Onions and Peppers

2022-08-30T17:30:00.001-07:00

I haven't been posting in a very long time, but I do plan to get back to it very soon :) I hope to get a new post up this weekend!

Ciabatta Bread (no recipe)

2017-06-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my latest bread making obsession. Ciabatta!

Several months ago, I bought Paul Hollywood's book, 100 Great Breads. Since then, I've been making his Ciabatta bread regularly, with much success.

And that makes me very happy. There is no fun in spending time making food from scratch only to have no one enjoy it.

There is no recipe in this post. But for those who have been trying to make this bread, I have found that once the dough has risen and I'm moving it to a flat surface to cut it into four sections, using a generous amount of flour on the flat surface AND on top of the dough prior to cutting helped me immensely! After the bread is cooked and cooled a little, the excess flour can easily be brushed off (with a pastry brush, etc.)

Prior to cooking, on last rise.

While cooling, after cooking. Almost time to eat!

Aside from the Ciabatta, I have made the following recipes from Paul's book:

White bread, which was a success.
Crusty Cob, which was not a success. Afterward, I realized at least one place where I think I went wrong. I did not slash the bread deep enough, which didn't allow the bread to fully cook.
Scones, which was a success (especially the ones with dates in them).

Also, if anyone hasn't watched The Great British Bake Off (which is where I first heard of Paul Hollywood), I highly recommend it. I love that show and have watched every episode I can find so far. Speaking of which, I think I'll go relax, enjoy some Ciabatta and see if I can find any new ones to watch!

Albania - Burek (with meat), Courgettes with Tomato, Albanian Salad - A to Z Project

2014-09-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

After a four year hiatus after just one entry, the A to Z Project is finally off the backburner.

This "stop" is Albania.

My exposure to Albanian food information is extremely limited. Currently the only cookbook I own with Albanian recipes in it is The Balkan Cookbook, by Jugoslovenska Knjiga, which I have owned for years but had not cooked from until this weekend. I had been waiting to get back to my project before delving in.

I had a lot of trouble deciding which recipes to make. Many of the Albanian dishes sounded tempting and I will definitely be going back to make others as time permits.

After much internal debate, I decided on making Burek with meat because I was curious to see how it would differ from the Mince and Onion Pie I make from a recipe book from New Zealand (given to me by my New Zealander mother-in-law).

For the Burek I used a fillo dough packaged as "Bourek Dough" from a local Mediterranean/"international" market here in L.A. Although this dough was obviously different than the flaky pastry dough I make for the NZ pie, the dough was not what I found most different. The Burek was put together in layers of fillo dough, cut into squares and then a mixture of yoghurt, eggs and mineral water was poured over the top and left to sit for 15 minutes before baking. I admit, I was kind of freaking out when I poured that over the top. But it all worked out perfectly. The top picture shows the Burek which my husband had with a yogurt-dill-garlic sauce. [I got the recipe for it here, but didn't add the oil.].

Next up was the Courgettes with Tomato, which was simmered thickly sliced summer squash, tomato, chopped garlic, salt and pepper with fresh parsley.

Lastly, I opted for the Albanian Salad. Partially because it had Albanian in the title, but more importantly because I wanted to see how it compared to many other kinds of potato salads I have had. Although I doubt it is considered a "potato salad" in Albania, it does have boiled potatoes in it and sounded similar enough to be a type of potato salad, at least to me.

I thought this salad was delicious but I am assuming it will be even better tomorrow, once all the flavors really have time to meld together.

Because the salad was to be mixed with yogurt, I opted to take a shot of the chopped up ingredients in case they were masked too much by the yogurt.

[pictured ingredients: fresh dill and parsley, potato,

red and green bell pepper, onion, raisins and tomato.]

Over the weekend, I have spent some time listening to some Albanian music, mostly with some help from the "Dude,where’s my Gomar?" blog.

Here are some of the videos I found on youtube.
Elvana Gjata - Puthe
Miriam Cani - Labirint (Official Video HD)
Silva Gunbardhi ft. Mandi ft. Dafi - Te ka lali shpirt

Noizy – Noku Vogël

SabinaDana ft. Dafi Derti - E kam pas

ALBANIA2014 - ALBANIAN FOLK MUSIC
Albania Nature's Beauty& Traditional Music [HD]

Best of Albanian Music, Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine.

Tonight or tomorrow night, I'll be watching Albania, La Storia. From what I recall of the description, it is a history of Albania from 1890 to 1990(?).

Jess & Herb's Chow Chow Pickles

2010-08-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Jess & Herb's Chow Chow Pickles

Shortly after I told my husband that I wanted to start pickling more things, he requested I make him some chow chow.

To which he got a very strange look from me, as I'd never heard of it.

He didn't want just "any" chow chow, either.

He wanted me to make the kind he used to have when he'd visit his grandparents in New Plymouth.

Since they live 6500 miles from us, I couldn't just go over and ask them how to make it (like I would have preferred).

I have fond memories of his grandparents' house. It was where I first unearthed a potato, which I still rave about quite a bit because I thought it was one of the coolest things ever.

Still do. :)

I also loved having them show me around their garden. They had a beautiful array of plants and flowers, and grew several different kinds of food. I'm sure if I lived there, I'd have gone over to visit with them often.

Jess was kind enough to email me their chow chow pickle recipe, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

And, thankfully, I didn't mess it up too badly because my husband has already almost finished one jar of it, and another jar is "magically" in the fridge ready to be consumed.

And, a bonus, my grandmother is enjoying it, too! She says it is good with tuna salad, but I haven't gotten the details about how she prepares that exactly.

My husband eats his just spread on bread like an open faced sandwich.

So that is how I tried mine today.

Herb and Jess's Chow Chow Pickle recipe: [Text in brackets are my comments]

4 cups cauliflower
4 cups pickling onions
4 cups green tomatoes
4 cups diced cucumber
1 1/4 cups salt [we used non-iodized salt]
2 litres water
1 cup plain flour
4 teaspoons dry mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons tumeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sugar
1 litre malt vinegar

Put the prepared vegetables in a large non metallic bowl. Dissolve the salk in water and pour over the vegetables. Leave to stand for 24 hours.

Drain. Mix together flour, mustard, tumeric, cayenne pepper and salt with enough vinegar to make a paste. Gradually add in the remaining vinegar and bring to the boil in a large pan, stirring until mix thickens. Add vegetables and boil for 5 minutes or until vegetables are heated through.

[I cut this recipe in half because it made more sense, given the number of green tomatoes we had on hand at the time. I used a full head of cauliflower and am not sure how many "cups" that was. All the veggies and the onion were cut into 1/2 inch pieces. I boiled the vegetables until they were just fork tender. Next time, I will cut the cauliflower a little smaller, per my husband's request, but I thought they were fine the way there were and so did my grandmother.]

Pictures

Some of the raw ingredients. The tomatoes were just picked off our plants only minutes before.

The tomatoes, onion, cucumber and cauliflower - as used in the recipe.

One-half of my open-faced sandwich from today. The other half was eaten before I got my camera out to take the picture.

This picture is for my husband's grandparents. The mostly empty jar says it all - he loves their chow chow pickles! :)

Veggie Bites

2010-08-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

Veggie Bites

I'm not sure where or how I was inspired to make this snack, but I do know they have been in my head for a week or two. I think I was having a craving for my sister's seven layer dip, but I'm really not sure.

I thought this would make a fun snack for us to enjoy while we waited for food to cook on the barbecue.

It would have, I think.

But they never made it outside.

They were eaten almost as fast as it took me to put them on the plate!

The veggies we used were cucumbers, radishes, carrots and zucchini. [The avocado was used to make some guacamole.]

The veggies were sliced.

The avocado was smashed and mixed with a little black pepper, lemon juice and a bit of Tapatio (hot sauce).

Then I opened a can of chili beans and drained most of the liquid from them. I pureed the beans in my food processed.

Everything was then stacked as follows (from the bottom up): cucumber, bean puree, carrot, guacamole, radish, bean puree and zucchini on top.

I made these using some of the thicker veggies I could find, but I think they would be better a little smaller in diameter.

We ate these stacks by putting the entire stack in our mouth at once.

They were good, and I especially liked the way the flavor changed as I was eating them. The flavors each seemed to take their turn in the spotlight.

I will definitely be making these again, substituting different veggies and other things such as salsa, hummus, cream cheese, etc., depending on what we have on hand, who will be eating them and what I think they might enjoy.

If you give these a try, I'd love to hear your substitutions! :)

Conejo Valley Botanic Garden

2010-07-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

Conejo Valley Botanic Garden

Today, my sister and I went to the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden. It was really great to get some one-on-one time together. The garden wasn't very busy, so we were able to just wander at our own pace and lose ourselves in conversation and enjoy each other's company.

The weather was very warm, and it was so lovely in the garden. Unfortunately we arrived at a time when many of the plants were in the shade, so I skipped snapping as many shots as I might have if the lighting had been more favorable. I also left my extra camera battery in the trunk of the car by mistake, which didn't help matters any.

It was reassuring to see so many bees today. They were not swarming or anything, but we saw plenty of them. Several different species.

Lately, in my neighborhood, I've seen many more dead and/or dying bees than I have live, healthy ones. So it was fantastic to see so many in abundance that were thriving.

Below are some of the shots I got. Hope you enjoy them.

Sapphire Dragon Tree (Paulownia Kawakamii)

Laurel Leaf Sumac (Malosma laurina)

Brazilian Pepper Tree

Brown Turkey Fig

Passion Fruit Flower

Passion Fruit on the vine

Such a cutie!

Fresh Fig and Lemon Tart [crostata di fichi e limoni]

2010-07-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

Fresh Fig and Lemon Tart

Do you have a cookbook that you just love?

Love to look at it...

and to read it...

because it transports you to a world you wish you could live in?

I do. It's The Renaissance of Italian Cooking by Lorenza de'Medici (a descendant of the famous family).

I rarely ever cook from this book. That's because every time I pick it up, I get totally sidetracked.

I don't make a list of ingredients I will need from the market, or even get to a point where I choose a dish to make.

I go into a dream-like state, seriously.

Sometimes it is the recipes, or the pictures of the food, that take me away to that magical, dreamy place.

Other times it is a picture of an Italian landscape or a dining area I'd love to see in person.

Every time I pick the book up, it is some other page or reason that draws me in.

It relaxes me, just thinking about it.

If you have a book that does this to you, I'd love to hear about it.

I made this tart a week or so ago. As soon as I saw these beautiful Black Mission Figs, I knew exactly what I would make with them...

....a Fresh Fig and Lemon Tart.

Shortbread crust, sliced lemons and sliced figs, with some syrup poured on top.

The lemons were boiled whole, after perforating the skin, then boiling three times for a couple of minutes each, changing the water in between each boil.

Why? What's this process called? I have no idea, only guesses. If you know, please let me know :)

Then the lemons are sliced and put into some water with some sugar and boiled for 10 minutes. I'm sure I did this part wrong, using too many lemon slices and/or too much water, or both since my syrup was a bit thin. That said, after layering the lemons onto the shortbread, with the figs over the top, some of the lemon syrup is poured over the top, and then the tart is baked.

The figs really turned the lemon slices a pretty color, and the rinds provided an interesting texture. It was a little odd for the first couple of bites since I don't normally eat lemon rinds, but after a few bites, I found it quite delightful.

The tart in the book had many more figs, but I just used the amount I had on hand. I thought it was prettier this way too, being able to see the lemon underneath :)

Do you have a favorite kind of tart? I'd love a suggestion for one to try next.

So far I've only made the two I've posted about on this blog and they both included lemon. I really need to enjoy some lemonade with the next lemons that come my way :) So, I'd love some non-lemon suggestions.

Agua Frescas [Watermelon and Lime / Prickly Pear (Tuna) and Mango]

2010-07-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

Agua Frescas [Watermelon and Lime / Prickly Pear (Tuna) and Mango]

It's summertime and it's time for cool, refreshing drinks!

Inspired by a couple of Gabriela's posts, starting with "Contemporary Aguas Fresca from Food52", I have become completely intrigued with agua frescas. I've made them in the past, but with blinders on in regards to what I could put in them. My imagination was limited to making only those I had tried before at various places around town - watermelon and cantaloupe ones. I've seen others, but it is normally almost impossible for me not to say "watermelon" when they ask me which kind I want :) I've only seen the cantaloupe ones for sale once, but since then, I make them at least once a year at home.

I haven't made the contemporary ones Gabriela posted about yet, but I did make Gabriela's Agua de Jamaica -- and loved it! I made it exactly as she suggested, and I'm glad I did. I found her proportions to be very refreshing and they left the mint flavor in tact. I'm sure I'd have covered some of that up with too much sugar, if I had been left to my own devices :)

For watermelon agua frescas, I rarely make them the same way twice since it all depends on the sweetness of the fruit. Sometimes they don't need much sweetener, sometimes they do. For the one I made most recently, the fruit wasn't the most flavorful. However, rather than compensate with more sugar like I normally would, I opted to add lime juice to keep it a bit tarter.

I used the fruit from one normal sized watermelon (not the baby ones), strained, then blended with the juice of three limes, 1/2 cup sugar and 9 ounces of water.

The Prickly Pear (Tuna) and Mango agua fresca is new for me this year. I had bought the mango for something else, but that's another story. A story that needs passion....fruit, that is. Which apparently isn't in season here yet. I'm told maybe next week?

Although there are two mangoes in this picture, I only used one for this drink.

Fruit from the five prickly pears and one mango went into the blender, then strained through a sieve, directly into a pitcher. Added 1/8 cup of blue agave sweetener and 18 ounces of water. Mixed together. Served over ice.

If you're a lemonade fan, Jessica at FoodMayhem posted, "Lemonade by the Glass". I haven't tried hers yet, but only because my lemons keep getting put into something else before I get to it.

How about you?

What's your go to drink to cool off in the summer?

BBQ Sirloin Sandwiches

2010-07-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

BBQ Sirloin Sandwiches

While shopping for some red oak wood chips we're going to need for an upcoming Santa Maria-style cookout at our place, my husband purchased some wine barrel wood chips. Afterwards, he was inspired to make these barbecue sirloin sandwiches. A simple dinner that allowed us time to sit around the grill -- talking, listening to music and enjoying all the birds our neighbor's new bird feeder coaxed into visiting.

Most of my input into this dinner occurred a couple of weeks ago when I put the rub together and prepared the sauce. So I just put my feet up, so to speak, and relaxed.

Here are some pictures of our sandwiches. His had barbecue sauce, but the picture was taken before he put it on.

Mine (above), which - as usual! - has a lot of barbecue sauce, and a decent amount of mayo on it. [Why mayo? I have no idea. It's like a pregnancy urge thing without the pregnancy! Ever since I cut my dairy intake to less than 2%, my interest in mayo has increased. I'm not sure why this is. I think I've eaten more mayo in the past three weeks than I have in the three years prior. If anyone knows why this might be -- please comment below. Sincerely, it baffles me. Much like my relatively sudden desire for stone ground mustard.]

We both chose to use the Kansas City Classic Barbecue Sauce for our sandwiches, which were really good. The meat was very tender, and we were both very happy with how it turned out. The wine barrel smoke was definitely noticeable and added an interesting flavor. We also thought the rub and the sauce went very well together.

Below is a semi-brief run down of how he cooked the steak (as relayed to me).

Meat used: three sirloin steaks

Whacked with a meat tenderizer (to tenderize and so the rub would penetrate more)

Rubbed liberally with the Rendesvous-style rub (you'll have to scroll down to find the rub in the post)

Put the steaks in a marinating dish (which is covered), and then put them in the fridge for a couple of hours.

The charcoal was started and allowed to burn until medium heat and then arranged so the steaks would be cooked indirectly.

The wine barrel oak chips and some water were put in a foil packet, which was mostly covering the chips, and then placed directly on the coals. [I will try to remember to take pictures next time]

On the grill, an open foil pocket was placed, with about 1/4 cup water inside.

The steaks were put on.

Put lid over grill with the vent open, so it was smoking gently.

Cooked 20 minutes, then turned steaks over.

Poked hole in foil packet containing the chips so water drained out and opened packet up more, so mostly opened.

Water packet on grill still had water on it, so he left it. Otherwise he would have added more.

Cooked another 10 minutes, with the lid put back on.

Then he removed the water pack from the top of the grill and broke open the wood chip packet and scattered the wood chips over the coals. Then he turned the steaks again, put the lid back on and allowed the steaks to cook for another 5 minutes.

Removed steak from grill.

Let the steaks rest for 10 minutes, then cut it for the sandwiches.

Mine was gone in about 2.5 seconds, I think.

Norwegian Toast

2010-07-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

Norwegian Toast

One of the cookbooks which has been handed down in my family is Rosemalers' Recipes. This book was put together for fund raising purposes by the Rosemalers for the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. While the copy I have was printed in 1990, which doesn't seem that long ago, it's already become a family heirloom, and has changed hands at least a couple of times. Inside the book are handwritten notes regarding how some of my great-aunt's recipes varied from the ones written in the book.

One of the recipes in the book is for Norwegian Toast, which I made today to take to my grandmother tomorrow. She's had some dental work done lately, so she can't eat all the wonderful things she enjoys. I hope that this will work out for her, after she's able to soften it up by dunking it in her coffee.

I adapted the recipe, and cut it in half.

1/2 cup butter (room temperature), 3/4 sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 cup sour cream, 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

I mashed and blended the butter together with the sugar before adding everything else and blending it together with a spoon. Blend until everything is fully incorporated and no flour remains on the side of the bowl. Then form it into a long loaf.

I wasn't exactly sure how the loaf was meant to be formed, so I guessed.

This is how I formed the loaf, and I like the way it came out.

Move the loaf to an ungreased cookie sheet and bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Note: The dough is very sticky at this point, so be sure to put additional flour on your hands before trying to move it.

After the 30 minutes pass, remove the loaf from the oven and turn the oven up to 375 degrees to preheat the oven for the next baking step.

Slice the loaf. [I did this immediately after removing the loaf from the oven with only minor consequence. A couple of slices suffered a little cracking. I didn't mind, but you might want to wait a few minutes first.]

Dip the slices into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. I used approximately 1 cup of sugar to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Adjust according to your preference.

Lie the slices back down on the cookie sheet.

Put the slices back into the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove the slices from the cookie sheet to a wire rack, then allow to cool.

Not only is this toast yummy, it smells wonderful while cooking!

Markin' the 4th with Shannon's Sangria

2010-07-05T00:52:00.000-07:00

Markin' the 4th

This post is dedicated to my good friend Shannon, who lives way too far away, and is married to one of my husband's dearest friends. Even if we live 100 years, I can't imagine finding another couple who my husband and I would get along better with, or miss more, than Shannon and Damien. Only the 2,000 miles we live from them keeps us from showing up on their deck every night to barbecue, light fireworks and just enjoy every minute of the day together.

Shannon and I usually drink pinot noir when we get together, but she is a fan of Maker's Mark, too. So, months ago, I decided I had to create a sangria mix using Maker's Mark, in her honor. There was no better day to do this than the 4th of July. Her dog Lux loves to chase fireworks and we have fond memories of shooting fireworks off their deck. So, here it is, Shannon's Sangria.

Lots of fresh fruits: one cup each - strawberries, golden raspberries, blackberries, and lemon and lime slices. One bottle of Turning Leaf pinot noir, maker's mark (1/3 cup - it's all we had on hand), triple sec (1/3 cup), raspberry-lemonade concentrate and some ginger ale.

In addition to the sangria, we marked the 4th by the following dinner.

We grilled some chicken and used the Tennessee Hollerin' Whiskey Barbecue Sauce I made last weekend using Maker's Mark.

I also made some pinto beans (canned), flavored with jalepeno peppers (2 chopped with seeds and veins), onions (2 small, diced), bacon ends (1/4 cup) and green bell peppers (2 small, chopped).

We also made an adapted version of La Frutte Grigliate [Basil Infused Fruit Salad] - by grilling two apricots and two plums which were glazed with honey and some lemon juice, which were then tossed in simple syrup infused with basil. I couldn't get this site to load earlier so I made the recipe based on our memory of it. We came pretty close.

My dinner.

The picture doesn't do this one justice -- everything was really good!

We will be making all of these dishes again, to be sure.

We're already looking forward to having the leftover beans tomorrow with our pulled pork sandwiches.

Yes! :)

Individual Berry Pies/Desserts

2010-07-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

Individual Berry Pies/Desserts

Unfortunately, I didn't keep good mental notes while making this dessert. I was just messing around in the kitchen and trying out some ideas. Up front, the only thing I knew was that I had berries that needed to be eaten soon, and that I wanted to make a pie. I just didn't want a lot of pie, and I didn't want any left overs.

So I decided to make two mini pies in my little ramekins.

I didn't take notes because I wasn't sure how this was going to come out. But, since they came out very good, I will be making these again and will add the instructions next time. For now, I'll just share the pictures and give a general overview.

I made a crust that didn't need to be rolled out, but rather just pressed into the edges of the ramekins.

Then I baked the ramekins with the crust inside for 10 minutes at 475 degrees.

While the crust baked, I made a simple syrup using 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar and a 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract.

I chopped the strawberries and left the raspberries and blackberries whole. I put them in the still warm lemon syrup and made sure they were good and coated all over. Then I put the berries in the ramekins and poured a few tablespoons of the syrup over the top.

Then I put a layer of streusel topping over the fruit, which had some nutmeg in it.

Then I baked them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

After letting them cool for 10 minutes, they were served.

Mine.

His (my husband's).

Yummy!

Cabbage Komatsuna Roasted Negi Salad with Mustard Slaw Dressing

2010-07-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

Cabbage Komatsuna Roasted Negi Salad with Mustard Slaw Dressing

Please forgive the odd name of this one. I wasn't sure what to call it by the time it morphed a few times.

This was meant to be just some salad where I'd use up some odds and ends, and not something I would have necessarily posted about.

But...

Then I opened the baby spinach. The kind that is pre-washed, packaged, etc. It was bad. Let's just leave it at that :) Needless to say, the spinach was off the menu.

....open the fridge.

....spot the cabbage. The cabbage meant for something else, but it's what I have, so I say, "Batter up!"

Now I have cabbage and komatsuna.

And the other fixins' I planned to use: red bell pepper, negi (which was grilled on the bbq before being chopped for the salad), tomatoes from our garden, and Vietnamese Style Pickled Carrots.

With all my heart and soul, I want to make this into a coleslaw (even though it was all wrong, at least to me). I refrain, not just because the ingredients are wrong, but I just don't want to pour hot liquid over the Komatsuna! I want everything to be as crisp as possible.

So I decided to make a Mustard Slaw Dressing and let it cool before using it.

This recipe is adapted from this Mustard Coleslaw recipe from bbq.about.com.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup brown (spicy) mustard
1/2 cup sour cream (I used Tofutti, mistaking it for a sour cream substitute. Still learning to be non-dairy [not by choice]. Sour cream would have been heavenly in this dish.)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Add everything to sauce pan. Stir continuously until boiling. Remove from heat. Waited 30 seconds, then moved dressing to a bowl to cool.

Now, before you hear me say how incredible I thought this dressing was, it is not for everyone, I'm sure. I put a reasonable amount on the salad before it was mixed.

And it was good!

But, after having some, I went back and added more. And, while I loved it, it was a tad bit overwhelming...but...

I still loved it. I just couldn't eat it as quickly :)

So if you make this, start by adding a little...and add more if you want more.

Most times, I want the vegetables to shine in my salads. I want them all to have a voice.

This dressing definitely has a voice that will be heard above all if you use it without care. But sometimes those veggies need to stand in the background and let the dressing take center stage. This is one of those times.

The crunch. The texture. Of the veggies shines through, to be sure.

But this dressing steals the show. And, I, for one, was glad it did!

My husband enjoyed it too. He was glad I cut the yellow mustard in half and used brown (spicy) mustard in its place. He said he wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much if it was all yellow mustard.

Here's our dinner, in its entirety.

This my plate. Not much steak, mostly salad. As usual :)

But I added this picture so I could note that we used one of the bbq mop/sauces I made over the weekend for this steak. This one was Texas BBQ Juice. Although this one was tasty and we enjoyed it, it was a step down from my husband's normal marinade flavor, so we likely won't make it again. I believe the recipe is for brisket, which is not what we cooked. So we will try it for brisket sometime and see how it fares.

That said, I want to note that two sauces I made from the AmazingRibs.com site have been BIG winners here so far. We made BBQ chicken the way my husband normally does, using the Kansas City Classic Barbecue Sauce, in the marinade and as a sauce, My husband and I both liked it. The surprise was how much my son loved it though. I didn't adjust the recipe at all, leaving it much more vinegar-y than I might have. So I was very happy when my son loved it anyway. I liked it less sugary, too.

The other sauce we made was one that I didn't post about. When I did my BBQ sauce marathon last weekend, I meant to make Bayou Bite, but I didn't have enough red bell pepper at the time. BUT, I had bought the shrimp to make it, so after making my post, I went back to the store just to get more bell pepper. Yes, after making bbq sauces/mops/rubs all weekend, I went back to the store so I could make one more :)

And....

I am SO glad I did.

The Bayou Bite recipe was amazing!! I have referred people to that recipe on Craig's site all week!

We are not a big shrimp eating family here, but we ate a lot more than normal that night. I completely credit the sauce and recommend it to anyone who enjoys the flavor of roasted red bell pepper and some heat in their sauce!

Hmong Tropical Fruit Cocktail with Coconut Almond Gelatin

2010-06-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hmong Tropical Fruit Cocktail with Coconut Almond Gelatin

My knowledge about the Hmong and their culture is very limited overall. However, my interest in their culture has been alive and well since I read Anna Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures years ago for a class I took. It is one of my all-time favorite books, and I will never forget it. I found the experience of the family in the book fascinating (and heartbreaking) and loved how the author intertwined the Hmong history into the story.

I was delighted when, a couple of months ago(?), I ran across Sami Scripter and Sheng Yang's Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America on Elise's (from SimplyRecipes.com) flickr photostream: Hmong Cooking with Sheng Yang. I don't think I even looked at any of the photos, instead going immediately to find the book on Amazon.

I've been reading from the cookbook in bits and pieces since I received it.

There were several recipes I planned to try before this one. However, the other day I came home from Mitsuwa (our local Japanese market) with several types of fruit and this pushed the other recipes to the backburner.

The kumquats especially reminded me of the following passage in the book under a headline, "Fruit - Sour, Salty, Hot and Sweet":

"...Hmong people like to eat fruits that are naturally sour, such as unripe plums and mangos, and fruits that have been enhanced with salt, lime juice, and hot chilies."

[I love unripe plums! The kind that are so tart that you can't help but scrunch up your face a bit.]

This dish is actually a combination of two recipes from the book: Tropical Fruit Cocktail with Almond Gelatin and Coconut Gelatin. Since I try to avoid dairy, I opted to combine the two to make this dessert for our family.

The recipes called for agar-agar powder, which I did not have. I used plain gelatin instead and the result was delicious, but not visually optimal. The coconut milk had separated a little bit, leaving part of the gelatin clear. Although I could assume that I miscalculated something while combining the recipes, I think the separation occurred because I moved it part way through the gelling stage -- perhaps a little too abruptly :)

Thankfully, the taste was consistent throughout and showed no sign, taste wise, of the separation.

Just sweet coconut with a noticeable hint of almond flavor (I only used 1/2 of the extract called for in the recipe).

This gelatin was my favorite part of this dessert! Especially paired with the kumquat.

The Tropical Fruit Cocktail with Almond Gelatin recipe suggested using either canned and/or fresh fruit, so I decided to use a bit of both. Dragon fruit, lychee, kumquat and canned pineapple rings (diced).

Kumquats (cut in half and deseeded, skin left on) and Lychee (pit and rind removed)

Dragon fruit (diced)

Final dessert, with some pineapple juice poured over the top.

If you're familiar with Hmong cooking, or just enjoy desserts of this type, I'd love to hear feedback.

I'd also like to hear if something in this dish, either in the way I combined the gelatin recipes and/or fruits used, makes this dish into something non-Hmong.

BBQ Sauces, Mops and Rubs

2010-06-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

BBQ Sauces, Mops and Rubs

This project has been on my mind for awhile -- ever since I read "A taxonomy of American barbecue sauces" on AmazingRibs.com.

Over the years, I have seen many articles, t.v. shows and books about barbecue, but there was something about Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn's list that I couldn't get out of my head. I just knew that eventually, I wanted to try all of his recipes. I just couldn't decide where to begin and couldn't get past the "everything" part. So, a couple of months ago, I decided I'd make a bunch of his sauces/rubs/mops the weekend before July 4th and we'd try some out.

I guess I would have done it sooner (like Memorial Weekend), but I just didn't have that kind of time (due to studying for the "baby bar" -- which thankfully is now over). I suppose I could've done them one a time and enjoyed them sooner, but I really just loved the idea of doing them all at the same time and being able to notice the variety of ingredients used.

Also, there are many other recipes as well as a ton of great information on Craig's site. If you enjoy barbecue, definitely check it out.

So this is how my weekend began. I attempted to gather up everything I might need.

I managed to miss adding horseradish, kosher salt and cayenne pepper to the table for the photo. If I missed anything else, I've now forgotten what they were.

To keep this post as short as possible, I am going to just post a link to the recipe on Craig's site and a setup/finished picture of each, with minimal comments by me.

Here's a picture of all the sauces/mops and rubs (now jarred).

Columbia Gold

Kansas City Classic Barbecue Sauce

Grownup Mustard Sauce

East Carolina Kiss & Vinegar Barbecue Sauce & Mop

I forgot to take a finished photo of this one, but you can see it in the "all jarred" up photo :)

Lexington Dip

Texas Barbecue Juice (I still need to make the Texas Dry Rub/"Big Bad Beef Rub" to go with this one)

Tennessee Hollerin' Whiskey Barbecue Sauce

I took a setup photo of this, but the file was not readable. I wanted to note that I used Maker's Mark for the bourbon in this recipe. My husband is a single malt scotch drinker and isn't too fond of bourbon and I simply just don't care for either very much :) So, I chose to use Maker's Mark because one of my dear friends is a big fan. I have been concocting a sangria bearing her namesake in my head for months, using - you guessed it - Maker's Mark. I will have to get that recipe out of my head and onto the table, and serve it with this sauce!

I also wanted to note that after this sauce was finished and I tried it, I thought the flavor was outstanding. I can't wait to put it on something! Of all the sauces, this was the one I expected to enjoy the least, but I think it will end up being my favorite one. I love when that happens!

Big Bob Gibson's White Barbecue Sauce

Meathead's Memphis Dust

Rendezvous-style Rub

Note: For this rub, even after reading the directions in the recipe, I wasn't sure what to do with the whole spices. So I crushed them all before mixing them together.

*************

We'll be trying out these sauces, rubs and mops over the next few weeks, and I'm sure I'll do a post or two about how they turn out for us.

In addition, we plan to barbecue Santa Maria-style in the near future, which I'll be writing about. We were introduced to it a few years ago by our dear friends who live up there.

I love it that there are so many great barbecue styles!

Do you have a favorite?

Pickled Onions

2010-06-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Pickled Onions

Sometimes you start out with a particular outcome in mind, and another emerges. Five days ago, I ended up posting Spiced Pickled Red Pearl Onions because I messed up my Spiced Malt Vinegar by putting too much sugar in it.

What I intended to make are these onions. (Please pardon the glare on the photo - I'll replace it tomorrow with a better one).

Here's a picture of the onions, after they had been in the salted water for 24 hours, and rinsed.

The recipe for the vinegar is the same as that used in my Spiced Malt Vinegar post, except for the amount of sugar used. This mix used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of a cup.

I had many more onions than I had spiced malt vinegar, so for the last jar, I sliced as many onions as I could fit, and filled the rest of the jar with the last of that vinegar.

For the remainder of the onions, I made another batch of spiced vinegar using cider vinegar as my base instead of malt. All the spices remained the same.

While preparing these onions, I was thinking about many other pickling and/or onion posts others have made, and I thought this would be a good time to share them.

A recipe I intend to make is Roasted Cipollini Onions in Thyme from the White on Rice Couple's site. I've been dreaming about those onions for a month and a half!

And then there is Hank's post from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, "Why Pickle Onions?". I've yet to have ramps (pickled or otherwise!), but they are on my list of things to try, thanks to his blog.

I've still yet to make do chua from the Tea & Cookies blog. What I want to do is have this on my husband's pulled pork sandwiches with a mustard cabbage slaw. That's my ultimate food fantasy for the moment, and I'm afraid to think about it too long or it might never happen, right? :) I'll be so happy if it is half as good as I am thinking it will be!

Osso Buco (Braised Veal Shin) with Goat Cheese-Saffron Orzo

2010-06-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Osso Buco (Braised Veal Shin) with Goat Cheese-Saffron Orzo and Green Beans

While shopping with my Mom a couple of days ago at the 3rd Street and Fairfax Farmer's Market, I saw these at the butcher.

I hadn't had Osso Buco for awhile, and had never made it at home.

I immediately began to imagine the way the house would smell while it was cooking, and purchased them straight away.

After looking through several of my Italian cookbooks, feeling certain that I had seen a recipe for this in one of them, I was surprised to finally find it in Ferrara's Little Italian Cookbook (which I have mentioned here before). In the past, I never paid much attention to where I got which recipe; it was enough to know I had it "somewhere" in my collection. Now that I mention where they come from, I realize I cook from this cookbook more than any of my other Italian ones, at least so far. Not bad since I bought this book at a yard sale years ago, probably for ten cents or a quarter (it was truly loved, even before it met me). You should see it now after the additional years of me pawing over it, and I wouldn't resell it for many dimes or quarters :)

I adapted the recipe a bit from theirs.

In a large heavy saucepan, put 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup of "my" butter (I used a substitute: Earth Balance)

Rinsed and patted the veal shins dry. Coated them with flour (1/3 cup flour and 2 teaspoons salt and several generous twists of black pepper). Put them in the melted butter/oil.

Browned veal on all sides.

When all the meat is browned, turn them onto their side to keep the marrow from running out during the cooking process. Which I left like this (see above picture), which might not technically be the side :) But it didn't make any sense to me to turn it the other way, and this way seemed to work just fine.

After the meat was browned on all sides, I added 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 overflowing cup of chopped onion, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, and 3 sliced carrots.

[The original recipe called for much less onion, less garlic and less carrots, plus salt and celery. I left the celery out because my husband is not a fan and I added more salt to the original flour mixture instead (knowing I'd lose a good portion of the salt in the unused flour).]

Covered this mixture and cooked over high heat for 10 minutes. Be sure to shake the pan from time to time during this time to keep things from sticking/burning on the bottom.

Then I added 1/4 cup white wine, 1 cup chicken broth, and 1 cup tomato sauce, then simmered for approximately two hours. You want the meat to be tender but not falling off the bone.

Just before serving, an additional clove of garlic and some fresh parsley was tossed on the osso buco.

We served the Osso Buco with what I'm calling Goat Cheese-Saffron Orzo and green beans.

The Osso Buco was very tender and flavorful. I'm not usually a big meat eater, but I finished all the veal in this dish. I think I alternated between the taste of the carrots with the veal and the green beans, trying to decide which I liked more, and before I knew it-- they were both gone!

They were both so good!

For the orzo:
I put the orzo on to boil in half chicken broth and half water. As an after thought, I sauted some onion in another pan and then added it the orzo while it boiled.

Then I prepared a sauce. I put about 1/4 cup of chicken broth in a sauce pan and crumbled all of this cheese into it...

...and simmered it until it thickened a little. After I mixed it with the cooked and drained orzo, I added some saffron and canned button mushrooms.

After the orzo was cooked, I had drained the chicken broth/onion water into another sauce pan to boil the green beans (this worked out very well - man, those beans were good!). Since the water was already hot, I knew this wouldn't take long, but it also bought my cheese sauce a little more time to come together.

In this picture, the cheese sauce looks a little runny, but it wasn't. I just hadn't mixed all the orzo in at this point. The orzo was good, but next time I will skip the saffron and the mushrooms. Neither had a chance to really compete or develop in this dish, and their flavors were mostly lost. Perhaps due to the serious quantity of cheese?? :)

Lemon and Basil Tart

2010-06-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

Lemon and Basil Tart

This tart was made from a recipe in The BloggerAid Cook Book (Changing the Face of Famine), which I learned about on Cynthia's wonderful blog, Tastes Like Home. You can find a link to the book on her site.

I purchased this cook book for two reasons.

The most important being that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the book are donated to the School Meals Program of The United Nations World Food Programme.

The second is that the recipes in the book come from bloggers from around the world. I knew I'd probably get introduced to many new bloggers' recipes, and I was correct. Each recipe comes with a link address/url to the respective blogger's blog.

I have perused the book many times and have lost myself several times while reading the notes the bloggers submitted along with their recipes. I find what they have to say both inspiring and heartwarming.

I have many cookbooks which I love to read from, and some of them I never (or rarely) cook from. I keep them because they inspire me and I love the stories told in them.

This is a cookbook I will enjoy reading -- and cooking from. I currently want to make at least 20 of the recipes in this book!

My absolute love of all things lemon helped me decide where to start. That, plus my basil plant is currently doing exceptionally well.

In this recipe, the basil is infused into the water that is used for the filling.

This is my first ever tart.

I messed up the top a bit though. I made this very late last night and put plastic wrap over the tart to cover it, allowing it to get just a bit too close.

This flavor was spot on for me, very lemony with just a hint of sweetness. I used a little more lemon juice than the recipe calls for though, so if you prefer yours not quite so tart, just stick to the recipe and you'll be fine :)

Note: the blogger who submitted this recipe to the cookbook is Solange, who's blog is Pebble Soup.

Spiced Pickled Red Pearl Onions

2010-06-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Spiced Pickled Red Pearl Onions

After my recent adventure with making spiced malt vinegar, I opted to use it to pickle some red pearl onions.

My favorite (raw) onions to use on hamburgers in the summer are red onions. I thought it would be interesting to try them with pickled red onions.

As mentioned in my previous post, the spiced malt vinegar mixture I made recently is extra sweet.

Therefore, I expect to use some toppings on my burger which will counteract or enhance the sweetness, depending on my mood on the day of use :)

I'll let you know how they come out!

Spiced Malt Vinegar

2010-06-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

Spiced Malt Vinegar

This is a variation of the spiced vinegar mixture I normally use when making pickled onions for my husband, while basically following the recipe in Edmonds Cookery Book (New Zealand's No. 1 Cookbook, Sure to Rise).

I say "variation", but that's just a nice way of saying that "I really I messed it up this time." Rather than just a normal change such as I used this ground spice for that whole spice, or what have you, I used too much sugar.

Double the amount, to be exact.

This may not end up being a bad thing, but it certainly changes who this spiced vinegar is for, and what will be pickled by this mixture.

It won't be used to make onions for my husband, that's for sure. Way too sweet for him.

But it might be perfect for me.

Amounts used:
1 litre malt vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon each whole black peppercorns, allspice, and cloves.
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 inch ginger root (which was halved, just to keep the spices separated, for the photo)

Everything gets boiled together for 10 minutes.

You can either strain this right away to get the chunky stuff out, or allow the mixture to sit for a day or two to allow the flavors to meld together.

Either way, be sure to strain it before using it to pickle anything -- or storing it for use later.

Father's Day Potato Salad

2010-06-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

Father's Day Potato Salad

I have two memories of horseradish from my youth.

One involves a game my brother and I played many times with another brother and sister duo we knew. They were the kids of some of my parent's oldest friends. I don't remember all the rules of the game, but I believe it revolved around the game of Spades, played as teams. Usually boys against the girls, of course. We were kids :)

The losing team would have to eat whatever the other team chose from the contents of the kitchen. It was always pretty straight forward, either a food or drink. But, keep in mind, we were the siblings of the other side, so we knew each other pretty well, to say the least. So we knew what to serve -- or we thought we did, anyway.

The game was pretty tolerable until the day they made one of us eat a tablespoon of straight horseradish.

That day sucked.

But we were too smart to let the boys know. :)

We, thereafter, convinced them that the thing we hated the most was yellow mustard (but we secretly didn't mind all that much).

We would grimace and contort our faces to no end when we had to consume mustard from then on. We could've won a Grammy, I'm sure.

Anything to avoid anything to do with eating any amount of horseradish, let alone an entire tablespoon of it.

You see, horseradish, for me at least, was something my father enjoyed and had tried to get me to try on many occasions. Many times, long after I had given it a "try" and immediately hated it :)

Needless to say, I've slowly come around to it, after 30 years.

I thought about calling this "Mickey's Potato Salad", but he never tried it. And my Mom's always been the potato salad maker in the family. For good reason. Hers is very good.

So this is my Father's Day Potato Salad.

This is the first Father's Day I'll spend without my Dad, but I'll never spend another without this potato salad.

I created it just to remind me of him.

Perhaps you'll enjoy it, too -- if you enjoy a little horseradish in your life.

Which I do now...

so long as it is in stoneground mustard form. :)

Ingredients
Four red potatoes
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 green onions
1 hefty tablespoon stoneground mustard
1 hefty tablespoon mayonnaise

Directions
Scrub the potatoes with a vegetable brush.
Peel two of the potatoes, leave the skin on the other two.
Cut potatoes into quarters.

Put potatoes into a large saucepan.
Cover potatoes with water, and add the two sprigs of rosemary to the water.

Bring water to a boil and boil the potatoes until they are just soft enough to poke with a fork; not quite as soft as you might make them for mashed potatoes.
Drain the water from the pan.
Remove the potatoes to a bowl or plate and allow them to cool. Don't worry about removing the rosemary yet, just let it hang out with the potatoes.
Once the potatoes are cool, put them in the refrigerator for a while (20-30 minutes).

Prepare the green onions. Wash them, remove any loose skins and chop off the tops. Then slice into rounds, as thick or thin as you prefer.

When the potatoes are cold, remove them from the refrigerator.
Remove the rosemary sprigs and any loose pieces.
Dice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.

Put the potatoes and the green onions into a bowl.

Add the stoneground mustard and mayonnaise.

Then,

take a minute to think about something that makes you smile inside,

and then mix everything together.

My Dad always piled his plate high and let everything mix together. :)

Sweet Potato Leaf-Lemon Cucumber Stir-Fry

2010-06-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sweet Potato Leaf-Lemon Cucumber Stir-Fry

This dish was inspired by a vendor I met this week at our local farmer's market.

We had gotten into a conversation about some lemon cucumbers I had picked up in his stand. I had never eaten a lemon cucumber before, so I was asking him if he thought they would be good pickled. He said he didn't think so because they are sweeter than regular pickles.

After five or six questions about the lemon cucumbers, he offered to cut one open so I could try it. I told him that wouldn't be necessary, and then admitted I planned to buy them no matter what his answers had been.

I hoped this would get at least a smile, and it did. He's now my favorite vendor at the market because he gets my sense of humor :)

We continued to talk about some of the other items he had for sale (and just vegetables in general) until another customer had come up to purchase some type of greens. I didn't see what type they were, but I asked him how he normally cooks them anyway. Partially just to keep the conversation going and I was just wondering if I'd discover anything new. I did -- but not in cooking technique.

He turned my attention to another stack of greens and said they were his favorite and added that they aren't as bitter as the other ones.

I said, of course, "What are they?" Because I'd didn't recognize them.

"Sweet potato leaves", he said.

Then he told me he just sautes them with some garlic.

Sounded pretty standard, but I was sold....

....I had to give them a try.

Directions

About an hour before making this dish, I cut up a few tomatoes from our garden. I also cut up some left over grape tomatoes that needed to be used. I dumped them all in a dish and covered them with balsamic vinegar.

When I got ready to put the dish together, I got out most of what I needed and took this photo.

[Sweet potato leaves, green beans, balsamic tomatoes, asparagus and lemon cucumber]

I read online that it is good to boil the leaves for a couple of minutes, then put them immediately in cold water before cooking them further. Something about them having a bit of an oily texture if you don't? If that's not necessary, I'd appreciate it if someone would let me know. Since I wasn't sure, I did as suggested. After they were in the cold water for about 30 seconds, I emptied out the water and left the leaves in the bowl until I was ready for them.

I used the leaves as seen in the photo. I cut the green beans into thirds, and the asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces. I cut the lemon cucumbers in half and then sliced them 1/8 inch or so thick.

Once the vegetables were prepped, I put some grapeseed oil in my wok and let it heat up.

I tossed in about two tablespoons of prepared chopped garlic and sauted it for a minute.

I added the asparagus and green bean, and sauted over high heat for two minutes.

I grabbed the sweet potato leaves and gave them a few good shakes to make sure more of the water got removed.

Then I tossed the leaves into the wok, along with the lemon cucumber and balsamic tomatoes (along with only about a tablespoon of the vinegar).

I sauted everything for another two minutes, then removed it to a serving dish.

I prefer my vegetables on the firmer side, so if you don't, you may want to saute this dish a little longer.

We enjoyed this dish, but will probably use non-stick spray instead of the oil next time. We didn't feel it added anything extra.

The balsamic tomatoes stay though - they were really good in this dish.

Irish Potato Farls and Mediterranean Beef Stew with Rosemary

2010-06-07T23:03:00.000-07:00

Irish Potato Farls and Mediterranean Beef Stew with Rosemary

Although my study schedule has been slowly ramping up over the past couple of weeks, it has finally reached the stage where near constant stirring is required to keep it from burning. :)

But, alas, I must eat, right?

And blog about it. :)

So, although my posts will be shorter and sweeter until the 23rd, I hope to still post several between now and then.

The inspiration for today's post came from a recipe for Mediterranean Beef Stew with Rosemary that I found on Kalyn's Kitchen. After looking at the recipe, I asked my husband what he thought he'd like to have with it and he said potatoes. Not sure if it is because we both have some Irish roots, but we both have a hard time thinking about a stew without potatoes coming to mind.

This stew had no potatoes, and I didn't want to add any.

So I opted to make Irish Potato Farls instead.

In the past, when I've made farls, it has been Irish Soda Farls. I make them as a dessert or a snack, not as part of a meal.

It was fun to make them as part of this dish, and they complimented the stew very well.

The stew had a wonderful flavor, notably of garlic, tomato and vinegar. I did not add the capers, however, so I can't comment on those :)

I'd certainly make this stew again, but next time I'll keep to the shorter cooking times suggested for browning the meat or cut the meat into slightly larger pieces.

We enjoy using our slow cooker, too, especially in the summer when we don't want to heat up the house!

Here's a picture of our dinner, with the links to the recipes after.

Ireland's Eye's Potato Farls. This is a really cool site that I will be returning to. I want to make their Dublin Lawyer and Lemon and Vanilla Curd Cake, among others. :)

Kalyn's Kitchen's Mediterranean Beef Stew with Rosemary.

This is the second recipe I've made from Kalyn's Kitchen. The other was recently when I made her Spicy Pinto Bean and Tuna Salad. Both have been definite keepers!

Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

2010-06-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

The recipe for this dish came from Elise's site, SimplyRecipes.com. It's called Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce.

As soon as I read the list of spices called for, I was hooked. For a few months now, the smell of freshly ground coriander is my spice of choice. For a minute, I forget everything around me and just inhale, slowly, breathing in its fragrance.

Here are the photos I took. Perhaps they will tempt you into going to Elise's site to try to make this dish yourself. All three of us here enjoyed it, and I think many others will enjoy it as well.

The spices.

The chicken resting in the spices. Plotting and waiting to blow my mind :)

The other preparations/set up.

And everything all put together, and plated, ready to eat.

I think this is the second dish I've made now from Elise's site.

The other being Focaccia Bread with Rosemary, which was very good and versatile.

My grandmother said it made really good toast, and the three of us here enjoyed it with everything we paired it with that week.

Mince and Onion Pie

2010-06-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

Mince and Onion Pie

What?!

A pie that isn't sweet?

Unheard of, or so I thought, at first. I forgot about such things as Chicken Pot Pies, etc. Which I love.

I'm not sure Mince Pies are one of the things my husband misses most, but I do know his first stop when he goes home, to New Zealand, is to get a pie. Even if it is 5 a.m. local time.

And, although I had made various versions of this pie before I went there myself, I knew it would be one of the first things I wanted to experience first hand. So many things now remind me of New Zealand, food-wise and otherwise. This pie reminds me of all those things.

This recipe is adapted from Edmonds Cookery Book (New Zealand's No. 1 Cookbook, Sure to Rise). From what I gather, this is the go-to cookbook, at least for my husband when he wants to make something from home.

I make a much thicker pie, so my ingredients are normally double what Edmonds' calls for, or so.

My version from tonight:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cooked in a large saute pan:
1 tablespoon olive oil
Two onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped garlic
1 1/2 lbs. minced meat (ground beef)
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup beef stock
2 tablespoons ketchup
Several healthy turns of fresh ground pepper

I follow their shortcrust pastry exactly as directed. I'm sure you can find a good recipe for shortcrust pastry online. If not, let me know in the comments and I'll give you more info.

Directions:

Heat oil and fry onion and garlic until browned.

Add mince and cook until browned.

Add flour.

Stir and cook for 30 seconds.
Slowly add stock.
Bring everything to a boil, stirring constantly.

Add ketchup and pepper to taste.

Simmer gently for 10 minutes.

[prepare pastry while mince simmers]

Set aside mince mixture to cool.

Put half of pastry mixture inside pie plate. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect. It will taste great in the end.

Fill the pastry with the mince mixture.

Roll out other half of dough and place on top.

Then poke a couple of holes in the top crust to vent.

Or, do like I do, and carve something random into the crust. Tonight I opted for the Southern Cross, the constellation, which I saw in New Plymouth, New Zealand. My points are a bit off and lopsided, but hopefully I will be forgiven for that :)

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Here's the pie, after baking:

Slice like you would a pie.

We normally eat ours with tomato sauce (ketchup) on top.