My Brisket Recipe

When picking up my happy cow in January, I chatted with Joe Morris for a while about all the great food I'd made with it, and how it challenged me to try new meat cuts I'd never try otherwise. I had just made a brisket. No, not "a" brisket, but the first brisket of my life. I had a few friends over for dinner, and the meat pretty much evaporated off the plate - despite my hopes that there would be leftovers for hash the next day. So Joe asked me for the recipe, and I tried it again to be sure. And now it's in their newsletter! Here you go:

http://www.morrisgrassfed.com/newsletter/Morris%20Grassfed%20Beef%203.2010.pdf

Sadly I didn't take pictures.... Sorry, will do the next time.

Regarding pictures, I attained sudden fame! Ok, not quite. The NYT had an article about people that photograph all their meals (I'm not that obsessed, I only take photos of pretty food I made...). And they asked people to submit their pictures. So I'm happy to report that the picture of my watermelon radish and the cucumber salad actually made it on their website:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/06/dining/eating-now.html?ref=dining#/40846/
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/06/dining/eating-now.html?ref=dining#/40844/

And since I think a blog entry without a photo is a boring blog entry: Here is my kitchen as of last week- utter chaos!

Since then we've had the plumber and the electrician in, and now the drywaller is working his magic... One more week till the furniture is coming. Yeah!

And while not related to food, I thought I'd share this picture of my cat - excellent taste in beer I must say!

The beans are soaking, so stay tuned for Tahini Soup!

Lentils for One

So here I am, all alone, nobody but myself to cook for. Unless I'll make something real to eat I'll be snacking all day, so I think a nice little lentil stew is on order. And since I still have a few of Karin's beautiful eggs it'll get topped by a nice fried egg. Disclaimer - I got the initial inspiration from Food & Wine, but as always I used it as an inspiration, not a hard and fast recipe.

The lentils I have on hand are French lentils, which are great because they hold their shape, and I prefer their flavor over the garden variety brown lentils.

I start by finely chopping a small yellow onion. I love the Trader Joe's onions, in my opinion they have much more taste than their regular grocery store cousins that weight a pound each. Rummaging through the fridge I also find a carrot and the very last inner bits of a celery stalk. Chopped up it gets, along with two good size garlic cloves. It all gets sauteed in some olive oil.... Already smells good!

After a few minutes I add a 1/2 cup of lentils, and two cups of a tomato-y broth I have in the freezer. You can also use broth and tomato paste, or a cut up tomato. Bring everything to a boil, then simmer it on low for 1 hour or so. Once it all comes together I'll fry an egg in a good amount of olive oil, put the stew in a soup dish, top it with the egg including the oil, grate some nice salty cheese (in my case a goat Gouda that's too crumbly to slice) over it, and drizzle a bit of balsamic glaze on it. Oh, the yummy goodness you get when the egg yolk mixes with the stew and the cheese slowly melts in it!

Ok, I have to admit that it came out as sufficient for two, but I'll just BBQ some cube steak I have marinating for dinner today and have the second portion then!

Recipe:
Lentils for one (and a half)
1 small strong onion
2 cloves garlic
1 small carrot
1/2 rib of celery, or even better a bit of celery root
1/2 cup French lentils
2 cups broth
1 tomato
1 egg
sharp cheese for grating, balsamic glaze to top

Finely chop the first four ingredients, sweat in a bit of olive oil. Add lentils and broth as well as the tomato. Let simmer for 1 hour. Fry the egg in olive oil, fill lentils in a soup plate, top with egg and olive oil, grated cheese, and balsamic glaze.

Note 1: I usually keep some veggie or meat stock in the freezer - when I have leftover veggies or scraps of meat I'll turn it into a broth by first browning it in a bit of oil, and then adding water and let it simmer for an hour or two. It's better than tossing the veggies, and gives you a nice stock for dishes like these.

Note 2: Balsamic glaze is really just a fancy name for reduced balsamic vinegar. Set a small pot of balsamic vinegar on the stove, and let it reduce until it's thickened and lost it's sharp vinegary taste.

(Almost) Vegetarian Day - Quinotto, Omelettes, and Pickeled Veggie Salad

Got the double challenge today. Hubby is on low carb to lower his blood sugar, and we have a vegetarian coming for dinner. What to make? I have a lot of happy eggs in the fridge, and we'll be gone for 2 weeks. And I just got Julia Child's "Mastering The Art of French Cooking", so what better to do than work on my omelette making skills. And I can slip in some of the slab bacon that I have in the fridge in the form of lardons in the eggs for the carnivores around the table. The vegetarian will get an Omlette au Fromage with loads of Parmesan.

And what else? Barbara Lynch has a great salad recipe in her book "stir", and Food & Wine now has it on their website: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pickled-vegetable-salad-with-soft-boiled-eggs
I'll forgo the soft boiled eggs in lieu of the omelettes, and use the veggies I have on hand: beets, celery, parsnip, carrots, and red cabbage. I'm sure she'll approve. It's a really pretty salad, but it also tastes heavenly, and it's easy to make. And you can mix up the ingredients for different tastes, and different seasons.

Finally, to ensure that we have some healthy carbs after all I'll make my creation of quinoa risotto. Or should it be "quinotto"? What is quinoa? It's like a grain, though it's a relative of leafy greens like Swiss chard or spinach. Aside from being super healthy, high in protein and fiber, I prefer its texture and taste to rice.

For that I'll saute some green, young garlic, a shallot, and some mushroom, and then cook the quinoa together with the veggies with sherry and broth. A peek in the pot while I'm cooking and stirring:

When the quinoa is done (about 1/2 hour) I add the Parmesan. The photo shows the quinoa pretty done, you can see that the little quinoa grains are fully translucent, and don't have a white center anymore

So, how does it all look put together? You'll have to try for yourself. It was delicious, but the omelette making for 4 people got quite hectic and I didn't take a picture of the completed meal. Note to self: Only make 2 egg omelettes the next time, 3 eggs are pretty hard to handle in the pan.


Recipe:
Quinoa with Mushrooms
1 shallot
1 green garlic (similar to a scallion, just in garlic) Replace with garlic if not in season
1/2 tablespoon butter and olive oil each
1/2 lb mushrooms, the more adventurous the better the outcome
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup sherry
1 - 1 1/2 cups broth, preferably mushroom or veggie
Parmesan
Cream - if desired
Scallions
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute the minced shallot and garlic in the butter / olive mixture for a few minutes, add mushrooms and sautee a little longer, then add quinoa. Add sherry and about 1 cup of the water or broth, simmer on low, stir every once in a while and check liquid levels. Add more liquid as needed (when using water add a bit of salt). When the quinoa is done, it'll be translucent and fluffy. Add Parmesan, cream, salt and pepper to taste. Add minced scallions just before serving to give it a fresh taste.

Not Your Mother's Meatballs

There is a lot of very edible meat on every cow that isn't a steak or a roast. Morris's website says a typical split half consists of 15 lbs pounds steaks, 17 lbs roasts, 7 lbs stew meat, 11 lbs chuck and round steaks and 35 lbs pounds ground beef. That's a lot of ground beef. Being 2/3rds through my first quarter cow I've gotten pretty inventive. 


Today it's barbecued Asian meatballs. Or sliders in Romaine leaves. Call them what you want. Just look at them - pretty little jewels, and so yummy!

I start off with mixing the meat with onions, ginger, chile, garlic, some chopped peanuts, a few drops of fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce, an egg and some rolled oats. Mix it all together, carefully, not too much or they become tough.

    

While the meatballs go on the BBQ I mix up a little dipping sauce with more ginger, chile, a scallion and soy sauce. Serving is easy: Make little salad cups our of romaine or - preferably - buttercup lettuce leaves, or any other salad leaves, place the meatballs in the cups, drizzle a little of the dressing on it, and dig in. Makes a great appetizer, or as in my case today, a great lunch after having packed up the kitchen to get ready for the remodel. 

  

Recipe:
Chile Ginger Meatballs
1 lb ground beef
1/4 finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
some chopped chile - how much depends on the chile, and how spicy you like it
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 handful of peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons of rolled oats
1 egg
a few drops of Asian fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce
Mix carefully, form 1" diameter meatballs, barbecue or pan fry. 


Gingered Dipping Sauce
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 scallion, chopped
some chopped chile
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
Mix together. 


Serve meatballs in lettuce cups, with some dipping sauce drizzled over. Hoisin Sauce also works well. 

Lamb Shoulder Steak with Farmers Market Loot

Ok, no beef tonight after all, I had some lamb shoulder steaks that were waiting to be eaten. And I had been at the Farmers Market in Santa Cruz and came home with some beautiful loot that want to be eaten!

Let's start with what I brought home - watermelon radish. It's exactly what I love about Farmers Markets, you get things you've never seen before, challenging your senses, your cooking, and tasting very good. So what is watermelon radish? They are a relatively unknown radish, about double the size of your standard grocery store radish, and surprisingly sweet and tender. And they look spectacular!

Beautiful, huh? And now you understand why they're called watermelon radish? Ok, they'll be part of the salad, perhaps sliced on top? Oh dang, my mandoline is already packed up for the kitchen remodel. Hm. Braised radish? We'll see!

Next comes the lamb: Karin Sinclair's lamb is superb, very tender, and not muttony at all, to a point where I almost could use a bit of mutton! It gets marinated, with market fresh sage, pepper, salt, and good German mustard. This is how it looks like before the mustard gets smeared all over:

Ok, braised radishes it is. Delicious as it cuts some of the sharpness. Together with the BBQed mustard marinated lamb steak - delicious!

Recipes (exceedingly easy):

Lamb steaks with Mustard Sage Marinade

2 lamb shoulder steaks

1 tablespoon minced sage

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard or similar

salt, pepper

Add sage, mustard, salt pepper to steaks, spread over steaks, let marinate for a few hours, then barbeque till desired doneness.

Sage Braised Radishes

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sage - or more if you feel like it!

1 lb radish - watermelon, daikon, summer radish

salt, pepper

Melt butter in a wide pan, add sage until a little crisp, add radish, mix, cover for a few minutes on medium heat, salt, pepper to taste.

Enjoy!