Recipe: Carpaccio with Sprout Salad

Thought I'd share a recipe from Alton Brown's Good Eats for Beef Capaccio. I've made it a few times now and it doesn't disappoint (even though the butcher's mangling of our tenderloin did). The original recipe can be found here.

One thing this recipe doesn't mention is quickly pan searing the roast before placing it in the freezer. Yeah I know, Carpaccio's supposed to be raw, but with the paranoia of today's consumer, it's better safe than sorry. Quickly pan searing all sides helps to kill off any bacteria that may be on the outside of the meat (surface area is typically where all the buggers are). I also find that after pounding it out, the meat has a more dynamic aesthetic with small ring of cooked meat around the edge (it's like the pink ring found on smoked meats). You can omit the searing if you'd like, if not, get out a heavy (preferably cast iron) pan, and heat up a bit of extra virgin olive oil (medium-high). Salt and pepper the meat on all sides (I'm pretty liberal with the salt on this particular dish). Quickly sear all sides (a minute or less on each side, even the ends). It shouldn't take much time to cool, and you proceed with the plastic wrap as per the original recipe.

Because we've had an over abundance of sprouts this week, I opted for a alfalfa salad instead of arugala, and because we had some left over aged provolone that was used instead of Parmesan. In addition to the sprouts, I added some carrots and green beans. I tried something different with the green beans, I used the vegetable peeler to create thin slices (ribbons?). It turned out surprisingly well.

My wife topped hers with a drizzle of olive oil, and I used a drizzle of Balsamic vinegar. We don't make 4 servings the way the recipe suggests, in fact, I just wing it when it comes to the amount of meat. It was about 3-4 inches of the tenderloin this last time. Keep in mind the sliced pre-pounded beef rounds were very small considering the crap cleaning job the "butcher" did. Still bitter, I suppose. From now on we're cleaning the meat at the house, at least if we mess it up we can learn from the experience.

Recipe: Cucumber Salad with Alfalfa Sprouts

So we've had more sprouts than we've known what to do with this week, so I've been getting inventive. Peanut butter and sprouts was a pretty significant failure, but I felt my cucumber salad turned out exceptional. It's a take on a recipe that my mother used to make, with the addition of sprouts and some fresh herbs (something I don't remember too much of growing up):

Ingredients:

• 1/5 peeled cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• A small handful (6 or so) of cherry tomatoes, chopped
• A small bunch of alfalfa sprouts (1/4 cup-ish)
• A sprig of fresh basil, rough chopped
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh dill, chopped
• 2-3 Tbsp of sour cream
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in a bowl
2. Cover and refrigerate
3. Enjoy!

It's a pretty single recipe that packs a lot of fresh / cool flavor.

Recipe: Black Beans and Rice

One of my favorite dishes and quite possibly one of the best things I make are black beans. For the past 5 years or so I've followed just about the same recipe every time with little tweaks here and there to satisfy my palette. Unfortunately, all this time I've been using canned black beans, typically Goya brand and most recently Bush's brand (they seem to be firmer). That all changed recently with the usage of dried black beans from the Whole Foods Market. Now I always make my lima beans from dried beans and they always turn out excellent. The last time I used a smaller bean was when I made BBQ backed beans 3 years ago. They turned out awful and I've stayed away from smaller beans until now.

Ingredients:

• 1/2-3/4 lb. dried black beans
• 1/2 of a red pepper
• 1/2 of a poblano pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 packets of Sazon
• 1 tsp dried oregano or Italian herb blend
• 1 Tbsp vinegar (cider or malt work well)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• chicken stock or water

Directions:

1. The night before I make the beans, I wash them and spot check for rocks and debris
2. Place the beans into a large pot and cover with chicken stock or water, add in a packet of Sazon and bring to a boil
3. Boil for 10 minutes and then remove them from the heat
4. Once cooled, place the beans in the fridge until the next day
5. Now the next day, I like to cook the beans for a good couple of hours if not more, so plan accordingly. Also, some folks would recommend draining off the liquid the beans have been soaking in. I typically do that for lima beans, but find the black beans to not be as grainy tasting so I leave the liquid in the pot
6. Finely chop your vegetables (peppers, onion and garlic)
7. In a skillet, heat your oil and sauté your veggies for 10 minutes or until tender
8. Dump the veggies into your pot of beans and add some more water or stock to make sure everything is covered and throw in the second packet of Sazon
9. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a light simmer
10. I let it simmer for a couple of hours (the longer the better with beans IMHO) checking and stirring periodically, adding water as necessary. Add salt & pepper to taste as well
11. 10 minutes or so before serving I add in the oregano and vinegar and turn the heat up a bit

You can pull off the same recipe with canned beans, just omit the longer cooking times, and prep work for the beans. The poblano can be omitted if you're scared of any heat at all (I find the poblano imparts more flavor than actual heat, which works for my wife and daughter) or hotter peppers can be substituted as well. It's like chili, play with it until you're happy with it.

Serve over a bed of rice. I occasionally top with chopped white onion and sometimes some Louisiana hot sauce. Last night I pulled a habanero out of my pickle jar and enjoyed that for some added heat. My wife likes the beans with cheese, not my cup of tea, but you may try it and like it!

Why am I not allowed to eat peanut butter?

So today at lunch I was toasting my PB&J in the toaster oven (my wife's recommendation, and a damn fine one at that). Well when I went to pull it out of the oven this lady saw what I had and said "is that peanut butter? you're not supposed to be eating that". Well it didn't dawn on me that she was referring to the Salmonella outbreak, so my response was "why can't I eat peanut butter? I'm not allergic". She then informed me about the Salmonella outbreak and confirmed my suspicions that people drastically overreact to things and hide behind a veil of paranoia. Just to remind everyone, not all peanut butter / peanuty products are involved in the recent recall. In fact, I couldn't find any major brands of peanut butter (available in my area) on the recall list. Unfortunately, the current fiasco is going to result in a lot of folks not eating peanut butter for a long time, same thing happened with spinach and tomatoes not too long ago if you remember. Educate yourself folks and check the recall list to put your mind at ease. And please, remember something very important... if you've already eaten half of a jar of peanut butter sitting in your pantry, it's probably safe ;) All of this has sparked my interest in growing peanuts and making my own peanut butter (seems easy enough based on this wikiHow entry.

Recipe: Chicken Sorta Cordon Bleu

Even though our pizza's were a bit excessive in price due to the ingredients, we were able to disperse the costs over a few meals. One of which was my wife's take on Chicken Cordon Bleu using prosciutto instead of ham, Fontina instead of Swiss cheese and brushing some pesto inside the chicken. Come to find out, Tyler Florence has a similar recipe that my wife used as a guide. His recipe used Gruyere instead of both Swiss and Fontina. Experimenting with ingredients can yield excellent results (unless you're swapping peanut butter for anchovies or something like that).

Tyler Florence's Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe

Recipe: Fiery Death Pickles

A few years ago I started dabbling with refrigerator pickles after seeing an episode of Good Eats on the Food Network. Fridge pickles aren't fermented, the juice is brought to a boil and then poured over the unsuspecting cukes, then refrigerated for a week or so (assuming you can wait that long). Since then I've dabbled a lot with Alton Brown's recipe to get the flavors that I prefer, and funny enough, got some ideas from Bobby Flay's spicy pickle recipe as well. I like a very very sour or just slightly sweet dill pickle, and as of the last few batches, I've taken a fancy to spicier pickles by using habaneros. Now the last batch of pickles I made was over 2 years ago, my reasoning is that I simply haven't been happy with the cucumbers at the grocery store. Since we've started buying our vegetables nearly exclusively at the local farmer's markets, that's all changed. Just to warn everyone, I don't measure any of the dry ingredients out and I do end up with some extra juice. The following recipe is for my "Fiery Death Pickles" but can be altered to taste (e.g. 86 the habaneros if you don't like it hot).

Ingredients:

• 2 Regular Cucumbers, I stay away from the pickling variety (no real reason except availability). 2 should be enough for 1 mason jar if sliced into rounds, you may have a little left over for salads or what not.
• Vinegar, 1 cup Apple Cider and 1/2 cup White. I've used white wine vinegar instead of white before, can't say I can tell a difference.
• 1/4 cup Onion, any kind really.
• Couple cloves of garlic
• Habaneros, I use 3 per mason jar, it's hot but not unbearable. I cut the top off, seed it, and then flower it to be fancy ;)
• 1 cup Water, tap is fine
• 3 Tbsp Fresh Dill (rough chop)
• 3 Tbsp Fresh Cilantro (rough chop, thanks Bobby Flay!)
• 1 Tbsp Pickling Seasoning (I may start omitting this to cut some of the sweetness)
• 1 tsp each Celery Seed, Coriander Seed, Cumin Seed, Dill Seed, Mustard Seed, Tumeric
• 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• and 2 Tbsp Sugar

Directions:

1. I start by cleaning my mason jar out and prepping my veggies
2. Chopped onion, garlic, dill and cilantro go in the bottom of the jar
3. Next I add the cucumbers, skin on, sliced into rounds and throw in a habanero every couple of layers. You can really pack them in there if you put your mind to it
4. Once the jar is prepped I combine all the wet ingredients (water and vinegars) and all of the dry spices into a pot on the stove and bring it to a boil
5. You only need to boil the mixture for a few minutes (5 or so) to excite the dry ingredients.
6. At this point, I transfer the mixture to a measuring cup with a spout so I don't make a total mess. From there I slowly pour the mixture into the jar.
7. Once it's filled up, let it sit for a few minutes. Check up on it, and it should need some more liquid as it will settle in better. Add more and repeat until it stops settling.
8. Since I love to hear the pop of a fresh jar of pickles, I put the top on while it's still hot and let it cool on the counter, and then in the fridge. This cooling process will typically depress the button.
9. Give it 5 to 7 days and then enjoy yourself a pickle! My typical routine is to "test" them every day to see how they are progressing, and because I have a hard time waiting

Like I said before, adjust the recipe accordingly and you'll have yourself a perfect recipe for yourself in no time! I must warn everyone though, I wouldn't share your pickles, we had guests over last night and I made that mistake. The rest of the night I kept being asked if we could "try" some more pickles. As a good host I was willing... but seriously, I don't like giving up my pickles!

Next batch of pickles I make, I plan to switch gears from refrigerator pickles to actual fermented dill pickles. Should be interesting!

Recipe: Pizza with Pesto, Fontina, Prosciutto and Spinach

I'd like to start off by saying that I'm not a baker, nor do I care for working with dough. But, for some reason, I am always the one that ends up getting my fingers dirty (soda bread, pizza dough, et cetera). Tonight was no exception with a family pizza night (my wife calls it artisan pizza night). The choice of pizza toppings came from an Emeril Live episode where he made Pizza with prosciutto, arugula and Fontina cheese. My recipe is close but I also swapped out marinara for pesto. All of our ingredients were purchased at the local farmer's and Italian markets.

Ingredients:

• Pizza Dough (you can make it, we opted to buy it fresh)
• Herb (Basil) Pesto
• Prosciutto
• Fresh Spinach
• Fontina Cheese (if you grate yourself, you may need to pop it in the freezer to firm it up first)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. I started with the ingredients by cutting my dough into smaller pieces, and rolling it out. I'm not much for making round pizza so any ol' shape will do as long as it's to the thickness you like.
3. I hit the bottom of a large cookie sheet with some corn meal and laid out the dough.
4. Drizzle the dough with some olive oil and bake for about 8 minutes. Just enough to firm it up a bit.
5. Once you pull the pizza from the oven, it's time to dress them up. Pesto on the bottom, Fontina next, then some spinach leaves and all topped off with some pieces of prosciutto.
6. Back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so until the cheese is melted, the spinach is wilted and the prosciutto is crisp.

Overall the meal was in moderation when it came to the portions, but overall the price was a little high (not nearly as excessive as California Pizza Kitchen's prices). We paid for convenience with the pesto and the Fontina and prosciutto both were a bit high compared to say Mozzarella and pepperoni. It did make for damn good pizzas though.

Recipe: Candied Ginger

I'm a bit down by the fact that some of my tomato plants appear to be succumbing too the over watering by nature recently (although I watered one plant thinking that perhaps my recent lack of watering to help them dry out is the issue). At any rate, I decided to take the left over ginger in the fridge and candy it. I found a pretty easy recipe online on about.com but I'll regurgitate it here for convenience, and I didn't follow the recipe exact, so sue me.

First and foremost, this candy recipe doesn't require a thermometer, how cool is that?

Ingredients:

• Fresh ginger (any amount will due, I used the left overs from a 4 oz. package)
• Sugar (the amount will vary based on the ginger used, see below)
• Water

Directions:

1. Peel and cut the ginger into thin slices
2. Place the ginger in a pot, and cover with water
3. Lightly boil the ginger until tender, took about 45 minutes for me to be pleased with the tenderness
4. Drain and dry (lightly pat, I placed mine in a paper towel and squeezed lightly)
5. Weigh the ginger
6. Add the ginger and an equal weight of sugar back to the pot (mine was just over an ounce)
7. Add a few tablespoons of water (the original recipe said 3, and that's what I did, but it seemed like a bit much considering the recipe was for 16 ounces of fresh ginger)
8. Bring the pot back to a point stirring every once in a while. Keep boiling until most of the water is evaporated
9. Reduce heat and keep stirring, the mixture will eventually get very dry
10. Dump the ginger out and separate (I used wax paper)
11. The original recipe said to toss the cooled ginger in sugar. I skipped this step as there was a good amount of excess sugar in the pot / stuck to the ginger
12. Let it cool and enjoy!

Super simple and very yummy, sweetness paired with the spice / bite of the ginger. I may end up eating it all before my wife gets home from the book store ;)

Recipe: Berries and Goat Cheese

My wife and I put a very simple snack together last night, fresh berries with goat cheese. The berries we used were raspberries (like 8-10) and strawberries (3 diced) along with about an inch of plain goat cheese. A sprinkle of gray salt on the cheese and you're ready to go. Best part is, even with the cheese, it's still a fairly low in calories, something I've been attempting to lower as a means of "dieting".

A rough calorie breakdown is as follows:

Strawberries x3 = 18*
Raspberries x10 = 10*
Goat cheese 1 inch = 90**

* As per thecaloriecounter.com
** As per fitday.com

118 calories split across two people, so <60 calories each! Oh and it tasted good too.

Recipe: Homemade Bread Crumbs

In an attempt to make the most of all of our food, I've adjusted the way I do things in the kitchen. I love a good sandwich on a sub roll. I also love the boat cut (remember the way Subway used to do it?) when making a sandwich. As of recently, I've been modifying the boat cut and dredging part of the inner bread out to make room for yummy yummy meat. Well last night I made what is quite possibly the last modification. Instead of cutting the bread close to the middle, I cut it closer to the top, about 25% of the way down. From that, I dredged out the middle leaving about a half inch of bread. Like any red blooded American, I love bread, so guess where all the refuse goes? Right, in my belly. Well this time around, I opted to save all the refuse to make bread crumbs. The sandwiches were spectacular (roast beef and provolone) and nothing went to waste. My wife actually made the bread crumbs, it was inspired by her new favorite celebrity chef Nathan Lyon (A Lyon in the Kitchen on Discovery Health). The bread crumbs will be used this week for a dish that was already planned out (some sort of scalloped potato type dish with squash and zucchini).

Ingredients List:

• Fresh bread, sans the crust, broken apart a bit (use your hands)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Any ol' fresh herbs you have laying around (we used rosemary from the garden)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Place the bread on a cookie sheet and drizzle with oil
3. Salt and pepper to taste
4. Add the herbs to the pan (to impart their flavor(s))
5. Bake for 15 minutes or so
6. Once they cool, crush them up
7. Enjoy!

Funny enough, some of the pieces of bread still ended up back in my stomach straight from the cookie sheet.