Spring Panzanella Recipe
The bread I used also had walnuts and dried cranberries in it, but I think I'd prefer a seeded whole wheat version. Use whatever you like.
1 lb loaf of hearty, day-old, whole wheat bread into 1-inch cubes
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme - just pluck leaves from the sprig
a couple pinches of salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch asparagus, cut into segments
2 cups peas, fresh or frozen
4 handfuls spinach
1/4 cup small basil leaves
In a large bowl toss the bread with the garlic, shallot, thyme, salt and olive oil. Turn the bread out onto a baking sheet and toast in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes - or until they are nice and golden and crunchy.
In a cold skillet pour in a splash of olive oil, a splash of water, and a couple pinches of salt. Dial up the heat and when the water starts to bubble stir in the asparagus. Cover, wait about twenty seconds, now add the peas. Cover, wait a few seconds, now add the spinach. Cover and cook just a few more seconds until the spinach starts to collapse just a bit.
Put the bread crumbs in a large bowl. Now pour the asparagus and peas and all the pan juices over the top of the bread.
Give it a good toss, add the basil leaves and toss again. Serve the salad family-style on a big platter.
Makes about 6 - 8 servings.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
barbequed beef sandwiches!
BBQ Beef Sandwich Recipe
i made the bbq beef and it was a big hit - diana took some home, david ate it for lunches, we had it as a meal and i took some to mom and made her two meals from it. we may still have some left. e, this is easy and good!
BBQ Beef Sandwich
My mother grew up in a house where there was constant entertaining. My nana was somewhat of a social bee and even I remember how every night was a party night when as a child I came to visit during the summer. Mom and dad were reminiscing the other day about one of their favorite recipes of my grandmother's, her pulled beef. Mom remembers Nana once feeding 80 people this dish at her small adobe house in Tucson. It's terribly easy to make, you can easily double, triple, quadruple the recipe, making it perfect for serving large groups of people in an informal gathering. And it's absolutely delicious.
Print Options
BBQ Beef Sandwich Recipe
Print Options
* Print (no photos)
* Print (with photos)
Ingredients
* One 3-pound chuck roast, rinsed and dried
* 2 medium onions, chopped
* 1 Tbsp olive oil
* 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (preferably plum tomatoes)
* 1 18-ounce bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 12 sandwich or hamburger buns
Method
1 In a large, heavy pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, roughly chopping them in the pot. Add the barbecue sauce, increase heat to medium high and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chuck roast. Bring to a low simmer, cover and slow cook until meat is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours.
bbq-beef-sandwich-1.jpg bbq-beef-sandwich-2.jpg
2 Remove the meat from the pot. Use a fork and knife to separate the roast into small pieces. Set aside.
3 Increase the heat on the pot to medium/medium-high, uncover, and reduce the liquid until thick. Stir often to prevent burning.
4 Return the meat to the liquid in the pan. Warm both thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve on buns. Makes approximately 12 sandwiches
i made the bbq beef and it was a big hit - diana took some home, david ate it for lunches, we had it as a meal and i took some to mom and made her two meals from it. we may still have some left. e, this is easy and good!
BBQ Beef Sandwich
My mother grew up in a house where there was constant entertaining. My nana was somewhat of a social bee and even I remember how every night was a party night when as a child I came to visit during the summer. Mom and dad were reminiscing the other day about one of their favorite recipes of my grandmother's, her pulled beef. Mom remembers Nana once feeding 80 people this dish at her small adobe house in Tucson. It's terribly easy to make, you can easily double, triple, quadruple the recipe, making it perfect for serving large groups of people in an informal gathering. And it's absolutely delicious.
Print Options
BBQ Beef Sandwich Recipe
Print Options
* Print (no photos)
* Print (with photos)
Ingredients
* One 3-pound chuck roast, rinsed and dried
* 2 medium onions, chopped
* 1 Tbsp olive oil
* 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (preferably plum tomatoes)
* 1 18-ounce bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 12 sandwich or hamburger buns
Method
1 In a large, heavy pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, roughly chopping them in the pot. Add the barbecue sauce, increase heat to medium high and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chuck roast. Bring to a low simmer, cover and slow cook until meat is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours.
bbq-beef-sandwich-1.jpg bbq-beef-sandwich-2.jpg
2 Remove the meat from the pot. Use a fork and knife to separate the roast into small pieces. Set aside.
3 Increase the heat on the pot to medium/medium-high, uncover, and reduce the liquid until thick. Stir often to prevent burning.
4 Return the meat to the liquid in the pan. Warm both thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve on buns. Makes approximately 12 sandwiches
Saturday, June 14, 2008
flank steak w/o the grill
Quick and Easy Pan-Fried Flank Steak or Top Round
Flank steak is a lean, flavorful cut of meat that is probably best prepared marinated and cooked over a grill. But sometimes you just don't have time to marinate the meat or deal with the grill. My mother raised 6 kids (all born within 8 years) on my dad's teacher's salary. (Her favorite TV show is John & Kate plus 8, wonder why?) Which means she is the master of efficiency in the kitchen. This is her favorite method of preparing flank steak. The trick is to put little knife pokes in the meat, breaking up some of the long muscle fibers. When I asked about the juices running out of the meat, it's not really an issue as the meat is cooked rare, and whatever juices do come out get reduced in the pan and served over the meat.
You wouldn't want to cook flank steak this way on a grill, as you wouldn't be able to catch the juices. Also, grilled meat should be marinated first. (For that see our grilled, marinated flank steak recipe.)
Ingredients
* 1 1/2 pound flank steak or top round steak
* Dry mustard
* Freshly ground black pepper
* Softened butter
* Salt
1 Remove the steak from the refrigerator a half hour before cooking. Cut away any tough connective tissue on the surface of the steak. Using the tip of a sharp knife, poke small cuts into the meat, almost all the way through. The cuts should be at an angle, in the direction of the grain of the meat as the knife tip is going in. The cuts should be about an inch apart from each other. Turn the steak over and repeat the cuts on the other side. Make sure that the cuts you are making on this side are parallel with the cuts you made on the other side, otherwise you may cut across an existing cut, and end up poking a hole through the meat.
2 Sprinkle one side of the steak with dry mustard. (You can use regular mustard if you don't have any dry mustard.) Sprinkle the steak with freshly ground pepper. Rub a tablespoon of butter all over the side of the steak. Turn the steak over and repeat with the dry mustard, pepper, and butter.
3 Heat a large cast iron frying pan on high heat. Sprinkle both side of the steak with salt (unless you have used salted butter, then you can skip the salt.) Place steak in hot pan. Let sear for 2 to 3 minutes until well browned. Use tongs to lift up to see if nicely browned. If so, flip to the other side and let sear for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the steak continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes in the residual heat of the pan (assuming you are using cast iron, if not, lower the heat to low).
4 Use your fingertips to check for doneness or insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the steak - 120°F for very rare, 125°F for rare, or 130°F for medium rare. Flank steak should be served rare or medium rare, otherwise it may be too dry. Remove the steak from the pan to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.
5 Cut the meat in very thin slices, at an angle, against the grain of the meat. (This way you break through the tough long muscle fibers.) Any juices that come out of the meat while cutting or resting, return to the pan. Return the pan to a burner on high heat and deglaze the pan with a little water, scraping up any browned bits. Once the water has mostly boiled down, add a little butter to the pan for a nice sauce. Arrange the cut meat on a serving plate and pour the deglazed pan juices over the meat.
Serves 4 to 6.
Flank steak is a lean, flavorful cut of meat that is probably best prepared marinated and cooked over a grill. But sometimes you just don't have time to marinate the meat or deal with the grill. My mother raised 6 kids (all born within 8 years) on my dad's teacher's salary. (Her favorite TV show is John & Kate plus 8, wonder why?) Which means she is the master of efficiency in the kitchen. This is her favorite method of preparing flank steak. The trick is to put little knife pokes in the meat, breaking up some of the long muscle fibers. When I asked about the juices running out of the meat, it's not really an issue as the meat is cooked rare, and whatever juices do come out get reduced in the pan and served over the meat.
You wouldn't want to cook flank steak this way on a grill, as you wouldn't be able to catch the juices. Also, grilled meat should be marinated first. (For that see our grilled, marinated flank steak recipe.)
Ingredients
* 1 1/2 pound flank steak or top round steak
* Dry mustard
* Freshly ground black pepper
* Softened butter
* Salt
1 Remove the steak from the refrigerator a half hour before cooking. Cut away any tough connective tissue on the surface of the steak. Using the tip of a sharp knife, poke small cuts into the meat, almost all the way through. The cuts should be at an angle, in the direction of the grain of the meat as the knife tip is going in. The cuts should be about an inch apart from each other. Turn the steak over and repeat the cuts on the other side. Make sure that the cuts you are making on this side are parallel with the cuts you made on the other side, otherwise you may cut across an existing cut, and end up poking a hole through the meat.
2 Sprinkle one side of the steak with dry mustard. (You can use regular mustard if you don't have any dry mustard.) Sprinkle the steak with freshly ground pepper. Rub a tablespoon of butter all over the side of the steak. Turn the steak over and repeat with the dry mustard, pepper, and butter.
3 Heat a large cast iron frying pan on high heat. Sprinkle both side of the steak with salt (unless you have used salted butter, then you can skip the salt.) Place steak in hot pan. Let sear for 2 to 3 minutes until well browned. Use tongs to lift up to see if nicely browned. If so, flip to the other side and let sear for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the steak continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes in the residual heat of the pan (assuming you are using cast iron, if not, lower the heat to low).
4 Use your fingertips to check for doneness or insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the steak - 120°F for very rare, 125°F for rare, or 130°F for medium rare. Flank steak should be served rare or medium rare, otherwise it may be too dry. Remove the steak from the pan to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.
5 Cut the meat in very thin slices, at an angle, against the grain of the meat. (This way you break through the tough long muscle fibers.) Any juices that come out of the meat while cutting or resting, return to the pan. Return the pan to a burner on high heat and deglaze the pan with a little water, scraping up any browned bits. Once the water has mostly boiled down, add a little butter to the pan for a nice sauce. Arrange the cut meat on a serving plate and pour the deglazed pan juices over the meat.
Serves 4 to 6.
mexican green beans
Mexican Green Bean Salad
One of our favorite ways to eat green beans is with salsa. The tomatoes, onions, chiles, spices, and vinegar perk up the beans in the most wonderful way. This bean salad recipe is sort of a riff on the salsa theme, taking it up a notch with pickled jalapeños, cilantro, cotija cheese, and avocados. It would make a perfect picnic salad for a Mexican themed potluck. If you love Mexican food, I'm willing to bet you'll love this salad as much as we do.
Make sure to use the freshest green beans you can find. Good green beans should feel firm and should snap in half, not bend, when you try to bend them.
Ingredients
* 1 lb fresh green beans, strings removed, ends snapped off, cut in half into about 1 1/2 inch length pieces
* 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
* 2 Tbsp lime juice or white vinegar
* 1 Tbsp olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano if you can get it)
* 3/4 cup packed, chopped cilantro
* 1/3 cup canned, pickled jalapeño chili peppers, sliced
* 1/3 cup chopped red onion
* 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese (salty Mexican cheese that resembles feta)
* 1/2 avocado, sliced or cut into inch long pieces
* 1 medium tomato, cut into 8 wedges, or a cup of halved cherry tomatoes
1 Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and simmer until just crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the beans and run cold water over them to cool them quickly. Drain completely.
2 Place beans in a large bowl. Gently mix in the the lime juice or vinegar, olive oil, 1/4 cup onion, sliced pickled jalapeños, sea salt, oregano and cilantro. Let sit for half an hour.
3 When ready to serve, gently mix in the chopped red onion and cotija cheese. Serve the avocado slices and tomato wedges on the side or mixed into the salad.
Serves 4.
Click here to find out more!
One of our favorite ways to eat green beans is with salsa. The tomatoes, onions, chiles, spices, and vinegar perk up the beans in the most wonderful way. This bean salad recipe is sort of a riff on the salsa theme, taking it up a notch with pickled jalapeños, cilantro, cotija cheese, and avocados. It would make a perfect picnic salad for a Mexican themed potluck. If you love Mexican food, I'm willing to bet you'll love this salad as much as we do.
Make sure to use the freshest green beans you can find. Good green beans should feel firm and should snap in half, not bend, when you try to bend them.
Ingredients
* 1 lb fresh green beans, strings removed, ends snapped off, cut in half into about 1 1/2 inch length pieces
* 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
* 2 Tbsp lime juice or white vinegar
* 1 Tbsp olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano if you can get it)
* 3/4 cup packed, chopped cilantro
* 1/3 cup canned, pickled jalapeño chili peppers, sliced
* 1/3 cup chopped red onion
* 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese (salty Mexican cheese that resembles feta)
* 1/2 avocado, sliced or cut into inch long pieces
* 1 medium tomato, cut into 8 wedges, or a cup of halved cherry tomatoes
1 Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and simmer until just crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the beans and run cold water over them to cool them quickly. Drain completely.
2 Place beans in a large bowl. Gently mix in the the lime juice or vinegar, olive oil, 1/4 cup onion, sliced pickled jalapeños, sea salt, oregano and cilantro. Let sit for half an hour.
3 When ready to serve, gently mix in the chopped red onion and cotija cheese. Serve the avocado slices and tomato wedges on the side or mixed into the salad.
Serves 4.
Click here to find out more!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
yum yum yum: pasta with ricotta and sugar snap peas
but first, dear reader:
i am blogging in my living room, listening to the baby cardinals cheep loudly in their small nest on the front stoop, not 30 feet away from me. and the thunder for a much needed rain. and smelling this divine dinner that DAVID is making from the gourmet cookbook heather gave me for christmas: garlic lime chicken, broccoli with browned butter, capers and parsley, fresh corn on the cob. i cannot wait! it smells jam up.
Sugar snap peas are terrific raw. They are also terrific sauteed in a little butter and sprinkled with sea salt.
a recipe in Chez Panisse's Pasta & Pizza cookbook for a pasta with just the peas from the sugar snap pea pods.
cut all the pods in half on a diagonal.
Now then, I bought ziti for this so bring a big pot of water to a boil. That'll take a while, especially if it's a big pot.
Take a head of garlic, and separate out six cloves, smash them, remove the skin. Take pancetta--a big piece--and cut it into cubes. Also, you'll need some sage. And get some chicken stock heated in a pot (about 1 cup). (If you make your own, you should have some in the freezer.)
Ok, now the fun part. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven (or a skillet, if you'd prefer). Add the garlic, the pancetta, and the sage:
It's a very delicate process, but you've gotta cook this long enough for both the garlic to turn golden (without burning!) and for the pancetta to release its fat and cook through. All in all, it took about 15 minutes, but I modulated the heat constantly, wanting a sizzle but not a crackle. 15 minutes later, the apartment smelled incredible.
Here's where you spring into action: add salt to the boiling pot of water and then add the box of ziti. Stir it around.
Add the sugar snap peas to the pot with the garlic and pancetta (I had a big bunch of them, I'd say 3 cups?) and stir around. Add salt and pepper and some red chile flakes. Now add the chicken stock. It should just cover the peas. Bring to a boil and stir it all around.
Ideally, the pasta will be done just as the chicken stock's reduced and the peas are cooked through. You want the pasta to be super al dente because here you remove it with a spider and add it to the pot with the stock, the garlic, and the peas to finish cooking.
I added more salt, more pepper; then I added parmesan cheese--about 1 cup; I added more olive oil, to bring out the flavor, and finally, in a stroke, I think, perhaps, of genius--I added a big dollop of the ricotta
Ya, I know that's weird, to add whipped ricotta to a pasta but somehow it brought it all together.
i am blogging in my living room, listening to the baby cardinals cheep loudly in their small nest on the front stoop, not 30 feet away from me. and the thunder for a much needed rain. and smelling this divine dinner that DAVID is making from the gourmet cookbook heather gave me for christmas: garlic lime chicken, broccoli with browned butter, capers and parsley, fresh corn on the cob. i cannot wait! it smells jam up.
Sugar snap peas are terrific raw. They are also terrific sauteed in a little butter and sprinkled with sea salt.
a recipe in Chez Panisse's Pasta & Pizza cookbook for a pasta with just the peas from the sugar snap pea pods.
cut all the pods in half on a diagonal.
Now then, I bought ziti for this so bring a big pot of water to a boil. That'll take a while, especially if it's a big pot.
Take a head of garlic, and separate out six cloves, smash them, remove the skin. Take pancetta--a big piece--and cut it into cubes. Also, you'll need some sage. And get some chicken stock heated in a pot (about 1 cup). (If you make your own, you should have some in the freezer.)
Ok, now the fun part. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven (or a skillet, if you'd prefer). Add the garlic, the pancetta, and the sage:
It's a very delicate process, but you've gotta cook this long enough for both the garlic to turn golden (without burning!) and for the pancetta to release its fat and cook through. All in all, it took about 15 minutes, but I modulated the heat constantly, wanting a sizzle but not a crackle. 15 minutes later, the apartment smelled incredible.
Here's where you spring into action: add salt to the boiling pot of water and then add the box of ziti. Stir it around.
Add the sugar snap peas to the pot with the garlic and pancetta (I had a big bunch of them, I'd say 3 cups?) and stir around. Add salt and pepper and some red chile flakes. Now add the chicken stock. It should just cover the peas. Bring to a boil and stir it all around.
Ideally, the pasta will be done just as the chicken stock's reduced and the peas are cooked through. You want the pasta to be super al dente because here you remove it with a spider and add it to the pot with the stock, the garlic, and the peas to finish cooking.
I added more salt, more pepper; then I added parmesan cheese--about 1 cup; I added more olive oil, to bring out the flavor, and finally, in a stroke, I think, perhaps, of genius--I added a big dollop of the ricotta
Ya, I know that's weird, to add whipped ricotta to a pasta but somehow it brought it all together.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
i'm grilling this today with some london broil
todd at the bistro has a great chicken under a brick...so i tried this and it was fab! making it with london broil.
(the london broil has been marinating in something from a vicki sebastiani cookbook i bought in buckhead at a wine store: 1/2 cup of rosemary leaves, 1/3 cup of thyme leaves, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 T hot sweet mustard, 1/2 cup of red wine and balsamic vinegars (in total), 2 cloves of garlic, blended together till creamy)
This is a traditional Tuscan method—bricks weigh down the butterflied chicken, resulting in even, quick cooking and crispy skin (you'll need two bricks for this recipe; wrap them in foil). If you don't have bricks, a cast-iron skillet will do the trick. Ask your butcher to butterfly the chicken for you.
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
3 teaspoons salt, divided
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 whole chicken (about 33/4 pounds), neck and giblets removed, butterflied
1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 oranges
2 foil-wrapped bricks or 1 cast-iron skillet
(the london broil has been marinating in something from a vicki sebastiani cookbook i bought in buckhead at a wine store: 1/2 cup of rosemary leaves, 1/3 cup of thyme leaves, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 T hot sweet mustard, 1/2 cup of red wine and balsamic vinegars (in total), 2 cloves of garlic, blended together till creamy)
This is a traditional Tuscan method—bricks weigh down the butterflied chicken, resulting in even, quick cooking and crispy skin (you'll need two bricks for this recipe; wrap them in foil). If you don't have bricks, a cast-iron skillet will do the trick. Ask your butcher to butterfly the chicken for you.
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
3 teaspoons salt, divided
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 whole chicken (about 33/4 pounds), neck and giblets removed, butterflied
1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 oranges
2 foil-wrapped bricks or 1 cast-iron skillet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments