Pumpkin Thai Curry with Shrimp

Recently, I borrowed a copy of the Beat Bobby Flay cookbook from my local library. Sorry, Bobby, but why buy the cow when I can get the milk for free? The book has some good recipes, and I was particularly attracted to the pumpkin red curry with seafood--but not as written. It seemed like it would be better as a soup, so I made the appropriate adjustments. Cuz that's what I tend to do.

I wondered what the warm spices (cinnamon, etc.) brought to the table and found that they transformed a Thai red curry to something more like a Massaman curry. I adore red curry, Massaman not so much, so if I make this again, I will leave out the cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg, perhaps replacing them with lemongrass and makrut lime. Bobby used eggplant and sweet potato in his version, but I swapped in regular potato for both. 

Supermarket red curry paste, like Thai Kitchen brand, is pretty mild, heat-wise. I had just received a shaker of McCormick's roasted garlic/cayenne/onion/pink salt blend and thought that would be a good way to boost the heat while also seasoning the soup. You all know how much I like chili crisp, and this stuff gives some good chili crisp vibes, only without the oil. I used a teaspoon in the soup, but added some at the table as well, which gave the dish just enough of a kick. I quite like this seasoning, and will be using it a lot. It comes in a ginormous container, too, which is useful.

Thanks for the recipe, Bobby. I won't be buying the book though.

Pumpkin Thai Curry Soup with Shrimp

I knew this would make far more soup than two people could eat in one meal. I didn't want to deal with rubbery shrimp in reheated leftovers, so I only added as many as I thought Mr Minx and I could eat at one time. The leftovers equaled approximately 5 cups, which I tucked in the freezer for future use, perhaps with chicken or another different protein. 

Soup:

1 cup coarsely chopped onion

Pinch of kosher salt

2 t extra virgin olive oil

1/2 t ground allspice

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground ginger

1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg

2 T Thai red curry paste (if you're using a supermarket brand, like Thai Kitchen, use 3 T)

1 15-oz can pumpkin puree

1 13.5-oz can light coconut milk

2 shrimp, chicken, or vegetable bouillon cubes; if using Knorr XL (double) cubes, just use one

2 medium new potatoes, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon McCormick Roasted Garlic and Cayenne Pepper with Onion and Himalayan Pink Salt, plus more for the table

1 t smoked Spanish paprika

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Garnish:

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted

1/4 cup shelled pumpkin seeds, toasted

3 T pomegranate seeds

1 scallion, white and light green part sliced into thin rings

Plain yogurt, sour cream, or creme fraiche

Make soup: Saute onion and a pinch of salt in olive oil over medium heat until translucent, stirring regularly. Add the dry spices and the curry paste and stir to combine. Cook a couple minutes, stirring constantly, to toast the spices, then add the pumpkin puree and coconut milk. Add 3 pumpkin cans of water to the pot (about 6 cups) with the bouillon. Bring to a simmer and cook for at least 30 minutes, to allow the flavors to meld and develop. Add the potatoes; cook 15 minutes and test the potatoes for doneness. Once they are tender (might take a few minutes more), add the McCormick seasoning and smoked paprika. 

Add the shrimp and cook until they are pink and firm, 3-4 minutes.

Make garnish: In a bowl, combine coconut, pumpkin seeds, pomegranate, and scallion. 

To serve: Ladle soup into bowls. Dollop with yogurt and sprinkle on some garnish. Season with additional McCormick seasoning, if needed.

Makes about 2 1/2 quarts.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Pot Roast with Korean Flavors - Sponsored Post

I received a box of various globally inspired sauces and seasonings from Serious Foodie and have enjoyed using most of the products. The Moroccan Grill Spice Rub sits close at hand on my kitchen island so I can use it to toss on whatever I feel needs a little oomph--like the tuna salad I made for lunch the other day. I've also added it to chili, sprinkled it on roasted vegetables, and added it to a frittata. It's almost time to procure a replacement jar!

Serious Foodie makes several other products with the word "grill" in the name. We Minxes don't really grill much at all--maybe once or twice a year--so I had to be a little more creative with their offerings. I felt that the Korean Lemon Garlic sauce might work really well in pot roast, even if lemon is not a typical beef flavoring. I had to check it out anyway, and I didn't disappoint myself. 

I don't typically marinate meats before cooking, but I felt that if I was already disobeying the "grill" mandate, I couldn't also avoid the word "marinade" on the label. So I dumped the bottle into a zip top bag and added a chuck roast. The next day, I removed the meat from the sauce and browned it on all sides, careful not to burn the sugary residue from the marinade. Then the marinade went into the pan along with the typical carrots, potatoes, and onions. I upped the Korean flavor profile by adding a lot of garlic and some fresh ginger, and garnished the dish with scallions and sesame seeds. A drizzle of toasted sesame oil would not have been out of place, but I didn't think of it at the time. IMHO, it turned out pretty darn well. The dish tasted like traditional pot roast, but with an Asian twist. I'd definitely make it again, and I might add a few glugs of gochujang (Korean chile paste) or some gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) to add a spicy element to the dish.

Do let me know if you try it.

Pot Roast with Korean Flavors

A 2.5 to 3-pound chuck roast

1 10oz bottle Serious Foodie Korean Lemon Garlic Grill Sauce and Marinade

1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil (canola, vegetable)

1 beef bouillon cube

2 large yellow onions, quartered

1 2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into small dice

4-6 large cloves of garlic

8 ounces of button or cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and halved or quartered if large

2 good handsful of baby carrots

4-6 medium yellow or red potatoes, peeled, halved or quartered if large

Corn starch (optional)

Chopped scallions

Toasted sesame seeds

Place the roast in a zip top bag. Add the entire bottle of Serious Foodie Korean Lemon Garlic Grill Sauce and Marinade. Seal bag and refrigerate 6 - 10 hours or overnight. Fill the empty sauce bottle with water and refrigerate.

When ready to cook, remove roast from bag (reserve marinade), and pat dry. Heat the tablespoon of oil in a large wide skillet or dutch oven with lid. Sear the roast on both sides over medium-high heat until golden, being careful not to burn it (due to the high sugar content of the marinade). Once both sides of the roast have been seared, add the leftover marinade from the bag to the pan. Shake the marinade bottle of water to make sure you have all of the sauce residue and pour that into the pan. Add another bottle of water, the bouillon cube, onion, ginger, and garlic. Bring sauce to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Cover pan and simmer for 90 minutes, then add the mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes. Simmer another 60-90 minutes until the beef is fall-apart tender. 

If the sauce seems too thin, you can turn up the heat, take off the lid, and evaporate some of it. Or you can mix a few teaspoons of cornstarch in warm water until it forms a slurry and drizzle that in. Bring to a boil to activate its thickening action.

On each plate, serve some of the beef, carrots, potato, mushroom, and onion. Garnish with scallions and toasted sesame seeds. 

Serves 8. 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Flashback Friday - Pot Roast

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on November 2, 2011.

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My mom made the best pot roast. She used the simple recipe from her battered 1953-edition of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook: coat a chuck roast with flour, brown in drippings made from its own rendered fat, add potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery, either water or stock, and simmer for 2.5 hours until done, after which time the gravy can be thickened or not. The end. The recipe is literally a single paragraph in the "meat" section.

I loved it so much, I requested it for dinner several times a month. And I loved it so much, I'd never attempted to cook it myself, knowing that I'd never achieve that degree of tenderness or the rich flavor of the gravy (which I'm pretty sure was enriched with a package of McCormick's Brown Gravy). Recently, however, I thought I'd give it a go. The BH&G recipe is deceptively simple and it would be so disappointing if it didn't turn out like Mom's. Instead, I decided to adapt a recipe of Ina Garten's. Because how can one go wrong with a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa?

The result was...meh. I'm going to blame the meat.

Fat-obsessed dieters have created a world of unfortunately lean meats. The chuck roast I picked up at Wegman's had been ferociously trimmed; had I wanted to use the BH&G recipe, it would have been impossible to sear it in its own fat, since there was none. And because of this leanness, the meat lacked the unctuous tenderness of Mom's pot roast. Then there's the wine issue. After several attempts at braising meats in wine, I've decided that I don't like the resulting flavor. Nor the pinkish grey color. The sauce that resulted from the braise was a dark puce, and I wished I had a bottle of my mother's magic ingredient, Kitchen Bouquet, in order to make it darker and richer-looking.

The whole experience left me wanting. Next time, I will endeavor to find the fattiest chuck roast possible, skip the wine, and...pick up a packet of McCormick Brown Gravy.

Pot Roast with Root Vegetables (adapted from Ina Garten)

1 (4 to 5-pound) chuck roast
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
flour
olive oil
1 cup baby carrots
2 onions, quartered
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2" chunks
2 cups celery root, cut into 2" chunks
1 lb baby potatoes
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 each sprig fresh rosemary and thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups red wine
1 cup chicken or beef stock

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat beef dry with a paper towel. Season it liberally with salt and pepper and then dredge the roast in flour. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Sear the roast, turning every 4 or 5 minutes, until it is nicely browned on all sides. Remove meat to a plate.

Add another 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot. Add the vegetables and garlic and cook for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Bring to a boil and add the chicken stock, herbs, and bay leaves. Place roast back into the pot and return to the boil. Cover pot and place in the oven, cooking for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until meat is fork tender. Check periodically and add more stock if it seems to be evaporating.

Remove roast to a cutting board. Place pot on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium. Skim fat from sauce. Make a beurre manié by stirring together 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir it bit by bit into the sauce until thickened to your liking. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper, if needed.

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Samos

How is it that I've lived in Baltimore for [many many] years and never went to Samos? We don't get to Greektown very often, and the last few times it was to dine at Ikaros. Ikaros is good, but we discovered that it is not Samos.

We wanted to eat everything, so we did. There were three of us, but we ordered enough food for 5 or 6. First was the trio of dips; from the five options, we chose the taramasalata, or fish roe dip, tzatziki, and olive tapenade. They came with a smattering of crudites and a pile of addictive toasted pita triangles. Oh, the pita. I could have just eaten that and been happy.

But we also ordered the grilled octopus, which came with a sprightly salad of tomatoes, red onion, green olives, and the evil chickpea (which were easy enough for me to pick out). And more pita. The char flavor on the cephalopod was quite excellent.

We also had the spinach pie, which was nicely flaky but not as thick with spinach and feta as some other places. It was good though.

We also tried some souvlaki. My brother debated with the waitress between the pork souvlaki served sandwich-style or merely skewered. I convinced him that we had enough pita on the table. Still, when I ordered one pork skewer and one of shrimp, our waitress assumed the pork should be the pita-wrapped version. It was actually a very tasty sandwich (is it a sandwich, technically?) The four shrimp at $7.75 seemed a bit skimpy, but they were excellent. And came with pita.

We also had the lamb chops, which seemed pricey at three for $25, but they were so juicy and delicious, I can deal with the cost. Plus they came with a small Greek salad, a pile of potatoes and veg, and of course, more pita.

I couldn't resist the Greek green beans, which were so so good.

Oink! We finished most of the food, apart from some of the veg and a pile of pita triangles, and we ordered dessert, too. I was in the mood for galaktoboureko, a custard-filled filo concoction topped with cinnamon and honey. My brother ordered the same.

Mr Minx got the baklava. Both desserts were served warm in large, shareable portions, each a steal at only $4. Delicious. But probably too much food for me. Or any normal mortal.

I ate too much, but everything I ate made me happy. And isn't that the most important part of a meal?

Samos is cash-only, BYOB, so be forewarned. There is an ATM on premises though. Also, they don't take reservations, so if you like to eat at peak dinnertime, be prepared to wait. We old folks arrived at 5pm and had no problem getting a table. However, we also had to contend with multiple families with very small children, who, though well-behaved, were also very vocal. Good thing they were cute.

Samos
600 Oldham St
Baltimore, MD 21224
http://samosrestaurant.com

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Dining in New York, June 2019 - Part 2

I usually plan meals in advance of a trip to NY, except if I'm meeting someone there for dinner.  I trust a resident of the city to do a better job of choosing a place than I might. But I did plan my own Monday breakfast at Pondicheri. This modern Indian restaurant not far from my hotel has several interesting options for a morning repast, including stuffed South Indian dosas, omelettes and sandwiches, coconut pancakes, and masala fried chicken. I was originally going to get the keema (a minced lamb dish) and eggs, but when I realized there would be a chance of smelling like fried lamb all day, I opted instead for the saag and egg on sourdough toast.

The toast was thickly cut and topped with a generous portion of spicy creamy spinach and a just barely set sunny side up egg. It was messy and delicious. (Move over, avo toast!) The kale and cucumber salad on the side was equally tasty, but I was picking kale out of my teeth for hours afterward....

Though I was in town to attend the Fancy Food Show, I like to take a break from walking through the many aisles of specialty foods and do a bit of non-food shopping. My primary goal was to buy some dancing shoes. Mr Minx and I recently started ballroom lessons, and I have found my various non-slip-soled shoes to be an impediment to proper spins on the dance floor.

After breakfast I strolled over to a shop on Madison Street that had a small collection and nothing for my problem feet. I then hiked over to 8th Ave to Worldtone Dance. (The blocks between 7th and 8th Avenues must be the longest blocks in the city. So. Much. Walking.) Worldtone's selection was another thing entirely. The photo below shows less than half the shoes they carry for women, and they not only had shoes with some arch support, but also ones that had cushioned insoles. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a pair that had both AND low heels, so I settled for the heels and the comfort--I can add arch supports. The staff there was quite helpful and seemed happy to bring out piles of shoes for me to try on. They were also good at answering questions and instructing me on how to fasten the curious buckles that come on dance shoes.

After a bit more shopping, I hit up Bergdorf's for some perfume-sniffing and got a lovely makeover from David at Estee Lauder, my dining companion of the previous evening. He can make even me look good.

Later on, my roommate Dara and I met her high school chum Michael for dinner. He had chosen Cafe Fiorello, a New York institution situated across the street from Lincoln Center. Dara and I shared a chilled octopus salad while Michael enjoyed items from the vegetable antipasti bar.

I wasn't supposed to eat pasta, allegedly being on Whole30, but Cafe Fiorello is a bit spendy. The only things I could afford were pasta-based, so I sprung for the carbonara. Topped with a whole poached egg and a generous quantity of guanciale lardons, it was a worthwhile splurge.

Dara was craving eclairs, and Epicerie Boulud next door had them. Since I had already blown the diet (the day before...lol), I had a yuzu tart. It was very much a lemon meringue pie, with yuzu, and a crust that was a bit difficult to puncture with a plastic fork. However, I managed to soldier on!

Pondicheri
15 W 27th St
New York, NY 10001

Worldtone Dance
580 8th Ave
New York, NY 10018

Cafe Fiorello
1900 Broadway
New York, NY 10023

Epicerie Boulud
1900 Broadway
New York, New York 10023


* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken

Does anyone else read the blog Smitten Kitchen? If you don't, you should. Deb Perelman is entertaining and thoughtful, and her recipes, at least those I have tested, have all been uniformly delicious.

I'm normally not a quick cook kind of person. I don't mind making dishes that are somewhat fussy or use lots of weird ingredients or techniques. After all, I only cook on weekends when I have a decent amount of free time. But there are times when I don't want to be bothered, but yet don't want to go out to dinner. And that's when a dish like Deb's sheet pan tikka is perfect.

I made the dish pretty much as she wrote it, except I changed the name. Tikka refers to small pieces of meat, not whole bone-in thighs. My use of "tandoori" is probably just as misleading, since the cooking is done in a typical home oven and not a cylindrical one made of clay. However, I think "tandoori chicken" really gets across how the end result both looks and tastes. Unlike commercial tandoori chicken, there is no red food coloring in this recipe; the red color is the result of a bit of turmeric, some cayenne, and possibly a chemical reaction between the yogurt marinade and the heat of the oven. In any case, the dish is damn good.

And so fricken easy! First the chicken is popped into a simple spice and yogurt marinade for a few hours, then it's placed on a sheet pan with potatoes and cauliflower simply dressed with olive oil, salt, and cumin seeds. Baked for just under an hour, the chicken comes out super moist, with crisp skin and tender veg. Deb garnished her chicken with a flurry of parsley/mint/cilantro and some lightly pickled red onions, and so did I. I didn't want to mess with perfection.

Of course, now I have other ideas for similar dishes. Perhaps roasting lemon slices with the chicken and potatoes. Subbing brussels sprouts for the cauliflower, maybe celery root for the potato. Fennel might be nice as well. The mind boggles.

Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1 3/4-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 fresh jalapeno, chopped roughly
1/2 cup whole-milk yogurt
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (4-5 thighs)
4-5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
1 small head cauliflower, cut into 3/4-inch-wide florets
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
Thinly sliced red onion (optional)
Lemon wedges (optional)
Chopped herbs (parsley, cilantro, mint) (optional)

Combine ginger, garlic, jalapeno, and yogurt in a mini prep food processor and whiz to a puree. Add the spices and whiz to combine. Scrape into a gallon zip-top plastic bag and add the chicken. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible, then squoosh the marinade around the chicken to coat it. Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to a day.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Put the potatoes and cauliflower on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and cumin seeds, and toss with your hands to coat the veg evenly. Make spaces in the potatoes for the chicken parts. Take the chicken out of the marinade and place on the pan. Roast for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and stir the veg around to make sure they're cooking evenly. Return the pan to the oven for another 20 minutes, until everything is cooked through. Garnish and serve right from the pan.

You can pickle the onion, if you want, by putting it in a bowl or jar with lemon juice and a few pinches of salt, maybe a little sugar. Toss to coat, cover bowl, and set aside for at least half an hour (stronger onions might need more time).



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Tortilla Espanola

You might remember a few weeks back reading about our boxes of various Calbee snacks. Rather than just eating them as they were, I thought it might be fun to use them in recipes. First, I employed shrimp chips as an extra-crisp crust for fried tofu; for this post, a bag of potato chips was transformed into something both simple and elevated.

Ok, mostly simple, but elevated in that the recipe is a riff on a dish by famed Spanish chef, Ferran Adria. The omelet-like tortilla espanola is a popular tapas dish made with fried potatoes and eggs. Adria simplified the dish by using potato chips in place of sliced and fried raw potatoes. His recipe called for Serrano ham and pequillo peppers; I omitted both and added simply sliced green onion in their place.

Now when the recipe calls for a "small" skillet, that means 8". Any larger than that, your omelet will be a pancake. If all you have is a 10" oven-safe skillet (as was our issue), lower the cooking time a skotch so your tortilla won't get dried out.

Potato Chip Tortilla (adapted from Ferran Adria in Food & Wine)

5 large eggs
2 cups coarsely crushed Calbee Hot and Spicy potato chips (about 2 ounces)
1 tablespoon finely sliced green onion
Freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt

Beat two eggs in a medium bowl and add the potato chips. Let stand until slightly softened, five minutes or so. Beat the remaining eggs in a separate bowl, then stir into the potato/egg mixture. Add the scallions and season with pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a small non-stick ovenproof skillet. Add the egg mixture and cook over medium high heat until the bottom is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Broil for about 2 minutes more, until the top is golden and the center is just slightly jiggly.

Slide onto a plate, cut into quarters, and serve with a nice salad or bowl of soup. (Gazpacho would be perfect here.) Depending on the saltiness of the chips used, you may or may not need to add a pinch at the table.



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Loaded Baked Potatoes

Your idea of a loaded baked potato might be entirely different than mine. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee it. Bacon and cheese, while tasty, is just so done, you know?

A potato is a blank canvas that can accept pretty much any combination of toppings. And it's a great way to use up dribs and drabs of things that are leftover from other meals. Like those random sausage links, half dozen shrimp, and that wee bit of corn (or peas) that are cluttering up the freezer. Make room for another half gallon (actually 3.5 quarts) of ice cream by getting rid of those plastic bags of tidbits and putting them to use in a tasty and filling dinner. You still want to add bacon and shredded cheese on top? Fine. Anything goes, really, except maybe leftover mac and cheese or risotto, unless, of course, you really really like carbs.

Loaded Baked Potatoes a la Minx

2 Russet potatoes
Oil
1/2 medium onion, sliced
(2) 3-4 ounce links of your favorite raw pork sausage (Italian, chorizo), removed from casings
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Honey, to taste
1/2 cup corn kernels
6 medium shrimp, shelled, deveined, and chopped
Salt, pepper, and hot sauce, to taste
3 tablespoons sour cream
Adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Scrub the potatoes and rub them with a little vegetable oil. Place them directly on the oven grates and bake for one hour, until tender.

While the potatoes are baking, add a little oil to a skillet and cook the onion and sausage over medium heat. Break up the sausage into small chunks as you're cooking it. When the sausage pieces are well-browned, stir in the garlic and cook for an additional minute or two. Then add the vinegar and honey. Stir in the corn and the shrimp and cook until the shrimp are opaque. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. The mixture is going over a bland baked potato, so it should be strongly flavored.

Stir a little adobo sauce into the sour cream to give it a little flavor, if you wish.

When potatoes are done, cut an X into the tops of each and smush the potato a bit by holding the outside edges in both hands and pushing toward the center. (This breaks up the potato flesh.) Top with some of the sausage filling and a dollop of sour cream.

Eat with knife and fork. You may have extra filling, which will be tasty on a salad for lunch the next day.



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Swiss Chard Gumbo

For some time, the Minx has been pushing for us to eat more fruits and vegetables. While I'm not averse to eating vegetables and sometimes prefer a vegetarian meal over something meat-centric, I'm often challenged by the task of making vegetable dishes tasty and satisfying. I have a relatively small number of tricks up my sleeve, one being to make Indian-inspired dishes, but getting the seasonings just right is daunting. Another trick is to make gumbo since I've learned how to make a dark roux quickly and I can nail the Cajun/Creole flavor profile more easily.

Recently, the Minx signed us up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) that delivers a box of fresh fruits and vegetables to our door when we place an order. Among the items we received was Swiss chard, so the Minx tasked me with using the Swiss chard in our dinner. Since we also happened to have onion, celery, and a bell pepper, gumbo seemed to be the best option. It would also give me a chance to use some of the chicken andouille sausage that had been languishing in the freezer for weeks. Normally I would make rice to go with gumbo, but we happened to have some small potatoes around, so I thought that might be an interesting twist. I also threw in some okra that I had picked from the garden, but it's not absolutely necessary for the recipe. The silky Swiss chard is the star here.

Swiss Chard Gumbo

1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup celery chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper chopped
3 andouille sausages
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock
4 cloves garlic smashed
1/2 pound baby fingerling potatoes
1 bunch Swiss chard chopped
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
salt to taste

Chop your onion, celery, and bell pepper and set aside. Also slice your three andouille sausages and set aside. Preheat a large pot until it starts to smoke and put in your butter and flour. Stir constantly until the butter and flour are combined and begin to brown. This is your roux. Keep stirring until the roux turns the color of dark chocolate. There will be quite a bit of smoke, so don't panic. That's just the way roux cooks. Once the roux reaches the right color, throw in your trinity (onion, celery, and bell pepper) along with the sliced sausage. Toss a little bit of salt in to release the juices from the vegetables. Reduce the heat and mix everything together. Put a lid on the pot and allow the onion to sweat.

At this point, smash the garlic with a garlic press and dump it into the 2 cups of chicken stock. Once the onions have become translucent and the roux has become liquidy, pour the stock and garlic into the pot. Raise the heat and stir. Once the mixture reaches a boil, toss in the fingerling potatoes. Depending on the size, you can leave them whole or, if they are too big, cut them into finger-sized chunks. Turn the heat to medium and let simmer.

Remove the leaves of the Swiss chard from the stems. Dice the stems and add them to the pot. Give them about 10 minutes to cook. Meanwhile, roughly chop the Swiss chard leaves. After the stems have cooked for 10 minutes, add the leaves and the seasonings. Adjust the seasoning to your own taste. Once the leaves have cooked for about five minutes, the gumbo is ready to be served.  

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French Fry Hash Browns

Fast-casual burger joints like Five Guys tend to give customers a plethora of fries, far too many for the two of us to consume at one sitting. Rather than waste food, I save the excess potatoes for a weekend morning and use them for a hash brown-type preparation.

I like my breakfast potatoes crispy, so I'm often disappointed when I order hash browns and receive a big pile of steamed potato with the barest hint of a crust on the top. Leftover french fries always have some extra grease clinging to them, so they fry up crispy without even trying. And then I season the heck out of them with whatever spices strike my fancy on that particular day. My favorite combination of flavors usually includes charnushka, also known as black caraway, nigella, or kalonji, which adds a nice onion-y flavor.

Leftover French Fry Hash Browns

chopped onion (a couple of tablespoons, depending on how many fries you have)
olive oil
salt
leftover french fries
seasonings

Over medium heat, sauté chopped onion in a dash of olive oil and a pinch of salt until translucent. Chop fries into small pieces and add to skillet. Toss well and cover pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until potatoes start to crisp up. Season to taste - I like to use a mixture of regular paprika, onion powder, cayenne, charnushka, and black sesame seeds. And of course salt and pepper to taste.

Continue to cook until most of the potatoes are crispy. Serve with eggs.

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Spicy Cajun-style Potato Salad

Potato salad seems so simple, right? Just potatoes, mayo, and celery, maybe some pickle relish. When I was a kid, occasionally potato salad meant that yellow-tinted stuff that dad brought home from the deli on Saturdays, along with Polish ham, Muenster cheese, and bologna for lunch during the week. While I like potato salad just fine, the deli stuff scared me. For one thing, the potatoes were usually undercooked and crunchy, and for another - why was it yellow? I much preferred home-made potato salad, especially if my Grandma was doing the cooking. Her salad was simplicity itself: new potatoes cooked until tender in salted water, sour cream, and lots of chopped scallions. I was usually happy to consider it a meal in itself.

Sometimes when I make potato salad at home, I make it Grandma-style, but it's never quite the same. More often than not, I like to mix it up. Not long ago, after bringing home a muffuletta sandwich from my favorite Cajun restaurant, I decided it needed a side of potato salad. Cajun-style potato salad, with not only celery but also bell pepper and onion (the "Trinity"), Andouille sausage, and lots of grainy Creole mustard. And to make it yellow (because sometimes it just seems right), I used some lovely Idaho® Yukon Gold potatoes.

Cajun-style Potato Salad

3 lbs Idaho® Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut into 1" dice
1 1/2 cups diced chicken or turkey Andouille sausage
olive oil
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Creole mustard
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (I like Emeril's Essence)
couple shakes of your favorite hot sauce (optional)
a few tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
salt and pepper
chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Cook potatoes in boiling, salted water until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Drain well and allow to cool to room temperature.

Heat a small sauté pan and add a teaspoon or so of olive oil. Cook sausage, stirring frequently until it begins to brown on the edges. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, Creole mustard, Cajun seasoning, and optional hot sauce until well blended. If the sauce seems a little thick, add a few tablespoons of cream and stir well.

When potatoes are cool, place them in a large bowl and add cooked andouille sausage and all of the vegetables. Fold in mayonnaise mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Before serving, refrigerate salad for an hour or two to allow flavors to marry. Makes about 2 quarts of potato salad.

This post was sponsored by the Idaho® Potato Commission. Minxeats has been compensated for recipe creation and posting.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Potato Soup

I seldom follow recipes as I cook. Most of the time I see what I have in the fridge and pantry and throw something together. This could involve home-made leftovers, canned goods, frozen food, or the doggie bag from Saturday's dinner out. If I'm lucky, the resulting dish turns out well and I can call it dinner.

Once recent evening I did my usual fridge inventory and discovered a container of mashed potatoes. I've never been a huge fan of leftover potatoes - I think they taste funny. Stale. So if I have to eat them, I like to disguise them with lots of flavors. I poked around some more and found three cans of hominy in the cupboard. Three. I suppose I had forgotten that we had some and bought more. And more still. So I had hominy and potatoes. Because my mind works in mysterious ways, I immediately thought of soup. Because it was 62 degrees outside and it's always fun to eat hot soup when it's warm outside. Like I said - mysterious.

We had fresh tarragon and thyme in the house. Despite my not particularly liking thyme, I had bought a live plant to use in a recipe I was testing with my new Sous Vide Supreme (more on that eventually) and it's been growing nicely in the dining room window. The tarragon was a back-up herb, in case the thyme died before I had a chance to use it.

Once I tasted my soup creation - if you're following, that would be potatoes, hominy, tarragon, and thyme so far - I dumped in some smoked paprika, too. Why the hell not? And to add protein (cuz Mr Minx needs his protein), I utilized one of the several packages of chicken sausage that occupied the freezer.

Sounds really weird, the resulting dish was also really good. Even if it was too warm to eat soup.

Mashed Potato and Other Stuff Soup

1 onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
pinch salt
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 can yellow hominy
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons flour
1 quart chicken stock
1 pack chicken sausage in your favorite flavor (we like spinach and feta), cut into chunks
salt and pepper

In a soup pot or dutch oven, cook onion in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt over medium heat until translucent. Stir in potatoes, hominy, and seasonings. Sprinkle on flour and stir into potato mixture. Pour in stock, turn up the heat, and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

While soup is cooking, sauté sausage chunks in a bit of olive oil until browned on all sides.

Serve soup in large bowls with a handful of sausage stirred in.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Pot Roast

My mom made the best pot roast. She used the simple recipe from her battered 1953-edition of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook: coat a chuck roast with flour, brown in drippings made from its own rendered fat, add potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery, either water or stock, and simmer for 2.5 hours until done, after which time the gravy can be thickened or not. The end. The recipe is literally a single paragraph in the "meat" section.

I loved it so much, I requested it for dinner several times a month. And I loved it so much, I'd never attempted to cook it myself, knowing that I'd never achieve that degree of tenderness or the rich flavor of the gravy (which I'm pretty sure was enriched with a package of McCormick's Brown Gravy). Recently, however, I thought I'd give it a go. The BH&G recipe is deceptively simple and it would be so disappointing if it didn't turn out like Mom's. Instead, I decided to adapt a recipe of Ina Garten's. Because how can one go wrong with a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa?

The result was...meh. I'm going to blame the meat.

Fat-obsessed dieters have created a world of unfortunately lean meats. The chuck roast I picked up at Wegman's had been ferociously trimmed; had I wanted to use the BH&G recipe, it would have been impossible to sear it in its own fat, since there was none. And because of this leanness, the meat lacked the unctuous tenderness of Mom's pot roast. Then there's the wine issue. After several attempts at braising meats in wine, I've decided that I don't like the resulting flavor. Nor the pinkish grey color. The sauce that resulted from the braise was a dark puce, and I wished I had a bottle of my mother's magic ingredient, Kitchen Bouquet, in order to make it darker and richer-looking.

The whole experience left me wanting. Next time, I will endeavor to find the fattiest chuck roast possible, skip the wine, and...pick up a packet of McCormick Brown Gravy.

Pot Roast with Root Vegetables (adapted from Ina Garten)

1 (4 to 5-pound) chuck roast
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
flour
olive oil
1 cup baby carrots
2 onions, quartered
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2" chunks
2 cups celery root, cut into 2" chunks
1 lb baby potatoes
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 each sprig fresh rosemary and thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups red wine
1 cup chicken or beef stock

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat beef dry with a paper towel. Season it liberally with salt and pepper and then dredge the roast in flour. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Sear the roast, turning every 4 or 5 minutes, until it is nicely browned on all sides. Remove meat to a plate.

Add another 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot. Add the vegetables and garlic and cook for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Bring to a boil and add the chicken stock, herbs, and bay leaves. Place roast back into the pot and return to the boil. Cover pot and place in the oven, cooking for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until meat is fork tender. Check periodically and add more stock if it seems to be evaporating.

Remove roast to a cutting board. Place pot on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium. Skim fat from sauce. Make a beurre manié by stirring together 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir it bit by bit into the sauce until thickened to your liking. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Pani Puri

Pani puri, also called gol gappa, phuchka, and gup chup, is a popular Indian street snack. Consisting of a crisp-fried, hollow bread (puri) filled with a mixture of potatoes, mung beans, chick peas, or all of the above and topped with a sweet/sour date chutney, the treat is finally dunked into a tangy mint-flavored water before being eaten in one bite.

While it seems rather too-involved and maybe more than a bit weird, I can attest that the combination of textures, flavors, and temperatures is absolutely delicious. It's one of those snacky foods that you eat one or five of and think, "just one more," before eating another dozen and suddenly being really really full.

They're easy to make at home, if a bit involved. I found a bag of ready-made puris at an Indian grocery store, so the real messy work was done for me. All I had to do was find a recipe for the filling and the water. Seems easy, but there are dozens of recipes on the 'net, all of which are different. So I cobbled together what I thought were the more interesting aspects of several recipes and came up with my own. Apart from the reduction in the heat level, the result is pretty authentic, I think.

Puri

Break a hole in the puri with a spoon or your finger.

Add some potatoes and some date tamarind chutney

Dunk the filled puri into the pani.

Pani Puri

1 package ready-made puri

Date and Tamarind Chutney
10 pitted dates, roughly chopped
2 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
1/4 cold water
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
Salt to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and purée. Keep refrigerated in a covered container until ready to use.

Pani
1/2 cup finely chopped mint leaves
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno chile, deseeded and minced
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cups water

Mix all ingredients except water into a paste. Stir in water. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Potato filling 
canola oil
4 medium sized potatoes, diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt

Heat oil in a large saute pan. Add onion and cook over medium heat until starting to brown. Stir in potatoes and turn down heat. Cook for 15-20 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are cooked through. If potatoes seem to be sticking to the pan, add a couple tablespoons of water. When potatoes are done, stir in chili powder and salt to taste.

To eat:

Place the pani in a deep bowl. Poke a hole in a puri. Add a spoonful of hot potatoes and a small dollop of the chutney. Using a spoon or your fingers, quickly submerge the filled puri in the pani so some of the juice leaks into the opening at the top. Remove and eat in one bite. Repeat.

Makes lots.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Sláinte Revisited

A couple weeks ago, I raved over the food at Sláinte, in Fells Point. It was a media dinner, and the food was free, but I did like it enough to go back and pay for my food.

It was just as good on my dime.

The first return trip of what is sure to be many was to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. On that occasion, we tried the Scotch egg (Gunpowder Farms bison sausage over a perfectly-cooked hard-boiled egg, with grits and mustard sauce)...

...the poutine (potato wedges with a truffled chicken reduction and fresh mozzarella curds). While it sounds really exotic (it's Canadian, after all), think of it as fries with cheese and gravy, albeit a rather schmancy truffle-scented gravy. Sláinte's portion is huge, so prepare to share.

...the corned beef and cabbage, in the hands of Chef Bill Crouse, was pretty subtle: a huge slab of tender beef, accompanied by a wedge of lightly-cooked cabbage and a pile of buttered new potatoes. Very simple, very plain, very good.

...the bangers and mash included two very flavorful sausages - nice, meaty, American-style sausages, never fear - with an ample mound of champ (mashed potato with scallion), mushrooms, and tomato gravy.

...and the crab cake, which was filled with a nice mix of lump and other crab meat, was very moist. (I'd have like it broiled a while longer, though.) The vegetables, a mix of broccoli, red bell pepper, and artichokes, were crisp and very garlicky; while I liked the rice well enough, Sláinte slaw might be a better accompaniment.

For dessert, we tried the Guinness bread pudding, which is a different preparation from what we were served at the media dinner. This was crusty and piping hot, served in a ramekin and an ample portion for two. I would have liked a little pitcher of custard, cream, or a scoop of ice- or whipped cream because it was a little dry.

I'm already looking forward to my next trip, which will hopefully be a rescheduled girl's-night-out dinner with an old pal from high school. She's already been perusing the menu and trying to decide what to try first.

More Thanksgiving Leftovers!

Last year, it seems like we ate Thanksgiving leftovers into December - we had cooked two turkeys which provided a seemingly endless supply of the bland bird. By the end of the week, I was throwing up in my mouth a little bit at the mere thought of ingesting yet more turkey (although Mr Minx's turkey tetrazzini was pretty great).

This year, we didn't take home much leftover meat from our Thanksgiving feast, but we did have an ample supply of mashed potatoes and my giblet-rich stuffing. With some home-made pork stock (left over from braising a pork shoulder the week prior) and smoked chicken-apple sausage, it made a scrumptious soup.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Soup

1/2 cup onion, sliced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 quarts chicken, turkey, or pork stock
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 cups dressing
Vegetables of your choice (can be leftover or frozen corn, peas, green beans, etc.)
8 - 12 oz of your favorite smoked sausage, sliced into 1/2" coins
Thanksgiving-y seasonings (dried sage, thyme, poultry seasoning)
salt and pepper

In a dutch oven or other soup-appropriate pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and add onions. Cook until they become translucent and start to brown a bit on the edges, 5-7 minutes. Add the stock. Whisk in the potatoes until incorporated into the liquid. Stir in the stuffing, vegetables, and sausage. Simmer 15 minutes until everything is hot. Season to taste with pinches of herbs plus salt and pepper.

Dad's Birthday Dinner

We celebrated my Dad's birthday last weekend with a nice home-cooked meal of braised short ribs, mashed potatoes, and green beans, followed by pastel de tres leches.

The short rib recipe may go into my cookbook, so I can't share the details. Suffice it to say that they were cooked for about 5 hours and were fork tender and extremely delicious. Perhaps my best effort yet. Dad is always talking about how much he loves the short ribs at Roy's, so maybe now he'll rave about mine, instead.

The cake recipe, however, is based on one I found on teh Innernets. I modified the recipe a bit and used four kinds of milk, so technically it's a pastel de cuatro leches.

Pastel de Cuatro Leches

6 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
8 ounces sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces Coco Lopez
5 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk

Heat oven to 325°F.

Separate eggs. Whip whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Stir sugar into yolks and whip until thick and pale yellow. Stir in about 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolks to lighten them, then gently fold in the remaining whites.

Sift flour over the eggs. Gently fold flour into eggs just until there are no obvious streaks of flour.

Butter a 13 x 9 glass baking dish. Pour batter into the dish and bake until cake is golden, about 20-25 minutes. Cool cake for about 15 minutes.

Whisk together four milks and pour mixture evenly over cake. Cool cake for another hour or so, then cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Serve with whipped cream, shredded coconut, and Pineapple Compote.

Pineapple Compote

1 20oz can crushed pineapple in pineapple juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Place pineapple, its juices, butter and brown sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until most of the juices have evaporated and the mixture has thickened. Stir in cinnamon and remove from heat. Allow to cool before serving.

The pan I used was slightly bigger than 13 x 9, so the cake was fairly thin. To solve that problem, I stacked two slices with whipped cream in between. It was delicious (not as good as the cake at Talara) - but very sweet.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, especially Dad. Happy birthday! May you have many more. :)

Memorial Day Eats 2010

As usual, when we get out the grill, we go a little crazy with the amount of meat that gets cooked. The way I see it, why waste hot coals? Plus, there are usually between 2-4 hungry men in the house on any given holiday, so it's not like the food won't get eaten. And what doesn't get eaten on the day of cooking  means a respite from meal planning for at least a few days. In this case, it was a whole week!

Mr Minx wanted to give "beer can chicken" another go. He'd tried it once before but it just didn't work out, due to temperature, coal placement, and other grilling voodoo. This time, the grill was all about the chicken - hot coals on the sides, an empty drip pan in the center. We marinated the fowl overnight in a combination of Mexican Molé spice mix, paprika, brown sugar, salt, garlic, and onion powder. The next day, more of the molé seasoning went into a can of beer which got unceremoniously shoved into the bird's...cavity. It roasted for about an hour in a covered grill which reached an internal temperature of 350F or so. The result was a mahogany bird with crisp, spicy/sweet skin and succulent flesh. Oh, and I forgot to take a picture. Sorry! You'll just have to content yourselves with the sound of my lips smacking at the sweet memory.

We also marinated two big sirloin steaks, one in my favorite Steak Continental marinade, the other in some Cambodian Lemongrass Curry seasoning, grated lemongrass, garlic, and soy.

And there was a pound of shrimp in the freezer, so those went in a marinade of garlic, soy, and canola oil before being threaded onto skewers.

(Both steaks were cut into chunks for easy serving. The lighter meat at center bottom of the platter is the lemongrass marinated version.)

Can't forget the burgers and dogs! Mr Minx likes to put burgers on the grill first so their dripping fats can get the coals burning hot - so much better than using tons of lighter fluid. And the dogs were actually Buffalo Chicken-flavored chicken sausages that we picked up at Wegman's (that place is soooo dangerous!).

In addition to the meaty goodness, we also grilled portobello mushrooms and made two kinds of slaw (Quick-and-Dirty Kimchee and a version with honey mustard mayo), potato salad with Romesco sauce, and a grilled Caesar salad with creamy Caesar dressing and home-made croutons.

Either it was too much food or our guests were just plain too polite to eat much. Probably the former. It certainly wasn't because the flavor was lacking - I have to admit that everything turned out extremely well, and I was happy to eat various leftovers during the week.

What did you cook for the holiday, if anything?

Indian Snacks

I'm always fascinated by the myriad packaged items other cultures eat for snacks. In the UK, they eat Chilli & Chocolate and Crispy Duck & Hoisin-flavored crisps. In Japan, they snack on mixed nuts with dried fish. And Pocky. And in India, they enjoy eating namkeens (snacks) comprising fried potato sticks (among other things).

We picked up two varieties of Haldiram's namkeens on our recent trip to H Mart - Panchrattan (potato sticks with raisins, cashews, almonds, sesame seeds, and curry leaves) and Chilli Chatak Lachha (spicy potato sticks).

The Panchrattan has tiny thin potato sticks and a nice, slightly spicy seasoning. I'm no fan of the raisin, but the small golden ones in this mix add just the right bit of sweetness and a bit of chewiness. Because the potatoes are so fine, I'm thinking this would make a very interesting breading for pork chops or chicken. Or a casserole topping!

The Lachha are much thicker, like shoestring fries. The flavoring was a bit sour, a bit spicy. Ok, but not exactly yummy - more commercial-tasting. I much prefer the panchrattan, even if it is a bit more difficult to eat (messier).

What's your favorite ethnic snack food?

An Olympic Meal

What does this post have to do with the Olympics? Well, the meal I describe herein, while not medal-winning, comprises a few different nationalities.

First of all, I wanted to do something with the quart of leftover bulghur pilaf I made last weekend. We had ground lamb in the freezer; my first thought was to make kibbeh, but it seemed like more than I wanted to tackle at the time. Then I searched for and found a recipe for a lamb and bulghur meatloaf, which was more to my liking - fast and easy. I doubled the quantities of garlic, bulghur, and lamb (because I had a pound of lamb) and kept everything else the same. The result was delicious, although I could probably have added more cumin.

I didn't have any mint, which would have been a nice addition. Maybe some feta too.

As an accompaniment, I made German potato salad. Yes, I know - weird. But my friend Stacey had called earlier in the week to request a recipe for a warm potato salad and I found this one while I was on the phone with her. Plus we had both bacon and potatoes in the house.

To add to the league of nations, I threw a handful of Italian-style green beans in the microwave to cook through. And you know what? Everything meshed perfectly together. The tomato sauce and the potato salad both had a bit of vinegar, which was a nice counterpoint to the rich yet light meatloaf, and the green beans were terrific with the tomato sauce. In fact, I'll probably use the leftover sauce to make a variation of Greek-style green beans with tomatoes.

Ok, so maybe I'd give this meal at least a Bronze medal. :)