My roommate Kelley and I split a giant plate of lamb stew, piled high with mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, greens, and carrots at O'Neill's a few times during my last stay in Dublin. If you ask me, lamb stew is superior to most stews, and I'm not exactly sure why. Also, if you ask me, it smells a little funky cooking up, but Spouse doesn't think so. I think the difference of our opinion stems from the fact that I know what the sheep part of the barn smells like, and there's an element of that odor that's embedded in the meat. Same with pork sometimes, but anyway. Rather than go on and on about smelly animals, and put you off the idea entirely, let me encourage you to make this stew since it's easy, cheap, and unbelievably delicious.
For 4 servings:
2 Lamb shoulder chops ($2.50 or less apiece!)
3 small or 1 1/2 medium onions
2 carrots
3-4 red potatoes
a few cups of water, plus 1 can of some kind of broth (I used chicken in spite of inter-species weirdness this suggests)
a couple sprigs of rosemary
Cut the chops into bite-size chunks and season with salt and pepper. There are bones in these things, so instead of cutting the meat off the bone very carefully while it's raw, just cut roughly around the bone and throw it in the pot with the rest.
In a soup pot over medium-high heat, brown the chunks of lamb in a little bit of olive oil. Let the pieces get nice and brown before you stir them around.
Cut the onions into bite-size chunks and throw those in.
When the meat is browned, scoot it off to the side, and if there's not enough fat in the bottom of the pot to make a roux, pour in a little bit more olive oil. Sprinkle a bit of flour into the fat, like a tablespoon or so, and scrape it around with a fork until it gets a little brown. Pour in a cup or so of water and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Pour in more water, and/or broth, enough to cover the meat, as well as the carrots and potatoes you're about to put in. More liquid means it'll be more soupy, less stewy, so add a little at a time if you're not sure.
Chop the carrots and potatoes into similarly-sized chunks and throw those in along with the rosemary. I usually put carrots in ahead of potatoes since they take a little bit longer to cook, but everything's going to fall apart in the stew anyway, so it doesn't really matter.
Bring it all to a boil, then let it simmer for an hour or so, until the meat is really tender. If the liquid part of the stew isn't as thick as you'd like, mix a tablespoon or so of cornstarch with a little cold water, and stir that in. Do NOT just dump cornstarch into the stew, because you'll never get it to dissolve.
Fish out the bones and the woody stalks left over from the rosemary before serving.
Note: the shoulder cut, whether it's lamb or pork or beef or whatever, requires a long cooking time in liquid to be edible. Pick out a piece of lamb after a while and see if it's tender--if not, let it go a while longer.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
I know my chicken, you got to know your chicken*
Brine That Chicken!
Take a 3.5-ish pound chicken, remove giblets and whatever else the meat packer people decided to stuff in the cavity, and rinse that bad boy. Let it hang out in the sink while you do the following:
Bring 2-ish cups of water to a boil. Pour in 1/2 cup salt, and like 1/4 to 1/3 cup brown sugar. I scooped it out of the canister with my (clean) fingers, so I'm not sure about the measure. I suggest 1/4 cup. Stir until that's all dissolved. Dump in some peppercorns, like 1 tablespoon or so, and a bay leaf or two, plus whatever herbs you like. I'm always partial to rosemary so I snipped off a couple sprigs and also dumped in about a tablespoon of dried thyme. Stick your head over the water and smell it. This is what your chicken will taste like, so if you don't like it, start over with the water, salt, and sugar.
Dump a bunch of ice in a big stock pot, or a bowl that's big enough for the chicken to hang out in completely submerged. Pour the hot brining liquid over it, and stir it around so it cools off completely. The recipes all say you should refrigerate this so it's totally chilled before you put the bird in, but I see no reason to wait if it's chilled down so much that the ice cubes won't melt anymore.
Submerge the chicken in the brine, and set it in the fridge for at least an hour, and up to 4 or 5 hours. I think we went just over 4 hours, and that was enough.
Preheat oven to 425 F (200-215 C).
After all that's done, take the chicken out and rinse it off well to get all the bits of herb off of it. Dry it off completely or the skin won't crisp and get brown, and stuff it with a quartered onion, and maybe some garlic too if you're into that sort of thing. I like to cut little slits in that flabby skin that hangs around the cavity, criss-cross the legs, and tuck the ends into the slits so it stays sort of trussed up in its own anatomy, and bend the wing tips behind its shoulders. Slather some olive oil on the skin, and throw on some ground pepper.
Set it in the roasting pan of your choice, and let it go for an hour or so, or until the meaty part of the thigh registers 170 F (75 C). Take it out of the oven and let it sit around for 15 minutes or so, then carve away.
It's just too good.
*Title courtesy Cibo Matto, song still stuck in my head from ten years ago...
Take a 3.5-ish pound chicken, remove giblets and whatever else the meat packer people decided to stuff in the cavity, and rinse that bad boy. Let it hang out in the sink while you do the following:
Bring 2-ish cups of water to a boil. Pour in 1/2 cup salt, and like 1/4 to 1/3 cup brown sugar. I scooped it out of the canister with my (clean) fingers, so I'm not sure about the measure. I suggest 1/4 cup. Stir until that's all dissolved. Dump in some peppercorns, like 1 tablespoon or so, and a bay leaf or two, plus whatever herbs you like. I'm always partial to rosemary so I snipped off a couple sprigs and also dumped in about a tablespoon of dried thyme. Stick your head over the water and smell it. This is what your chicken will taste like, so if you don't like it, start over with the water, salt, and sugar.
Dump a bunch of ice in a big stock pot, or a bowl that's big enough for the chicken to hang out in completely submerged. Pour the hot brining liquid over it, and stir it around so it cools off completely. The recipes all say you should refrigerate this so it's totally chilled before you put the bird in, but I see no reason to wait if it's chilled down so much that the ice cubes won't melt anymore.
Submerge the chicken in the brine, and set it in the fridge for at least an hour, and up to 4 or 5 hours. I think we went just over 4 hours, and that was enough.
Preheat oven to 425 F (200-215 C).
After all that's done, take the chicken out and rinse it off well to get all the bits of herb off of it. Dry it off completely or the skin won't crisp and get brown, and stuff it with a quartered onion, and maybe some garlic too if you're into that sort of thing. I like to cut little slits in that flabby skin that hangs around the cavity, criss-cross the legs, and tuck the ends into the slits so it stays sort of trussed up in its own anatomy, and bend the wing tips behind its shoulders. Slather some olive oil on the skin, and throw on some ground pepper.
Set it in the roasting pan of your choice, and let it go for an hour or so, or until the meaty part of the thigh registers 170 F (75 C). Take it out of the oven and let it sit around for 15 minutes or so, then carve away.
It's just too good.
*Title courtesy Cibo Matto, song still stuck in my head from ten years ago...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Brown Bread!
It's not the super-dark, super-chunky brown bread I really, really love, but it is good. If you've never had the pleasure of going to Ireland and learning to adjust your vocabulary, "brown bread" is simply whole wheat bread. Black coffee is black coffee, but coffee with milk in it is white coffee. They're big on colors, I think. Anyway, here's a nice low round loaf of the brown bread exactly like what I got at the B&B in Thurles for breakfast:
2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Blend in the chunks of butter either with a pastry blender or by smushing the butter together with the flour mixture with your fingertips. I prefer the fingertip method, as it seems to go quite a bit faster and with less effort.
When it resembles coarse meal, make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Mix the wet and dry together gradually until it makes a dough.
At this point you can take it out and knead it for a few minutes on a floured surface until it's smooth, but it works just as well if you knead it with one hand in the bowl it's in (provided it's big enough). I'm always on the lookout for ways to cut down on the mess.
Press the dough into a 9" cake pan, buttered if it's not nonstick. With a sharp knife, cut a 1/2" deep "X" across the top and chuck it in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until it's lightly browned on top.
Cool it on a rack in the pan for a few minutes before popping it out. Cool for a half hour or more before slicing.
2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Blend in the chunks of butter either with a pastry blender or by smushing the butter together with the flour mixture with your fingertips. I prefer the fingertip method, as it seems to go quite a bit faster and with less effort.
When it resembles coarse meal, make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Mix the wet and dry together gradually until it makes a dough.
At this point you can take it out and knead it for a few minutes on a floured surface until it's smooth, but it works just as well if you knead it with one hand in the bowl it's in (provided it's big enough). I'm always on the lookout for ways to cut down on the mess.
Press the dough into a 9" cake pan, buttered if it's not nonstick. With a sharp knife, cut a 1/2" deep "X" across the top and chuck it in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until it's lightly browned on top.
Cool it on a rack in the pan for a few minutes before popping it out. Cool for a half hour or more before slicing.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sorta Saltimbocca
Now watch Rachael Ray steal that title from me. Sounds very Rachael Ray-esque, does it not? Anyway, here's the story. I perused the contents of the fridge last night (it being a fridge in a small Dublin apartment--is there any other kind?--it's exceptionally small, so it took no time at all) and did the calculus of expiration dates. Most things don't keep nearly as long here, which tends to retrain your attitudes towards portion sizes (no leftovers, please) and grocery-shopping schedules. Kelley had bought a 4-pack of chicken breasts, a pack of prosciutto di Parma, and had some mozzarella hanging around in the back, all of which was approaching obsolescence quickly. I didn't pay for these groceries, and normally I stay well away of what's not mine; but in this case it's more appropriate to use what's there than let it go to waste just so I can claim good roommate behavior. So here's what I did:
I took out one of the breasts, pounded it flat with a pan (boy did that hurt...har, har), salt and pepper, then took a couple chunks of mozzarella and a couple slices of prosciutto and laid them in the middle, then folded the flattened chicken over and around it.
And then I browned the whole tasty little package in a nonstick skillet with olive oil. Ta-da!
You have to be good about not cooking on too high a heat, lest the chicken burn on the outside and stay raw on the inside, and browning it pretty well on both sides, then putting the lid on and taking it off the heat for 10 minutes or so seemed to produce perfect results. Or you could brown it to your preference and chuck it in the oven for 10-15 minutes to finish. It all depends on the thickness of the chicken, I guess.
I took out one of the breasts, pounded it flat with a pan (boy did that hurt...har, har), salt and pepper, then took a couple chunks of mozzarella and a couple slices of prosciutto and laid them in the middle, then folded the flattened chicken over and around it.
And then I browned the whole tasty little package in a nonstick skillet with olive oil. Ta-da!
You have to be good about not cooking on too high a heat, lest the chicken burn on the outside and stay raw on the inside, and browning it pretty well on both sides, then putting the lid on and taking it off the heat for 10 minutes or so seemed to produce perfect results. Or you could brown it to your preference and chuck it in the oven for 10-15 minutes to finish. It all depends on the thickness of the chicken, I guess.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Apple cake
You need a 9" springform pan for this one. And some apples that are good for baking, like the tart, sort of dry ones.
Preheat oven to 400. Peel, core, and slice 4 medium or 5 small apples into wedges, 10-12 wedges per apple.
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 T baking powder
1/8 t. salt
Put the above in a bowl and whisk it around to mix.
2 eggs
1/3 c. milk
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 t. vanilla
Put the above in a small bowl and mix.
Put the wet and dry ingredients together. Fold in the apple wedges. The object of this game is to coat the apple wedges thoroughly. Pour the batter into the greased springform pan. IMPORTANT: put the springform pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips. You may think that the springform pan seals well enough to prevent dribbling out the bottom, but you'd be wrong. And then you'd race downstairs at the smell of burning something-or-other only to discover your mistake. Your smelly, smelly mistake.
Bake 25 minutes or so, until it's golden and firm on top. In the meantime, whip up the custard topping:
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
3 T melted butter
Mix all this together well and pour over the cake. Stick it back in the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the custard is set.
Cool on a rack, and dive in. No ice cream required for this one...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Sauce from fresh tomatoes
I've never had really good results with my marinara made from fresh tomatoes, but that's because I never thought to add carrots. We're inundated with Romas at the moment (tomatoes, not the people), and the best way to use up a gob of them is to do the sauce. Here's an estimation of the very successful sauce I made yesterday:
Roma tomatoes
Diced onions
Chopped garlic
Finely grated carrots
Tomato paste
Salt
Oregano and/or Basil (dried seemed to work better)
1. Fill a large-ish pot with water and bring to a boil. Prepare a large-ish ice bath on the side. Cut a small "X" in the end of each tomato, and drop them into the boiling water, being careful not to burn the hell out of yourself in the process. Let them roll around in the water until you start to see the skin split up the side, pluck them out of the boiling water, and drop them in the ice bath until cool enough to handle. Peel the skin off each tomato and set aside.
2. When all your tomatoes are through that process, core, seed, and dice them. It's a little time-consuming to get all the seeds out, but it's worth it if you're a little fastidious about seeds and wateriness in your sauce, which I am.
3. In a pot big enough to hold all your tomatoes, heat some olive oil and dump in as much diced onion as you like. I ended up with about 5 cups of tomatoes, and I used 1 1/2 small-ish yellow onions, diced. Saute the onions until they start to go translucent, then drop in a few cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped. I always sprinkle in a little crushed red pepper at this point as well.
4. Finely grate a carrot (less or more, depending on the amount of tomatoes), and dump that in to soften. After a couple of minutes, add 1/4 cup or so of tomato paste. Both of these ingredients will give the sauce a richness more than a sweetness, but will take that acidic raw flavor out of the tomatoes. Smush the paste around to warm it through and brown a little on the bottom of the pan.
5. Add the tomatoes and a good amount of salt. I sprinkled directly from the big salt container, probably 1/2 t. or more. Do the same with oregano and basil (I prefer a combination of the two rather than just straight basil, which is too sweet for me). You can always add more of these, but you can't take them away, so while the tomatoes cook down, taste the sauce every now and then and adjust.
6. Let the sauce cook down until the tomatoes are losing their shape and getting all saucy, maybe an hour or more. As for yield, I started with 20 tomatoes and ended up with two 1/2-quart containers.
Roma tomatoes
Diced onions
Chopped garlic
Finely grated carrots
Tomato paste
Salt
Oregano and/or Basil (dried seemed to work better)
1. Fill a large-ish pot with water and bring to a boil. Prepare a large-ish ice bath on the side. Cut a small "X" in the end of each tomato, and drop them into the boiling water, being careful not to burn the hell out of yourself in the process. Let them roll around in the water until you start to see the skin split up the side, pluck them out of the boiling water, and drop them in the ice bath until cool enough to handle. Peel the skin off each tomato and set aside.
2. When all your tomatoes are through that process, core, seed, and dice them. It's a little time-consuming to get all the seeds out, but it's worth it if you're a little fastidious about seeds and wateriness in your sauce, which I am.
3. In a pot big enough to hold all your tomatoes, heat some olive oil and dump in as much diced onion as you like. I ended up with about 5 cups of tomatoes, and I used 1 1/2 small-ish yellow onions, diced. Saute the onions until they start to go translucent, then drop in a few cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped. I always sprinkle in a little crushed red pepper at this point as well.
4. Finely grate a carrot (less or more, depending on the amount of tomatoes), and dump that in to soften. After a couple of minutes, add 1/4 cup or so of tomato paste. Both of these ingredients will give the sauce a richness more than a sweetness, but will take that acidic raw flavor out of the tomatoes. Smush the paste around to warm it through and brown a little on the bottom of the pan.
5. Add the tomatoes and a good amount of salt. I sprinkled directly from the big salt container, probably 1/2 t. or more. Do the same with oregano and basil (I prefer a combination of the two rather than just straight basil, which is too sweet for me). You can always add more of these, but you can't take them away, so while the tomatoes cook down, taste the sauce every now and then and adjust.
6. Let the sauce cook down until the tomatoes are losing their shape and getting all saucy, maybe an hour or more. As for yield, I started with 20 tomatoes and ended up with two 1/2-quart containers.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Rustic Plum Cake
I know you're thinking, "Plums? In a cake? Nah, I'll just have the standard chocolate-with-chocolate frosting." Well, my friend, you would've made the wrong choice. This cake is super good, and easy to boot, since you make the batter in a food processor. The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated, but I ran short on, or didn't have some ingredients, so I improvised.
2T red currant or seedless raspberry jam (I had huckleberry jam from the mother-in-law's trip through Montana)
3T brandy (I used water--you basically just need something to dilute the jam to make syrup)
1 pound Italian prune plums, halved and pitted (This is about 12 plums. Italian plums are the little sort of oblong ones)
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. slivered almonds (I didn't have quite enough, so I filled out the amount with walnuts, no harm done)
3/4 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
6T unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. almond extract (optional: I left it out)
1. Cook jam and brandy/water in a 10-inch skillet 2-3 minutes until reduced to a thick syrup. They say to use nonstick, but I don't have one of those, and my regular old stainless-steel worked fine. Remove skillet from heat and place the plums cut-side down in the syrup. Return skillet to medium heat and cook until plums start to release their juices and a thick syrup forms again, about 5 minutes. While this is going on, shake the pan a few times to keep the plums from sticking. Cool plums in the pan while you make the batter.
2. Put oven rack in the middle and preheat to 350. Grease and flour a 9" springform pan. If you don't have a springform pan, just use a regular 9" cake pan like I did, but make sure you cover all inside surfaces well in the greasing-and-flouring process.
3. In a food processor, process almonds and sugar together until the nuts are finely ground. Add flour, baking powder, and salt, and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand, about ten 1-second pulses. This may take a little longer if, like me, you were impatient and didn't let the butter soften enough. Add eggs, vanilla, and almond extract (if you're using it), and process until smooth, about 5 seconds, scraping the bowl if necessary. This batter is quite thick.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and spread it around evenly with a spatula. You really have to make sure you keep the batter ahead of the spatula and push it to the edges of the pan. Now, for the plums! Stir them around a bit to get them coated with syrup. By hand, or with a spoon, place the plums one at a time into the batter, cut side up. 12 should be just enough to cover the surface with two concentric circles and one in the middle.
5. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a wooden skewer or toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached. If you used a cake pan like I did, let the cake cool for 15-30 min. before you do the magic flip. Invert a dinner plate or cooling rack or other big flat surface onto the pan, then flip both over so the cake falls out upside down onto the plate. Repeat with a serving platter so the cake ends up right side up and ready to serve. Dust it with some confectioner's sugar while you're at it.
2T red currant or seedless raspberry jam (I had huckleberry jam from the mother-in-law's trip through Montana)
3T brandy (I used water--you basically just need something to dilute the jam to make syrup)
1 pound Italian prune plums, halved and pitted (This is about 12 plums. Italian plums are the little sort of oblong ones)
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. slivered almonds (I didn't have quite enough, so I filled out the amount with walnuts, no harm done)
3/4 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
6T unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. almond extract (optional: I left it out)
1. Cook jam and brandy/water in a 10-inch skillet 2-3 minutes until reduced to a thick syrup. They say to use nonstick, but I don't have one of those, and my regular old stainless-steel worked fine. Remove skillet from heat and place the plums cut-side down in the syrup. Return skillet to medium heat and cook until plums start to release their juices and a thick syrup forms again, about 5 minutes. While this is going on, shake the pan a few times to keep the plums from sticking. Cool plums in the pan while you make the batter.
2. Put oven rack in the middle and preheat to 350. Grease and flour a 9" springform pan. If you don't have a springform pan, just use a regular 9" cake pan like I did, but make sure you cover all inside surfaces well in the greasing-and-flouring process.
3. In a food processor, process almonds and sugar together until the nuts are finely ground. Add flour, baking powder, and salt, and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand, about ten 1-second pulses. This may take a little longer if, like me, you were impatient and didn't let the butter soften enough. Add eggs, vanilla, and almond extract (if you're using it), and process until smooth, about 5 seconds, scraping the bowl if necessary. This batter is quite thick.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and spread it around evenly with a spatula. You really have to make sure you keep the batter ahead of the spatula and push it to the edges of the pan. Now, for the plums! Stir them around a bit to get them coated with syrup. By hand, or with a spoon, place the plums one at a time into the batter, cut side up. 12 should be just enough to cover the surface with two concentric circles and one in the middle.
5. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a wooden skewer or toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached. If you used a cake pan like I did, let the cake cool for 15-30 min. before you do the magic flip. Invert a dinner plate or cooling rack or other big flat surface onto the pan, then flip both over so the cake falls out upside down onto the plate. Repeat with a serving platter so the cake ends up right side up and ready to serve. Dust it with some confectioner's sugar while you're at it.
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