m one of those people that associates holidays with certain types of food. Thanksgiving=turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce; St. Patrick’s Day = Corned beef boiled potatoes and cabbage. Easter then is… no surprise… ham. There’s a particular recipe I’m actually quite fond of in Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life for a Coca Cola Ham. Braising the ham in Coke reduces the salt content, softens the meat and adds a pleasant sweetness that’s simply irresistible.

The problem with ham of course is that they tend to come in 20lbs hunks and are not so conducive to NYC apartment cooking. My solution, while quite unhealthy, tastes better than ham, comes in any size you want and is cheaper than ham. I picked up a 3.5 lbs slab of smoked bacon from my favorite butcher Florence Prime Meats for around $13.50 and after a few hours braising in 275 degree oven, it came out mellow, melty and delicious. I’ve adapted Nigella’s recipe for this blog.

2-3 lbs slab of smoked bacon with skin
3 Tbs cherry jam
1/4 C dried cherries
1 vanilla bean split in half lengthwise
15 whole cloves
2 liter bottle of Coke

1 Granny Smith apple peeled and sliced
1 small head of cabbage cored and shredded

Put the bacon in a large bowl and cover with water. Put it in the fridge overnight to reduce the amount of salt.

Put the rack in the lower position and preheat your oven to 275 degrees.

Place the bacon into a heavy pot that it will fit snugly into (you may want to cut it into 2-3 smaller pieces). Add the jam, vanilla, cloves, and cherries and pour enough Coke over to cover the pork.

Bring it to a boil over the stove, cover and put it in the oven until the meat is fork tender (about 3 1/2 to 4 hours).

Remove the bacon from the braising liquid and place it skin-side up on a rack over a baking sheet and tent with foil.

Skim off the fat from the braising liquid and strain half of it into a sauce pan. Boil this until it is a nice syrupy sauce.

Put the cabbage and apples into the other half and simmer until both are tender about 30-40 minutes

When you’re ready to serve, move the rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Uncover the bacon and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the the skin is nice and crispy.

Serve immediately with reduced braising liquid drizzled on top along with some of the braised cabbage and apples.

Update: One thing to keep in mind, this is a lot of cola, so if you’re having this as a late dinner, you might want to use caffeine free Coke.

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Corned beef in stout with mustard chutney

Published
by
marc
on March 17, 2008
in Dinner, Meat and Winter
. 0 Comments

Corned beef in stout with mustard chutney

I really hate to be cliche, but it is St. Paddy’s day and in the 31 years I’ve been around, almost all of them included corned beef and cabbage for supper on March 17th. The irony here isn’t the fact that we’re a half Japanese half Scottish family, but rather the fact that Corned Beef didn’t actually originate in Ireland!

According to Wikipedia, corned beef came about when Irish immigrants in New York City hooked up with their Jewish neighbors (probably at Essex Market) while looking for a cheap substitute for Irish bacon.

Since its local origins, corned beef has gone mass market and the ones you get vacuum sealed at the grocery store are loaded with chemicals and preservatives (ever wonder how beef cooked for several hours turns out pink?). If you have a local butcher that makes their own corned beef, opt for that, otherwise pick up your own brisket and pickle it yourself. If you can, try to get the point cut as it tends to have more fat which keeps it from drying out.

While I can’t say much about its authenticity, or why I feel compelled to make it every year, corned beef is good wholesome comfort food at its simplest and that’s good enough for me. Here’s my take on the classic and a great condiment to serve alongside it. The stout adds a bit of depth to the broth and the tart sweetness of the mustard chutney offsets the saltiness of the meat nicely.

For corned beef
2-3 lbs point cut corned beef brisket
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 bay leaf
1 pint of stout like a Guinness
If your corned beef didn’t come with spices here are some you can try (mustard seed, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves, allspice, mace, coriander seed, juniper berries, etc)

Half a head of cabbage cut vertically into 4 wedges
1 small onion cut vertically into 4 wedges
3 carrots cut into large chunks
1 lbs whole baby potatoes (I like baby yukon golds)

For mustard chutney
Mix 2 parts chutney (like Major Grey’s) with 1 part whole grain mustard.

Put the brisket in a large heavy bottomed pot and add the sugar, bay leaf, and stout. Cover with enough water so the beef is submerged by at least 1/2″. If your corned beef is especially salty you may want to add more water.

Bring to boil over high heat and skim and foam that floats to the top.

Lower heat to “low”, cover and simmer until a fork easily passes through the brisket, about 3 hours. Transfer it to a plate and cover with foil.

Add the carrots and and potatoes to the liquid and turn up the heat. After about 10 minutes add the cabbage and onions and cook for another 20 minutes.

Slice the brisket as thin as possible and serve with the veggies, broth and the mustard chutney.

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Sauteed kale with garlic

Published
by
marc
on March 13, 2008
in Side, Vegetable and Winter
. 0 Comments

Sauteed kale with garlic

Most recipes call for cooking kale 30+ minutes, but unlike collard greens, Lacinato isn’t as fibrous and doesn’t need to be cooked that long (you can even eat it raw). A quick saute followed by a 10 minute steam is enough to preserve the green color, flavor and firm texture without turning it into a smelly brown mess boiled in liquid. I also like to use a minimal amount of liquid so all the nutrients don’t leech out into the water.

You can turn this into a meal by frying some pancetta with it then dropping a soft poached egg on top and serving it with a thick slice of crusty bread. Or experiment with different spices and aromatics such as sage, chili peppers, or shallots for a different take. If you want to go asian, replace the salt with a splash of soy sauce and the wine with Mirin.

1 bunch Lacinato kale roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic sliced thin
Splash of good olive oil

Splash of white wine or water
Salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Squeeze of lemon

Heat a large pot with a lid over high heat until very hot. Add a splash of good quality olive oil and then the garlic.

Saute the garlic for a few minutes until lightly browned and fragrant.

Add the kale, a small splash of white wine and the salt and pepper and stir. Lower the heat to medium low, cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Adjust seasoning if needed and serve with some lemon juice squeezed on top.

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Cider braised veal chops

Published
by
marc
on March 13, 2008
in Veal and Winter
. 0 Comments

Cider braised veal chop

This dish was actually born out of a mistake. I meant to get a boneless tender cut that I could pound into a schnitzel. Instead I ended up with a bone-in chuck chop (part of the problem with ordering food online) that would have ended up more chewy than tasty.

Chuck is a not-so-tender (though flavorful) cheap cut of meat which comes from the shoulder area. It’s got a lot of connective tissue (aka collagen) so it’s not great for making steaks out of. Cooked slow over low heat however and the collagen breaks down into gelatin and makes the meat delightfully melty and moist.

I love braising pork shoulder in beer so when I realized that the cut of veal I had wasn’t going to work for schnitzel I rummaged through my pantry looking for beer. As it turned out, I had no beer, but I did find a few bottles of hard apple cider.

If you’ve never tried real cider (not the carbonated vodka, sugar, and flavoring crap), you’re missing out. Warwick Valley Winery makes a line of cider’s that are inexpensive, subtle and refreshing. Think of it as poor-man’s champagne… in fact they even use the same yeast used to produce champagne.

With a few inexpensive ingredients and a bit of time in the oven this “mistake” ended up turning into a luxurious winter meal. Play around with the cuts of meat, try adding some different spices, but most importantly remember that when it comes to cooking, you can turn lemons into lemonade:-)

2 Veal chuck chops (About 1/2″ thick)
1 large Fuji apple cut into thick slices
1 small onion sliced
2 C “hard” apple cider (i.e. the alcoholic kind)
1 bay leaf
1 Tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Lemon wedges

Salt and pepper both sides of the chop.

Heat a heavy bottomed oven safe pan big enough to hold both chops in 1 layer until hot then add a splash of olive oil. When you see thin wisps of smoke rising, put the chop in the pan. Don’t disturb the chop until it is well browned then flip and let that side brown as well.

Remove the chop, turn down the heat to medium and add some more oil if needed. Put the onions and apples in the pan and saute until soft and lightly caramelized.

Pour the cider into the pan and deglaze. Add the bay leaf, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

Return the chop along with any juices that have collected in the plate back into the pan and spoon some apples on top of the chop. Cover and stick it in the oven for around 2 hours or until the meat falls apart with a fork.

When the meat is ready, take it out of the pan and over with foil. Bring the liquid in the pan to a boil and reduce until it gets slightly thicker.

Spoon the sauce over the meat and serve with a wedge of lemon.

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