BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Isn't it nice when a recipe that tastes really good also happens to be very healthy too? I'm not much on searching for excellent low-fat, low-calorie recipes. If I happen to run across one that looks good to me, then great--I'll try it out. But I'm not going to go out of my way to find them. There's just too many other wonderful recipes with things like real butter, or cheese, or chocolate in them calling me, tempting me with their fatty goodness. What is the good of avoiding takeouts and boxed and canned foods if you can't live it up a little in the foods you make yourself?

I tried this recipe because it looked good and it is. It's a weight watchers recipe, but as usual by the time I get done doubling the sauce and adding extra KC Masterpiece sauce on the finished product, it no longer resembles anything dietetic. I also use pork loin rather than beef, but I think that's a push calorie-wise. It's the other white meat, right?

BBQ Beef 7.5 points
2 1/2 lb. lean boneless chuck roast
1/4 C tomato ketchup
1 T Dijon style mustard
2 T brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced or crushed
2 T red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke flavoring
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
10 French rolls or sandwich buns

Place meat in a slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients, except rolls (duh). Pour over meat. Cover and cook on LOW 8 to 9 hours (I don't usually cook it this long). Shred meat by pulling it apart with 2 forks. Place on buns and top with leftover sauce if desired. Serves 10-12 (or if you eat like me and my husband, serves 6)

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken in my family (or as my son calls it: "bock bock") so I am always on the lookout for a new way to dress up an old standby. I found this recipe about a year ago on allrecipes and just love it. It's simple, yet you get a lot of bang for your buck, which is probably why it became so popular on a food chat board I frequent. I made this chicken a few days ago to use in quesadillas and it was great; it really spiced them up nicely.

I actually make up the spice mixture ahead of time and store it in a little snack baggie so when it's time to make it, I am ready to go.

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

Spice Mix
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried parsley

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (if the halves are too thick I just butterfly them again to cut down on cooking time)

2 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 T lime juice

1. In a small bowl mix together the 'spice mix' spices. Sprinkle generously on both sides of chicken breasts.
2. Heat butter and olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 6 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of garlic powder and lime juice. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently to coat evenly with sauce.

Corned Beef

Even though we are only a "wee" bit Irish on my mom's side (she's a 1/4, I'm an 1/8) she always made corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. Since our monthly dinner club was meeting on the 17th and it was my turn to host, how could I not make the theme 'Irish'? Yes, I know, the Irish aren't exactly known for their fine cuisine, but you'd be surprised how washing the food down with a few Guinness really enhances the flavor.

The two things I always hated about corned beef was the fattiness, and the saltiness. A little fat is ok for flavor, but big chunks of it that you have to hack away at to get to the meat? Yah, no thanks. And being kept up all night due to a vicious cycle of drinking water due to insane thirst only to have to pee it out an our later...not much fun. I decided corning my own beef was the only way around these dilemmas and I have to say it was worth it. Even better, it wasn't even hard.

Due to my inability to read directions completely the first (or even second) time, I failed to notice this recipe calls for curing the meat for 5-7 days. Not a good thing to realize at 2pm on Friday the 16th. Luckily, it didn't matter; the brisket still had a wonderful flavor.

The recipe called for a point cut, but I used a flat cut because they are leaner. I am glad I did, because I still had to trim off a ton of excess fat (sorry for the visual).

Unfortunately I did not take pictures (too hard when you're trying to coordinate a dinner for guests). Oh, and the leftover corned beef made excellent Reuben sandwiches. I'm too embarrassed to tell you how many I ate. Ok, we ate them for dinner the next night, lunch the next day, and then dinner again the next night. I'd be eating one right now if there were any meat left, but sadly it is all gone.

Corned Beef
1/2 C kosher salt
1 T black peppercorns, cracked
3/4 T ground allspice
1 T dried thyme
1/2 T paprika
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 beef brisket, fresh, 4-6 lbs, flat cut, trimmed of excess fat (leave a bit attached for better texture and flavor), rinsed and patted dry (6lbs fed 7 adults plus leftovers)

1. Mix salt and seasonings in a small bowl
2. Spear brisket about 30 times with a meat fork. Rub each side with salt mixture; place in a 2 gallon size zipperlock bag, forcing out as much air as possible. Place in a pan large enough to hold it (like a jelly roll pan), cover with second, similar size pan, and weight with 2 bricks or heavy cans of similar weight. Refrigerate 5-7 days, turning once a day.
3. When ready to cook brisket, rinse and pat dry. Place brisket in a large stockpot and cover with water to 1-2 inches above meat. Bring water to a boil and then reduce to simmer; cover and cook 4-5 hours, skimming scum off the top as it cooks. Add chopped veggies of choice (onions, carrots, parsnips) and heads of cabbage cut into 4 wedges the last 15 minutes of cook time and cook until tender. Cut meat across the grain and serve on a platter with veggies placed around the sides. Serve the cabbage wedges in separate bowls topped with malt vinegar.

**if you need to keep the meat warm while you attend to other things, place the cut meat on a platter with 1 cup of the cooking broth spread on top; cover with tin foil and place in oven set to 200.

Leftover Reuben Sandwiches

1 loaf good rye bread
Thousand Island Dressing
1 can sour kraut
2 slices of sliced swiss cheese per sandwich
leftover corned beef--amount to your liking
butter to spread on bread

To make 2 sandwiches:

1. Place a non stick pan on medium high heat.
2. Butter two slices of bread, and put them butter side down in the pan. Place 2 slices of swiss cheese on top of each piece of bread and cook until mostly melted (you may have to put the lid on the pan to help this process along)
3. Meanwhile, lightly heat up the meat for the sandwiches in the microwave for 20-30 seconds
3. When cheese is mostly melted, place about 1/4 C of sour kraut on top of the bread, drained of juice.
4. Top with meat and a second piece of buttered bread, butter side up.
5. Flip sandwich over and cook until the bread is golden and crispy
6. When sandwich is finished cooking, put the Thousand Island dressing on the inside of the sandwich to your liking as you would any condiment.

Bleh

Last week I came down with a stomachy thing thanks to the germ factory I send my son to known as 'daycare'. What a weird bug. I never did throw up, but I felt awful and got a very strong urge to throw out all the contents of my 'fridge--yet I still felt hungry. If that isn't the definition of being in hell, I don't know what is.

Thus, the cooking duties (i.e. the making of pancakes and reheating of leftovers) were relegated to my husband for most of last week. I did feel well enough to make a home made corned beef on Saturday, so I will share that tomorrow--it was fantastic.

Grilled Chicken Thighs Tandoori and Pita

Back in January I was lucky enough to spend a week in Boulder, CO playing at the Colorado Mahler Festival. One of the best parts of the entire week was eating, and having access to food I would otherwise have to drive two hours to eat. It was heaven; we ate all kinds of food that week and one of our best finds was an Indian lunch buffet. I ate myself silly at that place stuffing as much fresh Naan in my face as I could manage. Then and there I resolved to try to learn at least one good Indian dish.

Since then I've made two Indian curries using two different recipes; one was eh and the other one better, but still nothing to write home about (or write here about). My third attempt came last week from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, a Tandori Chicken recipe. The cooking method called for outdoor grilling, but since it was blizzarding here last week I cooked it in the oven instead, and it was a hit. Everyone agreed that one of the things that made it taste so good was the smell of the spices on the chicken and in the house.

Grilled Chicken Thighs Tandoori

* 2 (6 ounce) containers plain yogurt
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 4 teaspoons paprika
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons ground coriander
* 16 chicken thighs (I froze half after cooking to eat another time; I also took the skins off and it worked fine)

1. In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, salt, pepper, cloves, and ginger. Mix in garlic, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and coriander. Set aside.

2. Rinse chicken under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Place chicken in a large resealable plastic bag. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken, press air out of bag, and seal. Turn the bag over several times to distribute marinade. Place bag in a bowl, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight, turning bag occasionally.

3. Preheat oven at 350.

4. Remove chicken from bag, and discard marinade. Shake off excess marinade.

5. Place a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet. Place chicken on the rack and cook about 20 minutes. Turn over, and cook 20 minutes more or until chicken is done.

I should have made Naan, but again that would have required someone to do blizzard duty, so I made home made pita bread instead.

After making this bread several times, I have learned you need to let the dough rise and proof the proper length of time in order for the pita to puff up while they cook. My usual method of "that looks good enough" because I'm hungry and in a hurry doesn't yield very good pitas.

Pita Bread

* 1 1/8 cups warm water
* 3 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat)
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water

2. Mix all other ingredients in a large bowl. Add the yeast/water mixture and mix well. Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and let it rise until almost doubled, about 1 hour.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.

4. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. If you have one, cook the pitas on a pizza stone in the oven, 3 at a time. If not, place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Cardamom

The best part of the great school bread experiment (see previous blog entry) is the discovery of a wonderful spice called Cardamom. I had never cooked with this spice before and had to drive to a supermarket an hour away to find it, but it was worth it. What a heavenly scent! Smelling it for the first time simultaneously conjured up images of holidays, travel, and exotic treats. I was so taken in by the spice I did a quick search to find out more about it. A member of the ginger family, cardamom is used medicinally and as a common spice in Indian cooking and Scandinavian baking. It is also used as a flavoring for Turkish coffee, and Tai Chi tea.

If you are interested in reading a food blog that gives information about the cuisine and ingredients in posted recipes (this is probably a one shot deal for me) you may want to check out Joelens's Culinary Adventures.

School Bread: I II and III

Have you ever been to Epcot in Orlando? If you've been there hopefully you were lucky enough to wander into a tiny bakery in "Norway" and purchase a wonderful concoction called school bread. Normally I don't go for a dessert if it doesn't have at least a some chocolate in it, but I made a big exception for this school bread. A doughnutty/pastry type thing filled with custard, glazed on top, and covered in coconut; it was so fantastic that I have not been able to forget it and I made it my mission to somehow find the recipe and try to make it.

School Bread Part I

A google search for school bread instantly found me the actual recipe used by that bakery in Epcot. Score! Uh, wait a minute...a lot of the measurements are in ounces. Ok, no problem--I'll just borrow the very fancy and expensive kitchen scale my friend Lois has.

So, I set about weighing my sugar, flour, yeast, etc. and notice: wow, that's an awful lot of yeast. Well, maybe that's what makes the bread part so fluffy (have I mentioned I know very little to nothing about baking?). This ended up being problem #1 as I would soon find out. I then converted everything to measurements to expidite the baking process for next time, thinking myself quite clever, and set to mixing everything. The first step called to mix all dry ingredients, and then heat the water and butter to 95 degrees. Not having an instant thermometer, I had to guess what 95 degrees is and apparently I have no idea what 95 degrees is because as I poured the liquid in, I thought it started to cook the egg. I realize after doing it again that this was probably not the case (not sure what those little yellow lumpy things were) but at the time I thought I really screwed up. So, I went to the store and started over.

School Bread part II

Not one to let one mistake derail my plan to eat school bread, I started all over again careful not to heat the water/butter too much. I get it all in the mixer only to find it's WAY too sticky/soupy--problem #2. Now, remember I said I know next to nothing about baking. However, I have made enough pizza dough to know there is no way that dough was going to roll out properly...so I added a little flour. It was still sticky and wet--so I added some more. This went on and on until I was wailing out loud to no one in particular "why is this so wet?!!!??!" still adding more flour. After adding 4 extra cups of flour I finally gave up and put it in a big bowl to rise, because it was already starting to get a lot bigger than I expected. An hour later it looked like it was ready to take over the neighborhood--why is it so big and still sticky? Oh well, forge on I thought, and I did, only to end up with something that resembled bland, dry dinner rolls. After I tasted the first batch it all went into the garbage.

School Bread part III

I was exhausted at this point, but also pretty pissed off that I could not figure out where I had gone wrong. Plus, I had made the custard filling which tasted fine, so all I needed was the stupid bread to put it in. I decided to start again at the beginning and got back on google to check out other school bread recipes. I finally found the same recipe on another site and lo and behold: the recipe I used called for 2 pints of water, but the same recipe posted on another site called for 1. Hooray! Problem #2 solved. I was ready to give it one final shot, and then I remembered: what about the whole yeast thing (problem #1)--maybe you should revisit that one, eh Sherlock Holmes? Good thing I did because...ok, I have no idea how it happened but I put in, like, 3x's the yeast it called for. Obviously I weighed it wrong and shudder to think just how much yeast went into those first 2 batches. Anyway, to make a long story short (yah, I know: too late) I made my 3rd batch of school bread. The dough was still (in my opinion) too sticky; I had to keep spraying my hands with cooking spray to handle the dough, but I guess third time's the charm, because they turned out fine



They are still a lot 'breadier' than I remember from the Epcot ones, but they had a wonderful sweet taste. I then finished them off with the custard filling, icing and coconut



School Bread final assessment
As is the case with most things you eat somewhere else and try to recreate, my school bread just wasn't the same; good, but just not the same. Maybe eating it in a fake Norway is what makes it taste so over the top good. Here is another recipe for School Bread I found on the blog Bubbling Cauldron that looks similiar to the one I used, but better; it uses 1/2 cup less liquid for the bread so the dough is probably just right and not sticky. Next time, this is the one I'm going to try.

Skolebrød

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 egg, beaten

Powder Sugar Glaze

1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk or water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
coconut

Pastry Cream

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup milk
1 drop vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add melted butter, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup sugar and cardamom.
Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until shiny and pliable.
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil.
Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Divide the dough into twenty four equal pieces and form into rounds.
Place the rounds on to lightly greased baking sheets.
Cover the rolls with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
Brush risen rolls with beaten egg. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes until nicely browned with pale sides.
Cool completely on wire racks. Spread glaze across top and then dip in coconut.

To make pastry cream: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch until well combined.
Whisk in 2 tablespoons of milk. Place the remaining milk and the vanilla in a medium saucepan.
Bring the milk to a boil and whisk it into the yolk mixture.
Pour the mixture into the saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter.
Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap and spread the pastry cream over the plastic to cool it as quickly as possible.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until cold.
Place the cooled pastry cream into a pastry bag and fill the buns with cream.

Makes 24 servings

optional fillings, vanilla pudding, french pastry cream

Hot link

If you have somehow missed it, you must read Anthony Bourdain's musings on the food network chefs posted on Michael Ruhlman's blog. His rantings on Sandra Lee in particular are priceless.

3 in 1 Meatballs

 

You know the old saying 'make hay while the sun shines'? Well, my motto is 'cook as much and as fast as you can while the boy is not screaming and crying'. If it's a good day and there are no meltdowns on the horizon, I'll ofen try to cook several meals at once, like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter.

Two weeks ago I decided to make Italian Wedding Soup (thanks Giada) I didn't notice it until I was ready to cook, but the recipe only calls for 1/2lb of ground beef and 1/2 lb of ground pork. What to do with the rest of the beef and pork? Aha! In a fit of inspiration I decided to double the recipe for the meatballs that go in the soup, take the other half of the meat and make regular sized meatballs to be frozen and used at a later date.

Last night was that later date, and I made my favorite comfort food--spaghetti and meatballs. As a bonus, there were enough meatballs left over to have meatball subs today for lunch (notice a trend?) Luckily that should use up the rest of them, because I think we'll be all balled out at that point.

Here is the recipe for both the soup and the extra meatballs:

Meatballs:
1 large onion, grated
2/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt (I personally didn't double the salt)
2 slices fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
Freshly ground black pepper

Soup:
12 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution)
2 large eggs
2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Divide the mixture in half.

To make the soup meatballs: using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet.

To make large meatballs: using the other half of the mixture, divide into approx. 12-15 larger meatballs. Heat approx. 4-5 T of olive oil in a pan over med. heat (I use a free standing skillet and set it at 350). Fry the meatballs until they are lightly browned all over, turning several times while cooking. Do not over brown or the outside will get tough. Take out of pan and drain on paper towels--they will still be slightly underdone and pink inside. Finish cooking them by placing in a pot of spaghetti sauce over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until no longer pink inside. This can either be done immediately, or at a later date after the meatballs have been frozen and then defrosted.

Meatball subs:
If you have any meatballs and sauce left over, heat them up in the microwave or in a pot over medium heat. After warmed, place the meatballs and sauce on an Italian roll/sub roll/hoagie roll and place on a baking sheet seem side down with the meatballs facing straight up. Sprinkle shredded mozzarealla cheese on top and place in the oven with the broiler on low. Watch carefully and toast for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the bread is slightly toasted.

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.