Dateline: January 20, 2021 Chinese Night-Hunan Beef and Spicy Mixed Vegetables

 I bought some beef strips from FD a while ago and decided to pull them from the freezer and make something spicy to celebrate the Inauguration of Joe and Kamala!

I checked what was in the fridge, and found some brussel sprouts hiding in the vegetable drawer along with a lone bok choy and some leftover broccoli.  Perfect!

I chose Hunan Beef with Cumin after browsing through the NYT Cooking site.  I trusted the recipe as it was a riff on a Fuchsia Dunlop recipe.  I really love her recipes, haven't tried a dog yet!

For the veggies, I decided to wing it and come up with a stir fry that was easy, and quick, and could use the same pan as the beef.

Ingredients

1 package of brussel sprouts, sliced in half

1 bok choy, leaves cut into ribbons and stems chunked

couple of florets of broccoli, leftovers are great

2 small leeks, cleaned and chopped 

3 or 4 pieces of dried tangerine/mandarin peel

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

3 dried chinese hot peppers

1 T light soy sauce

1 T dark soy sauce

1 T chili crisp, Lao Gan Ma brand

2 T neutral oil, canola, peanut, grapeseed, etc

1/2 c stock or water

Method

1.  Steam the sprouts in the microwave for 2 sessions of 2 minutes.  You don't want to over cook them.  This will depend on the strength of your microwave.  Mine, the 2 sessions were perfect.  Hold to the side.

2.  Heat wok.  (I learned a new trick from the internet, if you have cast iron flame tamers, turn them upside down and set wok on top.  The cast iron will heat up and spread the heat better than just setting on the burner.  You're welcome.)  Add oil and swirl around the pan to coat the sides.  Add peels and hot peppers and fry until the peels turn dark brown and the peppers get dark as well.

3.  Add in leeks and stir fry until they start to wilt.  Then add sprouts and bok choy.  Stir fry to coat with the hot oil and begin to darken in spots.  Add the soy sauces, garlic and stock.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Add leftover broccoli and chili crisp.  Stir to incorporate.

4.  Taste, add salt, if necessary, or more Lao Gan Ma, and serve over rice

A shocking result, Bill was just gobbling up the sprouts.....I am not sure he realized that it was brussel sprouts!  It was a perfect foil for the beef.  The beef was also excellent, tender on the inside and firmer on the outside.  I think if I were a more patient cook I would have deep fried the beef instead of shallow frying it.  I did it in 3 batches and probably should have done 4.  My impatience did not effect the taste, just the crispness of the beef.  I would definitely make the Hunan Beef again, perhaps I would use some ground AND whole cumin seeds to amp up the flavor.

Dateline: January 1, 2021 Let's eat that Steak!

After being too full to eat the steak from NYE, I made some couscous and brussel sprouts with butter and vegemite to go with the steaks...

Quite yummy.  This was a great way to start the new year!

Steak sliced

sprouts!

couscous

 

Dateline: December 23, 2020 Meatloaf, Sprouts, Cabbage, and Crispy Taters

I decided to try the FD meatloaf mix based on a recommendation from my friend Jen.  It comes seasoned and ready to load into a loaf pan.  I added a topping that I was hoping would be somewhat spicy, but it turned out to be on the sweetish side instead!  A bit surprising given that the ingredients were Worcestershire sauce, cocktail sauce, Italian hot peppers, ketchup, oyster sauce, and dry mustard.  Strange indeed.

I also made my friend Lyn's Brussel Sprouts with butter and Vegemite.  Bill hates sprouts.  I love them.  He said over dinner, "if you didn't tell me these were sprouts, I would never have known."   High praise for the recipe!  

Sprouts with Butter and Vegemite

Trim and halve sprouts

1 -2 T butter

2-3 t Vegemite or Marmite

water/stock/wine

1.  Heat pan and lightly char sprouts in a dry pan.  This can take a while to get them on both sides.

2.  Pan will get bits of brown in it, this is good.  Use about 2 oz of water, stock, wine to deglaze and steam sprouts for a bit.  When liquid have evaporated, add butter and vegemite/marmite and cook to coat the sprouts.  Add water or stock as necessary to soften the sprouts to your level of doneness.

Braised Napa Cabbage 

1 small head napa cabbage

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

water/stock/wine

1.  Cut the bottom 1 in off of the cabbage.  Make a cut in the base of the cabbage about 1-2 inches long, as if you were going to cut it in half lengthwise, but only go those 1-2 inches.  Grasp both halves and gentle pull the cabbage apart, tearing toward the tips of the leaves.  This splits the cabbage without lots of shredded leaves flying about.  Split each halve again the same way and perhaps again depending on the circumference of your head of cabbage.

2.  Cut the stem portions into about 1/2 inch slices and keep separate from the chopped leaves.  Cut the leaves into about 1/2 inch slices as well.

3.  Heat a pan, and add some olive oil.  When hot, add the onion and saute until softened, add in the garlic and some salt and pepper.  Saute until the garlic starts to soften.  Add the cabbage stem pieces and a sprinkle or two of salt and pepper, and saute until wilted a bit, then add the rest of the leaves.  

4.  Coat the contents of the pan with all of the onion and garlic mixture and allow the leaves to begin to get bright green.  Add about 2 oz of water/stock/wine and bring to a simmer.  Taste and adjust.  Reduce the liquid by 1/2.

Crispy Taters

8-10 new red potatoes, small ones, scrubbed 

salt and pepper

olive oil

1.  Coat a pan with cooking spray and add dried potatoes season with salt and pepper.  Put in a 350° F oven for about 30 minutes, or until taters are somewhat soft.

2.  Smash the taters with a fork so that they split open, add olive oil and put back in oven, but raise temp to 400° F for 15-20 minutes.  The should be crisped on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Drank a lovely Barolo with dinner.  Happy, happy camper!

Dateline: November 19, 2020 ROTOQ-360 Test Spin

I have been trolling and backing things on Kickstarter for a couple of months.  My backings range from pillows to exercise equipment.

A recent product was just delivered.  ROTOQ-360!  I have been doing the happy Homer dance.  In the box came the basic set, motor, stand and rotisserie spit, but wait, there's more, a circular cage, a shish kabob wheel, a sausage wheel, and a rectangular cage.  I am in heaven.

Tested it out a whole chicken on the grill.  

You can see the motor unit on the left, which is wound up prior to cooking.  There is a drip pan below the chicken, and then the frame which holds the motor and spit.

I learned some things during the test run.

1.  crank up the motor fully before the cook

2.  center the food on the spit to facilitate rotation

3.  do not truss the bird

4.  If it's cold out, it will take longer than you think.

The final product was beautifully crisped and browned and was perfectly cooked.  It was juicy and moist.  Just plain yummy.  I used my friend Lyn's suggested brussel sprouts recipe.

Brussel Sprouts with Marmite

Brussel Sprouts

2 T unsalted butter

2 t marmite or vegemite

salt and pepper

Method

1.  Halve the brussel sprouts and steam for 3-4 minutes.  Place on a towel to dry off a bit.

2.  Heat a large pan and add the sprouts.  Char them a bit on all sides.

3.  Add butter and marmite and swirl around the sprouts until they are all covered and cooked through completely.  Sprinkle with pepper.  

4.  Taste before salting as marmite or vegemite is quite salty.  You may not need any further salt.

These were really good.

Thank you, Lyn!