Well, today is my pre-Valentine celebration...I wanted something a little bit elaborate, but not overwhelming in either time or impact...if it's a romantic celebration, you don't want to be sitting around on the couch rubbing your tummies after the festive meal! Knowing that I had the Saturday free, but wouldn't have time to market, I took half an hour on Friday afternoon to make a little menu and order up some FreshDirect to arrive Saturday (today) morning. I love New York City! Not my usual M.O., but after heavy snow and 13-15 hour days this week, I'll take a little help, even if I paid a $20 premium (the higher prices and delivery fees).
I want to note that to me, cooking and fussing in the kitchen IS relaxing. If it's not, please don't force yourself!
So, I decided to make something special, something you don't whip up on weeknight. Something that might be a special treat...and remembered Eric requesting Ossobuco! I looked at a few different recipes, found a few cool ideas, and had it in the oven at noon today.
OSSOBUCO - Serves 4 people. (Or however many shanks you get)
4 Veal Shanks - this is a cut that goes through the bone. As a bonus, the bone is full of marrow, a frightening but intriguing substance! The easy first reaction is YEEEEATCH! but many people love it - it is rich, complex, and definitely something special! Now about buying your shanks...ideally you'd go to a butcher, and get 4 that are the same size, because it looks better asthetically and people don't fight over how gets the bigger piece. However, I received two large and two small ones, and it made no difference whatsoever. The cooking time doesn't really matter, because they are braised until they are practically falling apart!
Anyway, these shanks - try to bring them to room temperature before you cook them. Wash them up, dry them off, and salt and pepper both sides generously. You can tie them around with kitchen twine if you have it handy, but it's find without. Tying them adds a bit to the presentation cause the round shape is preserved better during cooking. I did not. Heat your oven to 300 degrees F. Many people lightly flour the shanks, which isn't a bad idea, but the flour sometimes burns a bit, so I opted not to.
optional but oh so nice - duck bacon, chopped. I used three slices. Or some porky product, but I don't want to know about it. Duck bacon is becoming more easily available. If you don't have a store near you, you can get it through the mail here. So, for duck bacon, chop it up, and cook it in a dutch oven or a heavy oven-safe pot over medium heat until all the fat melts and you have little nuggets of deliciousness. Pull out the nuggets and refrain from eating them. Leave the fat in the bottom of the dutch oven with enough olive oil to coat the bottom (about 2 Table) or use 2 T of olive oil, heated until smoking and ...
Brown your shanks. if they don't all fit at once, do them in shifts. You are not cooking the meat, you are browng it. Remove then from the pan and reserve. Turn your heat down to medium low and add the onion, with a large pinch of salt. Stir it around, and let it cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. The onions will get lightly browned, sweet, and soft.
Add:
One large onion, diced small
One carrot, diced small
One rib celery, diced small
Two large cloves garlic, chopped - use fresh, please!
1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 2 teaspoons fresh
ditto thyme
2 bay leaves
and cook another 5-10 minutes, then add the following and bring to a slow boil over medium high heat:
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper - kosher and fresh ground is preferable
half a large can San Marzano tomatoes with juice - I find the San Marzano labeled tomatoes to be delicious, but you may like others. Just use a good quality tomato, without any added herbs or spices.
1 cup dry white wine - I used a Portuguese vino verde
2 cups good chicken stock
Simmer about ten minutes, then add in the cooked bits of (duck) bacon, the shanks, make sure they are mostly covered by liquid, then cover and cook in a 300 degree oven for 3 hours. Check and make sure the meat is super tender, if not, it is no problem to cook for a lot longer. Put it in for another hour. If you want, you can put it at a lower temperature and cook even longer for even more tender meat. When it is done, remove the shanks, and bring the remaining contents of the pot to a boil. Simmer to reduce, remove bay leaves, any large springs of thyme or rosemary, and cook until it is slightly thickened.
Traditional topping is a gremolata, which is lemon zest, garlic, and parsley. one lemon, zested, a bit of orange zest, 1 small clove of garlic, crushed with a press or with a side of a knife and then chopped (fresh), 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley, splash olive oil, pinch salt, few grinds of black pepper. I used blood orange rind, which has a tiny bit of bitter flavor. I don't usually like bitter flavors, but they balance other flavors really well in small amounts.
I am serving this over a simple polenta.
1 cup polenta or corn meal
2 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
1 T chopped chives
Mix corn meal and one cup of water in a bowl to create a slurry. Bring the rest of the ingredients to a boil and then stir in the corn slurry. Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon every then minutes. Stir in chopped chives. I find that this reheats really well in the microwave. Comes out super creamy and delicious, a little plain on it's own, but delicious as a foil to flavorful sauces. You can also add a bit of grated Parmesan cheese or alternatively, leave out the chives and top with something sweet (I like agave nectar or maple syrup plus ripe banana!).
Serve Ossobuco over polenta, topped with gremolata.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Lower-Fat BBQ Shrimp
Now, I am mostly not a fan of low-fat this and low-fat that, and while in general I fight the good fight to lower my cholesterol and weight on a daily basis, I definitely enjoy full fat versions of things that should be so. BUT, I am perpetually in search of variations on a theme, the theme being delicious food that is lower in fat than an original version. The following was my mission today:
BBQ Shrimp
Most recipes, including the famous one from Pascal Manale's in New Orleans, include an obscene amount of butter/margarine/olive oil.
I was not up for this! But I was craving something yummy, I had some shrimp, and I was hungry...so here is what I came up with:
Lower-Fat BBQ Shrimp:
1 lb of shrimp, shells on, heads on is a plus. I much prefer wild shrimp, and find they aren't that much more expensive, especially if you do what I do, and buy them in multiple one lb packages and freeze them.
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce (I like Crystal brand)
1 tablespoon BBQ shrimp seasoning (I like French Market brand) or Cajun spice mix (I like Tony Chachere's)
bunch of fresh ground black pepper, say about 1/2 teaspoon if it was packed into a measuring spoon
juice of one lemon
What I would have added, if I had it in the house:
dash white wine, sprinkle of parsley at the end
Melt the butter and add the olive oil to a pan on medium high heat. Add the garlic and cook briefly, then add the Worceshester sauce and seasoning, and mix. Cook for about 30 minutes, then add the shrimp, in the shells. Mix and cook over medium high heat for a minute, then add the lemon juice and the wine. Turn heat to high, keep mixing and cooking until all shrimp are pink. Do NOT overcook. You can serve with crusty French bread or over rice. Top with chopped parsley, if you have it.
BBQ Shrimp
Most recipes, including the famous one from Pascal Manale's in New Orleans, include an obscene amount of butter/margarine/olive oil.
(For your reference, one version of the Pascal Manale's recipe, there are many floating around on the internets:
5 lbs of jumbo head-on shrimp (don't bother to make it if you don't leave the heads on)
4 sticks of butter
4 sticks of margarine
1 bottle of Worcestershire sauce
5 lemons, squeezed
1 bottle of cracked black pepper (yes, the entire bottle)
Combine the above (with the lemon peels) and bake at 350 for approx 30 min.)
I was not up for this! But I was craving something yummy, I had some shrimp, and I was hungry...so here is what I came up with:
Lower-Fat BBQ Shrimp:
1 lb of shrimp, shells on, heads on is a plus. I much prefer wild shrimp, and find they aren't that much more expensive, especially if you do what I do, and buy them in multiple one lb packages and freeze them.
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce (I like Crystal brand)
1 tablespoon BBQ shrimp seasoning (I like French Market brand) or Cajun spice mix (I like Tony Chachere's)
bunch of fresh ground black pepper, say about 1/2 teaspoon if it was packed into a measuring spoon
juice of one lemon
What I would have added, if I had it in the house:
dash white wine, sprinkle of parsley at the end
Melt the butter and add the olive oil to a pan on medium high heat. Add the garlic and cook briefly, then add the Worceshester sauce and seasoning, and mix. Cook for about 30 minutes, then add the shrimp, in the shells. Mix and cook over medium high heat for a minute, then add the lemon juice and the wine. Turn heat to high, keep mixing and cooking until all shrimp are pink. Do NOT overcook. You can serve with crusty French bread or over rice. Top with chopped parsley, if you have it.
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Vinegar Hill House
It's located in Vinegar Hill, a micro-neighborhood nestled between DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. A wander through the few tiny cobblestoned streets brings you to one of my favorite sites in NYC, the Commandant's House. Especially on a cold day, the steamy windows of Vinegar Hill House are a cozy refuge in the winter chill.
It's always full with a short wait, but it goes quickly. The staff is pleasant as they weave in and out of the little tables. There's a nice bar with a lovely bartender who is attentive and crafts some specialty concktails - Eric's Prescription was apparently just what the Dr. ordered, but the gin and bitters weren't my thing so I gave it a miss and had a fruity but not at all sweet red wine that they were pouring to replace one of the two reds by the glass on the menu. Made our 20 minutes wait for a table go much faster. It's definitely a little cramped, but you don't really mind. Somehow the noise is not at all overwhelming and the place manages to still be quite intimate, even though you can practically be sitting in your neighbor's lap.
The hostess (manager? owner? Didn't ask!) stopped by toward the end of the meal and asked if we had been in before. Then she asked us if we were from Brooklyn - what gave it away? Eric's beard? I dunno! Told us she loved locals and was just generally very gracious.
Our "tasting menu" - cause we tasted all of these!
Chicken Liver Mousse - this is the third time I've had this, and I dream about it - comes with thick and toasty slices of country bread, vinegar marinated red onions, topped with pistachios and served with a salad of frisee dressed with horseradish. I hate bitter flavors, and usually pick frisee out of a salad mix, but the horseradish dressing made it amazing and I ate every bit of green!
Oven Roasted Octopus with slivers of parsnips, baked of fried slices of olives, charred lemon and some greens - again, a second try - a lot of the dishes at Vinegar Hill House are reworked, depending on what's good - last time I har this, there were cranberry beans involved instead of parsnips. Delicious both times, and the octopus wasn't at all chewy.
Pumpkin Ravioli - the most delicate pasta I've ever had, with a delicious puree of pumpin inside, topped with some melted butter, crumbed amaretti cookies and sage
A crispy skinned artic char with marinated & roasted beets in a horseradish cream - I found the fish to be a bit fishy for me, but Eric loved it. The beets were amazing, and I'll be working up a recipe this week with some I have in the fridge.
Short story? Amazing. A place to return to. Romantic or friendly. On my top five list of fabulous places.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Meat and Potatoes
Well, fans, I've been putting off posting because that wench who runs my IT department hasn't managed to make the camera work...but I shall put it off no longer!
Let's talk about last night's dinner. It was easy, taking less than 10 minutes of prep work. It was also super delicious.
Lamb chops, roasted broccoli, and hash browns.
Lamb chops:
3 loin chops (cause that's usually how they sell them at the market, and it's enough for two servings and two second helping. You will have to resolve who gets the bone.)
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon of oil, olive or vegetable
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced but not crushed
1 teaspoon of rosemary leaves, chopped - can be fresh or dried, but if dried make sure they aren't 30 years old and still have some flavor!
1/4 cup of port, red wine, or pomegranate juice, or some combination of these
pinch cayenne pepper
I bought loin chops, are basically little lamby T-bones. These are a lot less expensive than the traditional rib chops - those are the ones that you normally think of when you think lamb chops. But loin chops
are pretty tasty, despite their greatest failing, which is not having a "handle".
Anyway, I've developed a pretty good technique for cooking them. It's simple and involves a metal saute pan that is oven safe and the broiler.
You can also crust them with rosemary before cooking, but I find that can char and not impart enough flavor.
You can also use this technique for a lamb rib roast - use a dutch oven to sear the outside, especially the fatty sides, then close the lid and cook it in the oven at 400 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Use more liquid and allow it to reduce to create a delicious sauce.
If you have a meat thermometer, use it to take the meat to 135 degrees for medium rare, 125 for rare, and 145 for medium. I will not discuss cooking it beyond that.
I personally don't do this, because I am veguely kosheresque, but if you want decadence, add a little dab of butter (1 teaspoon for the chops, 1-2 tablespoons for the rack) to the pan juices right before you are done, and swirl it in. This is called to "monter au beurre", and gives a delicious and creamy finish to a sauce.
Amazing Broccoli:
2-3 heads of broccoli - this is usually one bunch held together by a rubber band
4 cloves garlic, sliced
4 teaspoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 lemon
optional: 1/4 cup of fresh parmesean or romano cheese
optional: 1/4 cup of pinenuts, toasted
Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Trim the broccoli into largish florets. Make sure it is very very dry! This is key.
Toss the brocolli with t teaspoons olive oil, salt, pepper, and sliced garlic. Spread on a baking dish or cookie sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes. It should get a tiny bit charred and the stems should be soft. You can stir halfway through, but it's not necessary.
Meanwhile, zest the lemon. When you remove the broccoli from the oven, pour over the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil, the lemon zest, and the juice of half a lemon.
You can add cheese or pinenutes, or both, to really guild the lily. It is amazing. I could eat the whole thing!
Hash Browns:
2 medium sized potatoes
2 cloves of garlic, minced (yes, there is garlic in every component of
this dinner)
kosher salt/fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley or dill
Wash and dice the potatoes. You can peel them if you think that's necessary, mine were thin skinned so I just scrubbed a bit. Boil them in a little salted water until fork tender.
In a non-stick pan, hea the oil over medium high heat and get a little color on the potatoes. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper. Keep browning until the garlic is cooked, and serve sprinkled with fresh herbs.
Let's talk about last night's dinner. It was easy, taking less than 10 minutes of prep work. It was also super delicious.
Lamb chops, roasted broccoli, and hash browns.
Lamb chops:
3 loin chops (cause that's usually how they sell them at the market, and it's enough for two servings and two second helping. You will have to resolve who gets the bone.)
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon of oil, olive or vegetable
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced but not crushed
1 teaspoon of rosemary leaves, chopped - can be fresh or dried, but if dried make sure they aren't 30 years old and still have some flavor!
1/4 cup of port, red wine, or pomegranate juice, or some combination of these
pinch cayenne pepper
I bought loin chops, are basically little lamby T-bones. These are a lot less expensive than the traditional rib chops - those are the ones that you normally think of when you think lamb chops. But loin chops
are pretty tasty, despite their greatest failing, which is not having a "handle".
Anyway, I've developed a pretty good technique for cooking them. It's simple and involves a metal saute pan that is oven safe and the broiler.
1. Take your lamb out about 30 minutes before you plan to cook it. Bringing it to room temperature results in good cooking. I'll explain why another time.Notes: You can use rib chops as well. I would recomend 2 minutes per side, as they tend to be smaller than loin chops, unless they are double wide.
2. Preheat your broiler. Make sure that sucker is hot. If it is in the oven, make sure you place a rack up close. There is no point in using the broiler when the food to be broiled is far away. I mention this because I discovered my darling mother will use the broiler with the food 2/3 or the way down in the oven and is confused when the recipe doesn't work.
3. Prep your chops - if you wash them, make sure they are dry. Use liberal amounts of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides.
4. Heat up your pan on the stove top with a bit of oil in it. I used olive, cause that's what I had. You can, and probably should, use vegetable oil as it has a higher smoking point. Heat it up until it is smoking.
5. Stick the chops in the smoking hot pan, then stick 'em under the broiler. Three minutes. Flip and give them another three minutes. This gave me a nice medium rare chop. If you want rare, do two and two.
6. Remove the chops to a plate, and pour off some of the fat that has collected in your pan. Put it back on the stove top and add 2 cloves of finely diced garlic and 1 teaspoon of rosemary leaves, chopped.
Stir for a moment until the garlic is slightly browned, then add 1/4 cup of liquid. I recomend port or red wine or pomegrantate juice, or some combination thereof. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper, let it reduce slightly, and serve over the chops.
You can also crust them with rosemary before cooking, but I find that can char and not impart enough flavor.
You can also use this technique for a lamb rib roast - use a dutch oven to sear the outside, especially the fatty sides, then close the lid and cook it in the oven at 400 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Use more liquid and allow it to reduce to create a delicious sauce.
If you have a meat thermometer, use it to take the meat to 135 degrees for medium rare, 125 for rare, and 145 for medium. I will not discuss cooking it beyond that.
I personally don't do this, because I am veguely kosheresque, but if you want decadence, add a little dab of butter (1 teaspoon for the chops, 1-2 tablespoons for the rack) to the pan juices right before you are done, and swirl it in. This is called to "monter au beurre", and gives a delicious and creamy finish to a sauce.
Amazing Broccoli:
2-3 heads of broccoli - this is usually one bunch held together by a rubber band
4 cloves garlic, sliced
4 teaspoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 lemon
optional: 1/4 cup of fresh parmesean or romano cheese
optional: 1/4 cup of pinenuts, toasted
Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Trim the broccoli into largish florets. Make sure it is very very dry! This is key.
Toss the brocolli with t teaspoons olive oil, salt, pepper, and sliced garlic. Spread on a baking dish or cookie sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes. It should get a tiny bit charred and the stems should be soft. You can stir halfway through, but it's not necessary.
Meanwhile, zest the lemon. When you remove the broccoli from the oven, pour over the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil, the lemon zest, and the juice of half a lemon.
You can add cheese or pinenutes, or both, to really guild the lily. It is amazing. I could eat the whole thing!
Hash Browns:
2 medium sized potatoes
2 cloves of garlic, minced (yes, there is garlic in every component of
this dinner)
kosher salt/fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley or dill
Wash and dice the potatoes. You can peel them if you think that's necessary, mine were thin skinned so I just scrubbed a bit. Boil them in a little salted water until fork tender.
In a non-stick pan, hea the oil over medium high heat and get a little color on the potatoes. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper. Keep browning until the garlic is cooked, and serve sprinkled with fresh herbs.
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