Hello, beautiful.

I frequently ship baked goods to Betsy’s office so I can get them away from my mouth. As a result, this gchat conversation happened this week with one of her coworkers:

I think I need to change my tagline on this site.

Macheesmo: Making Betsy’s Coworkers Fat Since 2008

Coffee Cake Muffins

Yield: 10 large muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Coffee Cake Batter:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)
1 large egg
1 cup milk

Streusel Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Quick Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk

Helpful Equipment:
Muffin Tins

Directions:

1) For Streusel, mash together ingredients in a small bowl until it is in small crumbs. Set aside until later. Also, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl for batter. Mix together wet ingredients in a separate bowl including melted butter.

3) Stir together wet and dry ingredients to form a thick batter.

4) Butter muffin tins and spoon batter into each tin. Fill each tin 1/3-1/2 full. You should fill 10 tins and use about half of the batter.

5) Pack a spoonful of streusel onto each muffin. You should use half of the streusel.

6) Top streusel with the rest of the batter. Then add the final 1/2 of the streusel to the muffins. It's okay if they overflow a bit out of the muffin tins.

7) Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees until they a tester comes out dry.

8) For icing, whisk together milk and powdered sugar.

9) Let muffins cool for a few minutes and then remove them from tin. Let them cool for another 10 minutes and then drizzle on icing.

10) Serve immediately or store in an airtight container.

Lots of Streusel

Let’s be real… the best thing about any coffee cake is the streusel. Really, the coffee cake is just a delivery system for streusel.

So don’t go light on it!

Basic stuff.

You might think that this is more streusel than you would need, but that means that you aren’t using enough.

You should use every single morsel for these muffins.

To make the streusel, just mash together all the ingredients in a bowl. Try not to eat it all.

Try not to eat this all...

The Batter

This is a really simple coffee cake batter. Basically just stir together your dry ingredients in a large bowl and your wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.

Then stir the two together. Doesn’t get much easier than that!

The wet and the dry.

This dough should be pretty thick. It should be so thick that you can’t really pour it. You’ll need a spoon to scoop it into the muffin cups.

That said, if the dough looks dry then add a bit more milk. This looks about right.

A thick batter.

Making the Muffins

I’m calling these muffins because A) they don’t have a frosting and B) they don’t have cupcake papers around them. That’s really the only thing that makes them muffins instead of cupcakes!

Plus, if you call them muffins, you can eat them for breakfast.

This recipe will make ten large muffins. You could make them a bit smaller and get a full dozen out of it if you wanted.

Most importantly, make sure you butter or lightly oil your cupcake tins. You don’t want these guys sticking at all.

Add a large spoonful of batter to each muffin tin. It should fill up the tin about 1/3-1/2 of the way. You should use half of your batter for this bottom layer.

Butter those tins.

Then pack on a good amount of the streusel. You should use about half of your streusel for this step.

Nice layering.

Then add the rest of your batter to the top of the streusel. Don’t worry if you don’t cover up the streusel entirely. It doesn’t really matter.

Top it off!

Finally, top each muffin with another generous spoonful of streusel.

It’s completely okay to fill these guys to the brim. Mine were even overflowing a bit. This is fine because these won’t expand a huge amount as they bake.

Piled high!

Baking the Muffins

Bake these guys at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. A tester should come out dry from the center of one.

Let them cool for a few minutes and then you can easily lift them out of the tins (assuming you buttered them well).

Wowza.

Ice Ice Baby

This is an optional step. The muffins are plenty good as-is, but if you want to jazz them up a bit, just whisk together some milk and powdered sugar to make a quick icing.

Drizzle that over all of the muffins and you’ll be all set.

Simple step.

I cut into one of mine just so you could see the layers.

So good.

These would be perfect for a brunch or to bring into work because everyone gets their own individual cupcake.

Oops. I mean muffin.

These are definitely muffins. No doubt…

This year we are trying to be a bit more grounded here on the Western side of the Rockies. Luckily, we’ve convinced a number of close friends that they should spend time and money to come visit us out here!

All we can really offer is good food, good views, and good brews, but that seems to be enough to get people buying flights.

Our first official visitor of the summer is coming this weekend and we are going to do some light biking (with winery stops) and some light hiking (with brewery stops). Notice a trend?

I’m also slow grilling an entire bone-in pork butt which is my favorite way to greet guests. Instead of doing it Tex-Mex style like I did for my grilled carnitas, I’m doing it with a jerk rub.

In fact, it’s probably on the grill as you read this!

The Poll

The Links

Homemade Pixie Sticks - I’ve been food blogging for quite awhile now. I figure I’m solidly middle-aged in the food blog world. That said, I’ve never seen this before. They are wonderful. (@ Love and Olive Oil)

Tamale Stuffed Peppers - I’ve never made tamales because they kind of seem like a pain (I will someday though). These look easier though because you just shove the delicious filling in a pepper and call it a day. Love it. (@ Food in my Beard)

Campari and Gin - Booze mixed with booze. My favorite summer drink. (@ The Bitten Word)

The Food in Jars Cookbook - One of my blogging friends Marisa just published her first cookbook. It looks amazing and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. She’s giving away a copy on her site so check it out. (@ Food in Jars)

Connect with me!

Throughout the week I love chatting with people and sharing fun and interesting stuff around the web. I’m fairly active on a few different places:

- Follow @macheesmo on Twitter.
- Like Macheesmo on Facebook.
- Add Me to a Google+ circle.
- macheesmo on Instagram.

And, of course, you can always subscribe to Macheesmo via the feed or via email!

Have a great weekend everyone! If you need me, I’ll be shredding pulled pork.

A meal of a salad!

There is one salad that I think of anytime I want to eat just a salad for a meal: A Caesar salad.

Not only are the ingredients pretty simple, but because a Caesar salad normally has some cheese and croutons on it and is easily topped with some sort of protein, it’s very easy to make a meal out of it.

I was glad you guys voted for the salad last week because I’ve had this in my mind for a long time.

As you might guess, scallops are not native to Colorado. The rare river scallop went extinct many years ago I believe.

I have a local gourmet shop though that very occasionally gets good scallops flown in from the East coast. I will not be revealing how much I paid for these, but needless to say that they are not an everyday purchase!

The scallops are kind of just a bonus though. The real trick with a good Caesar salad is the dressing!

Grilled Scallop Caesar

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound scallops, grilled
Olive oil
Salt
2 heads Romaine Lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, slivered
1 pint Grape tomatoes, halved

Croutons:
2-3 cups stale bread, cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, mashed
Salt and pepper

Caesar dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
4 anchovies
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/2 lemon, juice only
1 egg, coddled
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Mini food processor

Directions:

For dressing:
1) Add egg to a large pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove egg, run it under cold water. Use a knife to crack the top off the egg and use a spoon to scoop the coddled egg into a mini food processor.

2) Add other dressing ingredients. Roughly chop garlic and parmesan.

3) Blend dressing until smooth. If it's really thick, add a bit more olive oil. Store for later. This dressing will keep fine for a week in the fridge.

For Croutons:
1) Cube bread into 1/2 inch cubes. Toss in a bowl with olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper, and minced garlic.

2) Lay cubes out on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes, turning a few times throughout cooking. They are done when they are very crispy and browned.

For Scallops:
1) Dry off scallops with a few paper towels. Drizzle them with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.

2) Grill scallops over HIGH heat for about 3-4 minutes per side depending on the thickness of your scallops.

To finish the Salad:
1) Chop romaine, tomatoes, and shred some Parmesan in a large bowl.

2) Toss veggies and cheese with a few tablespoons of dressing. Go light on the dressing - people can always add more.

3) Scoop salad onto serving plates. Top each salad with croutons and a few scallops.

The Dressing

I’m pretty sure that Caesar dressing started off as a prank.

Who in their right mind would think to put all of these things together and call it a salad dressing?!

Get it?

The recipe has some strange ingredients for sure (anchovies, coddled eggs, etc.) but trust me that it’s really delicious.

It’s one of my favorite homemade dressing by far and tastes way different from the stuff in the store.

Basically, you just blend everything together, but the one trick is to coddle the egg before you add it to the dressing.

There’s no need to stress about this. I’ve had my fair share of egg-cooking woes, but this is easy. Just bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the egg and cook for exactly five minutes.

Take the egg out and run it under cold water. Then use a knife to crack into it. Scoop out all the egg and add it to your dressing!

You can do this!

I like to use a mini food processor to make the dressing. Basically, just dice up the garlic and add it to the processor with all the other ingredients.

Then blend it up until it’s smooth!

You won’t need any salt in the dressing because the anchovies and Parmesan are very salty.

To those people who don’t like anchovies, I would still bet you like this dressing. You can’t really pick out a fishy flavor at all. It’s just savory and delicious.

Blend it up!

The one thing to remember about this dressing, which you will notice as soon as you taste it, is that it’s WAY more flavorful and strong than a bottled Caesar dressing.

You want to go very light on this stuff to start and then people can add more if they want to.

Croutons

To me, a Caesar salad isn’t complete without some really good croutons.

I just cubed up a few cups of stale bread and tossed the cubes with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and minced garlic. The staler the bread the better honestly.

Any bread will work.

Then just add these to a baking sheet and cook for about 15 minutes at 325 degrees. They should be a nice golden brown color and will crisp up even more as they cool.

Delicious.

Scallops!

These were some really beautiful and big scallops that I was able to get. This is a rare treat for us here in our land-locked state!

Anytime I’m cooking scallops, I always think of the doctor’s creed: First, do no damage.

I just patted mine dry with a paper towel and then drizzled on some olive oil and a pinch of salt. Done deal.

Beauties!

I got my grill as hot as it will get and then grilled these bad boys for about 3-4 minutes per side. These were really big scallops though. If you are working with smaller ones, 2-3 minutes will probably do the trick.

You don’t want to overcook them whatever you do.

They are done when they firm up a bit around the edges. It’s okay if they are still a tiny bit pink on the inside.

Nice grill lines.

Finishing the Salad

I’ll be honest, this is a stretch for a thirty minute meal, but you can do it if you plan.

Make the croutons first and while those bake mix the dressing and salad base. For my salad base, I just chopped up some Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, and shredded some Parm.

Just a few ingredients.

You don’t want to dress this in advance, but as soon as your scallops come off the grill you can toss a few tablespoons of dressing with the salad and stir it together.

I’ll say it again: go light on the dressing.

Go light on the dressing.

Then just pile everything on a plate and you are in for a very good meal.

Serve some extra dressing on the side just in case people want it.

Really good!

The scallops are a treat, but the dressing is honestly my favorite part of this meal. You could top the exact same salad with any kind of protein and make a meal out of it: grilled chicken, steak, mushrooms, tofu… you name it.

The salad holds up really well to almost any meat.

If you try nothing else from this post, give the homemade dressing a shot sometime!

Take that summer heat!

Betsy should actually be writing this post. These were her idea and creation. I just supervised.

She found these cool little popsicle molds at some store and couldn’t resist them. You see… they have a straw in the handle so as your popsicle melts, you can drink it!

A find like this is hard to pass up.

Paleta is Spanish for ice pop or popsicle, but it’s my experience that they are slightly different. Paletas are usually heavy on the fruit while popsicles tend to be more water-based.

These are pretty fruit heavy although they do have some sugar so we decided to call them paletas.

Whatever you want to call them, they are really refreshing and perfect for a hot summer day!

Strawberry Lavender Paletas

Yield: 4-6 popsicles

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes + freeze time

Ingredients:

4 cups strawberries (1 quart), sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 lemon, juice only
1 tablespoon dried lavender
Tiny pinch of salt

Helpful Equipment:
Popsicle molds
Blender

Directions:

1) Slice strawberries and add to a medium saucepan with lavender, sugar, water, and a pinch of salt.

2) Bring to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes until sugar is melted and strawberries are soft. Add lemon juice.

3) Let mixture cool for a bit and then blend. Just pulse it. Some chunks are good.

4) Add to popsicle molds and freeze until solid.

5) To remove, run under hot water for 5-10 seconds.

Fresh Flavors

Our farmer’s market isn’t quite open yet here in Colorado so I wasn’t able to get any super-wonderful strawberries for these guys.

The strawberry is THE primary flavor for them so the better strawberries you use, the better your paletas will be.

Get the best you can find!

Besides strawberries, we decided to toss in a spoonful of dried lavender. This gave the frozen treat an almost floral taste that was really interesting.

It’s an optional step, but if you can find some, try it out. I was worried about the little lavender buds sinking to the bottom of the paleta as they froze, but they are thick enough to hold the lavender in suspension.

Love the smell.

Preparing the Mixture

These are really simple to make. They take under fifteen minutes to toss together and if you had a bunch of molds you could make a ton in bulk and have them for the whole summer.

Just combine the strawberries, lavender, sugar, water, and a pinch of salt to a pan and start heating it over medium heat.

No need for a ton of sugar.

Once this starts to simmer, let it cook until the sugar is dissolved and the strawberries start to break down.

You shouldn’t cook the mixture for more than five minutes.

Then give the mixture a squeeze of fresh lemon. This is a very essential ingredient in my opinion. It brings out all the flavors really nicely.

Very important!

Let this mixture cool slightly and then give it a quick pulse in a blender or food processor.

Honestly, if you don’t have a blender, you could just lightly mash the mixture and proceed. Some paletas I’ve seen are very chunky and they are still wonderful.

If you do blend the mixture, don’t over blend it. You don’t want it to be completely smooth. It should have some chunks.

Buzzed.

Then just pour it in your molds and seal them up!

Depending on the mold, you should get 4-6 paletas out of this recipe and they will take anywhere from 4-6 hours to freeze all the way through.

I just let mine freeze overnight to make sure they are frozen solid.

Love the straws.

To remove the paletas from the molds, just run them under hot water for 5-10 seconds and they should pull right out!

A great treat.

These are slightly sweet, but not overly sweet. The lavender and strawberry combo is pretty awesome and not a flavor combination that I had tried before.

These are a really tasty treat and a great way to beat the heat!

Big shout out to the wife, Betsy, for making these happen in my life.

Many years ago, when Betsy and I had just started living together, I went through a phase where I tried to collect and use coupons at the grocery store to save some money.

I tried it for a few months, spending my Sunday mornings sifting through newspapers and websites printing and categorizing coupons. Then I would take my binder to the store and RAKE IN THE SAVINGS!

Not quite.

In actually, I didn’t really save much money.

These days I still use coupons occasionally, but I only use them for a very focused group of products which I’ll talk about later.

In general, I think coupons are way more costly than most people realize.

Since extreme couponing seems to be all the craze these days, I thought I would spend some time writing about why I think coupons suck for consumers and why you probably shouldn’t use them.

Obviously, I’m anticipating that people will disagree with me. So if you want to skip straight to the comments and tell me why I’m wrong, feel free!

A Coupon Story

Here’s a story that happens to me frequently minus the dialogue.

I’m in line at the grocery store ready to check out. There’s someone behind me with a huge stack of coupons or if they are organized they have them in a fancy binder.

I have mostly produce, dairy, and fresh stuff in my cart plus maybe some beer and doritos (nobody is perfect). My total comes to $65.87.

Shopper Behind Me: Holy Green Backs! You spend a lot of money on groceries. You should stick around and watch my magic.

Me: Umm… okay.

The shopper runs through the checkout which goes much faster than mine because all their stuff is in boxes and the checkout clerk doesn’t have to look up the code for turnips or whatever. The shopper then runs through a brick of coupons.

Total cost: $2.15

Shopper: BOOOM! I’m a magician of grocery shopping. Look at that total!!!

Me: Meh. Whatever. I wouldn’t pay $2.15 for all that stuff. In fact, even if you gave it to me, I wouldn’t take most of the stuff in your cart.

Shopper: But it’s FREE!

Me: No it’s not.

Shopper: Ok. It’s basically free!

Me: No. It’s not.

We go our separate ways both feeling somehow superior to the other.

When I say that the cost of the shopper’s cart isn’t as free as it looks, it’s because there are costs that just plain aren’t included in the total. I’ll break down what I think the hidden costs of coupons are in three parts and then talk about some of the ways that I actually use coupons.

Coupons Cost TIME

This is pretty transparent, but coupons cost you time. In the extreme coupon world, there are people who spend hours a week snipping, printing, and categorizing coupons.

It’s hard to put a price on this time lost. You could use it to start a business, play with your kids, clean your house, or just relax.

However you slice it though, you are literally trading your TIME for some amount of SAVINGS. Hopefully, that money saved is worth the time you spend on it.

To be honest, I think that people who are good couponers probably have a pretty solid hourly rate. They get good at it quickly.

My point is that the savings you are making by using coupons is never free.

If you cut your grocery bill from $60 to $20, but it takes you four hours of work then you are just paying yourself $10/hour to clip coupons. Maybe that’s worth it to you and maybe it’s not, but it certainly isn’t FREE.

Coupons Can Cost You HEALTH

Most coupons are for processed products that are basically some mix of salt and sugar. A lot of the “food” that you can get with coupons is stuff that I wouldn’t recommend eating regularly even if you could get it for FREE.

It’s just not food that’s good for you.

The stuff that’s good for you (fresh produce, meats, whole grains, etc.) is rarely on sale.

The nutritious stuff isn’t normally on sale because it costs money to grow or produce! Processed foods, meanwhile, cost the manufacturer cents on the dollar to make.

In fact, I’ll go a step further. If you want to make sure you are eating healthy, just buy stuff for which there is little or no discount available. 

When you eat a lot of products that you are getting at a steep discount even if they aren’t good for you, you will eventually see an impact in your health.

Maybe the worst case is that you develop something like heart disease, high cholesterol, or diabetes. Maybe you just gain a few pounds.

No matter what, if you eat unhealthy, processed foods regularly because they are cheap, it will impact your health. This translates to a cost that you (or society) will have to eventually pay.

Coupons Cost you MONEY

Guess what? Manufacturers don’t produce billions of coupons every year to lose money. They do it for a variety of complicated reasons that ultimately cost you money.

Their goal might be to get you to buy something on impulse that you wouldn’t normally buy.

Their goal might be to get you to NOT notice an increase in price or a decrease in packaging volume.

Their goal might be to get you to start regularly using that item on sale and then keep using it when you can’t find it on sale.

Some how, some way, these companies are using these coupons to make more money than they would without them. They wouldn’t do it otherwise. That extra money is most likely coming from you!

The Costs of FOOD

I really believe that most people should probably spend more money on groceries than they do. People in the United States spend less on food (as a percentage of income) than they ever have (Source: Wallstreetpit.com).

This could be because we are buying less food and more products.

Food costs money. If you’re eating food, you should be spending money.

The Way I Use Coupons

I actually do use coupons occasionally, but it is for a very specific list of things. I throw away all the coupons I get that don’t fall into this list.

Rare, but awesome Produce Coupons. Very occasionally, my grocery store will mail me coupons for $5 off produce if I spend $20. I always save and use these.

Healthy Foods that I buy anyway. I take discounts for things that are healthy. If I see a coupon for orange juice, or frozen fruit, I’ll snag it. These are pretty rare though.

I don’t search for coupons. My grocery stores mail me coupons that they think I would like. I use those occasionally. I don’t spend more than 5 minutes a week going through coupons.

Personal Products. I don’t mind using coupons for stuff like paper towels, toilet paper, etc.

What I try to NOT DO, which may surprise people, is use every coupon I see for unhealthy food that I occasionally eat. So if there’s a coupon for ice cream, I don’t use it even though I love ice cream. This might sound silly to some people, but I know that the coupon is there to influence my decision making.

If I bought ice cream every time I had a coupon for ice cream, I would buy ice cream every day.

Instead, ice cream is a bit more expensive for me which makes it a treat.

How Do You Use Coupons?

Given that there are billions of coupons redeemed every year, I’m pretty certain that I’m an outlier when it comes to coupons.

What are your thoughts on coupons? Do you use them for everything, just for some things, or not at all? Why do you think manufacturers make so many of them?!

Photos by misscrabette.

When Betsy and I are planning a trip these days, one of the first places we look is VRBO (Vacation rental by owner). Basically, it’s a site where owners put up their houses for rent for a few days and you can snag some seriously great places for a lot cheaper than it would cost for hotels. It’s especially good if you are planning a trip with a group of people.

We’ve had two fantastic experiences using the site, most recently when we took a weekend trip to Carbondale. We ended up staying on a really cool family-owned farm.

As it turned out, the owner of the farm owned a small grass-fed beef market in Carbondale called Crystal River Meats. Needless to say, we hit it off pretty quickly!

The thing that caught my eye right away in the shop was some wonderful looking osso buco shanks. I had never actually cooked it before, but I figured I would just braise it for a while and it would probably turn out pretty tasty.

Turns out I was right!

Orange Osso Buco

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

2 osso buco shanks, about 3 pounds
1 white onion, diced
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 orange, peel and juice
1/2 bottle red wine
1 quart beef stock and water
2 sprigs rosemary
2 bay leaves
2-3 sprigs thyme
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Orange Gremolata:
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Helpful Equipment:
Dutch Oven

Directions:

1) Wrap each osso buco shank with butcher's twine to keep it together (optional). Season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2) In a large dutch oven, add olive oil over high heat. Once hot, brown each seasoned shank on each side for 3-4 minutes until they are well-browned. Remove and set aside.

3) Once shanks are browned and removed, add chopped onions, celery, and carrots to the heavy pan. Turn heat down to medium high. Cook veggies for 3-4 minutes, stirring and scraping up any bits. If pan is dry, add another drizzle of oil.

4) Add garlic and tomato paste and cook for another minute or two.

5) Add red wine, beef stock, spices, orange peel, and orange juice.

6) Add osso buco to pot and add enough water to barely cover the shanks. Bring to a simmer on stove. Then cover and braise in a 350 degree oven for 3 hours until the shanks are fall-apart tender.

7) Remove shanks from pot once braised. Strain broth to remove veggie bits. Discard veggies. Return broth to pot and simmer over medium-low heat.

8) Simmer broth for 5-10 minutes until it reduces to a sauce. Add osso buco back to pot.

9) While osso buco braises, prepare gremolata by stirring together ingredients and let sit at room temp until ready. Also prepare egg noodles or polenta for serving.

10) Serve osso buco over polenta or noodles. Spoon sauce over the dish and top with a few spoonfuls of the gremolata.

The Osso Buco

Osso Buco, if you aren’t familiar with it, is basically a cross-section cut of the shank. They tend to have a fair amount of cartilage in them, not to mention a big old bone in the center.

The only real way to cook them, that I know of, is just to braise them low and slow for a while.

Shout out!

One of these shank cuts will easily feed two people, but with this recipe you could braise up to three shanks if you wanted to feed more.

For each shank, it helps to wrap it tightly with butcher’s twine. This just helps it all stay together as it cooks.

Also, season each piece very liberally with salt and pepper.

Lots of S&P.

As with any braise, you want to make sure and brown the meat really well before starting the braise.

Get your dutch oven (or any large, heavy, oven-safe pot) over high heat and add some olive oil. Then toss in your shanks and cook them for 4-5 minutes per side until they are nice and browned.

Browned nicely.

There will be all kinds of little bits stuck to your pan after you brown the shanks. That’s all flavor!

Turn the heat down now to medium-high and add the celery, onions, and carrots. Let those cook for a few minutes and try to scrape up as much of the stuck bits as you can.

If the pan looks really dry, add another drizzle of oil.

After the veggies start to soften, add in the garlic and tomato paste. Let this mixture cook for another minute or two.

Basic Veg.

So far this is pretty much the same veggie combo that I use for any braise.

The one thing that we are going to add to this braise that’s a bit different is some orange flavor!

Good flavors!

Once your veggies are cooked a bit, go ahead and pour in the beef stock and red wine.

Wine goes in.

Then toss in the herbs and a few big pieces of orange peel. I used about 1/2 of the orange peel from my orange.

Also squeeze in the juice from your orange.

Not only will the citrus help to break down the beef a bit, it will also keep the flavors nice and bright.

Love the flavor this gives.

Then just kind of nestle the shank into the braise mixture. I just had one, but you could braise as many as you could fit!

Add enough water to the pot to almost cover the shank.

Ready for the oven!

Bring this mixture to a simmer on the stove top and then cover it. Stick it in a 325 degree oven for about three hours!

Waiting is the Hardest Part

There’s really nothing to do now except wait.

Well, actually, you could make the gremolata while you wait.

If you aren’t familiar with a gremolata, it’s basically a mixture of garlic and parsley. Traditionally, it’s made also with lemon zest, but to keep with the orange thing I used orange zest instead.

This topping is the key to this dish.

Leave it off at your own peril!

Crucial.

Be sure to let this mixture sit for at least 30 minutes so all the flavors can meld.

When the braise is done on your shanks, you can remove them from the pot. They will be falling apart which is great.

It’s basically the best pot roast you’ll ever have.

Three hours later...

I recommend straining the sauce left in the pot to remove all the veggies.

All of the flavor is cooked out of them and they are kind of just a mushy mess. So strain them out and you’ll be left with a really delicious sauce base.

The strained broth.

Finishing the Dish

While you could serve this as-is, most likely your sauce will be a bit too thin at this point.

So just add it all back to the pot and bring it to a simmer. Let it simmer for a few minutes and it will thicken very quickly.

Then add the shanks back to the pot so all the flavors can meld and the shanks will stay warm.

Reduced.

At some point, you’ll want to make something to serve the shanks on.

I went with polenta this time around, but Betsy and I both agreed that the polenta was a bit too rich. If I were to make this again (especially in summer) I would just use egg noodles.

Serve a helping of the shank over the polenta with a few spoonfuls of the reduced sauce and the gremolata topping.

Polenta or egg noodles.

This is a pretty hard dish to mess up and while it might look fancy, it’s really just an upscale pot roast.

My favorite part (like with my short rib ragu) is the gremolata topping. It completely makes the dish!

Any osso buco fans out there? It’s kind of hard to find these days…

SWOON!

There is a certain pancake that has been following Betsy and I around lately. The breakfast dish is centered around light and fluffy corn cakes that are stuffed with delicious things.

Most recently, we tried them out at The Village Smithy in Carbondale.

While The Village Smithy claims to be the creator of the breakfast dish, a copy of it can also be found at the famous Pancake Pantry in Nashville.

In other words, this dish gets around.

So I figured it might as well make its debut on Macheesmo.

I was very scared to make this dish. Some breakfast institutions make it and I would hate to not do it justice.

When Betsy (official corn cake taste-tester) took her first bite, she proclaimed: “Yours are better.”

‘Nuff said.

Bacon Stuffed Corn Cakes

Yield: Makes 6-8 pancakes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Corn Cake Mixture:
1 1/2 cups fine or medium ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons olive oil plus some for cooking
1 tablespoon sugar
1 large egg

Filling:
4 large strips bacon, diced
3-4 scallions, minced
1 cup shredded cheese

Maple Syrup, for serving
Salsa, for serving

Directions:

1) Stir together cornmeal and salt. Add boiling water and stir. Let sit for 5-10 minutes so water can absorb.

2) Stir in milk, olive oil, and egg into batter. Let rest while you make filling.

3) Bake bacon until crispy at 350 degrees. Dice or crumble the bacon and stir in with diced scallions and grated cheese.

4) To make cakes, add a drizzle of oil to a griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add 1/4 cup of the cornmeal batter.

5) Immediately top batter with a small handful of the bacon filling. Spoon another 1/4 cup of batter over the top of the filling so it mostly covers the filling. It's okay if it doesn't cover everything.

6) Let cook for 3-4 minutes or until the edges are firm around the cake.

7) Flip cake and cook for another few minutes until they are cooked through.

8) Serve cakes immediately with maple syrup or salsa!

Corn cakes roughly adapted from a Bittman recipe.

Corn Cakes

I really struggled over what kind of cake to make for this. Betsy actually had some cakes leftover from when we went to The Village Smithy and I inspected them pretty closely. I think they use a cornmeal/flour blend for their cakes.

Ultimately, I decided to go a slightly different route and use a 100% cornmeal mix that ended up being wonderful.

No flour needed.

The recipe I ended up with is one that I adapted from a Bittman recipe (I added an egg and subtracted some other stuff).

Being the cocky cook that I am, I didn’t even read the full recipe before starting it. I just stirred my milk straight into my cornmeal.

Needless to say that this didn’t work. I ended up with a very thick paste that would not be good in pancake form.

I was about to write Mr. Bittman a mean letter, but then I actually read the recipe and step one was to add 1 1/2 cups of boiling water to the cornmeal.

That made MUCH more sense.

My only gripe is that there should’ve been a line for boiling water in the original recipe, but still my fault for not reading.

Anyway, stir your cornmeal and salt together and then pour in your hot water. Stir and let this sit for 5-10 minutes so all the water gets absorbed.

Polenta basically.

Then you can stir in your milk, olive oil, and egg and your batter will be just about perfect.

It should be a pretty thin batter so if it looks too thick, feel free to add a bit more milk.

Much better consistency.

The Filling

I kept my filling simple: bacon, scallions, grated cheese.

If you wanted a veggie version you could skip the bacon and add in some green chiles or something.

In any event, just cook the bacon until it’s very crispy. I like to cook mine in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. See my how to cook perfect bacon post for more info on that.

Then just stir all your filling ingredients together!

Yum.

Making the Cakes

I was not positive that I would be able to fill these successfully. I had a few different methods that I was going to try, but luckily the first method worked like a charm.

Here’s what you do.

Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat with a drizzle of oil. Then add in 1/4 cup (1/3 would make a really big cake) of corn cake batter.

Immediately top the cake batter with a small handfull of the filling mixture. It’s okay if it spills over a bit.

Press down on the filling a bit to get it kind of sunk into the pancake.

I was skeptical...

As soon as your filling is in place, add another 1/4 cup (or 1/3 cup) of batter to the top of the filling.

It’s okay if the batter doesn’t completely cover the filling but try to get it to mostly cover it.

Another 1/4 cup on top.

Let this cook for about 4 minutes until the edges of the cake are really nice and firm.

Then give it a flip!

Flip it!

Cook the cake for another three minutes or so on the second side and serve these up as soon as possible!

Serving the Cakes

There’s two delicious ways to serve these bad boys.

First, you can go the entirely savory route. These are savory cakes so you could serve them with hot sauce or salsa and be all set.

Personally, I like to mix a little sweet with my savory so I like maple syrup.

I like the sweet.

As you can see from the cross section, the cakes are incredibly light and the filling is right in the middle.

I was actually shocked at how well these came out!

So good!

I was surprised that Betsy thought my version was better but then after trying it, I had to agree with her.

These were darn near perfect!

As some of you may know, I enjoy my games of chance. Specifically, I’m a pretty big fan of craps and poker and try to plan some sort of trip at least once a year to test my luck!

Black Hawk, I’ve heard, is also pretty since it’s tucked into the Rockies. I’ll be sure to duck out of the casinos for at least a few hours and stroll around town.

The Poll

For the poll this week, let’s do a quick dish.

PS. Never (ever) google “Thirty Minute Dishes.” You will be presented with a truly horrid list of options.

The Links

How I Eat - I frequently get asked about how I stay relatively thin and still eat all the stuff I eat. It’s really no secret. Betsy and I eat very little processed food, we don’t go out to eat that often, and I eat stuff in moderation. Turns out Mr. Lebovitz and I have a lot in common. (@ David Lebovitz)

Healthy Veggie Chips - The potato chip is an institution, but you can make really delicious chips out of a wide range of veggies. This is a great rundown on some of your options and all of them are baked! (@ NPR Food)

15 Chefs, 15 Chickens - Roast chicken is fantastic, but it can be stressful. I’ve seen at least a dozen different ways proclaiming that they are the best way to do it. Here are 15 videos from 15 great chefs. Follow any one of these and you’ll be in good shape. (@ Amateur Gourmet)

Mayo-less Chicken Salad - This recipe uses one of my favorite tricks – subbing Greek yogurt for mayonnaise in recipes. Honestly, I think it makes most recipes better. (@ Make it Naked)

Connect with me!

Throughout the week I love chatting with people and sharing fun and interesting stuff around the web. I’m fairly active on a few different places:

- Follow @macheesmo on Twitter.
- Like Macheesmo on Facebook.
- Add Me to a Google+ circle.
- macheesmo on Instagram.

And, of course, you can always subscribe to Macheesmo via the feed or via email!

Have a great weekend everyone! If you need me, I’ll be rollin’ those dice!

Photo from Jeffrey Beall.

You jerk, tempeh.

Here’s a challenge for you.

Find the biggest meat eater you can find. Maybe it’s your father, maybe it’s your coworker, maybe it’s YOU.

Invite them over for dinner and serve them this.

I can’t imagine that any meat eater would complain. This is the meatless main for meat eaters.

Jerk Seasoned Tempeh

Yield: Serves 3-4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Jerk Seasoning:
1/4 cup ground allspice
1/4 cup brown sugar
3-5 habanero peppers, seeds removed
3 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bunch (6-8) scallions, whites and greens
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons Braggs or soy sauce

Stir Fry:
8 ounces tempeh
1/4 cup jerk seasoning
1/2 pound green beans
1 bunch kale
3 tablespoons olive oil
Dash of soy sauce
Rice, for serving

Helpful Equipment:
Mini Food Processor

Directions:

1) Grind allspice berries or use ground allspice. Roughly chop scallions, garlic, and peeled ginger. Add to a food processor. Add ground allspice, brown sugar, diced habaneros, and other ingredients. Process until it forms a rough paste.

2) Dice tempeh into chunks and coat chunks with about 1/4 cup of the jerk seasoning.

3) Remove tough stems from kale leaves. Chop ends off of green beans and chop them in half. Add green beans to boiling, salted water to blanch. After green beans cook for 60 seconds, add kale and cook for another 15-20 seconds.

4) Drain veggies and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

5) When ready to make the stir fry, add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the tempeh and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring a few times.

6) Add veggies to stir-fry and cook for another few minutes tossing regularly to mix flavors. Season with a dash of soy sauce.

7) Serve stir fry immediately over rice.

Jerk seasoning mix adapted from a Group recipe.

A Real Jerk

When you walk through the spice aisle at your grocery store, you will almost always find some rub proclaiming itself as a jerk rub.

This stuff works okay, but it really shouldn’t be called that.

Real Jamaican jerk seasoning is more of a paste than a rub. It has some liquid to it along with really flavorful aromatics, spicy habanero peppers (traditionally Scotch bonnet peppers), and a metric ton of allspice.

The basics.

I used whole allspice berries and just ground them up, but you can use ground as well. Just make sure it’s really fresh so the flavor pops.

Very important.

The heat from this paste comes from really hot habanero peppers.

These are the kind of peppers that you want to be careful with… if you cut them barehanded and then touch your eyes or nose or anywhere really, you’ll be in for a long night.

Honestly, you should probably wear gloves when working with them, but I just make sure I wash my hands really well after I cut them.

You’ll want to remove the seeds and then dice them pretty finely.

If I would change one thing about this seasoning when I make it again, I’ll up the pepper count. I used three and it didn’t quite have the heat I wanted. I think I would go with 4-5 next time.

Next time I would use 4!

Add everything for the jerk seasoning to a mini food processor and pulse it until it’s a rough paste.

If you don’t have a food processor you could put all the ingredients in a large bowl and just mash them together really well with a fork, but that will take some work.

Smells amazing.

The Tempeh

It’s official that I prefer tempeh to tofu. It’s more substantial, has more protein and fiber, and just plain tastes better in my opinion.

It’s also a lot easier to work with. You don’t have to worry about pressing it or anything.

The hard part about tempeh is finding it. It’s still not very popular so it can be tricky to find. I only know of one store in my town of 100,000 people that sells it.

If you know you like it, you can order it in bulk from a few places online.

Love this stuff.

Once I chopped up my tempeh, I just mixed it with about 1/4 cup of the jerk seasoning. That was about half of the recipe.

The seasoning keeps for a long time. Just store it in the fridge.

Normally, you would marinate meat in this for a pretty long time, but tempeh isn’t going to really absorb much flavor so just let it sit while you prepare the other ingredients.

Very well seasoned.

The Other Stuff

Tempeh can be a bit on the pricey side. Eight ounces will set you back $4 probably.

So I like to use other veggies to bulk up the meal a bit.

In this case, I just blanched some green beans and kale in salted boiling water. I tossed in the green beans and let them cook for about 60 seconds, then I tossed in the kale and cooked it for another 20 seconds or so.

This way, both veggies are done at the same time!

Rinse them with cold water when they come out so the cooking stops.

They should still be slightly crunchy.

Two basic veggies.

I also made a batch of really good rice to serve with the tempeh.

You could use any rice for this, but I found a really delicious rice mix that was nutty and wonderful.

Something to put it on.

Cooking the Tempeh

Typically, jerk style dishes are grilled or smoked.

For tempeh though, I thought a stir-fry would be easiest.

I just tossed a few tablespoons of olive oil in my large skillet (or wok) and once it was hot over medium-heat I added all my tempeh.

After just a few minutes, they were nice and caramelized.

A quick sear.

Then I tossed in my blanched veggies along with a small drizzle of soy sauce.

Toss this all together for a minute or two over the heat so the flavors can mingle.

I just love the colors!

Done deal!

Serve this over some sort of rice and you have yourself a heck of a vegetarian meal.

So good!

If you’re a vegetarian, enjoy this meal. I think it’ll become a staple in your rotation.

If you’re a meat eater, give it a shot. I think you’ll be very surprised.

Under. Rated.

Guys, I’m addicted to sardines.

It’s kind of a weird thing to be addicted to since I’m pretty sure most people are just lukewarm about them.

But they are so good. Sardines are salty and rich and good on a ton of different foods.

They get a really bad rap though and a lot of people find them “gross.” Some of those same people have no issue eating a deep fried piece of strange fish product from a fast food place.

At least this fish looks like fish!

If you think you don’t like sardines, I implore you to give them a second shot. This sandwich is one of my new favorite lunches and I hope it doesn’t scare you away.

Sardine and Avocado Sandwich

Yield: 2 open-faced sandwiches

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 (4 ounce) can sardines in olive oil (about 4 large sardines)
1 avocado, mashed
Red onion, sliced thin
Capers
2 slices thick bread
Olive oil
Black pepper

Directions:

1) Remove pitt from avocado and add to two slices of thick bread. Mash onto bread like a spread. Use 1/2 an avocado per bread slice.

2) Top each half of bread with a few sardines, roughly chopped.

3) Top each sandwich with slivered red onion, capers, a drizzle of olive oil, and some fresh black pepper.

4) Bake sandwiches at 425 for 5-6 minutes or broil for 2 minutes.

5) Serve immediately!

Adapted from Alton Brown's sandwich.

Sardines

The sardine section at most grocery stores can be intimidating. There are a bunch of different options and some are better than others. Personally, I like wild caught sardines that are stored in olive oil with lemon.

These tend to be on the more expensive end of sardines. A can will set you back about $3-$4, but I find that these taste the best.

Shop around though and try a few different kinds until you find one you like.

When it comes down to health, sardines are amazing. They are a great source of vitamins and nutrients and contain a lot of Omega-3s. Because they are really low on the food chain, they also have very little traces of mercury which some larger fish can have.

They may just be the perfect lunch food in my opinion.

Alton Brown agrees with me. He attributed a good chunk of his weight loss to sardines and, in fact, this sandwich idea came from him.

Love these!

Making the Sandwich

I like to make this sandwich in open-face form.

Try to get some good thick and crusty bread for the sandwich that can hold up to the toppings.

Half an avocado per slice.

I used a whole avocado for two pieces of bread.

I suggest you do the same. The avocado works almost like mayonnaise and forms a kind of sauce for the sandwich. A nice thick layer of it really helps.

Pretty green color!

Then just throw a few sardines on each piece. If you have large sardines, you might want to chop them roughly.

I also topped my sandwich with some sliced red onion and capers.

The capers are optional, but I think the red onions really add a nice flavor to the sandwich.

If you don’t use sardines that are stored with lemons, you might want to squeeze some lemon juice on the sandwich also.

Toppings galore.

Drizzle the sandwiches with a small amount of olive oil and toast these bad boys in a 425 degree oven for about six minutes or you can broil the sandwiches under high heat for about 2 minutes.

Serve them immediately!

After a quick bake or broil.

This is really a simple sandwich but probably not something that a lot of people would think to try.

At the end of the day though, it’s really healthy, filling, and very tasty. I can’t get enough of the flavor combo.

So, how do you feel about sardines? Do you love them?

Raise your hand if you’re never reading Macheesmo again because of this sandwich!