Resuming posts after a too long absence

Nearly four years since my last post. Way too long. But with a new year and a newly invigorated series of cooking lessons we've decided to restart the blog. The focus is now on our monthly dinners where we are exploring new cuisines through my cooking classes. They run the range from pizza to Persian to pupusas. Not everything will be a success. But such is life.  Stay tuned!

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Irish Soda Bread

Ok, so this is late, I'm fully aware of that, but at least its up! St. Patrick's Day is known for two thing: the color green and corned beef and cabbage. I've never made it before, so figured I had to for the blog.


Ingredients

• 2 stalks celery, halved
• 4 carrots
• 1 medium onion, cut in 4 wedges
• 4 to 6 red potatoes, quartered
• 4-pound corned beef brisket
• 12-ounce bottle stout or dark ale
• 1 tablespoon corned beef spices or pickling spices (or spices that come with the brisket)
• 1 medium head cabbage, cut into 6 wedges

Directions
Place celery, carrots, onion and potatoes in the bottom of a large slow-cooker or crock pot. Rinse the corned beef brisket and place over vegetables. Add the bottle of stout (I used Guiness of course), spices and enough water to just cover the meat. Cover and cook on LOW for eight to nine hours. About 30-45 minutes before it is done, add the cabbage to the top.

Slice brisket across the grain, serve with vegetables, mustard or horseradish sauce. Pass extra cooking liquid at the table.

Results
Wow, this was great. The beer really makes a difference, and while I'm not usually a big fan of cabbabe, this was pretty damn good.

Irish Soda Bread
A true soda bread has exactly 4 ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. If it has anything else, it is something else. Might be tasty, but I wanted to go with tradition.

Ingredients

• 4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 14 oz of buttermilk

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly crease and flour a cake pan.

In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.

Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)

Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough.

Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the bastible pot). Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is done.

Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.

Results
Again, this was pretty awesome. Smear with a nice sweet butter, and you've got yourself a little slice of heaven.

Chicken Mulligatawny

Mulligatawny is not really an Indian dish, but rather a British interpretation of an Indian dish, and variations abound. I got this version from Eating Well magazine.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 large yellow onion diced
• 2 stalks celery diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 Granny Smith apples peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons hot Madras curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white basmati rice
• 12 ounces chicken breast tenders cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup lite coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds

Directions
Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and garlic; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add apples, curry powder, cumin, coriander and ginger and cook, stirring often, until the apples begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add broth and rice; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 12 minutes.

Add chicken, return to a simmer and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender, 8 to 10 minutes more. Stir in coconut milk and return to a simmer. Remove from the heat; stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper. Garnish with almonds.

Results
This is a very tasty soup. I would change a few steps though. First, I would reserve some of the apple and add at the very end to give it a pleasing crunch. Second, I would probably cook the chicken in the coconut milk separately and add that in one step again at the end.

Nutritional Information
Servings: 6
Calories: 230
Fat. Total: 6g
Carbohydrates, Total: 26g
Cholesterol: 38mg
Sodium: 284mg
Protein: 20g
Fiber: 2g
% Cal. from Fat: 23%
Fat, Saturated: 3g

Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder

My wife has a subscription to Real Simple magazine, and I always look through it to see if there are any recipes that sound good. This one really spoke to me, and it turned out great! Again, I made this slightly more difficult than necessary because I made the spice mixture rather than purchase it.

Chinese Five Spice
This is an optional ingredient in the main recipe, but I feel it is crucial to the flavor of the dish. And since I have my great little grinder, I just like making spice mixtures.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. Szechuan peppercorns
• 8 star anise
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. ground fennel seeds

Directions
Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat shaking the pan constantly until the aroma of the peppercorns is released (about three minutes). Grind the peppercorns, star anise and fennel seeds in a spice grinder. Add the cinnamon and cloves and grind until fine.

Results
This is a fantastic spice mixture. If you can't find Szechuan peppercorns you can substitute black peppercorns, but try to find them if you can. I recommend Penzeys if you can't find them locally. I suppose I could've gone whole hog and ground my own cinnamon and cloves, but I didn't have whole and I did have ground, so there it is. Now, on to the main event.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder
This stuff is freakin' awesome! Don't come to the table ravenous or you'll end up eating the whole batch!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. chili-garlic sauce (found in the Asian aisle of the supermarket)
  
• 1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
  
• 1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder (optional)
  
• kosher salt and black pepper
  
• 2 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch pieces
  
• 1 cup long-grain white rice
  
• 1 medium head bok choy, thinly sliced (about 8 cups)
  
• 2 scallions, sliced
  

Directions
In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the soy sauce, sugar, chili-garlic sauce, ginger, five-spice powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the pork and toss to coat. Cook, covered, until the pork is tender, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.

Twenty-five minutes before serving, cook the rice.

Meanwhile, skim off and discard any fat from the pork. Gently fold the bok choy into the pork and cook, covered, until heated through, 2 to 4 minutes. Serve with the rice and sprinkle with the scallions.

Results
As I said before, this recipe rocks! I couldn't find pork shoulder, so I used thick cut pork chops, which worked just fine. You definitely want to add the bok choy at the very last minute. One of the wonderful things about this dish is the crispness of the bok choy. And, as will all modern recipes, this serves way more than it says, I say it serves 8.

Nutritional Information
Servings: 8
Calories 390
Calories From Fat 106
Protein 32g
Carbohydrate 37g
Sugar 15g
Fiber 1g
Fat 12g
Sat Fat 4g
Calcium 166mg
Iron 4mg
Sodium 749mg
Cholesterol 96mg
Weight Watcher Points: 9

Nine points, and that is with serving size cut in half! Another once in a while meal, but a damn tasty one!

Savory Steak and Sweet Potato Soup

We were having record snowfall last month when I made this soup, it sounded like just the ticket. I got this recipe out of A Great Bowl of Soup.






Ingredients

• 1/2 pound round steak. cut into 1/2 inch cubes patted dry
  
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
  
• 1 medium Spanish onion chopped
• 3 1/2 cups beef stock
  
• 2 cups shredded sweet potato
  
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
  
• 1 cup frozen peas
  
• salt to taste
  
• paprika to garnish
  

Directions
Combine the pepper and sage. Coat the beef with 1 tsp. olive oil. rub the pepper-sage mixture into the beef. Heat the remaining tsp. of oil in a 6-quart pot. Add beef and onions and saute until the beef is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the stock, sweet potato, and wine. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in peas ans simmer for 5 minutes. Season to taste and garnish with paprika if desired.

Results
Let me start off by saying this soup tastes really good. However, it doesn't really look that appealing, kinda like a bowl of brown mushy stuff. Right off the bat I'd change this to use cubed rather than shredded sweet potatoes, and I'd roast them and add them at the end with the peas. It would give it more body and look nicer. Plus I really hated shredding these damn things, it took forever and I cut myself twice! If I were making this in the fall, I'd also use fresh peas rather than frozen.

Nutritional Information
6 servings
Calories: 181
Fat. Total: 5g
Carbohydrates, Total: 14g
Cholesterol: 37mg
Sodium: 213mg
Fiber: 1g
Fat, Saturated: 1g
Weight Watcher Points: 4

Hungarian Beef Goulash

Taking a break from soups for a while (well, one week at least) and catching up on some recipes that have been long since consumed. Pesky things like work getting in the way of truly important blogging to be done.

Goulash was a favorite of mine as a kid, so when I saw this recipe in the slow cooker cookbook I got for my birthday I had to try it out.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 4 slices of bacon (overkill, I didn't use this)
• 2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2 inch cubes and patted dry
• salt and pepper
  
• 2 yellow onions chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 5 sprigs fresh oregano
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  
• 6 Yukon Gold potatoes, ~ 2 pounds, quartered
• 1/2 cup sour cream
  

Directions
I'm leaving out all the steps that include the bacon, it is just wrong, but basically it says to cook the bacon, then use the bacon grease as the base for everything else. Save yourselves and skip it like I did; I added 2 Tbsp of oil in exchange for the bacon grease.


In a large frying pan heat the 1Tbsp oil over medium-high heat. Season the beef generously with the salt and pepper and add to the frying pan. Cook until the beef is browned on all side. Remove from pan and set aside.


Add the remaining oil and saute the onions and garlic until softened. Stir in paprika, caraway seeds, oregano, tomato paste, wine and broth and bring to a boil.


Transfer the beef to the slow cooker, and pour the broth mixture over, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Uncover and add the bell beppers and potatoes. Cover and cook an additional 2 hours on low or until the potatoes are soft and the sauce has thickened.

Serve over noodles, garnish with sour cream.

Results
This recipes started off with a giant cholesterol bang, so I omitted it right off the bat. This stuff really did turn out well. I did have a time constraint so my potatoes were a little on the firm side, but still tasted good. In retrospect I think I'd cube the potatoes smaller, or leave them out entirely if I was going to serve over noodles - two starches in the same dish seems like overkill again!

I also recommend using sweet Hungarian paprika if you can find it. There are specialty spice stores like Penzeys that will carry it if you can't find it at your local market.

Nutritional Information
No nutritional info on this one, but based on 8 servings with no noodles and no sour cream -

Weight Watcher Points: 11

this is definitely a once in a while dish.

Ginger-Garlic Beef Soup

I seem to have a penchant for making recipes that are actually multiple recipes. This time it is Ginger-Garlic Beef Soup, which is in fact a recipe for Vietnamese Spicy stock first, then the beef soup. Both recipes come from A Great Bowl of Soup.




Vietnamese Spicy Stock
So here Spicy means filled with aromatic spices, not hot. This is a great stock, and the aroma while it is cooking is amazing. I was worried that the anise would overpower the stock, but it blends really well with the other flavors.

Ingredients

• 5 cups beef or chicken stock
• 2 star anise
• 1 whole clove
• 1-inch piece of stick cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns
• 1-inch piece of fresh ginger root (skin on is ok), sliced
• 4 shallots sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Directions
Put the stock (I used chicken stock I bought in bulk from Costco) in a stock pot and bring to a boil. Crush the spices (do not grind the spices) and add to the stock along with the sugar, ginger and shallots. Once the stock has reached a boil, reduce and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain through a sieve and chill immediately using an ice bathunless using right away.

Results
This is a great stock, but I wonder if using shallots for it is really worthwhile? I know they are the Cadillac of onions, but its not like we're eating them here, we are just boiling out their essence into the stock. Next time I may try a regular onion to see if it makes a difference.

I couldn't find white peppercorns, so I used black - although I did later find a number of spice sites online that have white peppercorns. I also had difficulty finding star anise, but eventually found them at an Indian grocer call Daily Spices.

Ginger-Garlic Beef Soup
The main event based on the above stock recipe. Since this calls for lots of stock, easiest just to double the above recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts of Vietnamese Spicy Stock
• 8 scallions cut cross-wise into 1/2 inch pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 pounds trimmed beef cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 pound baby spinach
• 1/4 cup rice wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
• ground cinnamon
  
• minced scallions

Directions
Combine the stock, scallions, garlic and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Add the beef and reduce to a simmer and cook until beef is tender. If foam forms, skim off.

Add the spinach, rice wine and ginger. Increase heat to a boil, then serve immediately. Garnish with minced scallion and ground cinnamon.

Results
This turned out really well, and for once I didn't make a mistake. I left off the cinnamon when I served this, seemed overkill to me. I used rib-eye steaks for the beef, which is most assuredly too good a cut of meat for this soup, but I wanted to make sure the beef was tender. A cheaper cut of meat would probably suffice, or stew meat.

Some things I would probably do differently next time are:

1. Slice the beef in very thin strips. The 1/2 inch chunks just doesn't seem right with this Aasian-style soup; I think thin slices would go better and reduce the cooking time to boot.

2. Add the spinach when serving. Rather than add the spinach to the entire pot, I think I'd divide up the spinach into the individual serving bowls and serve the boiling soup over it.

3. Once again serving sizes are too large. Unless this is the entire meal - which it very well could be - this recipes really serves 8.

4. Add noodles. Ok, I admit it, I'm a carb guy. This soup just screams for long thin noodles. Not sure which kind I'd use, maybe soba or fresh ramen (not the deep fried kind). Adding noodles would make this more of a one dish meal.

Nutritional Information
8 servings
Calories: 170
Fat. Total: 5g
Carbohydrates, Total: 5g
Cholesterol: 71mg
Sodium: 1041mg
Protein: 25g
Fiber: 1g
Fat, Saturated: 1g

Weight Watcher Points: 4