The Chicken in my Pot

 

I know, I know...where the hell have I been the last month and a half??  It'd be a lie to say I was out being Superwoman or even so swamped with every day life that I didn't have a chance to post.  What really caused my absence was my inability to take photographs either a) because I was cooking dinner at midnight, or b) because I have some seriously bad juju when it comes to actually photographing my foodstuffs during daylight hours.  I know I've lamented this last point more times than I can count, but dammit man, I could have robotic arms perched on a stable surface and STILL manage to have all the pictures turn out blurry.  It's like I have Parkinson's, but only in my arms.  I swear, I'm buying a tripod as soon as I have an extra $20 burning a hole in my pocket.

About the dinner at midnight thing, my sleep cycle is soooo distorted at the moment that I truly am sleeping during the daytime like I worked 3rd shift somewhere.  And while I have had one or two night time pictures turn out acceptable, 99% don't.  Coupled with the shaking-like-a-leaf-in-a-hurricane arms I have, none of the pictures that I did attempt turned out.  I can't even imagine if I were doing this before the digital camera age.

So.Much.Wasted.Film.  

Needless to say, I have been cooking, and I have been cooking well.  From the best ribs I've ever made to bundt cakes that melt in your mouth, it has been gastronomic bliss.  There were a couple of missteps (like the Millionaire's Shortbread that would have been divine had I followed my instincts and not baked the shortbread for as long a time as the recipe called for) and fumbles, but overall, good times with food here.

One of the things in the "absolutely completely shot it out of the park" category was the humble chicken soup you see pictured above.  I think the kids said "omg mom, this the best chicken soup ever" every time they took a bite.  It was inspired by a recipe Karina and I found at Beyond Kimchee.  It looked so good and sounded even better that we adapted it for what we had on hand.  Thankfully I wrote down what I did so that I'll be able to make it again.

Best Chicken Soup

12-16 cups stock

1 whole 3 1/2 pound chicken

1 cup thinly sliced carrots (about two medium)

2 cups shredded cabbage

3-4 cups frozen corn 

1 16 ounce package frozen chopped collard greens

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt, to taste

Place chicken in an 8 quart stock pot and cover with stock until just submerged.  Cover loosely with a lid and simmer chicken over medium heat for approximately 1 hour.  You want your bird tender, but not disintegrated.  Remove whole, cooked chicken to a bowl and place in the refrigerator until cool enough to handle.  Strain the stock into a clean pot and bring to a low boil.  Add in carrots, cabbage, corn and collard greens.  While vegetables are heating and getting al dente, heat the olive oil in a small sauce pan.  Saute the onion and garlic until translucent and softened.  Stir into the soup.  Remove the meat from the cooled chicken and shred with your fingers into bite sized pieces.  Add chicken to the soup and heat through.  Taste for seasoning and add if needed.  I was very fortunate and only needed 1 tablespoon of kosher salt for the entire pot.  I used homemade stock that had been lightly seasoned when it was made, so that may have made a difference, not to mention the fact that the chicken itself was cooked in the stock, adding even more flavor to an already flavorful base.

Serve with crusty bread while hot off the stove.

The Drunken (Pork) Master

Sometimes you see things and think to yourself "huh, I'd have changed x, y or z".  That's kind of what happened to bring about this really, really, tasty pork stew that Karina and I had last week.  I was listening to Food Network (which I freely admit is evil, but some days there just isn't anything good on the gazillion other channels and those are the days you need background noise, but not just background-background noise, you need something with a bit of substance, and you know you can't pop The Hunt for Red October or the Star Trek reboot movie in the DVD player again else your child will revolt and you'll wake up bald or covered in honey or some other heinous thing....but I digress) and Ina Garten was making Beef Burgandy, a dish I love long time (I shall post mine some time in the future).  As she went on about what to do I thought to myself "self, you don't have beef in the freezer, but you do have those tasty pork chops that you won't actually make as pork chops" because I wouldn't have, trust me.  Even though they came from Jaworski's and their meat is always amazing.  Just not a fan of pork chops in a pork chop preparation.  

Anyway, I thought of the pork chops and then I thought "I bet they'd taste good as a stew braised in white wine and tossed over hot buttered egg noodles".  And you know what, they tasted even better.

And please forgive the photography.  I like to use natural light for pictures, but for some reason have yet to find optimal placement of my freezer (which I use for placing things on) to capture the light.  In addition I really need to invest in a tripod.  Also, I should probably read more about how to take good photographs.  I took about 15 shots of the finished dish and this was the best of them.  I should have checked them out before saying it was done and digging in to the stew.  Live and learn.

Pork Stew
marinade:
1 1/2 cups white wine (whatever makes you happy)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and just smacked with the back of a knife
1 tablespoon grey sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 small bay leaves
2 pounds lean pork, cubed

prep:
1/2 pound button mushrooms, quartered
1 large onion, large dice
2 tablespoons bacon drippings (or oil)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups stock
1 cup white wine
grey sea salt to taste

binder:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 to 3 tablespoons flour

Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a gallon sized plastic bag, close it and then massage everything together.  Stick the bag in the fridge and let sit over night.

Next day take the pork out of the fridge and let it set at room temperature for about half an hour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a large pot over medium high heat and add the bacon drippings.  When the drippings are spitting hot, add in the pork cubes, roughly drained (grab them with tongs and shake them off), in small batches to sear.  Remove the seared meat to a large casserole dish and continue until all the meat is browned.  Add the olive oil to the pan, reduce the heat to medium and toss in the chopped onion.  Sprinkle with a little sea salt and saute until translucent.  Remove onion to the casserole and add the butter to the pot.  When melted and hot toss in the quartered mushrooms and saute until just barely browned.  Remove mushrooms to the casserole.  Pour wine into the pot to deglaze, then add stock and bring mixture to a boil.  Taste for salt and add if needed.  Combine the melted butter and flour to make a cold rue.  Add to the boiling mixture and allow to thicken.  Taste for seasoning again and adjust if needed.  Pour over meat and vegetables in casserole dish, stir to combine, cover with foil and pop it into the oven for about an hour to an hour and a half.  When finished, remove from oven and serve over egg noodles.

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato Four

For whatever reason Mother Nature has, the weather here in Northern Indiana has been weird, even for us.  Last week it was cold to the point where we had several frost warnings and I ended up having to turn on the heater so we didn't sit around with chattering teeth.  And I don't know why I thought of it outside of "it's really effin' cold", but I kept dreaming about baked potato soup.  I've never made it before and I'm here to tell you I still haven't made it.  What you see above is a cream of potato soup and oh my god, was it delicious.  

Not sure why I didn't end up with a baked potato soup, but that's ok.  I'll be keeping this recipe on hand for a very long time.


Cream of Potato Soup
1/2 pound bacon, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, coarsely minced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
3 1/2 cups stock (whatever you have on hand, I used homemade meat stock)
3 to 4 cups mashed cooked potatoes
1 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper

Brown the bacon in a large stock pot over medium heat.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Add the olive oil to the pot with the rendered bacon drippings and bring to heat.  Add in diced onions, minced garlic and diced potatoes.  Saute the vegetables for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are almost done.  Add in the stock and bay leaf.  When the soup has come to heat, check for salt and add in if needed, to taste.  Bring to a boil and add in the mashed cooked potatoes.  Bring back to a boil, taste for salt and add if needed.  Turn heat down to low, stir in heavy cream and then the shredded cheese.  When cheese has melted, taste for salt and add, if necessary, with cracked black pepper to taste.  Stir in reserved bacon pieces.  Serve with baked potato skins or sour cream or both or whatever your heart desires.

Because I had planned on making a baked potato soup, I baked 5 large potatoes and had scraped them out to make baked potato skins to go with the soup.  I used the scraped out insides to thicken my soup, but you can boil and mash up some potatoes to do this instead or even use leftover mashed potatoes.

chili, chilly, chilli, Chile

 

Many moons ago I had a cooking site on livejournal.  It was a good site and I enjoyed posting to it.  Over the years I lost touch with the people there and stopped posting, partly because I lost interest in social networking sites but mostly because my personal life became complicated as hell and I stopped doing a lot of things in general.

Since I'm going through a bit of a dry spell with my cooking at the moment I thought I'd go back to that site and re-post some of the recipes here.  The first one up is my Cincinnati Chili.  It's really easy to make and tastes like a dream.  

Cincinnati-ish Chili

4 cups water
3 - 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
1 - 14 1/2 ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 large onions, chopped
3 teaspoons garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
2 pounds beef, finely ground
salt

Stir all ingredients, except ground beef and salt, in a large pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Add ground beef and stir with a wooden spoon to break up.  Turn heat to medium-high and boil until ground beef is cooked thoroughly.  Lower heat to medium and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.  Add salt to taste.  Serve with the traditional accompaniments of spaghetti, kidney beans, onions and huge mounds shredded cheddar cheese.  Oyster crackers could be served on the side and if you're feeling really non-traditional you could dollop on some sour cream, because it's yummy....really, really, yummy. 

Make sure the ground beef is as finely ground as possible.  You can get it this way from a good butcher.  When you put it into the liquid mixture while it is raw and break it up with a spoon, it should almost homogenize.  I know, sounds weird, but it makes for a very smooth chili.  Also note that this chili is thin, not thick, like a marinara sauce.  If you can hold out I would suggest putting the whole pot into the refrigerator and eating it the next day.  As with most stews and soups, it truly is better after sitting for a good 24 hours. 

Serving suggestions:
2-Way:  chili served over spaghetti
3-Way:  chili served over spaghetti topped with copious amounts of shredded sharp cheddar
4-Way:  chili served over spaghetti topped with chopped onions and then copious amounts of sharp cheddar cheese
5-Way:  chili served over spaghetti topped with kidney beans, chopped onions and copious amounts of sharp cheddar cheese

The Odd Couple

 

For reasons that I just don't understand the weather has been more like October than March around here.  Which is to say that it's cold, rainy and dreary.  So I think I can be forgiven for making Guinness stew yesterday instead of something bright and spring-ish.  What I might possibly NOT be forgiven for is pairing it with potato salad.  Yes, you read that correctly, potato salad.  

I really can't tell you why I did it the first time as I rarely have exact reasons for strange pairings outside of "that might taste good".  However, I'm glad that I did.  It's an amazingly good combination, both of them strong and distinctive in taste, and very hearty.  Brendan doesn't eat it this way, but Karina and I do.  She was with me the day that I first put them together and surprised me by trying it (on any other day she really hates it when her foods touch).  The bowl you see above didn't last long after the photo was taken.  Karina carried it off like a prize kill and devoured it.  I should say that she did ask if I was done taking pictures first.

Guinness Stew

2 pounds beef, at room temperature and cubed

1 pound carrots, diced

2 medium onions, diced

1 14.5 ounce can stewed tomatoes, diced

1 12 ounce bottle Guinness Extra Stout

1 1/2 cups meat stock, homemade if possible

3 small bay leaves

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

4 tablespoons oil

salt

pepper

Salt and pepper the cubed beef to taste.  Heat a medium stock pot over medium-high heat and add the oil (I used a combination of canola and olive oils).  Brown the beef in small batches, removing them to a warm plate after each batch.  When all the beef has been browned and removed, add the diced carrots and onions to the pot and sweat them for about 5 minutes.  Add the beef back to the pot.  Stir in the Guinness, tomatoes (with the juices from the can), stock, bay leaves and thyme.  Bring the stew to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and allow it to simmer until the beef is tender, about 1 1/2 hours.  Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.  Serve with whatever strikes your fancy (boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, or even potato salad).

Potato Salad I (just for the record, I make four different potato salads)

10 pounds potatoes

6 hard-boiled eggs

4 dill pickles, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 1/2 to 2 cups mayonnaise

1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

4 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/4 to 1/2 cup half & half

salt, to taste

Scrub the potatoes and boil them in their jackets in a large stock pot until a fork inserted in them comes out easily.  The time will depend on the size of your potatoes.  In the meantime, in a large bowl break up the eggs into small pieces with a fork.  Add the other ingredients and stir everything together until well combined.  Make sure that the dressing is a bit saltier than you would usually make something as the potatoes have not been seasoned.  When the potatoes have finished cooking, drain them and let them cool until they can be handled (or even until they are room temperature, though they will be harder to peel).  Peel the potatoes with a knife as you would a peach that has been poached.  Slice the potatoes into the bowl with the dressing and fold them in carefully.  Let the salad sit for about 30 minutes and then taste for seasoning, add salt if necessary.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  It is best eaten at room temperature, whether by itself or as a base for the Guinness stew.

Two For The Price Of One

I have 15 year old son...who is 6'2" tall and weighs in at 212 pounds, none of which is fat.  As such, when I cook I make enough to feed a small army and its host nation.  I still rarely have leftovers for more than two days.

Bren is currently in a phase where he doesn't particularly appreciate the incredible edible egg.  However, when I bust out the Quiche Lorraine, he starts salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs the second I start putting ingredients on the counter.  He doesn't stop until he's eaten half of one dish and is lying on the couch in a savory egg custard coma.  I threw in the cakes because I was feeling like a bit of kaffeezeit.

Quiche Lorraine (adapted from The Best of Baking by Annette Wolter and Christian Teubner)

For the Pastry:

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

7 tbs butter, cold and cut into small cubes

3 to 5 tbs ice water

For the Filling:

1/2 - 1 lb of Black Forest ham, finely cubed
8 oz extra sharp Vermont white cheddar cheese, shredded or finely cubed
6 eggs
2 cups of heavy cream
salt
pepper
ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour and salt together in a medium bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers (I've never been able to get the two knives technique to work for me).  Mix in 3 tablespoons of ice water with a fork.  If dough does not start to pull together add another tablespoon of water.  Remove dough from bowl and knead as briefly as possible to bring dough together into a ball.  Pat into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator, dust a clean counter with flour and roll pastry to fit a 10-inch pie plate. Wrap dough around rolling pin and gently pat into pie plate.  Place pastry in freezer.

Break the eggs into a 4 cup measuring cup and beat with a fork until whites and yolks are mixed. Add heavy cream to eggs and mix together until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir to incorporate. Finely cube the ham and the cheese. Remove the pastry from the freezer and sprinkle the ham and cheese over it evenly. Pour the custard mixture over the ham and cheese. Sprinkle top lightly with nutmeg. Place in the middle of preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes or until center is barely set and top is browned. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.  The above recipe can be doubled (see picture).

Fruited Spice Cake (Recipe makes 2 cakes)

Dry Ingredients:

6 cups flour

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 cups applesauce

1 1/4 cups mashed banana

2 - 15 ounce cans pear halves, finely diced

1 cup canola oil

1/3 cup molasses

Glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tbs melted butter

3 tbs strong coffee, preferably espresso

1/2 tsp rum extract

Preheat oven to 340 degrees.  Grease and flour two 10-cup bundt pans.  Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl; set aside.  Mix wet ingredients thoroughly in a medium bowl.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir together until moistened through.  Evenly pour batter into bundt pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Sift powdered sugar into a medium bowl.  Stir in melted butter, coffee and extract until glaze is smooth.  It should fall in a thick ribbon, if it is too thin add a bit more powdered sugar.  If it is too thick add a bit more coffee.  Drizzle over cooled cakes and let the glaze set for about an hour before serving.

Study Break

When I'm bogged down with the books and I'm feeling kind of peckish, I like to grab something a little more substantial than a bag of Cheetohs.  Don't get me wrong, Cheetohs rock, it's just that if I have gotten to a stage of peckishness while doing homework or studying it usually means I've forgotten to eat dinner...and possibly lunch.  Most times this happens I go for a good hearty sandwich (turkey breast, havarti, giardiniera, and cream cheese on rye) with pickled beets and cucumbers on the side (my mother makes the best pickled beets ever *sniff* I could live on them I think).  Other times I get to have leftovers.  And sometimes those leftovers are better than they were the first night we had them for dinner.  

That was the case about a week and a half ago when I ate this delicious bowl of lentils and sausage.  They were divine.

Lentils and Sausage
To Start:
1 pound dry lentils (any color will do, mine were just ordinary greens)
2 smoked pork neck bones
2 bay leaves
2 tsp salt
water

To Add:
1 pound bacon
2 medium onions
2 tbs minced fresh garlic
1 1/2 cups chicken stock

To Embellish:
1/2 pound polish sausage
1/2 pound andouille

Rinse the lentils and put them in a 4 quart stock pot.  Add to the pot the neck bones, bay leaves and salt.  Pour water over the lentils to cover by about an inch.  Place stock pot over medium heat until boiling.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft, but firm to the bite.  Add more water if necessary to keep lentils covered.

Dice the bacon finely and saute in a 10 inch skillet until barely crispy and fat is rendered.  Remove bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Chop the onions into about 1/4 inch pieces; add to skillet and saute until tender and translucent.  Add minced garlic and sweat for about 2 minutes.  Pour onions and garlic from the pan into the cooked lentils.  Add bacon and stock to lentils.  Cook until heated through.  Taste for salt and add if needed.

Brown both sausages in skillet used for bacon and onions.  Either add to the lentils or serve on the side...in case you have someone in your family who has developed an aversion to sausage.  Which will make you question whether this person is actually related to you and may necessitate a DNA test.



**It's been a while since I sent in a post for a blogging event, but as I was perusing the cooking interwebs I  found The Well-Seasoned Cook....and she's hosting My Legume Love Affair 27 which ends day after tomorrow...and I had made these wonderful lentils.  So here I go again.  Nevermind the photography, I still seem to lack the edge I had at my other food blog.  I'm working on it.

You Don't Call, You Don't Write...

It's been a while, but sometimes life will intrude on the things you want to do in your spare time. Well, I'm back now and with a super delicious recipe to warm you up. Ok, that's probably not what you want at this time of year in the Northern hemisphere, but that's what you get...deal with it.

When we lived in Washington state just outside of Tacoma, my sister introduced me to this little bitty place called Bangkok Thai....and therein we did have some of the best Thai food we've ever had. It was so good, it became our guilty pleasure. And while they had quite an extensive menu of delectable treats, she always ordered the Pad Thai and I always ordered the Red Curry Chicken, which we would share because the portion sizes were family style. We'd also share an order of Thai Spring Rolls, but I can't talk about them now because this isn't that kind of blog.

I haven't had either dish at any other Thai place that I liked better. However, I have tried a few times to make Red Curry Chicken that tasted close to it....and last week I finally succeeded. There were shouts of joy and a few tears were shed. Just to note before you even get started on this one, you can adjust the amount of the red curry paste that you add. Adding the full amount I listed is akin to number 3 or 4 on a Thai restaurant's "How Badly Do You Want To Burn Your Mouth" o'meter.

Red Curry Chicken
3 chicken breast halves, very thinly sliced
1 medium bell pepper, julienned
2 carrots, very thinly sliced
1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed
1 - 8 ounce can bamboo shoots, drained
4 - 13.5 ounce cans coconut milk
1 - 4 0unce can red curry paste (I use Maesri brand)
2 tablespoons canola oil
chilli paste with sweet basil leaves (optional)

In a small stock pot heat the oil and fry the curry paste for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add the green beans and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add the bell pepper and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add the chicken breasts and bamboo shoots, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Stir in chilli paste to taste or, if you can find it, about 2 tablespoons of Thai basil. Serve over jasmine rice.

Pork Love

What you see above is the remains of the pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, and broccoli meal I made the other night. I *may* have forgotten about pictures until we were all sitting around being fat. It was so tasty, we really didn't think about anything else outside of "where's my fork?".

Now, pulled pork is probably a misnomer for what I made, but I've always called it that and I'm not going to stop now. It's kind of like my sister and I calling Nitzer Ebb Nitzer with a short i instead of a long i as we found out it was actually pronounced years later. It's still Nitzer with a short i to us...and what I make is still pulled pork to me no matter that it's technically slow cooked pork.

Pulled pork is extremely easy to make and can be taste customized to the extreme. All you need is a nice piece of pork shoulder, an assortment of herbs and spices, and an oven. For the pork I made I used a 10 pound bone-in pork shoulder, which is actually pretty large. You can certainly use a smaller one, but make sure that it is bone-in for the best flavour. Let your pork sit out until it's room temperature. Then pre-heat the oven to 275 degrees. Mix together the herbs and spices of your choice, along with salt, and rub and press this mixture all over the pork shoulder. Place the pork in a large baking dish, cover tightly with foil and place in the oven. Let the pork cook, depending on weight, anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. You will know it is done when it is so tender, it pulls apart easily with a fork. Allow pork to cool for a few hours, then pull apart with either forks or your hands. There will be a fair amount of juice in the bottom of the baking dish that can either be poured over the pulled pork or used as a base for homemade barbecue sauce. I poured it over the pork because not everyone likes barbecue sauce in my house. Use the pork for sandwiches or serve as is with the side dishes of your choice.

The mixture I used on my pork contained the following:
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
rubbed sage
sweet Hungarian paprika
garlic powder
ground coriander
ground ginger
crushed red pepper flakes
light brown sugar

The macaroni and cheese was homemade as well. It was amazing and quite simple.
1 pound uncooked elbow macaroni
3-4 cups bechamel sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 ounces extra sharp Vermont white cheddar, shredded
8 ounces Havarti, shredded

Heat bechamel sauce over medium heat until simmering. Stir in the garlic. Slowly whisk in the shredded cheeses by the handful until each is melted and blended in. Turn off heat half way through. Boil macaroni until al dente, drain and add back to the pot. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni and fold in. Serve immediately. My kids are spoiled for mac and cheese now.

Beef, It's What's For Dinner

Cooking steak intimidates me. It always has. I think it's because I can't grill or barbecue to save my life. I've tried pan frying and broiling before, always with lackluster results. But with the meat bundle I bought from Jaworski's I got some really, really nice Angus steaks like the ones you see above; sirloin tip. And I couldn't just let them sit around...I mean look at them! They're beautiful! And I couldn't get the image of Gibbs and Shepard eating steak au poivre out of my head (I really do watch too much NCIS). So I brought out one of my French cookbooks to see how this wonderful sounding meat was made.

To say that it was simple is an understatement and as long as you have a good piece of beef, your taste buds will sing "happy, happy, joy, joy".

Steak Au Poirve
4 - 1 1/2 inch thick steaks
4 tbs unsalted butter
2 tbs olive oil
1/4 medium onion, finely diced
1/4 cup semi-dry white wine
kosher salt
cracked black pepper

Make sure to let your steak sit out of the fridge for about an hour before doing anything with it. I set mine on paper towels to make sure that any excess moisture would be wicked away. Sprinkle kosher salt lightly on one side of the steak, then sprinkle that side generously with cracked black pepper and press it into the steak firmly with your hand. Repeat on reverse side. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy bottomed saute pan with the olive oil over medium-high heat. When oil and butter are shimmering add two of the steaks to the pan. Sear steaks without turning for 3 to 4 minutes (for medium rare). Turn and sear on opposite side for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to a heated plate and put in a warm oven while searing the remaining steaks. Lower heat to medium and add the finely diced onions to the pan. Saute until onions begin to turn translucent. add wine and deglaze pan. Taste for salt and add if needed. Turn off heat, add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and swirl to incorporate. Spoon sauce over steak and serve immediately.


I served my steak with sauteed asparagus and mashed potatoes. There was a general cry of joy as we all dug into our steaks and then we all sort of fell into a beef coma. That coupled with losing daylight made for a dark picture. Tomorrow I'll show you the asparagus. God, I love asparagus.

Odds and Ends

We all have times when our fridge looks like the plastic containers thought they were rabbits and multiplied accordingly. Most of the time that means it's time to throw out half the contents of your fridge. But on those rare occasions when it's all still good, you can build unique and tasty one-off meals. Or even more rare, build a meal you can reproduce with a little bit of work.

That's what happened a couple of months back when I was poking around, trying to find something to eat and not really wanting to work for it. Half a head of cabbage, some leftover chicken, a piece of cheese......mmmm....salad. It turned out to be so good that my youngest and I ate the whole thing and decided we would have to make it again.

House Chop Salad
1 head green cabbage
1 large onion
1/2 lb olives
1 lb extra sharp white cheddar
1/2 lb feta
2 cloves garlic
3/4 - 1 cup vinaigrette
1 - 2 lbs cooked chicken

Chop all ingredients, except vinaigrette and garlic, into pieces about an inch or so in size. Mix chopped ingredients together in a large bowl. Crush garlic and whisk into vinaigrette. Pour mixture over salad and toss to coat evenly.

Yeah, it's really that simple, but the taste will amaze you. And the type of onion, olives, vinaigrette and chicken you use is completely up to you. For this one I used a Spanish onion, green olives (the regular old ones you find in any grocery store), garlic-herb vinaigrette and citrus marinated chicken breasts that I made especially for the salad. The chicken I had used the first time I made this was of a similar ilk and I was looking for that flavour again. If you want to serve this as a side dish, cut the recipe in half and omit the chicken.


Citrus Chicken
2 - 3 lbs chicken breasts
1 grapefruit
1 orange
1 - 2 tbs kosher salt
3 tbs dried rosemary
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Cube the chicken breasts and put the pieces in a large zip-top bag. Wash the grapefruit and orange well. Cut each in half, squeeze the juice on top of the chicken, then cut the skins into large pieces and place in bag with chicken. Add salt (to taste), rosemary, olive oil and garlic to the bag and close while expelling most of the air inside. Squish the bag for a few minutes to mix all the ingredients together. Let the chicken marinate for at least one hour in the fridge, two or three is even better. Melt a few tablespoons of butter and a few tablespoons of olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add pieces of chicken breast to the pan in small batches and brown on both sides. Chicken is cooked when the juices run clear. Cool completely before adding to salad.