Best Brisket Ever!

Look at that slab of meat-

Happy Passover to all you Jews out there.  Passover came and went like a blink of an eye.  The secret to great brisket is to make it two days ahead and let it sit and soak up all it’s juices.   It’s important for all of the ingredients to get to know one another and mesh well because if they don’t, then you just might have an unsettled stomach.

Braised Beef Brisket: Gourmet Magazine Oct. 2009 (very recent obviously)

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 (2-pounds) piece beef brisket (preferably second-cut)
• 2 large white onions, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 4 celery ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (28-ounces) can crushed tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in lower third.

Heat oil in a wide 5-to 6-quart heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Season brisket with 1 tsp each of salt and pepper, then brown brisket, turning once, about 8 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onions to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Add carrots, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Add vinegar, stirring and scraping up brown bits. Add stock and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Return brisket to pot, nestling it in braising liquid (liquid will not cover meat). Cover with a tight-fitting lid and braise in oven until fork-tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

Very simple- I was responsible for the brisket and it turned out fantastic! I don’t know if it’s necessary to transfer to a plate but that step didn’t effect its moisture.  I will advise not to eat it that day- the gravy was very fatty- it’s best when you skim off the fat the next day and let it sit until it’s ready to serve.

For dessert Mom made macaroons from scratch- She asked Kim as the fifth question “Why do we make macaroons from scratch? Because store bought ones are crap.”

This recipe is for one lonely macaroon.   Mom tripled it and said it was easy to make and they turned out light and fluffy.

Coconut Macaroons: Gourmet Magazine May 2005

• Butter and flour for preparing baking sheet and foil
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 300°F. Butter a baking sheet, then line with foil and lightly butter and flour foil, knocking off excess flour.

Stir together egg white, sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and a pinch of salt until combined, then stir in coconut. Divide coconut mixture into fourths, then drop in 4 mounds (about 2 inches apart) onto baking sheet.

Bake until tops are pale golden in spots, 15 to 20 minutes, then carefully lift foil with cookies from baking sheet and transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 15 minutes. Peel macaroons from foil.

Ratings: Brisket

Do-Ability: 4- I almost dropped brisket while transferring it to plate

Taste: 5+ Loved the crushed tomatoes addition…

Macaroons:

Do-Ability: 5

Taste: 5

Happy Passover

A Cheesy Grilled Cheese Dipped in Tomato Soup

It’s prime time at the grocery store- Monday around 630/7 I walk in with no gourmet recipe at hand and find a long line of hungry, anxious New York professionals waiting to check out.  They all had probably just gotten out of work like I had and needed to do the grocery shopping for the week or pick up some dinner or lunch for the next day.  I approach the meat section for my weekly chicken cutlet and pass by a large pot of simmering tomato soup that caught my eye and stirred my appetite.  A grilled cheese dipped into a large bowl of tomato soup.  How classic for a rainy day.  Mmmm.  My comfort food.

My favorite cheese is Swiss, not Gouda. Gouda is a close second.  Sorry all you Gouda lovers- but Swiss is the cheese for me.  I bought some French sourdough bread that turned out to be stale but later learned that if you’re gonna toast, it’s OK to buy stale bread.   And folks, yes, I cheated. The tomato soup was not an original.

I got home and assembled my perfect grilled cheese, heated up the George Forman Grill- placed the sandwich on the grill and pressed it down- Threw my side of soup in the microwave for 2 minutes.  When the light goes off it’s grilled cheese time! It was so cheesy that some of it stuck on George Forman.   MMMMM Good.  The bread was so crispy it cracked as I broke it in half.  I love grilled cheese sandwiches.  Maybe next time I’ll make something a little more outrageous, but sometimes it’s the simplest things that are classic.

Chicken Quesadillas

Imagine melted Monterrey jack cheese on top of sautéed chicken and onions that is folded in a corn flour tortilla and then pressed tightly on a George Foreman grill.   Folks, chicken quesadillas are not hard to make.   And if you don’t want to make fresh chicken, you can buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it into the mix.   The recipe initially called for pre-cooked chicken to make our lives easier- but it doesn’t take that long to cook chicken to begin with and it tastes better.   A lot better.  I even inspired my friend Stacy (who hardly cooks) to use her stove.  It took maybe about  30-40 minutes?  And it was so easy!!

I got inspired to make Chicken Quesadillas not only because I haven’t made them before, but also because I’d get them for lunch at Sarabeth’s at Chelsea Market and they were expensive and a little greasy.   I thought to myself, “Hm.  I can make these too.”   Then I did and they were fantastic!

Ratings:

Taste: 4- could have added some red and/or green bell peppers and a little more serrano chilies for additional spice.   Instead of Monterrey jack cheese you could use cheddar.   We also decided that we could add a side; maybe a corn salsa instead of a tomato salsa on top or guacamole-  I forgot to buy it… oops!

Do-Ability:

5- Very easy.  I’d make it again and again!

Chicken Stir Fry with Coconut Rice

My chicken stir fry turned into soup.   I added too much chicken stock and I burned my garlic.  It’s all about the timing and I just suck at it.  While my garlic was cooking, browning and then eventually turned black, I was washing my chicken and cutting it on a cutting board in thin strips like the recipe said.   I used two recipes from Gourmet- one was to make coconut rice and the other was a simple chicken stir fry dish.

Coconut Rice

The recipe for the rice had me use butter and unsweetened coconut milk- note: do not taste the unsweetened coconut milk; it doesn’t taste very good.  Of course, I burned the butter (it’s all about the timing) but it added crispiness to the rice and some color as well. Notice the brown bits in the rice… that’s from the burned butter.   I liked the coconut rice- it was very easy to make.

Ratings:

Taste: 5- I gave my self extra points for the crisp factor.  I like crispy rice.  I could have used more than a can of coconut milk because I felt that it could have used a touch more flavor.  But overall I really enjoyed it and it was very easy to make.  I’d  make it over and over again.

Do-ability:

5- Very easy.  You heat a sauce pan with butter and oil on medium high heat.  Then you add in the rice and water (the recipe said to soak the water in a sieve for 30 seconds, but I didn’t have one so I just threw all the ingredients in the sauce pan and cooked it covered for 20 minutes.  I do wonder what it would have tasted like if I had soaked the rice in water for 30 seconds.

This is what happens when you add too much chicken broth and let it simmer down.  The

Ratings:

Taste: Chicken dried out from cooking in the broth for too long 2- probably the worst chicken I made.

Do-ability:

5- very easy to make.  I’d do the chicken differently next time.  Next time, I’ll add a touch of chicken broth for a flavor enhancement.  I won’t add the whole can.

The broth wasn’t too salty and the Serrano chilies added great spice to my bite.   My stomach wasn’t too happy after this dish, but Wade liked it and said it was pretty decent.

Chocolate Caramel Truffles

The first step to identifying your problem is admitting that you have one.  Friends, I have a serious addiction to chocolate. I can’t help it. Chocolate is the key to our hearts and the root to our souls. I think it provides the chemical we feel when we’re in love after we take that first bite which explains why chocolate comes around on Valentines Day (Singles Day) I got a little sad around Valentine’s Day, so I made these truffles for my Single friends.  After all, chocolate makes us feel 1000 times better.

So friends, I hope u enjoyed them because they were time consuming but were the best thing I’ve made from Gourmet so far. Mom helped me with the mixture.  It wasn’t too complicated- it was just time consuming.

30 Truffles (we doubled it)

• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 9 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped– (we used chips)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For coating

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted, and/or 1/2 to 1 cup pecans, ground fine

“In a dry heavy saucepan (about 3 1/2 quarts) cook sugar over moderate heat, stirring with a fork until melted… ” (It was so cool to watch the sugar melt into caramel- I’ve never made caramel before-)

…”swirl pan until sugar is a golden caramel.  Remove pan from heat (we turned heat off) and add cream carefully (mixture will bubble up)…”  it bubbled up A Lot.  I thought I was doing something wrong, so Mom took over (my natural instinct).  I learned that when heat is over boiling temperature adding cold heavy cream will make the caramel bubble a lot.  Learning a little science as I cook is always fun.    “Return pan to heat and simmer, stirring, until caramel is dissolved.”

Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, salt, and vanilla. Let mixture stand 5 minutes (we didn’t do this we kept stirring until chocolate melted. Transfer mixture to a bowl and cool, uncovered. Chill mixture, covered, 2 hours, or until firm.

Coat truffles:
Scoop out truffle mixture with a spoon and form into 1-inch balls. Roll truffles in 1/2 cup cocoa powder or coat with 1 cup pecans, pressing nuts slightly to adhere. (Alternatively, roll half of truffles in 1/4 cup cocoa powder and coat remaining truffles with 1/2 cup pecans.) Chill truffles on a tray lined with wax paper until firm, about 1 hour. Truffles keep in an airtight container, chilled, 2 weeks.

Mom got sleepy. My accountant friend Andrew is in the middle of busy season and had to work a full twelve hour day on Saturday.  He came over starving around 8ish.  By the time he came over, I was ready to put him to work.   He helped me form the mixture into chocolaty truffles covered in coco power.  As Forest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get.” That was precisely what we tried to do. Some truffles had nuts on the outside or on the inside.  Even the ones covered in coco powder had nuts.  So, you really never knew which one you were getting.

I woke Mom up to try one- and she gave it a 5+ and Dad kept wanting seconds and thirds.

Ratings:

Taste: 5+

Do-Ability: 2- Very time consuming… Chocolate melts very easily so we kept putting the mixture back in the fridge to solidify since it kept melting in my hands.

Overall, a complete success!!

Lovely Polenta

Several months ago, I made corn muffins that tasted like cardboard.  My old roommate Lara commented, “Ashley I had those corn muffins you made and… what did you do to them? They tasted horrible!”

At the time, I had just bought Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking (a.k.a the anti-recipe book).   I always hated recipes because I can never follow them so I thought I’d do his method.   His theory makes sense.  If you know the ratio for muffins, than you can make any kind you want because the ratio doesn’t change.  However, if you’re me, and you think you know the ratio but don’t actually know it, then you end up with cardboard corn muffins.  The trial and error method is a no no!

The cornmeal from those dreadful corn muffins is still in my cabinet and I decided to make a simple polenta using a Gourmet recipe, of course.  I noticed that I hadn’t made many sides and an easy polenta was just the thing to do.

This recipe is called Creamy Polenta:

Consists of:

• 4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup polenta (not quick-cooking) or yellow cornmeal (5 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

“Bring water and salt to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, then add polenta in a thin stream, whisking. Cook over moderate heat, whisking, 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover pan, then cook at a bare simmer, stirring with a long-handled spoon for 1 minute after every 10 minutes of cooking, 45 minutes total. Remove from heat and whisk in butter until incorporated.

Serve polenta warm.”

It was very tasty- and if you let it sit for a minute it gets really thick.

Ratings:

Do-Ability: 5= very easy

Taste: 4.5  Was a little on the salty side but mmmhmmm goood.

Yes, I would make this again and again.

A New Take on the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

I’m not a baker.  Sadly, I grew up with boxed brownie, cookie and cake mixes.  Everything I made was always consistently moist, so I never made anything from scratch because it was too complicated.  With cookies from scratch (or what I call “scratch cookies”), I’d put in so much time and effort into baking.  And, for what? A dry cookie.

Have you ever had a spicy cookie? Six-Spice Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are not your typical gooey, sweet cookie.  These spices… kick in at the end of your bite.   Who’s ever heard of cayenne pepper in a cookie recipe? I admit that I didn’t use all the spices because a small jar of ground cloves in NY was $9.99 and the recipe called for a pinch of ground cloves.   I was not spending $9.99 so I could use a pinch of ground cloves, once.  Let’s face it; I would only use it, once.  What else didn’t I use? Cumin and nutmeg, which would explain why the ginger was so potent.   I think we (my roomies are guinea pigs almost every time) all agreed that the ginger was a bit strong.

My other guinea pig, Yanina, was so excited when I told her I was making oatmeal raisin cookies.  She’s the kind of person who will tell it to you like it is- no BS, just straight off the bat to your face this is how I feel kind of deal.  I knew that if it was a bad/good/dry/moist cookie, I could count on her to tell it to me straight up.   Everyone needs a friend like that- someone who will give you a good kick in the a$$ when you need it most.  That’s why we’re friends.

Luckily, my oatmeal raisin cookies met her high expectations.  She’s a spicy gal and these ones matched her palate.

Rating: 1-5  (5=Excellent, 1=worst cookie of my life)

Taste: 3.5, I’m a gooey gal.  The cookie was stiff.  I like sweet cookies.

Recipe: 4.5- I didn’t use all the spices; extra points for a unique recipe

Do-Ability: 3.5- Baking is hard.  You have to be precise- I get flustered too easily and there are always too many directions that I end up doing backwards.   Although I separated the dry ingredients from the wet ones, I put the flour and spices in a big bowl and the butter, sugar and eggs into a smaller bowl.  If I read the directions correctly, I would have noticed that the dry ingredients are supposed to go into the wet ingredients and not vice versa.  I mixed the batter in a small bowl instead of a big bowl and then transferred the dough into the big bowl later.

When baking, does the order really matter? Aren’t they all going in the same place?

Cook to Impress? Go with Pasta

If you want to impress, go simple.  Simple = Pasta.  I’ll only try new things on myself because I’d hate to mess up on someone else- esp. if I’m cooking to impress.  This week, I came across an unusually picky guinea pig who gave me a guideline of foods he doesn’t eat.

1. no seafood; which was hard for me because I like fish.

I said, “Chicken or steak?”

He said, “Both are fine.”

I’ve cooked way too many chicken recipes and may turn into one if I cook another chicken dish. And I wasn’t in the mood for red meat so I went with Pasta.

I found Penne with Tomato Prosciutto Sauce which looked easy and didn’t have too many ingredients- it was simple and looked good- but it has Prosciutto in it-

“Are you OK with Proscuitto?”

“Not my Fav. but I’ll eat it.”  OY!

Ratings- 1 to 5  (5 = excellent)

ME: 4.0 Prosciutto didn’t do much for me- maybe it’s because I didn’t add much due to picky guinea pig.  Extra points for making tomato sauce from scratch- and it was good.

Guinea Pig: 17.  Goal Achieved- It’s over the max!

Just remember that if you want to impress go with PASTA.

Week 7: Spaghetti with Spicy Tomato and Olive Sauce

**Note:  Still no camera cord hence no pictures 😦

For a while, I thought it was going to be a warm winter since almost all of November was decent weather. I was wrong when Thanksgiving rolled around.

Due to the finger incident from last week, I wanted to make something that didn’t require a lot of chopping. Therefore, I made the Spaghetti with Spicy Tomato and Olive Sauce which was quite tasty and easy to make.

My favorite pasta is capellini. I dated a chef once and on our first date he made me a pasta dish from scratch and asked me what kind of pasta I liked. He wanted the truth so I told him. He sighed and wiped the sweat from his face and continued to cut the pasta dough very very thin. That relationship didn’t last very long.

I’m finally learning how to make tomato sauce. It was very easy. Some minced ginger, extra virgin olive oil, and red pepper flakes- which gave it a nice kick at the end of the bite. I may have over-cooked the pasta a little bit but I’d definitely make this dish again.

Ratings:

Taste: 1=Bad, 5=Excellent

Flavor: 4. The pasta was a little mushy – but the sauce was great. Instead of using a can of tomato puree, I’ll use one with chunky tomatoes next time. Extra points for red pepper flakes- it was a nice surprise at the end of my bite- just when you’re about to swallow- I’m thinking “wow, this is really good…” and then oops- it’s a little spicy at the end.

Do-Ability: 1=Hard, 5= Easy

5: Quick and easy.

Week 2- Sunday-Funday with the Roommates, Total Recipes: 3

I live with four people (with +1’s it’s really like I live with eight others.)  There’s always something going on and someone to hang out with whether just watching TV or going to the gym.  The more the merrier.  My roommate Lara is an excellent cook who’s known for her Mexican food specifically her chicken enchiladas topped with cheddar cheese and black beans. YUM.  She also makes really really good guacamole and salads.  She told me a great tip about salads.  She said, “I like to use ingredients that are in season and put them in my salads” which makes sense because produce is the best when in season and you can save some money.  Food costs in New York can get so high sometimes.

We joked once that she and I love to take control over the kitchen so every time we cook together, we’d always establish what we were in charge of.   This week, I was in charge of the Peach Lacquered Chicken Wings (June 2009) and she was responsible for the Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad (June 2006).  My other roommate Angela made a Spinach and Onion Dip (January 2003).  (OK folks.  rule number four was broken.  Ange added some bacon-shhh. ) Ange is our Mom who is very organized and keeps everyone in check.  Sadly, these two are leaving the nest this week and moving on to another location.  It’s not far away at all, but I am used to seeing them every day and now it’ll be a little different.  Let’s face it.  I’m just not that good with change.  My mom had to point that out to me when I contemplated leaving.  Sometimes, you just need someone to just tell you how it is and that’s what my mom is for.

Jarell and Wade are my two other roommates who are two of the nicest guys I know.  Jarell is our tech guy who set up this unbelievable surround sound system in our living room and also knows some interesting detailed facts about shoes and clothing and just about anything.  He’s a wealth of knowledge.  Wade is our chicken-wing master.  I’ve never met anyone who loves chicken wings as much as Wade.  He’d come home at 3:00 in the morning on a Saturday, crave chicken wings and make them right then and there with home made BBQ sauce that will sit in our fridge for the month. I think he and I got into an argument once about how long you can keep BBQ sauce in the fridge.  He won.  You can keep BBQ sauce in the fridge for a month because the cider vinegar will keep bacteria from growing.

These two had birthdays this past weekend hence the choice to make chicken wings in their honor as well as  Sunday-Funday and the Yankee game.   We had some nice appetizers to start with while the chicken wings were in the oven.  (Yes, I broiled them.)  Ange’s bacon addition to the spinach dip added a nice savory flavor to it.  It was just the right amount of bacon to bring saltiness to the spinach and onions.  Our friend Emmy made this fabulous seven layer Mexican dip (not from Gourmet- it’s fun to break rules sometimes) it was filled with  sour cream, guacamole, black beans, salsa  and cheddar cheese.  Finally the wings were done, and smelled peachy.  I know the recipe called for peach or apricot preserves, but I used both.  The chicken was shiny and was very sticky.  I was expecting them to be a little more gooey in taste and less on my fingers but they were still very sweet and complimented the salt and vinegar potato salad very well.   The potato salad was good on its own, but it was that much better when paired with the chicken wings.

For dessert, Amelia (Wade’s +1) made a pumpkin bread  (from our rival magazine…shh).  Her pumpkin bread was so fresh and so moist.  I love bread when it’s moist.  A dried out bread is the worst thing that can happen to any mouth.  What a great way to spend a Sunday with your roommates. Especially if it’s gonna be the last one.

Let’s Go Yankees!