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Cheddar Biscuits with spinach

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
2 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 1/3 cup grated sharp Cheddar
4 tablespoons milk

Make the biscuits:
Into a bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, and a pinch of salt, add the butter, and blend the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Stir in the Cheddar and add the milk, stirring, to form a soft sticky dough. On a floured surface pat the dough out into a 6-inch square and cut out 4 rounds with a 2 3/4-inch round cutter dipped in flour. Put 2 of the rounds on top of the remaining 2 rounds, press them together gently, and bake the biscuits on a buttered baking sheet in the middle of a preheated 400F. oven for 15 minutes, or until they are pale golden (Makes 2 large biscuits).

Recipe: Sumac-Dusted Oven Fries with Garlic Spread

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Recipe: Sumac-Dusted Oven Fries with Garlic Spread

via The Kitchn by Joanna on 1/7/09

Fries don't really come to mind when you think about eating healthy, but these are baked in the oven and served with a healthy spread. Plus, they're loaded with big flavor.

I recently tried a similar dish at a Lebanese restaurant in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood. I was eying a fava bean appetizer, but when I ordered it, the wise server glanced at my dining companion, not a big fan of legumes, and quickly said, "You should get the fries. They're really good." And so it was decided. Turned out, she was right – they were really good. Dusted with lemony sumac and served with a garlic mousse, they disappeared very quickly. When our server returned, I had to ask about the dip – it was obviously packed with garlic, but what gave it the slightly creamy texture? "Potatoes," she replied. Genius! I've thickened soups with pureed vegetables before, but I hadn't thought of doing it with a dip. It's a great trick through – and a great way to cut out some of the fat when snacking. Sumac-Dusted Oven Fries with Garlic Spread serves 2-3 4 medium-sized russet potatoes 1 tablespoon olive oil salt 1 head garlic 2 tablespoons sumac Preheat oven to 350. Peel potatoes. Cut one potato in half and set aside one of the halves. Slice the remaining potatoes into 1/2-inch strips. Toss with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Bake 30-35 minutes, giving them a stir every 10 minutes or so. Roughly chop the reserved potato half. Bring to a boil in salted water and cook until soft. Drain and roughly mash with a fork. Meanwhile, make a paste with the head of garlic. Follow Emma's instructions here. Place garlic into a food processor or blender and add 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes and 2 tablespoons of water. Add a little more potato or water as necessary. You want the spread to come together, but it won't be super creamy.* When the fries are done, remove from oven and toss with sumac. Serve with spread on the side. *Note: Conceivably, you could skip the garlic paste process and toss the whole cloves into the blender or food processor with some salt. But this was the process I used (with a hand blender), with good results. To give credit where due, the recipe was inspired by a dish from Semiramis in Chicago. Related: Ingredient Spotlight: Sumac (Images: Joanna Miller)

 

 

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Tip: How To Make a Brown Roux

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Tip: How To Make a Brown Roux

via The Kitchn by Emma on 1/7/09

A good, slow-cooked brown roux is the cornerstone of many Cajun and Creole dishes. Cooking it so that the roux browns slowly without burning is half patience and half practice-makes-perfect. Here are two methods for making your own:

Because it's cooked for such a long time, most recipes for dark roux will have you use oil or lard instead of butter, which is prone to burning. It's also easiest and more efficient to make a large batch of brown roux, use what you need for the recipe, and then store the rest in an air-tight container. It keeps in the fridge for several weeks. Exact amounts of flour and fat for the roux will depend on the specific recipe, though the ratio of flour to fat is usually 1:1. Method #1: Stove-top This is the traditional method and how most recipes will tell you to make your roux. Start off in the traditional way by cooking the flour and fat over medium heat until they form a smooth paste. Next, lower the heat and cook until the roux is a dark, chocolate brown. Stir very frequently and scrape the bottom of the pot to avoid burning. This should take an hour or more. Method #2: Oven While not the traditional way of making brown roux, we feel that the oven method is easier and more fool-proof, plus you don't have to baby-sit the roux quite so closely. Preheat the oven to 375°. In a dutch oven or other oven-safe dish, start the roux on the stove-top by cooking the roux over medium heat until it forms a paste. Move the dish to the oven, uncovered, and cook for ten minutes. Stir the roux, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking and stirring every 10 minutes until the roux is a dark, chocolate brown. This should take an hour or more. Gumbo is definitely the most popular dish using a brown roux. Try these recipes: • Creole Gumbo from WSDU.com • Vegetarian Gumbo from 101 Cookbooks Related: Which is Better? Vegetable Oil vs. Olive Oil (Image: Flickr members Andrew Huff and Foeopoooey licensed under Creative Commons)

 

 

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How To Stock a Vegetarian (or Vegan) Pantry

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How To Stock a Vegetarian (or Vegan) Pantry

via The Kitchn by emily on 1/9/09

Alongside the usual savory and sweet items that every pantry needs, there are a few ingredients that are particularly useful for vegetarians or those wanting to eat more meatless meals. As a lifelong (since age five) vegetarian and sometime vegan, here are the items that I like to keep on hand for protein, texture, and flavor. Of course, each household's pantry will vary according to personal taste, ethnic background, and food allergies. Let us know what you would include in the comments.

• Beans. Though I like to keep a variety of dried or canned beans, I always make sure my pantry has at least two: lentils and chickpeas. Lentils cook quickly and are great additions to soups, pilafs, and salads. I like to throw chickpeas into pasta dishes and vegetable braises and stews. Pinto, black, kidney, and cannellini beans are also good to have on hand. • Tempeh. Once you know how to prepare it, tempeh can be one of the best staple sources of protein. It can be refrigerated for a week or two (check the date on the package) and will keep up to several months in the freezer. • Tofu. Like tempeh, tofu is not strictly a pantry item, but it's an essential for vegetarian kitchens. I like to keep blocks of refrigerated extra firm tofu for baking and frying, vacuum-packed silken tofu to blend into dressings and puddings, and dried tofu for soups and stir-fries. Stay tuned for a tofu post later this month. • Grains. Using a variety of grains lends nutrition, texture, flavor, and interest to vegetarian meals. I like to keep my pantry stocked with brown rice, white rice, quinoa, spelt, farro, millet, and bulgur. • Nuts. I always have almonds and cashews and try to keep pistachios and pine nuts around, too. Whole or chopped nuts can be used in salads and grain dishes. Ground nuts can add body to lasagna. And there's always pesto. Extend the life and freshness of nuts by keeping them in the freezer. • Dried fruits. Raisins, dried apricots, dates, etc. are not only great for snacking but they can add interest to grain dishes, vegetable braises, and sautéed greens. • Vegetable stock. I prefer to make stock from scratch and keep it in the freezer. But if you don't have the time or inclination, Better than Bouillon is a great option. • Nutritional yeast. I've sung the praises of nutritional yeast before, and it can be used in sauces, as a coating for tofu, and sprinkled on potatoes and popcorn. • Miso. I like to keep both light and dark miso paste in the refrigerator for different degrees of savoriness, but if I had to choose just one, it would be the mellow white variety. Miso makes excellent soup as well as dressings for salad, vegetables, and tofu. • Tahini. Tahini or sesame paste often works in conjunction with miso in my kitchen. A quick tahini-miso sauce (try adding lemon juice and garlic, too) can be poured over steamed vegetables, tofu, or tempeh for simple weeknight dinners. • Dried sea vegetables. I like to keep several kinds of seaweed, from sheets of nori that can be wrapped around rice and vegetables, to kelp/kombu that adds flavor to broth, to hijiki that can be reconstituted and used in salads and vegetable dishes. What else would you add to this list? Related: What Every Pantry Needs: Savory What Every Pantry Needs: Sweet Weekend Project: Stocking the Fridge Times Top 5: How to Stock Your Pantry in 2009 (Images: Emily Ho, Faith Durand, Flickr member FotoosVanRobin licensed under Creative Commons, Emily Ho)

 

 

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Pulled Beef

Mountain house

Pulled Beef

via Accidental Hedonist by Davekatz on 1/7/09

This is my first post for Accidental Hedonist and I'd like to thank Kate for this exciting opportunity.

My posts will focus on the joys of meat, particularly on the smoky goodness that happens when meat meets fire. From grilling ribeyes, to smoking pork butts, to roasting turkeys - there's just something special about what fire and smoke does to food and I hope to be able to share that here.

After cooking my way through several Weber kettle grills, I am now a devotee in the cult of the Big Green Egg. I've had a lot of fun putting this versatile ceramic cooker through its paces at my Food & Fire blog. I also maintain Gelina and Dave's Adventures, a site featuring a selection of our recipes, descriptions of some of our trips, and way too many cat photos.

After buying our last half of a beef, I discovered that our butcher had unhelpfully labeled all of the roasts as "Roast." Since now I'm never sure what I'm getting when I take one out of the deep freeze, I needed a roast recipe that would work as well for a top sirloin as it would for a chuck.

I decided to try making pulled beef. This low-and-slow barbecue approach is similar to the one used to make pulled pork, but because of the (relative) lack of fat and connective tissue in some beef roasts, this recipes adds a braising step to ensure that the meat is moist and tender.

I started with 2 medium beef roasts, about 7 pounds total. While this recipe would work well in an oven, I like the flavor that slow smoking adds. I used my Big Green Egg ceramic cooker, but this will work on any grill or smoker that can be set up for an indirect cook at 250 - 350°F for at least 8 hours.

While your grill is getting up to temperature, season the roasts with this simple rub:

Texas Beef Rub

4 tablespoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons sweet paprika

Combine the dry ingredients in a shaker-topped bottle and apply generously to the meat. Work the rub in with your hands, making sure to coat all sides of the roasts.

Put the roasts on a v-rack set in a shallow roasting pan and add an inch or so of water to the pan. If you have a remote thermometer, insert it into the thickest part of the smaller roast. If using a gas grill, place 2-4 cups of soaked hickory chunks in the smoker box. If using a charcoal grill, toss a fist-sized lump of hickory into the coals, and then set the pan full of beef away from the heat on the grill and close the lid.

Cook the roasts until the thermometer reaches 160°F. Remove the thermometer and put the roasts on a plate in a warm oven.

Braising Liquid

Strained pan juices with most of the fat skimmed off
1 cup red wine
1 cup barbecue sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic gloves, chopped
1/2 cup red or yellow pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon of fat from the pan juices.

Strain the juices that have accumulated in the roasting pan into a measuring cup. Chill until the fat separates. In a medium sauce pan, saute the onions, garlic, and pepper in the beef fat until soft. Add the wine, barbecue sauce, and pan juices. Cook over medium heat until it just begins to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for another 5-10 minutes.

Return the roasts to the roasting pan, but without the rack - just set them in directly the pan. Cover with the braising liquid. The liquid should come about half way up the meat. If it doesn't, add a little water or beef stock until it does.

Increase the grill temperature to 300°F. Re-insert the meat thermometer. Replenish the smoking wood and place pan full of beef away from the heat on the grill and close the lid. Cook until the thermometer reaches 210°F.

Remove from the grill and let the roasts rest in the pan for 20 minutes. Trim any fat and start pulling the beef apart with a fork or a pair of bear paws to separate the fibers. The idea is to remove all the remaining inedible bits, break the meat down into bite-sized pieces, and ensure an even distribution of the dark, chewy exterior. Add more barbecue sauce if the meat is too dry. Serve on cheap white buns with dill pickle slices.

Butternut Squash Penne

Main ingredients:

• Butternut squash
• Onion
• Italian parsley
• Garlic
• Ginger
  
• Chicken stock
• Grape tomato
  
• Spinach
• Flax seed
  

Seasonings:

• Salt/pepper
• Truffle oil
  

Roasted the butternut squash in olive oil, salt/pepper for an hour covered at 350.

In medium sauce pan, mixed squash, onion, ginger and garlic. Deglazed pan as necessary with chicken stock.

Placed contents of pan in food processor, added parsley, grape tomatoes and enough chicken stock to obtain consistency wanted.

In pan sautee for few minutes spinach, add penne noodles/sauce toss.

Garnish with grape tomato on top.

Likes:
Like the hardiness of it without it being fattening. Consistency is nice. The taste is there for it being such a healthy recipe.

Dislikes:
Tad bland, need to add more seasonings, needs to be a tinch more savory.

Improvements:
Shavings of a good sharp cheese on top while hot, red pepper flakes, use fennel, leek or shallot instead of a white onion. Garnish with a fresh bay leaf. Use heavy cream to make a more fluid sauce. Needs acid, dash of lemon juice. Also needs more Italian seasonings or fresh herbs (thyme, chives, basil, sage) Roasted garlic?

Bon Appetit: The New American Tavern

Gastro-tavern with a set menu at the tavern on the right and a daily inspired chef's table menu on the left.

Bon Appetit: The New American Tavern

via Chef Jonathon Sawyer by noreply@blogger.com (Chef's Widow) on 12/6/08

The New American Tavern

The Brits have gastropubs, the French have gastro-bistros, and now we have gastro-taverns—smart, casual spots serving excellent drinks and modern takes on American (and global) comfort foods. Think of them as burgers-and-beer joints for the foodie crowd.

By Andrew Knowlton

The Greenhouse Tavern Cleveland Chef-owner Jonathon Sawyer's soon-to-open downtown spot will be a certified "green" restaurant with a rooftop patio and a menu featuring comfort foods with a pedigree, like dry-aged Ohio lamb saddle and roasted Tea Hills chicken. 2038 East Fourth Street; 216-393-4302