Category Archives: Recipes

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Asparagus Spinach Leek Soup…or quite simply Spring Soup

I haven’t posted a recipe in a quite awhile, but the ingredients in this soup include some of my fave veggies: asparagus, spinach, and leeks! I discovered my taste for asparagus soup after a recent dinner at Greenz in Addison, who served up a creamy, yet refreshing version of this. My recipe is a modified version from How2Heroes.com, which includes buttermilk and is served warm.

Leeks, 1 bunch (2 or 3 leek roots = about 1 cup), sliced
Garlic, 10-12 cloves, chopped
Asparagus, 1 bunch, chopped into 1-2″ stalks
Oil, 4 tbsp (I used canola/EVOO mix)
Baby Spinach, 2 cups
Buttermilk, 0.5 cup (substitute milk, cream or yogurt)
Vegetable Broth, 2 cans (2 cups ea.)
Shredded or cubed cheese (optional)
Scallops or other seafood protein (optional)

Slice the whites and light green parts of the leeks (omit the dark tops) and saute in pan with oil over medium heat. Add garlic when leeks have softened, saute until aromatic. Add chopped asparagus, reserving tops; saute until softened. After 3-5 minutes, add vegetable broth to pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add buttermilk to thicken, then add baby spinach. Remove pan from direct heat. Stir spinach into soup until lightly wilted. Immersion blend the soup mixture to desired consistency. Serves 2 people at about 380 calories per serving.

Garnish with cheese or add seared scallops for extra protein.

Dining, Recipes

An attempt at maja blanca

I had a bag of frozen corn in the freezer, a can of coconut milk in the pantry, and a box of rice flour. I strived to make some maja blanca maiz this weekend but ended up with a cold dessert with the consistency of pudding. The maja blanca of my childhood possessed the firmness of gelatin or flan rather than the softness of champurado, or a standard rice pudding.

Maja blanca is typically referred to as a coconut pudding or rice-coconut pudding. But in my experience, it typically sets or hardens after cooking. My experimental dessert sat in the fridge overnight and remained in a semi-liquid state. Luckily I didn’t go so far as to produce latik, or fried coconut curd, to accompany it. So, after much review of the original recipe, I resolve to retry the dessert again with cornstarch.

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Shredded Lamb with Brussel Sprouts and Red Onions

I made a fabulous dish out of some raw food that had been aging in my fridge. Glad I finally got around to it; the brussel sprouts had begun to yellow, and the lamb had been defrosting for nearly a week. I stir-fried all of the ingredients for this yummy good dish.

  • 1.5 lb sliced lamb
  • 1 lb brussel sprouts
  • chopped garlic
  • quarter cup of olive oil
  • salt
  • cracked black pepper
  • garlic powder
  • dried basil flakes
  • medium red onion, sliced
  • sweet soy sauce

First, create a marinade of olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, chopped garlic, dried basil and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute. To this marinade, add sliced lamb until it is incorporated. Meanwhile, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Quarter the brussel and slice a red onion. Brown some of the chopped garlic, then add the lamb to the pan and cook until brown. Thinly sliced lamb will shred while cooking. At this point, there may be extra liquid in the pan; add brussel sprouts and continue to stir-cook until the sprouts are tender. Meanwhile, drizzle sweet soy sauce over the mixture and season with a little more salt. Turn off the heat then add the onions, and ensure that they don’t overcook–you want the spicy-sweet red onions to also tame the lamb. Eat alone or serve with rice and enjoy!

12/8/2011 Shredded Lamb with Brussel Sprouts and Red Onions

 

Dining, Recipes

Best. Turkey. Ever.

11/24/2011 Weber Grill Smoked Turkey (1) 11/24/2011 Weber Grill Smoked Turkey (2) 11/24/2011 Weber Grill Smoked Turkey (3)

My 2011 Thanksgiving turkey turned out to be a winner. I thought I wanted a fried turkey this year, but ended up throwing this bird onto the Weber grill to smoke for nearly 3 hours. Initially, I started with one bank of coals; but when I saw that temperatures weren’t rising after the first hour, I fired up a second bank in the second hour and that’s when things started cooking. I also included a pan of water in the grill to catch the drippings and keep the turkey moist.

This is a 14.5 pound Jennie-O turkey brined for 20-21 hours. It came off my trusty Weber 22″ grill smoky and succulent; perfect moisture, texture and color. I didn’t have to cover it to achieve that beautiful golden brown–it arrived at that color without drying out. It came off the grill when I determined temps to be in the 150-160 range, estimating that it would rise another 10 degrees when removed from the grill. After cutting into it, we marveled at the tenderness and juiciness of the bird from white meat to dark. It even boasted a smoke ring on the bottom half.

The taste was complex. Under the smokiness we detected all the garlic, pepper, salt, rosemary, and sugar from the brine. What also cut across all those complex flavors were the lemon wedges I stuck into the cavity; the meat nearest the cavity had a light smoky taste accentuated by lemon. Just wonderful.

2011 Turkey Brine recipe:

  • 2 gallons of water
  • 40 cloves of garlic, chopped (if not more)
  • 6-8 sprigs/branches of rosemary, chopped (should come out to handful or quarter cup)
  • 1.5 cups of salt
  • half a cup of brown sugar
  • quarter cup of coarse ground black pepper
  • quarter cup of garlic powder
  • 1 medium lemon or lime, sliced (optional)

I love garlic and rosemary; I chopped enough of both to result in about 1-2 handfuls of each. Meanwhile, I add salt and sugar into a huge stainless steel stockpot (large enough to brine the turkey in). Turn the heat on high, then add 2 gallons of water. I boiled the brine until salt and sugar were dissolved before adding rosemary, garlic, garlic powder and black pepper.  Stir then cover the stockpot, and turned off the heat. Throw in the lemons and let the mixture sit overnight, at least 6-8 hours, to let it steep. Remove the lemons before dunking the turkey into the brine the following morning.

Clear out some space for the stockpot brine and refrigerate for 20-21 hours. This brine may result in a salty turkey for some, so I suggest trying 16-18 hours brine time, or reduce salt measurement to 1 cup.

Dining, Recipes

Brisket accomplished

7/3/2011 Brisket BBQ perfectedI got up later than planned on Saturday, around 8am. Which set me back on time to do the brisket bbq. I needed to stop by Home Depot to pick up a temperature gauge for our trusty old Weber kettle…and it was a purchase that paid off.

Initially, we were out of smaller options of untrimmed whole brisket at the supermarket, so the honey brought home a 14lb slab of beef. He seasoned it the previous night; I sliced it apart the next morning and reseasoned it. At 10:30am I put the point end (about 7 to 9lbs of fatty brisket) over some hot hickory coals and began barbecuing.

It wasn’t really until after 11am that I achieved desired temperature. The coals had burned too high (from 450F down to 350F) at the start and since I was frustrated with the process of going out in the midday heat every 10 minutes to check on the temps, I finally killed one of the banks. That got me below the 300F degree mark sometime after 12 noon and we were finally on our way.

The intent was to keep ambient temps in the grill between 200F to 250F. We worked out a system to refill with coals about every hour for about 10.5 hours. We watched movies all afternoon to keep us occupied while we waited on the brisket to finish, snacking on grilled sausages and potato salad in the mean time. Internal temps stayed around 160F in the later part of the day until I decided to add a small amount coals to the second bank to generate some heat and help speed up the bark-making process. At 9:30pm at 175F-180F we pulled the brisket off the grill and let it sit for another half hour. The honey grilled up some super sweet corn; then we sat down to eat.

It was truly the most sublime piece of meat that I had ever barbecued. Silky soft slabs of glistening beef fell apart as I sliced it. The slow cooking process achieved what we wanted; a rendering process that broke down the channels of fat in the meat to moisten and tenderize it. The honey declared it the best brisket we ever bbq’d–better even than Rudy’s.

And that’s how 2011 July 2 became the date of brisket accomplished.