Red-braised beef

I actually made this a couple weeks ago, for New Year's Day, but I haven't had a chance to post about it till now.  Chinese "red-braised" beef is one of my ultimate comfort foods.  My grandmother use to make the best I have ever tasted, although my mom's is pretty darn good too.  I had my grandma teach me how to make this and a few other favorite dishes a number of years ago, following her to the grocery store and attempting to keep track of her measurements.

It's basically a large, tough cut of beef braised in a mixture of soy sauce and other liquids until tender.  The soy sauce is what gives it the "red" color (although some will argue it's really brown, but whatevs).

Even with a pressure cooker, this dish is pretty time-consuming, so it's best cooked at least a day ahead of time.

Ingredients

3-6 lbs beef boneless shank or chuck (or combination of the two), left in large pieces

1 lb beef tendon (optional)

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. dark mushroom soy sauce

1/4 c. Chinese rice wine (can also substitute mirin or even whisky in a pinch)

 3-4 cloves garlic

3 scallions, cut into 3-4 pieces

4-5 whole star anise pods

1/2 tsp whole Szechwan peppercorns

1/4 tsp black peppercorns

Up to 1/2 c. water, as needed

Directions

1. In a large pressure cooker, add all ingredients.  If you like, you can tie up the star anise and peppercorns into a small sachet of cheesecloth or put them in a tea ball to make it easier to fish them out later.  However, you'll be straining the liquid at the end, so it's not completely necessary.  The liquid in the pot should come about halfway up the level of meat.  Add water, as needed, but try not to add more than 1/2 cup.

2.  Close the lid and heat according to you pressure cooker directions.  Pressure-cook for 1-2 hours, until meat is very tender, almost (but not quite) falling apart.  If you're also using the tendon, that may take longer, so you may need to remove the meat and keep cooking the tendon separately.  Alternately, if you don't have a pressure cooker, you can do this in a large Dutch oven over low heat for 3-4 hours.

3. Once everything is cooked, separate the meat & tendon from the liquid, and then strain the liquid into a large measuring cup or bowl.  The amount of liquid you end up with vary, but I yielded roughly a quart of liquid from 6 lbs of meat.  You will likely have much less if you did not use a pressure cooker.

4. If you have the time, cool the liquid down in the refrigerator or freezer until the fat separates and solidifies.  Skim this fat off and discard.The meat and tendon is also much easier to handle if you allow it to cool for several hours, covered, in the refrigerator.  I usually wait until it is cooled, cut only what I'll need into 1/4-1/2 inch slices, then reheat.

Here's a pic of the meat and tendon, after it has been sliced.

 The meat and liquid also freeze well separately.  My mom used to freeze the liquid in plastic storage containers and then transfer the blocks to ziploc bags. Once defrosted, it makes for a quick easy dinner.

Once your meat is cooked, there are a number of different things you can do with it. The most common is to make beef noodle soup by take the cooking liquid and turn it into a broth, and then adding beef and noodles.  It's sort of like Vietnamese pho, but with different flavor profiles.

To make the broth, pour 2 cups braising liquid into a large stockpot.  Add 1 quart of low-sodium chicken stock (I use Pacific Natural Foods organic chicken broth).  Don't worry, the liquid has plenty of beef-y flavor and you'll never know the difference.  Add one can of diced tomatoes (liquid and all), and bring to a boil.  Add about 1/2 cup of chopped scallions just before turning off the heat.  You can also add napa cabbage or fresh spinach to the soup, if you want to get a little veg in there.

To serve, place your desired amount of freshly boiled Chinese noodles and sliced meat in a large bowl.  Ladle the hot soup over it and eat immediately.

You could also make green onion pancakes and serve the meat with that.  I've previously posted the recipe on my other blog.

Notes

I know that 3-6 lbs of meat sounds a bit broad, but it's the same amount of work to make 3 lbs as it is to make 6 lbs, so it doesn't hurt to make extra and freeze half. I usually cook somewhere around 3-4 lbs of meat.  I realize that still sounds like a lot, but it does cook down quite a bit and we don't mind leftovers around here. ;)  This was the first time I made 6 lbs because I was feeding six people instead of three, and we definitely had plenty to spare.

Also, I'm sure a lot of you read "tendon" in the ingredients list and made a face.  But honestly, that's probably my favorite part of this dish.  It's definitely not for everyone since the texture, once cooked, is fairly gelatinous, but if you can get past that, it's really fabulous. You'll more than likely have to go to an Asian grocery store to find it though.  In the past, I've gone to meat markets and asked about it only to have butchers look at me all cross-eyed.

As for the other cuts, I also bought large, 2-lb pieces of beef shank at the Chinese grocery store, but if you can't find those, the smaller, bone-in cross cut pieces you find at the regular grocery store will work.  Or a large chuck roast is good too.

Hot pot

I've been making fun of the dire weather warnings for the ARCTIC BLAST all week, but I have to confess, it really did get pretty dang cold!  I thought I moved to Texas to get away from phrases like "wind chill," dammit!

In any case, the cold weather was a nice excuse to fire up the camp stove and eat hot pot (huo guo), also known as shabu shabu.  I have very fond childhood memories of sitting around the stovetop on our kitchen island and eating this on cold, wintry nights.  I actually did a post about it last year on my other blog, but here are a few pics from tonight's dinner.

Tonight's version included eye of round, shell-on shrimp, fish & shrimp balls, napa cabbage, spinach, fried tofu, enoki & shitake mushrooms, and daikon radish.  I also had mung bean thread noodles soaked and ready to go, but we were so full by the end that no one could eat any.

Lobster & Asparagus Risotto

We did our "fancy" dinner on Christmas Eve (prime rib roast, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus). I had also bought some lobster tails with the intention of making it more of a "surf & turf" dinner, but at the last minute, I realized that we already had a ton of food.  So I decided instead to save the lobster for Christmas day.

Well, as dinner approached, I realized I had no clue what to do with two small-ish lobster tails, other than the boring old steam or broil, followed by dunking in copious amounts of butter, which I'm honestly not a huge fan of anyways.  As I rooted around in the fridge and pantry, I remembered that I'd had a jones for risotto a couple weeks ago and decided to go ahead and make some at the last minute.

Risotto is one of those things that sounds really fancy and hard to make, but it's basically just rice and broth and whatever else you want to add to it.  It's not hard to make, just time-consuming.  Ever since I learned how to make it, I almost never order it in a restaurant anymore.

Ingredients

2 T. olive oil

2 T. butter

3/4 c. finely chopped shallots

2 c. uncooked arborio rice

1/2 c. white wine

2 qts good quality low-sodium chicken stock or broth 

1 lb. asparagus

2 small-medium lobster tails (mine were 3/4 lb total)

1-2 T. butter

2 T. cream (optional)

1/4 c. shredded Parmesan

salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Trim the woody ends off of the asparagus and reserve.  Cut the rest into 1-2 inch pieces.

2. Remove lobster from shell, reserving shell.  Cut lobster into large chunks.

3. Heat up chicken stock in a separate pot.  Add asparagus trimmings and lobster shells.  This will give your stock a boost of lobster & asparagus flavor.  Hot stock is key to making risotto.  Cold or room temperature stock will lower the overall temperature of your risotto and take much longer to cook.  It'll also affect the texture.

4. Heat large pan over medium-high heat.  Add oil and butter and shallots.  Saute shallots until translucent.  Add rice and saute until grains start to become translucent around edges.

5. Add white wine.  Scrape up any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan and stir until it has reduced by about half.

6. And now, start adding stock and stir, stir stir. 

Make sure your heat is not up too high, as you want the rice to absorb the stock slowly.  You want it to be a little above a simmer, otherwise, the outside will cook too quickly and the inside will remain raw.  The reason you have to keep stirring is that you also want the rice to release its starch.  This is what gives risotto its lovely creamy texture.

I generally add about a half cup of stock at a time (I have a 4 oz. ladle which makes this easy to measure). You want to cook until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid before adding more.  I find that this happens more quickly in the beginning, and more slowly towards the end.  It may also help you to taste the rice frequently as it cooks, so you can get a sense of the different levels of doneness.

Just to give you an idea of when it's time to add more stock, if while stirring, you can see the bottom of the pan for more than a couple seconds, it's time.

Add just enough stock to make it loose and slightly soupy.  Again, don't drown it.  You don't want to boil the rice.

Then, like before, keep stirring.  In total, it should take about 20-25 minutes.

7. Once you feel like your rice is getting close to done, add the chopped asparagus and lobster pieces.  Continue to stir and add stock, as necessary, until everything is cooked.  You may or may not use all the stock.  It all depends on your rice.

Oh, one other warning: make sure your pan is big enough as the rice will double, if not triple, in volume.  I usually don't make this much, so I foolishly thought I'd be able to get by with a smaller pan but then had to switch to a larger one about halfway through.

8. The rice is done when it's tender, but still has a little bit of bite to it.  Once it's reached that point, but still has a little bit of excess liquid, turn off your heat, and stir in a nice healthy knob of butter.  One-two tablespoons should do it.  You could also add a splash of heavy cream, if you like.

9. Last, but not least grate some fresh Parmesan over the whole thing.  I usually subscribe to the school that Parmesan and seafood do not belong together, but I make an exception for risotto.  To me, it just isn't the same without a little of that sharp tang that Parmesan adds. 

10. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately, garnished with a little more Parmesan.

Serves 4 as main course, 8 as a side dish

Notes

You could easily halve or double this recipe.  It's pretty much the same amount of work, regardless of the amount.  You could also substitute shrimp or some other shellfish for the lobster, or leave it out entirely.   The lobster meat did break up a bit as a result of all the stirring, but I actually didn't mind since it meant there were bits of lobster in almost every bite.  I also used leftover champagne from our morning mimosas in lieu of white wine.  It was a very decadent meal. ;)

I'm sure there are way better tutorials out there on how to make risotto, and I largely improvised this recipe on the fly, so I apologize if the directions are less than crystal clear.  Feel free to post any questions in the comments section and I'll do my best to clarify as needed.

Best Lasagna Ever.

Not to brag, but I make a pretty darn good lasagna. I've been meaning to share the recipe for a while, even though it's not super fancy or unique. It's just really a good classic meaty, cheesy, tomato-y lasagna.

Lasagna was always my favorite Italian dish as a kid. It used to be the dish that I always ordered without fail. Of course, as I got older and my tastes got more sophisticated, I scoffed at lasagna and passed it over in favor of dishes like gnocchi or saltimbocca.

I started cooking it myself at the request of Troy, for whom it was a comfort food from his childhood. After a few years of experimenting and adding and subtracting from various recipes, I finally hit upon a winner. Troy has actually declared my lasagna better than his mom's (shhh, don't tell)! I'll warn you right now though, he likes his pasta super saucey, so this recipe uses a LOT of sauce. I think it must weigh about 6 lbs. (not counting the pan) by the time it goes into the oven. I also apologize in advance for my lack of precise measurements in the directions. I'm not much for measuring.

Lasagna
Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
2 jars tomato sauce*
1 box flat lasagna sheets (I use Barilla)
(1) 15 oz. container part skim ricotta cheese
(1) 10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp each dried oregano & parsley (optional)

*I'm aware that homemade sauce is better, but I usually use jarred for convenience. My preferred brand is Barilla, but lately I've been using the Simply Natural Organic brand from Costco, with very good results. I also usually sneak at least a jar or two of baby food (either carrots, winter squash or sweet potatoes) into the sauce for extra veggies.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Brown ground beef. I usually add salt, pepper and dried herbs as I cook the beef, just to give it some more flavor. Drain off grease and add about 1 cup of tomato sauce. This is also a good point to add some baby food, if you want. Trust me when I tell you that no one will ever be able to taste that it's there. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.

3. Squeeze all of the moisture out of the thawed spinach. Combine the spinach in a small bowl with the ricotta, parmesan and egg. Mix thoroughly.

4. In a 9x13 pan, add about a cup of sauce to the bottom. You want to use enough sauce to have a thin layer across the entire bottom.

5. Layer 4 uncooked pasta sheets on top of the sauce. I usually put mine lengthwise 2x2, but you can also do them 4 across. They will overlap slightly in the middle. Don't worry that they don't reach across the entire pan. They will expand as they cook and absorb moisture from the sauce.

6. Spread half the ricotta mixture on top of the pasta sheets.

7. Spread half the meat mixture on top of the ricotta.

8. Sprinkle about 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella on top of the meat.

9. Spread more sauce (about 1-2 cups) on top of the cheese. Be generous with the sauce. You want to make sure you have enough moisture for the pasta sheets.

10. Repeat steps 5-9.

11. Add one more layer of pasta sheets. Cover with sauce and more mozzarella.

12. Cover the top with a double layer of aluminum foil. I usually spray the inside of the foil with cooking spray to keep it from sticking to the cheese.

13. Bake in a 375 degree oven for one hour or until heated through. In my uneven oven, this sometimes takes more like 75 minutes.

14. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. This gives everything a chance to set up so that it doesn't all fall to mush the second you cut a piece.

Like I said, it's nothing fancy, but it's quick to put together (especially with those no-cook pasta sheets), hearty and delicious. I'll also add that it's a great dish to let your kids help make - our 2-year-old daughter was delighted to sprinkle on the mozzarella all by herself - which also makes them more likely to eat it, spinach and all!

Sorry, no picture this time since I was just too tired to do anything but cut and eat by the time it was done. I may try and snap one tomorrow if I can.

Chicken Katsu

I'm starting to think I should just change the name of my blog seeing as how lately I've been cooking more from other blogs than anything else. But hey, better to post something than nothing, right?

Today's entry is chicken katsu, inspired by my love of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, and also from this blog that I bookmarked a while back. Chicken katsu is basically the Asian equivalent of chicken fingers, but served with rice and sauce. Yum.

In retrospect, I don't know why I even needed a recipe to follow since it's really just a thinly cut or pounded chicken breast, breaded with panko and fried. Although I will concede that I would not have known which brand of tonkatsu sauce to buy without guidance.

In any case, this turned out very very yummy - pretty close to my ideal comfort food. Troy declared it to be an almost dead-on imitation of the L&L version and even Miss Pickypants (aka our 2 1/2 year-old) ate a healthy portion dipped in sauce. Extra bonus points for being an extraordinarily quick meal to throw together. Now if only we'd had some macaroni salad...

Meatball pic

Sorry, never got around to uploading the other night. As you can see, we were out of spaghetti, so we had whole wheat shells instead. Oh and Troy said that the meatballs and sauce were actually better the next day.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Last week, Troy requested I make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Well, with the frenzy of baby shower preparations, it sort of fell by the wayside. I decided to make it for Sunday dinner instead.

Confession: I don't make spaghetti sauce very often because I'm lazy and it's just so easy to open a jar (the Barilla brand sauces are particular faves in our house). But my sister-in-law recently told me about a super easy recipe that mostly involves dumping everything in the pot and letting it cook. I wasn't sure if her exact recipe would work with meatballs too, but I figured using that methodology, I could throw something together on my own. So here's my recipe for spaghetti & meatballs. Note that there was lots of improvisation with the ingredients, based on what I happened to have on hand.

Ingredients:
Meatballs
1 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1/4 hot Italian sausage
3 eggs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
olive oil

Sauce
1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2-2 c.)
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
dried oregano
dried parsley
dried basil
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste

1. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk until all the liquid has been absorbed and bread crumbs have softened.

2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly - it's easier if you use your hands.

3. Form the meat mixture into balls. The size is up to you. I prefer larger meatballs because I think they tend to be more moist & tender, but if you're in a hurry or prefer small ones, that's fine too.

4. Heat a large, heavy pot over high heat until almost smoking, then add the olive oil. Brown the meatballs on all sides, working in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Remove the meatballs and set aside. (I use my Le Creuset dutch oven. A thick-bottomed stainless steel stockpot would work too. I don't recommend nonstick because you won't get a nice sear on the meatballs.)

5. In the same pan, you should have at least a couple tablespoons of oil from browning the meat. If not, add some more olive oil and add the onions. Saute until they become translucent. Add the garlic and herbs. The combination and amount of herbs you add is up to your personal preference. I added about 1 tsp each of oregano & parsley, and about 1 tbsp of the basil.

6. Add the 2 cans of tomatoes and the bay leaf. Make sure you scrape up all the good bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring up to a boil and then add the meatballs back in, including any juices that may have come out of them.

7. Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may need to simmer longer if your meatballs are very large.

8. Season with salt & pepper to taste and serve over spaghetti.

My notes:
As mentioned before, I normally prefer to use fresh herbs, but to be honest, I don't often have them on hand unless I make a special trip to buy them for a particular recipe. I tried to grow my own, but I guess I have a black thumb because I cannot seem to keep them alive.

In my opinion though, dried herbs are perfectly acceptable in a dish that's going to be simmered for a long time, as long as they haven't been hanging around in your cupboard for the last year or two. I buy mine in small quantities from the bulk section at either Central Market or Whole Foods. That way they stay fresher, and you'd be shocked at how much cheaper it is too! I've refilled what was originally a $5 dollar container of brand-name thyme with 75 cents worth of bulk thyme. But I digress.

I don't normally put sausage in meatballs, but I happened to have that little bit of fresh bulk hot Italian sausage left and I wanted to use it up. Actually, I prefer a mix of beef, pork and veal in my meatballs, but I didn't see any ground veal at the store last week and didn't have time to go on a hunt for it.

My meatballs were fairly big - about kiwi-sized, but rounder. I ended up with about 18 of them, and they were cooked in about 45-50 minutes. It might have been less, but that was more or less the minimum time I wanted to simmer the sauce.

The verdict:
For an improvised last-minute meal, this turned out great! The only minor complaint I had was that both the sauce and the meatballs needed more salt, but then again, I'm a bit of a salt fiend.

I thought the sausage added a teeny tiny bit of heat to the meatballs, as well as some nice flavor, especially from the fennel. As I mentioned before, the sausage was thrown in on a whim, but I'm really glad it was in there since it also added some much needed fat. Both the pork and beef I used were relatively lean, and I think that on their own, the meatballs would have been dry.

Troy enjoyed this meal quite a bit, although he did say he wished the sauce was thicker and/or chunkier. He also thought it needed more seasoning, and maybe even more onions. His quote: "I've come to the conclusion in life that I don't think there can be too many onions in spaghetti sauce." But he otherwise declared it perfect. Go figure.

I think the true seal of approval came from our 2 1/2 year-old daughter, who ate THREE giant meatballs and two bowls of pasta! That's a definite rave in my book.

Changes for next time:
I will definitely use the Italian sausage again. The stuff I used today was from a local grocery store that makes their own fresh sausage, and it is far superior to any of the pre-packaged stuff.

I may use whole canned plum tomatoes next time and crush them up myself for a chunkier texture, and maybe leave the lid off at the end too to let it cook down some. I will also likely add another onion. I actually almost threw another in today, but I worried about making it too onion-y. I may try and throw in some ground or minced carrot too, both for an added veg factor and for a little more sweetness.

Adding a pic shortly...

I'm back! Well, mostly...

Sorry if it seems that I have fallen off the face of the earth in regards to updating this blog. Between all the traveling we've been doing this summer, and just the busyness of life in general, I have not been very good about keeping up. After spending almost 2 weeks in Iowa, I could not get my act together to do any sort of serious cooking, especially since we took another long trip to California just a few weeks later!

But I'm back now and slowing getting back into the swing of things. I have not had a chance to do any recipes from the Pepin book, but I have made a few other yummy things I thought I'd share.

First up are these amazing chicken enchiladas with a sour cream sauce, inspired by this recipe on my friend Jacki's blog. I made a few small changes: I cooked the chicken with a drained can of Ro-tel tomatoes and about 1/3 can of green enchilada sauce; then later when it came to making the sauce, instead of combining butter and cornstarch, I sauteed some chopped onions in butter and then added flour to make more of a traditional roux. I also added the rest of the enchilada sauce to the broth/sour cream mixture before adding it all to the roux to make the sauce. Troy declared these my best enchiladas ever! Sorry for the crappy picture - I grabbed my snappy cam since it was nearby and took one quick shot before we tore into them.


I'm also getting ready to throw a baby shower brunch for a friend in a couple weeks, so I've been playing around with some different ideas for the menu. Late last night, I decided to try out Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Parties! recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake. I realized at the last minute that she uses cake flour, not all-purpose, and of course I did not have any, but I decided to just go for it. I'll add that while I do love her recipes, they almost invariably call for ingredients that I don't normally have on hand. Grr.

In any case, even with the all-purpose flour (I also came up a teeny bit short on sour cream), the cake still turned out fabulous. I was nervous at first because it did not look like very much batter, but boy did that puppy rise! It looked very very pretty coming out of the oven.

And after I added the maple glaze.

It was soooooo good! Very moist, very tender, very tasty. I do wish that I'd mixed more of the crumble topping in with the batter though, as the inside seemed a bit barren, but other than that I have no complaints.

I also do feel compelled to mention that normally, when I make any kind of cake, I pretty much always alternate the wet & dry ingredients - in this case, the flour mixture and the sour cream - even when the recipe calls for you to dump it all in at once. But this time I decided to stick to Ina's instructions and added all the sour cream first and then the flour mixture (in 2 parts) and mixed till it was barely combined. I also resisted the urge to thin the batter out with some milk, as it was pretty thick. I'm glad that I followed directions (for a change, ha) because I think that's what helped keep the cake so tender. I think this is a definite keeper for the shower, and I will likely pick up some cake flour for the next run.

I also threw together a quickie little test appetizer: caramelized onions & goat cheese in a pre-baked phyllo shell. No real recipe, just sliced onions, caramelized in a pan with olive oil and a little bit of dried thyme and a splash of raspberry balsamic vinegar. Then I piled them into store-bought phyllo shells (found in the frozen section) and put a few crumbles of goat cheese on top. Baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes, just to warm everything up.

They were good, but not great. I sort of added the balsamic vinegar on a whim, and I'm not sure it was the best idea. I think it took away too much from the sweetness of the onions. I think if I were to make these again, I'd probably omit the balsamic - or at least use regular, not raspberry, which was all I had. I'd also probably try to find vidalias or some other kind of sweet onion, and I'd use a lot more thyme as well, preferably fresh.

I had also never used the phyllo shells before and I didn't realize until I opened the box that they were already baked, and (according to the directions) ready to fill and serve. However, after tasting a couple filled tartlets, I realized they definitely needed to be baked again. The unbaked ones felt soggy in my mouth, even though I'd filled them just a minute or two before. Once baked, they stayed much crispier. I'm a bit on the fence as to whether these will make the brunch menu.

I'm thinking that it might be awhile before I get back to the cookbook, but stay tuned for other food-related adventures!

Leek and Gruyere Quiche

Ingredients:
Pate Brisee
1 c. all-purpose flour (5-5 1/2 oz)
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
About 3 tbsp ice water

Filling
1 large or 2 small leeks, trimmed, washed, and thinly sliced (2 cups)
3/4 c. water
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 c. grated Gruyere cheese
1 1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. For the dough:
Place the flour, salt & sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the mixture for 5-10 seconds, just until the butter is broken into small, but still visible pieces. Add the 3 tbsp ice water (you may need more or less, depending on the dryness of the flour) and process for 10-15 seconds longer. The dough may not have formed into a ball at this point; transfer to a bowl and press it gently together to form it into a ball.

3. Place the ball of dough in the center of a sheet of plastic wrap about 13-in square, and lay another piece the same size on top. Roll the dough between the two sheets to form a circle about 13 inches in diameter.

4. Remove the plastic wrap from the top of the dough and invert into a 9 1/2 x 1-inch quiche pan with a removable bottom. Before peeling the remaining sheet of plastic wrap off, use it to press the dough into place in the pan. The dough should extend about 1/2 inch above the edge of the pan. Roll or press this overhang back on the dough at the edge to make it thicker.

5. Line the dough shell with a double-thick layer of aluminum foil, pressing gently into place. (The foil should be rigid enough to hold the dough in place as it cooks.) Place the quiche pan on a cookie sheet and bake the dough for 20 minutes. Then carefully remove the foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned on the inside.

6. Meanwhile, for the filling:
Place the leeks and 3/4 c. water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil, uncovered for about 5 minutes, until the water has evaporated and the leeks are soft.

7. Beat the eggs in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the salt, pepper, cheese, milk and cream. Mix in the leeks. (There should be about 4 cups of the filling mixture. Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees.

8. Pour the filling into the pre-cooked dough in the quiche pan while still on the cookie sheet in the oven. The filling will come to the brim of the shell, and it's less likely to spill if you leave it in the oven. Cook at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until the filling is set and beautifully browned on top.

9. Let the quiche rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting it and serving. Note: this can be baked ahead and reheated, uncovered, in a 375-degree oven until warmed through.

My notes:
OK, so as I mentioned before, I foolishly decided to start making this at like, 11:30 at night. As usual, I ran into a few stumbling blocks so I had to deviate a bit from the recipe. And because I got started so late, I ended up baking off the crust and making the leek filling, but waiting until morning to fill the shell and bake the actual quiche. And let me say, Jacques was not joking about the shell being very very full. I was going to stir it a bit to distribute the leeks and cheese evenly, but it was starting to overflow, so I had to just leave it as is.

Cheats & Changes:
First off, I ended up baking this in a 9" glass pie dish. It turns out my quiche/tart pan is too big by an inch, and there was no way I would have had enough dough to cover the whole thing. I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not realizing this before I rolled the dough out. So because I had originally rolled it for a different pan, the top of it looks rather ugly. Normally, I'd do a nice fluted edge.

I did chill the dough a little bit before rolling it out. In my experience, this makes the dough much easier to roll out and work with. You really want to handle it as little as possible to keep it from becoming tough, and keeping the butter cold goes a long way towards that goal. Keeping the dough cold also keeps it from shrinking quite as much once you bake it.

Because the pie dish was much deeper than the tart pan and the filling was cold out of the fridge, I had to bake this longer, like closer to 45-50 minutes. I don't like for the whole quiche to be browned, so I baked it until the edges started to color and the center was set.

The Verdict:
It may not have looked very pretty, but it tasted pretty damn good. The friend I shared it with for lunch today also enjoyed it (Meighan, feel free to chime in!). The crust was flaky and tender, the filling was rich and velvety and packed with leeks and cheesy goodness. I think I could easily have eaten the whole thing by myself. Yeah, I'm piggy that way.

I will say, I'm not sure I cared for the way the leeks were cooked in this recipe. There was quite a bit of water left in the pan after 5 minutes, so I ended up draining it off and letting it sit to steam/evaporate a while longer. I think next time I may sweat them in a saute pan with a little oil and get them to give up all their moisture as they cook.

I would also make sure next time to have the edge of the crust come up as high as possible in the pan. I had a bit of filling overflow at one side so that it was caught between the crust and the pan. Not a big deal, just a little unsightly.

Sea Bass in Potato Crust

Ingredients:
4 fillets of sea bass (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 lg Idaho potatoes (1 lb total)
1/2 medium leek (about 3 oz) washed, and finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 tbsp cottonseed or safflower oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt

1. Remove and discard any bones or sinews from the fillets. When cleaned, each fillet should weigh about 5 oz.

2. Peel the potatoes (or leave them unpeeled, if desired) and wash them. Using hte side of a cheese grater with the large holes, shred the potatoes. (You should have about 2 1/2 cups.) Drain well in a colander, then place in a bowl with the leek. Mix well.

3. At cooking time, place the oil and the butter in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, and heat until hot. Meanwhile, sprinkle half the salt on the fillets.

4. When the oil and butter are hot, place four, small, evenly spaced mounds of the shredded potatoes and leek (about 1/3 c each) in the skillet. Press a portion of the fish into each mound, and cover the fish with the remaining potatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining salt.

5. Cook the potato packages over medium to high heat, uncovered for 6-7 minutes. Turn them carefully with a large spatula and cook them for an additional 6-7 minutes. They potatoes should be nicely crusted on both sides and the fish inside lightly cooked. Serve immediately.

I ended up with two large fillets from the fish counter, and I had a bit of trouble cutting them into even portions since both pieces tapered at the end. After hemming and hawing a bit, I opted to cut them into 6 smaller pieces in the hopes that they would cook more evenly. Well, I didn't do a very good job since the pieces varied from 4 1/2 to 7 oz in weight. Oops. I tried to make sure the guys got the bigger pieces since I knew they would have bigger appetites. Troy confessed after everyone left that he was still a bit hungry.

Cheats & Changes:
I think I had way more than a pound's worth of potatoes, which turned out to be a good thing since I almost ran out. Although to be fair, I didn't do a very good job of portioning the potatoes either as I put them in the pan.

I wanted to have my potatoes grated and ready to go before our guests arrived, so I held them in a bowl of ice water to keep them from discoloring. I drained them thoroughly and patted them dry with paper towels before cooking. I used just olive oil (my preferred cooking oil) for browning the potato-fish packets, and I found I needed more than the 2 tablespoons to get them nice and brown. But the tradeoff was that they were a little greasier than I would have liked. I think I might have made my potato layers too thick.

The Verdict:
I thought this was good. I'll confess, I don't cook fish at home very often. It's one of those things that I usually prefer to have in a restaurant, but it's nice to know that I could throw together something like this on my own. The prep was not nearly as time-consuming as I thought. The potato crust method seems a little bit dated, but then this cookbook is 13 years old, so I guess I can't complain about that. I was worried about over or undercooking the fish, but I think the potatoes made it pretty forgiving.

Troy liked this. I think his exact words were, "Hashbrown-wrapped fish, what's not to like?" I think I would have preferred my fish cooked a little more simply, so I'm not sure I'd go to the trouble to make this again.

Spicy Ginger and Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 chicken leg (8-10 oz.) with skin, back bones, and tips of drumsticks removed (about 6 oz, trimmed weight)
Dash salt
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp cumin
Dash dried thyme
Dash cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp all-purpose flour
1 strip lemon peel, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 strip orange peel, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger (washed, but not peeled)
1 small clove garlic, peeled
1/4 c. sweet apple cider
1/4 c. water

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan until it is hot by not smoking. Add the chicken leg and brown it over medium heat, turning occasionally, for 10-12 minutes.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook gently for 15 minutes. Serve with the natural cooking juices.

I doubled this and all the other recipes so that there would be enough for both Troy and I. More on other changes below.

Cheats & Changes:
Again, I used my microplane to zest the orange and lemon rather than peel big hunks off. I also used a tablespoon of garlic ginger paste (I keep a jar handy in my fridge at all times; you can find it at most Indian grocery stores) in lieu of the fresh chopped ginger. I suppose I could have left out the garlic cloves, but in my book you can never have too much garlic.

Also, I'd like to mention that the directions on the chicken are a bit vague. In the accompanying photo, there's a chicken leg quarter, not just the leg, and it has the skin on it. I decided to split the difference and I used a quarter, but took the skin off. T actually prefers white meat, so when I saw they had split fryers at the store, I opted to buy that so we'd have the best of both worlds. I cut the chicken into two pieces, removed the skin and backbone, as instructed, and I left the wing on the breast, but removed the wingtip. Frankly, we're both rather big eaters, so there's no way that one measly chicken leg would have cut it. But because I used a bone-in chicken breast, it took a little bit longer to cook, I'd say closer to 20 or 25 minutes.

The verdict:
Love, love LOVED it! The flavor was really well balanced - hints of ginger, citrus, spice, and a little bit of sweetness from the juice, but not overtly apple-y. This dish was super easy to prep and make and will probably go into my regular repertoire. T loved the flavor as well and devoured his portion. I was concerned that the breast might dry out, but it stayed super tender and juicy.

And have I mentioned the sauce? This dish made its own sauce (the aforementioned "natural juice") which was simply heavenly. There was a ton of it, which I spooned very generously over everything on my plate: the chicken, the rice and even the broccoli. I think it made everything better.

Portion size was perfect for the one meal, but in the future I'll likely make a lot more since we like leftovers. Oh, and even though it's dark meat, with the skin removed and very little cooking oil needed to sear it off, this is a pretty diet-friendly meal too. Extra bonus!

Oh and here's a picture of Troy's chicken breast, in case you're curious. I removed the skin from the breast, but left it on the wing.

Shoulder Steak with Herbs

Ingredients:
4 beef shoulder blade steaks (chicken steaks), 5-6 oz each
1 1/2 tsp virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp chopped shallots
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 c. fresh herbs (tarragon, chives, parsley, etc.), finely chopped

1. Heat a large, sturdy skillet (cast iron or heavy-duty aluminum, not nonstick). Brush the steaks on both sides with the oil, sprinkle them with salt & pepper and place in the hot skillet. Cook for 2-3 min over medium to high heat on each side for 1-inch steaks (medium-rare).

2. Remove the steaks from the skillet and place them on the platter. Add the shallots to the drippings in the pan and saute for 20 seconds. Add the water to the skillet, mix it in well, and cook, stirring until all the encrusted juices in the skillet have melted.

3. Add the butter and the herbs to the mixture in the skillet and cook for a few seconds, just until the butter melts.

4. Spoon the butter/herb mixture over the steaks. Serve immediately.


I have to confess, I'm not as well-versed on my cuts of meat as I should be. We studied them briefly when I was in cooking school, and I'm sure I took some sort of general test on the big cuts, but to my disappointment, we never got all that much into butchering and individual cuts. When this recipe called for shoulder-blade steaks, I have to say I was at a bit of a loss since it sounded totally unfamiliar.

So off I trekked to Central Market to ask at their meat counter. According to the guy I spoke with there, it's not a common cut anymore because most places don't hang their meat and butcher it on the spot. But he said that the closest thing to it would be a chuck roast/steak, which is from the same part of the cow, just minus the bone. I debated whether or not to just get a ribeye or t-bone or something like that, but I decided to try and stick as closely to the recipe as possible. I had the butcher cut a big chuck roast in half lengthwise and ended up with 2 very large 1 1/2-inch steaks that I cut in half. In retrospect, I probably should have gone with thinner steaks since it turned out to be difficult to get the steaks to cook through in a short time without incinerating the outside.

Cheat & Changes:
Just the cut of meat, as mentioned above. I also found that my pan got so incredibly smoking hot by the end that when I added the water to deglaze the pan, it evaporated almost immediately. I ended up adding closer to 2 tablespoons of butter at the end to make up for it. I figure a little extra butter never hurt anyone.

The Verdict:
Me: It was so-so. It would definitely have been better with a different cut of meat. Jacques picked this cut because it's inexpensive, and according to him, the connective tissue in this cut melts away during cooking making for a lean and flavorful steak. I have to heartily disagree. Barring the fact that I may have been led astray by the butcher, a chuck roast is something that I usually buy for stew or braising. I'll admit, I undercooked my steak quite a bit, which made it even chewier, and eventually I had to give in and throw it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to get it closer to medium rare. But even if I had not, I think it still would have been hard to eat and it also had a lot of unpleasant fatty bits.

I really liked the herb butter/sauce. I used pretty much the exact herbs he mentions in the recipe - tarragon, parsley & chives. Tarragon is definitely not something I use regularly, but I really enjoyed the flavor in this dish. And this sauce is such an easy extra touch, I can see myself doing this for fish or chicken or any other simple, pan-fried protein.

T felt pretty much the same as me about the cut of meat. In fact, when I asked him specifically about it, he confessed that he didn't care for it much at all, but again, he ate it. He thought the herb butter was nice, but unnecessary. I believe his exact words were, "it's fancier than it needs to be." T prefers his food to be simply prepared, so he can really taste the ingredients. Most of the time, I do too.