Orange Peel Beef

The bones for this recipe come out of "Basic Asian" by Schinharl, Dickhaut and Lane.  I've tweeked it a little bit, and it's always been a big crowd pleaser.  I enjoy it for the robust flavor and that I only have to dirty up one pan to make it.  Two if you count the rice cooker.

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb beef roast (I typically use a London Broil)
4 green onions, top bits sliced
1 1/2" piece of ginger, grated
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 c soy sauce
1/2 c beef broth
1 tbsp sugar
1 c orange juice
1 bunch broccolini

Slice the beef into thin, bite-sized strips.  This is a lot easier to do if you slightly freeze the meat before you cut it.  (This was an awesome tip.  It's one of many in Basic Asian, so it's well worth the few bucks you'd spend on it.)

Heat the oil in a pan over med-high heat and cook the beef in small batches.  You don't want to do it all at once because it won't brown well.  When each piece finishes cooking, place it on a paper towel lined plate to absorb some of the oil.  Finish cooking the meat.

Pour all the liquid ingredients and the sugar into the pan you cooked the beef in.  Make sure the heat is high at this point.  This will deglase all the yummy beef bits that stuck to the pan while the beef was cooking.  Bring all ingredients to a boil.  When the sauce coats the back of your spoon, toss the meat back in along with the broccolini.  Mix everything together, cooking for another minute or two.

Serve.  (Great side dishes with this are steamed brown rice or noodles.)

Serves 4

Mint Lemonade

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 5 mins

I first had this on a hot day in Kuwait City at a fantastic Lebanese restaurant.  It's a cool and refreshing type of lemonade that just asks to be sipped on a porch on a warn evening, and is rather reminiscent of a virgin mojito.  Google can help you find anything, and this is the website that first gave me the recipe.

Ingredients:
Juice of 8 lemons (about 12-14 oz of juice)
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
2 bunches of mint (or more to taste)
3 cups water
18 ice cubes

Juice the lemons, straining out any seeds.  Pour into a blender.

Heat 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar to boiling, stirring constantly, to make a simple syrup.  Add this to the lemon juice along with the extra 3 cups of water, mint and ice cubes.  Blend until frothy and green.  Ice cubes should be completely crushed.

Serve.

Makes about 4 tall glasses worth.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

According to my cookbook, The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson, (where you can find this recipe in whole and not from my occasionally lacking memory... and many other delicious ones to boot) yellow split pea soup is the national dish of Sweden and everybody there eats it for dinner on Thursdays.  Even the King.  It's a story I like, although I can't guarantee it's authenticity.  And I have to say this dish is just the thing on a cold, blustery day like today.  I've made this a bunch of times, and it's just as good vegan as it is with the ham.

Prep time: 1 day (dried split peas must soak overnight!)
Cook time: 3 hours

Ingredients:
3 c yellow split peas
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
6 cups water (or chicken broth if not using ham shank.  For vegan use veg. broth.)
1 ham shank (omit for vegan)
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
tomatoes and bacon bits for garnish (omit bacon if using ham shank or going vegan)

Soak the split peas overnight in cold water.  Swish your hands around in the peas once and a while and pull out any pea shells that float up.

Saute the copped veg. in the olive oil for about 5 mins or until onions begin to brown.  Then add the peas, bay leaf, broth and ham shank (if using).  Bring to a boil for ten mins.  Then reduce heat to medium and simmer for three hours.

After soup has simmered, let cool and remove ham shank and bay leaf.  Discard the bay leaf.  Blend the pea soup.  (Don't do this while the soup is hot unless you have an immersion blender.  The hot soup can blow the lid off your blender, burn you and make an awful mess... I guarantee it isn't fun.)  Remove meat from ham shank and chop. Integrate into soup.  If not using ham shank, brown bacon until crispy, chop and add to top of each soup bowl as garnish.  Cut cherry tomatoes as garnish for bowls and add to bacon.  Serve.

Makes a good 12 servings, but freezes really well for quick meals at a later date. 

Brown Braised Onions

Brown braised onions are one of my favorite side dishes. I can eat them all by themselves. Who needs a main dish when you've got onions simmered in butter, wine and broth? I found the recipe in a marvelous cook book by Julia Child. However, since I can't find it now I'm doing this basically from memory. It worked pretty well.

Prep time: 30 mins (I'm slow at peeling pearl onions)
Cook time: 45 mins

Ingredients:
1 bag pearl onions
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 c beef broth
3/4 c red wine
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Cut the tops and the bottoms off of your pearl onions. Since they look best and hold up best whole, do your best not to slice through the layers lengthwise when you're peeling the outer layers off.

In a pan where all the onions can touch bottom, simmer the herbs, onions, butter and 1/4 cup of the red wine. When the wine has reduced to the point that it would coat the back of a spoon, add the beef broth. Repeat until all the wine and broth has been used.

The onions are finished when the last of the liquid has simmered down to a sauce.

Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings as a side dish.

Beef and Guiness Stew

I was feeling the need to revisit a trip I took to Ireland in 2009, and this recipe was a fantastic way to do it. Everybody loved it, and there were no leftovers! The brined green peppercorns may be somewhat unusual, but they make the dish. You can find them in most grocery stores next to the capers and other pickled items.

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 3 hours

Ingredients:
2 lbs stew beef cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 16 oz can Guinness
1 qt beef broth
8 red potatoes, cubed
3 tsp brined green peppercorns, drained and coarsely chopped
3 carrots, cut into 1" pieces
2 sprigs fresh thyme
salt to taste

Add beef and olive oil to pan over med-high heat. Brown beef, then add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 3 hours or until broth has reduced to a nice sauce and beef is tender. Serve immediately. Biscuits make a nice side, or do as the original calls for and turn into a potpie. Feel free to make this dish a head of time and reheat. It's even better the next day!

Serves 6.

This recipe was adapted from one I found here.

Baba Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush is a middle eastern dip similar to hummus. Don't let the eggplant frighten you. It's pretty much just a vehicle for the lemon and garlic tastes. It goes well with pita chips or tortilla chips or crackers or sliced vegetable.

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 40 mins

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c tahini
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt to taste
olive oil

Okay, first off, the tahini. Most Americans don't just have this laying around. It's a middle eastern sauce made with sesame seeds and sesame oil, and is super easy to prepare at home. In a blender combine: 4tbsp sesame seeds, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 c tepid water and 1 tsp sesame oil. Blend till smooth. I used the recipe found here, but had to increase everything to get stuff above the blender blades.

Pierce the skin of the eggplant several times. You can use a fork if you want, but I find the tip of a knife works better. Roast it at 400 for 40 minutes or until soft. Peel off the skin, slice it into moderate sized chunks and pop the eggplant into the blender with the lemon juice, sesame seeds (more than the ones you used in the tahini)and garlic. Blend until smooth.

Chill.

When ready to serve, add olive oil on top and salt to taste.

Feeds at least 6 as an appetizer.

I found this recipe here.

Chevre Cheesecake

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1.5 hours

I've always loved chevre. It's a goat cheese that is softer and sweeter than feta and is wonderful either as a butter substitute or mixed with berries. It makes a fantastic change from regular-old-cheesecake and doesn't require as much sugar because of its natural sweetness.

Crust ingredients:
2/3 c graham cracker crumbs
2/3 c Nilla Wafer crumbs
1 tsp honey
5 tbsp melted butter

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and the Nilla Wafer crumbs with the honey and the melted butter in a mixer. This will form a doughy like mixture. Press into a 8" spring form. (If you don't have a spring form, line a round cake pan with tin foil. This will let you lift the cheesecake out of the cake pan.)

Bake in a preheated oven at 325 for 13 minutes.

Filling ingredients:
8oz cream cheese
1 lb chevre goat cheese
1/2 c sugar
1/16 tsp salt
1/3 c sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 egg yolks
1 egg

Mix chevre and cream cheese in a standing mixer until softened and combined. Add the sugar and salt slowly, making sure to scrape down the sides. Add the sour cream, vanilla and almond extracts and lemon juice. Slowly add the egg and yolks. Mix for another 5 minutes or so until completely smooth.

Bake in a preheated oven at the following temperatures for the following times.
375 -- 15 mins
325 -- 30 mins
200 -- 30 mins

Cool to room temperature and then chill for 2 hours before serving. Use strawberries as garnish if desired.

Makes 8 servings.

This recipe was adapted from one found in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 25 September 2008. You can find the original here.

Fantastic French Dip

Everything is better with garlic and onions. I came up with this recipe myself. It's easy enough that anyone can make a perfect sandwich every time and only dirties one pan.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2.5 hours

Ingredients:
2lbs beef roast
1 head garlic
2 yellow onions
10 sprigs fresh thyme
seasoning salt
1.5 qt beef broth
Swiss Cheese
Sandwich rolls

Peel and smash the garlic with the side of a knife. Slice onions into thin strips. Place both into the bottom of a Pyrex (or similar) baking pan.

Trim excess fat from the beef roast. Coat in seasoning salt and place atop the garlic and onions.

Add the beef broth and thyme sprigs.

Preheat oven to 500. Roast for 10 minutes, then decrease heat to 300 for two hours.

Remove roast from oven and set beef aside to rest on a cutting board for at least 10 minutes.

Remove and discard thyme sprigs. Strain onions and garlic from the au jus and reserve.

Blend onions and garlic into a paste using food processor.

Toast sandwich rolls with a slice of Swiss cheese on each.

While the rolls are toasting, slice the beef into thin strips using either a meat slicer or a sharp knife. Quickly place beef onto melted cheese and spread the garlic and onion mixture onto the half of the roll that does not have cheese. This will ensure the meat stays in the roll.

Serve each with a bowl of the au jus.

Serves 6 easily.