Thai Red Curry BBQ Sauce

It's football time again, and the Ravens have a ton of 1 pm games. I hate that. It really cuts into my ability to make interesting weekend food. You see, I only cook on the weekends (Mr Minx has weeknight kitchen duty) and I like to spread my prep and cooking out over a long period of time. If I spend a big chunk of the afternoon with my eyes glued to a football game, that gives me much less time for prep. So I tend to resort to either long-cooking recipes like chili or fast things like nachos, both of which are rather boring. To me, anyway.

I also like to make things like pulled pork. A pork butt has to cook for hours, so I pop it in the oven before gametime and by the time it's all over, the meat is ready for shredding. But I can't use bottled bbq sauce. I haven't really found one that I like. Most are too sweet, or too smoky. And I figure if I can't make an entirely inventive meal on Sundays, I can at least make one component from scratch. Like bbq sauce.

I like making sauces, and bbq sauce is easy if you have the basics: ketchup; onion; brown sugar; an acid. Mr Minx picked up a bottle of McCormick Red Curry seasoning recently, so I used it to make a Thai-ish bbq sauce. We already had fish sauce and lime juice on hand, so it was pretty easy to throw together and refrigerate before the game. Afterward, I shredded the boneless mini pork butt that was cooking in the oven and made a salad with a bag of broccoli slaw and leftover peanut sauce.

Easy, time efficient, and somewhat interesting. Oh, and tasty, which of course is the most important part.

Thai Red Curry BBQ Sauce
This sauce would also be a great glaze for chicken wings.

Olive oil
1/2 ripe bell pepper (I used yellow), roughly chopped
1 cup roughly chopped onion
Kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 teaspoons McCormick Thai Red Curry seasoning, or more to taste
Small handful torn cilantro
1/2 cup ketchup
6 ounces (1/2 12-oz jar) apricot preserves
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
Juice of 1 lime
Fish sauce
Brown sugar

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a sauce pan and add the pepper, onion, and a pinch of salt. Cover pot and cook until vegetables are wilted, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and stir well to combine. Cook an additional minute until garlic is fragrant. Add a teaspoon of McCormick Red Curry seasoning to the pan and stir well. Add the cilantro, ketchup, preserves, stock or water, and lime juice and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat until reduced and thickened to ketchup consistency. Season with additional 1 or 2 teaspoons of curry seasoning, and a few tablespoons of fish sauce. The sauce should be fairly tangy, but if you prefer a sweeter bbq sauce, add a tablespoon or so of brown sugar.

Remove from heat and blend to a fairly smooth puree with a stick blender. Alternatively, use a regular blender, but be very careful with blending hot liquids, as the heat buildup in the blender jar can cause the lid to pop off. Either let the sauce cool a bit, or take the center plastic cap off the blender lid and hold a kitchen towel over the lid while blending.

Store in a covered container in the fridge for up to one week. Makes about a pint.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Lamb Tagine Chili

Yet another football-filled Sunday rolled around posing yet another dinner dilemma. Should I make something that cooks up quickly, or something that can stew on the stove for a bit while the game is on? On days when the Ravens lose, I am often too dispirited to put a tasty meal together, so it's best that I get dinner started well in advance. Chili is usually my go-to long-simmered meal, but honestly, I am so tired of it. I've made green chilis and red chilis, chilis with turkey, chicken, beef, and lamb. With cubed meat and with ground meat. Just about the only thing I haven't tried making chili with is tofu, and as much as I like the stuff, I don't think I could make it work.

Forget tofu. I went with lamb.

Rather than use a typical chili flavor profile, I switched things up and added things that one might fine in a Moroccan tagine: orange, lemon, olives, cinnamon. But it still has the coriander and cumin flavors of more familiar Tex-Mex chili. Except for the chile powder. If you want it spicy, feel free to add chiles.

Lamb Tagine Chili

2 leeks
Olive oil
2 pounds ground lamb
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Generous pinch cayenne
1/2 cup orange juice
Rind from half a lemon, julienned
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 roasted red peppers, diced
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon honey
1-2 tablespoons of flour
Salt to taste
1½ tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup green olives, sliced
Cilantro leaves (optional)
Basmati rice

Cut the leeks in half and slice thinly. Wash thoroughly to get rid of any sand or dirt. Add a bit of olive oil to a large pot or dutch oven and saute the leeks for a few minutes. Add the lamb and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is broken up into smaller chunks and browning in spots, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and spices and cook an additional five minutes. Add the orange juice, lemon rind, tomatoes, peppers, and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for at least an hour, until meat is tender.

Skim fat from broth and bring to a boil. Combine the flour with twice as much warm water (or stock, or sauce from the pot) and stir well to make a runny slurry. Dribble into the chili and stir to combine. Add as much or as little as you need to achieve a consistency you like. Stir in the honey and add salt to taste (at least a couple of teaspoons).

Serve over basmati rice with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, some olives, and cilantro, if you wish.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Chili Verde

Football season is here, which means a goodly portion of my Sundays are spent in front of the tube, simultaneously laughing and crying with the Baltimore Ravens. Ordinarily, I'm doing mise en place and cooking parts of dinner at different times of the day, but on these football Sundays, I have to get stuff started before kickoff. This usually means stew or chili is on the menu.

I've made and posted several variations on typical beef chilis, so I thought it was high time to try something different. Like a green chili. I made a really scrummy one with ground chicken and canned chiles not too long ago, but I was taking a day off from blogging and didn't bother recording the recipe. This time, I took notes.

Green chilis are tangier than red ones, and a bit lighter, so they are perfect for nippy-but-not-exactly-cold October weather. I roasted the vegetables first, then pureed them in a blender to make a thick green sauce. After a couple hours of simmering, the pork was meltingly tender and the dish was nothing short of perfection. Perfection for a day spent watching both football and baseball playoffs, that is.

Chili Verde

1 lb tomatillos, husked and quartered
Olive oil
2 poblano peppers, quartered, stems and seeds removed
2 jalapenos, cut in half, seeded or not, depending on how hot you want the end result to be
1 red onion, peeled and quartered
1 bunch scallions, trimmed
2.5 lbs pork shoulder, cut into smallish cubes
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper
Masa harina
Sour cream
Pepitas
Tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Place the tomatillos on a rimmed baking pan lined with foil. Drizzle with some olive oil and toss to coat. Place peppers, onion, and scallions on a separate foil lined baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Put both pans in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Remove tomatillos and scallions. Roast remaining vegetables, stirring once or twice, an additional 20 minutes.

Allow vegetables to cool, then put everything in a blender. Puree the vegetables and set aside.

Brown the meat cubes in a couple of batches. I didn't use any oil, but you may want to if your pork isn't as fatty as mine/you find it sticking. Once the meat is browned, stir in the garlic and cumin, then turn the heat up and add the vegetable puree and stock. Bring to a boil, then lower heat so the mixture is barely simmering.

Cook for the length of a football game, 2.5 - 3 hours. After an hour or so, add the cilantro.

If the broth seems too runny at the end of the cooking time, mix a tablespoon or two of masa harina with enough water to make a slurry the texture of pancake batter. Turn up the heat to get the chili boiling and drizzle in as much or as little of the slurry as you want, to get the texture you like.

Season aggressively with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Serve in bowls with sour cream, pepitas, more cilantro, and tortilla chips.

Makes 4-8 servings.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Grille 620

Mr Minx and I were invited to dinner at Grille 620, a new restaurant in the Ellicott City (Marriottsville) area. Located in the new Turf Valley Towne Square complex, a couple left turns off I-70 W exit 83, the restaurant was hopping on a Wednesday night, a sign that the area not only needed a nice restaurant, but that the residents have already embraced it.

Grille 620 is owned by Ali Sadeghi and Gaby Haddad--both veterans of Ruth's Chris--and former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas. Running the kitchen is Sardinian chef Fabio Mura, whose menu is Modern American with some fusion-y bits. But not too many--mostly Asian touches here and there on familiar meat and seafood dishes.

Because we were a relatively large party that wanted to taste a bit of everything, we were presented with an appetizer sampler that included tuna tartare on wonton chips, grilled octopus with bean salad and lemon caper vinaigrette, and a pile of lump crabmeat with a little remoulade. We also received the chef's sampler of the day, a trio of Mediterranean dips including roasted garlic hummus, a finely diced Caprese salad, and Kalamata olive tapenade. Among the appetizers, the most flavorful were the tender octopus (that I couldn't stop eating) and the supremely fresh tuna tartare. We also sampled and enjoyed a selection of fresh oysters, including Blue Points, Malpeques, and some from the Chesapeake, served on the half shell with a tangy mignonette.

We each ordered an entree and did our best to sample both meat and seafood items. We ended up with a Creekstone Farms strip steak, stuffed chicken, lamb chops, diver scallops, crab cakes, and Thai bouillabaisse, plus side dishes of roasted asparagus, truffled mac and cheese, and three kinds of potato: Lyonnaise, steak fries, and baked. Mr Minx and I had the lamb chops and crab cakes and can attest that both were quite good.

The chops were cooked to medium, and came with a little pile of roasted brussels sprouts and a mint pesto-infused sauce. The broiled crab cakes were served with a tangy jicama and carrot slaw and a bit of creamy remoulade. While I like my crab cakes a little darker/crustier on the outside, the innards were the perfect ratio of meat to binder to breading: mostly meat, very slightly saucy, no detectable breading.

We also sampled seafood from the bouillabaisse that was ordered by a tablemate. The dish didn't really have anything Thai about it, nor was it particularly a bouillabaisse, since there wasn't nearly enough broth. What it was, however, was a pile of very fresh seafood including a chunk of mahi mahi and a humongous scallop, all cooked perfectly and most likely individually.

"Fresh" is the word at Grille 620. They have no freezer on premises, so all of their food is procured not all that long before being cooked; that freshness really showed with the seafood dishes.

Another diner seemed very  happy with his stuffed chicken.

The sides, particularly the potato dishes, were all successes. I'm not a huge potato eater, but I did enjoy the Lyonnaise-style new potatoes. The steak fries (below) were garnished with bacon, and also quite good.

We finished the meal with a trio of desserts, including a special strawberry shortcake, a dense bread pudding, and s'mores made with a rich chocolate ganache. My favorite was the bread pudding, which would make a fine dessert to share.

Overall, we were quite impressed with the food at Grille 620. The restaurant's atmosphere was somewhere between casual and upscale, and the food straddled the same line. One can get a Creekstone Farms burger at the bar, or something more elegant in the dining room. I definitely recommend trying the octopus, the oysters, and perhaps the enormous well-cooked scallops or the lamb chops. But the burgers sound pretty darn good, which means my next meal there is likely to be at the bar....

Grille 620
11099 Resort Road, Ellicott City
410-203-0620
http://grille620.com





Posted on Minxeats.com.

Meyer Lemon Salsa

Up until this point, I had never tasted a Meyer lemon. I had read about them repeatedly, how they were sweeter and less tangy than regular lemons, but hadn't even seen them in the store. Then, on a recent trip to Wegman's, I discovered bags of the fruits in their voluminous produce department and tossed one in the cart.

Now the question was: What to do with five Meyer lemons? 

The rind of Lemon One went into both an apple galette and a garnish for some Parisian gnocchi I made for dinner one night. Another piece of that rind went into the bag I used to sous vide some pork tenderloins, along with salt, pepper, and pinches of onion and garlic powder. The flesh of the lemon was squeezed into a glass of mighty tasty Meyer lemonade.

That left four Meyer lemons. I consulted this LA Times list, "100 Things to do with a Meyer lemon," which encouraged me to find Suzanne Goin's recipe for Meyer lemon salsa. I found an adapted version, which I adapted further. You know, because I can't ever follow a recipe to the letter...I have to make everything mine. 

Goin's salsa recipe, kind of a gremolata on steroids, calls for raw shallot, which is macerated in Champagne vinegar for a few minutes before adding the other ingredients. I felt the combination might be too sharp, so I cooked the shallot until just translucent. The combination of shallot, lemon, and a ton of parsley was delicious, and perfect with the subtly lemon-infused flavors of the fork-tender 135° pork tenderloin.

There are two lemons left. Any suggestions?

Meyer Lemon Salsa
Adapted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin

2 tablespoons finely diced shallot
olive oil
2 large Meyer lemons
1/2 cup green olives pitted and chopped
4 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon agave syrup or honey
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook shallot in a tiny bit of olive oil until translucent. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Remove both ends from the lemon and cut the remaining part, including peel, into small dice. Put in a bowl with the olives, parsley, and cooled shallot.

Whisk together the vinegar, agave syrup, and olive oil. Toss with lemon mixture. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper.



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