Prime Rib... s...l....o....w....l....y

Ron and I had our anniversary this past weekend, and made a wonderful dinner to celebrate with.

Menu

Roast beef with gravy and horseradish
Roast baby potatoes
Brocolli and carrots

We had a large (for us, anyway) four-bone prime rib, which we roasted in a different way than usual.  Instead of searing and then roasting at 350, we placed it in the roasting pan, added four beef ribs we had in freezer, and slow roasted it at 225 F until it was 125 deg by our meat thermometre.  This took about four hours.  Then we turned off the oven and let it rest 1/2 hour.  By then the temp was 135.  As we like our roast rare, this was perfect. Actually I didn't realize HOW perfect until Ron carved off the bone to make the gravy, and it was evenly, perfectly cooked throughout the entire roast. Nice!

So the bones and scraps and some onion went into the roasting pan and back in the oven under the broiler for 1/2 hour or so, until it was VERY DARK.  Then I moved the pan to the stovetop, deglazed with 1/2 bottle or so of red wine, let that reduce while I scraped the pan and added a large quantity of beef stock.  This simmered to get the last of flavours out of the bones.

Then I removed the bones to the side (meat from that would be used for another dinner later in the week), pureed the drippings until smooth, and then thickened with flour and butter.  After that came some tweaking with salt, pepper and horseradish to get just the right taste.

WOW, it was awesome, and a wonderful fun dinner to make and enjoy together.

Note:  the next day, I pressure cooked the bones with carrot, celery and onion to make more beef stock, then shredded the meat, added fresh carrots, onions, celery, and herbs, and barley of course.  Great soup, half of which went in the freezer, the other half, in OUR BELLIES! yummm

Weekday Make-ahead dinner (mostly)

I have no problem with getting the prep done, and if I can get it done early in the day, or the day before, so much the better - so long as the final product's quality is unaffected.

This was an ad-lib I did ahead of time for a busy weekday dinner, turned out AWESOME!]

Chicken Primavera Alfredo

six chicken thighs, bone in and skin on, but trimmed of extra fat
3 green onions, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
six large cremini mushrooms, sliced thickly
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped
black pepper
1 bottle ready-to-use Alfredo sauce (Hey! it's a week night! :-)  )

Brown the chicken thighs in olive oil, get a lot of colour on them. Place them in a casserole or baking dish.

In the same saute pan you used for the chicken, brown the mushrooms, then add the other vegetables and black pepper.  Once softened, pour around the chicken, making sure not to cover the chicken with the vegetables.

Next, spoon 1/2 the bottle of Alfredo sauce around the chicken, again, keep the beautiful brown crust of the chicken thighs uncovered.  We still want this to be crisp when we eat it!

At this point you can cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  Within one day, you must bake it, for food safety reasons!

To bake, preheat your oven to 350.  Remove the plastic wrap and place the baking dish in the oven.  Bake for one hour.  Serve with pasta, or zucchini strips, and the other 1/2 of the Alfredo sauce.

Delish! Really easy!  and while it was baking unattended, we got a ton of stuff done.

A delicious, and extemporaneous, meal!

An off-the-cuff salad and fish fillets meal

I was inspired by a picture and recipe I saw in Real Simple, for a spring salad of snap peas and cucumber, with an oil and vinegar dressing.

Salad:

1 pkg snap peas, julienned
1 english cucumber, or 3 mini cukes, julienned similarly to the peas
1/2 small onion minced, or 3 green onions, chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, julienned (roasted would be good, too!)

toss with 1/2 of dressing recipe, let sit at room temperature a couple of hours if possible to maximize flavours.

Dressing and Marinade:
(1/2 of this is used for the dressing, and the other 1/2 to marinate the fish fillets. Once the fish is removed, the marinade is discarded.)

Shake in a jar or whisk in a bowl:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 T. sesame oil
2 T. brown sugar
1 t. grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, grated
hot sauce to taste (optional)

Fish:

4 pieces fish fillets, such as Rainbow trout, or thinner pieces of salmon
1/2 recipe marinade above

marinate in refridgerator for 2 to 4 hours
remove from marinate, blot with paper towel, saute very quickly until done in non-stick pan with a small amount of olive oil

Sugar Cookie Cupcakes

Tried to make something appealing for the Choir's Bake Sale...  We'll see if they sell, however "Quality Control" says they're delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teas. pure vanilla extract
1 teas. pure almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teas. baking powder
3/4 cup 2% milk

Preheat your oven to 375 F.  Using your stand mixer or Kitchen-Aid, cream the butter and sugar together until very creamy.  Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat like mad.  Add the extracts. Crank it.  The idea here is to beat some serious air into the batter to make it light, fluffy and tender.

Before adding the flour, mix the baking powder into it.  Then, check and see if your oven is ready.  THEN add the flour mixture, using the slowest speed initially, so you don't end up with a "flour facial."  After the flour is incorporated, add the milk while the beaters are still going.  Beat until very smooth and light.

Line muffin tins with papers.  I used small muffin tins (approx. the size of a "two bite brownie"), and cake/candy liners I found at Bulk Barn.  Using two teaspoons, spoon batter into the liners, until just below the top, but more than 3/4's full. I only had one small muffin tin of 12, so I ended up doing 3 1/2 batches which yielded around 40 cupcakes.

Cool each batch on a wire rack.  When all the cupcakes are cool, ice and decorate as desired.  I used white icing for the base, red icing for the music notes, and gold "Pearl Dust" to give it all a shine. I picked these colours because they matched the choir's logo and concert uniform.

For more information on the York Region Community Choir, you can go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/York-Region-Community-Choir/170313393029917

Mussels, Red Curry style

After some experimentation, we've figured out how to get a deeply favoured sauce without overcooking the mussels.  (In case you didn't know, over-cooked mussels taste like ocean-flavoured chewing gum... ewwww!)

Ok - make the sauce first:

1 large can ground tomatoes
2 Tbsp hot curry paste (we like Patak's)
1 finely diced onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
hot chili flakes to taste
2 limes, zest and juice
large bunch cilantro

Saute the onion and curry paste in a little olive oil.  Add the garlic and continue for 1 minute (don't let the garlic burn).  Add in the vinegar, sugar, chili flakes, and stir.  When blended, add the tomatoes.  Simmer until deeply flavored, perhaps an hour, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt, pepper, lime juice and zest.   Chop and reserve the cilantro, you'll be using that after the mussels are cooked.  At this stage, the sauce can be refrigerated for later, or another day.  Will keep 3 or 4 days tightly sealed in the fridge.

The Mussels

Buy mussels the day you want to cook them.  Dump them in a colander and stream cold water over them, rinsing away any sand or grit.  Check each mussel carefully.  If it is broken, toss it.  If it is open, and doesn't close when you tap it, toss it.  If it's got a bit of string along the hinge (called the beard), just pull that off.  If you're not sure if a mussel is ok, toss it.  When in doubt throw it out.  In a two pound bag, its not unusual to toss five or six.

In a large pot with a lid, place 1 cup of white wine.  Bring to a vigorous boil.  Add 1/2 cup of the curry sauce. Have the remainder of the curry sauce already reheated, and warm bowls ready for serving.  Dump the cleaned mussels, still in their shells, into the pot and cover tightly.

After five minutes, the mussels should all be opened and fragrant.

NOTE: any mussels that have not opened should be Tossed!  

Serve immediately in warmed bowls with the curry sauce on top.  Sprinkle liberally with the chopped cilantro.  Serve with lime wedges and slices of crusty bread.

Try it yourself and we bet you will say...

I would make that again!

Two quick and yummy appetizers

Over the break I made two really great apps that were fast, easy and delicious! Warm Brie with apples and toasted Almonds Take a circle of Brie and put it on a plate that is microwave safe. Dry toast some blanched almonds or almond slivers in a dry pan, just until slightly browned. Slice a crisp apple into small wedges. Slice some bread, we used a baguette. Warm up the Brie just until softened, in the microwave. I used 1.5 minutes at 50% power, but yours may be different. The goal is soft and ready to ooze, but not hot. Arrange the apple wedges and bread on the plate around the Brie. Sprinkle the al ones on top of the Brie. Pass the napkins and enjoy. The best way is to get some Brie, apple, and almonds all in the same bite, on bread, or using the apple as a base. Yummy!!!!! Roasted asparagus with prosciutto Snap the woody ends off asparagus while the oven broiler is preheating. Slice the prosciutto lengthwise in two Wrap one strip of meat around each spear of asparagus Place on a pan lined with parchment about three inches from the broiler. Broiler three to five minutes per side until the prosciutto is crispy and the asparagus is roasted. Do not add any oil or butter to the pan, the fat from the meat will be enough. Transfer to a plate and enjoy with friends. I would make that again!

Beef Stew - ultimate comfort food

This is the beef stew of my childhood, that my mother, Marjorie, used to make, with a few tweaks...

You need a couple of things for this recipe to be at it's best, the most important being a Pressure Cooker.  I know, I know, they can be scary, but really, today's pc's are very safe and easy to use, and make all the difference.

Another thing that helps this stew is having a bacon breakfast.  Huh????  Cook bacon in a nice wide stainless pan, and enjoy.  Pour off some of the fat, leave all that delicious bacon-y fond in the pan, and use it to sear your meat, and brown the onions and mushrooms.  Sooooo good!  But totally optional, you could just use plain old olive oil...

Ok, on to the recipe.

1 beef shank slice (osso bucco) with a nice thick bone in it
1 lb. stewing beef, cut in 1 inch cubes (ish...)
flour to coat the meat
2 large onions, large dice
8 oz. brown (cremini) mushrooms, quartered or sliced, depending on the size
2 large carrots, peeled and cut in large (2 inch) pieces
1/2 small rutabaga, cut the same as the carrots
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut in medium dice (smaller than carrots and rutabaga)
2 stalks celery, also in large pieces
1 cup red wine
2 cups beef stock
bay leaf
thyme
pepper

Dust the meat with flour.  In batches, brown the meat on med-high heat in oil, or that bacon-y pan from breakfast (see note above).  As each is down, transfer to the pressure cooker.   In the same pan, toss in the onions, saute for five minutes, then add the mushrooms.  The object is to get some colour on the onions and mushrooms, and soak up the rest of the flavour in the botton of the pan.  With the onions and mushrooms still in the pan, pour in the red wine, and start deglazing (scraping the stuff off the bottom of the pan) - Note: this is why you are NOT using a non-stick pan....  Let the wine reduce by at least half, then pour the contents into the pressure cooker on top of the meat.  If there's still deglazing to be done in the pan, use the beef stock to finish the job.  Otherwise, just pour the stock into the pressure cooker.  Add in the vegetables, herbs and pepper.  Notice I'm not putting salt in here.  Since I used the bacon-y pan, I want to be cautious of how salty it gets, so I'll leave it out for now, and taste later.

Put the lid on the pressure cooker (follow the instructions that came with yours) and crank the heat up under it to high.  You are listening for the rocking, sizzling, spitting noise.  Once you hear that, RUN!!!! hee hee, just kidding, simply turn the heat down to med-low (you want it to settle down to a gentle rocking, sizzling) and leave it be for 1 hour.

After an hour, release the pressure (again, follow your instructions) or place the entire cooker, still sealed, in the kitchen sink and pour COLD water on it for five minutes.  that will equalize the pressure and make the cooker safe to open.  Ahhhh, careful, it will be VERY VERY HOT!

The next step is also optional, but I find it makes all the difference in world.  Transfer the stew to a large bowl, let cool and place in the fridge overnight.  Make sure you include the bone from the shank.

The next day, the fat will have hardened across the top, and it will be very easy to remove and discard.  As well, the gelatin from the bone will have been released, and will give your stew gravy a beautiful body. Reheat the stew.  At this point you have some choices... you can thicken the gravy with a roux, or a slurry of cornstarch, or you can leave it thin, or you can remove the solids and make dumplings in the gravy.  This is our favourite! It will thicken the gravy and give your stew a beautiful, homey touch.

Enjoy in front of a roaring fire, or in the arms of a loved one - try it and you'll say....

"I would make THAT again!"