CityMama™

Cilantro Beef (or Turkey): Like Hamburger Helper, But So Not

This is a dish that I learned to make from my brother, and seriously, it could not be easier.  Since it uses ground beef (or turkey or lamb), it's quick to make which makes it perfect for a mid-week meal.

Think of it as a Chinese-style Hamburger Helper-type dish, though hopefully far more delicious—and better for you.  Put on a pot of rice and when the rice is done, start this recipe. It'll be done in less than 10-15 minutes. Sooner if you prep everything in advance.

It doesn't look like much, but I promise you this is one of the best things you will ever put into your mouth.

And if you are one of those people who hates cilantro? Shhhh! Keep it to yourself!

CILANTRO BEEF (or, in my case, turkey)

• 1-2 tbsps canola, peanut, or macadamia nut oil (Amount of oil depends on meat used. I find that turkey needs the 2 tbsps because it's so lean.)
• 1/2 of a large sweet onion (Vidalia, Maui, Texas Sweet), diced
• a 1-inch piece of ginger, sliced (don't bother peeling, you'll saute it briefly then remove it)
• 1 bunch of organic cilantro, finely chopped (don't chop the last inch of stems, but some stems are fine)
• 1 lb of (organic) ground beef, turkey, or lamb
• 2 tbsps of organic low-salt soy sauce (oyster sauce works well in this, too.)
• white pepper to taste, about 1/4-1/2 tsp (must be white pepper)

Sauté the onion and ginger in the oil over medium-high heat until onions are soft and just starting to turn color, about 5 minutes. Add beef or turkey and sauté until cooked through, breaking it up into crumbles. Remove the ginger pieces. Add in soy sauce and white pepper. Cook for about a minute. Dump in all the cilantro at once, give the dish a final stir then remove from heat. 

Serve over rice (or brown rice as I do). This would also be great over rice noodles.  And if you like heat, don't forget to pass the garlic-chili sauce!

Potato-Mac Salad [or an ode to my love of Best Foods mayo]

photo: ohioandoakley.com

Hawaii is equally famous for it's macaroni and potato salads (okay, maybe just "island famous") so it only makes sense that two great tastes would taste great together, right?  For those that are skeptical (and I know you are reading), I say, you just have to try it once and you will be a believer. 

By now you probably already know that Hawaii consumes more Spam per capita than any of the other 49 United States, but I would venture to say that Hawaiians also consume more Best Foods mayonnaise.  When making mac or potato salads, there is just no substitute. There just isn't so don't try to argue with any islander. You won't convince her otherwise. Best Foods FTMFW!

This salad was a huge hit at our Memorial Day barbecue where it was made by my sister.  I love tuna in my macaroni potato salad so I include it here (in a recipe adapted from the excellent cookbook, The Island Plate), but you can omit it if you are a purist. Don't balk at the amount of mayo used. You want the salad to be very white and creamy.

POTATO-MAC SALAD

If you don't want to make chili pepper water, you can subsitute Tabasco sauce.  Potato-Mac salad is a plate lunch staple in Hawaii where it is usually served alongside--you guessed it, MORE STARCH--two scoops of rice.

• 1/2 lb macaroni
• 2 white (waxy) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1.5 cups Best Foods mayo
• Chili pepper water* (recipe follows)
• 1 6-ounce can of tuna, drained and flaked
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/2 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup minced celery
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• chopped black or green olives (optional)
• chopped parsley or paprika for garnish (optional)

Cook macaroni in salted water according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse. Set aside.

Cook potatoes in gently boiling, salted water until just tender, about 7 minutes.  Check at the 5 minute mark to make sure they aren't too soft. Drain.

Place macaroni and potatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle with chili pepper water, salt, and pepper to taste, and let sit for 10 minutes, then toss with 1 cup of mayonnaise and refrigerate until very cold, at least 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients and refrigerate. Just before serving taste for salt and pepper and toss with remaining half cup of mayonnaise so salad looks creamy and fresh. Garnish as you wish.

Chili Pepper Water

Recipe adapted from The Island Plate.

• Water (or some use gin or vodka or a combination of gin or vodka and water)
• generous pinch of coarse sea salt, Hawaiian preferred
• 2-3 small, hot, red chili peppers, stemmed and sliced in half. Since Hawaiian (nioi) peppers are virtually impossible to find outside of Hawaii use small Thai chilis instead.(Available at any Thai or Vietnamese grocer.)
• 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled and smashed

Fill an old, cleaned glass 8 oz. bottle (i.e. ketchup bottle) 3/4 full of water then pour water into a pot along with Hawaiian salt. Heat water until just boiling; turn off heat and throw in chilis and garlic. Allow to cool and pour into ketchup bottle. Keeps for 3 months in the fridge and gets hotter as it ages.

Easy Shrimp and Grits

Shrimp and grits are one of those classic food pairings that have stood the test of time for a reason: they are delicious together.  I first tasted this dish in the 90's when a Southern-style restaurant opened in the city where I living. It was listed under the appetizer section of the menu, but I always ended up ordering it for dinner.  I loved it so much that my bachelorette dinner was help at the restaurant and shrimp and grits were definitely part of the meal.

After gathering recipes from friends and watching lots of techniques online, I've finally hit on a recipe that—while probably straying a little from its Southern origins—is all my own. It's simple and packed full of flavor and I hope you like it.

SHRIMP AND GRITS

For the grits:

The amount you cook depends on the number of people you are serving. I always make extra grits because my girls love it.

• grits (I use Alber's Quick Grits)
• milk or water (or a combo)
• a pat of butter
• 1/2 cup (a good handful) grated medium-firm cheese like white cheddar, goat gouda, p'tit basque or whatever you like

Prepare grits according to package directions. I use milk to cook the grits because I think it lends a better flavor, but water is just fine, too. You have to ensure that you stir the grits constantly as you are cooking them so they don't get lumpy. (Stir, stir, stir!) Once the grits are creamy, stir in a pat of butter and let it melt, then add the cheese. Give it another stir, then remove from heat, cover and set aside while you cook the shrimp.

White bean soup with sauteed lacinato kale and veggies [my way]

This is how I do bean soups:

First I soak the beans over night, then I put them in a pot with their soaking liquid, bring it to a boil, skim any foam, reduce to a low simmer and cook until the beans are tender and most of the water has been absorbed (about an hour). They should be slightly dry and not yet soupy. Sometimes I add a ham hock or a Parmesan cheese rind and/or a bay leaf or two to flavor the beans while they simmer.  Then I remove anything added, season the beans and mash them lightly leaving some whole.

In a separate pan, I saute (in olive oil) whatever I am adding to the bean soup. Tonight it's a sturdy bunch of organic lacinato kale, sweet shallots, lots of garlic, garden carrots, and celery.  I cook the veggies until they are crisp-tender, then I season them as well.

To the bean pot I add more water or broth (3-4 cups) to make them soupy or as in the case of tonight, 3/4 of a box of no-chicken broth, then I dump the sauteed veggies into the soup, heat through, and serve. Don't cook too long or the kale (or spinach or chard or whatever you are using) will loose its deep green color.

Tonight's bean soup will be served with a a sprinkling of chopped fresh rosemary, a drizzle of special olive oil, and for the kids, a shaving of pecorino romano, but it's also wonderful topped with freshly toasted bread crumbs or caramelized onions or even a splash of sherry vinegar. You can even add a cup or two of al dente cooked short pasta to the soup for a warming bowl of pasta e fagioli. I love how verstile bean soups can be, whether "meatful" or vegan, it's always tasty.

Once the beans are soaked, the soup comes together fairly quickly.  It's done in about 2 hours (about an hour to cook the beans + 15-20 minutes to saute the veggies), but you don't have to watch the pot every minute.  Enjoy!

Chicken soup with homemade noodles

Last night I was craving chicken noodle with chewy, wide, hearty "noodles," so Bunny and I decided to make some together. (See photos here. Note: I've decided I'm "Post-DSLR." I don't care about taking perfect food shots, I just want to be able to document on the fly with my camera phone and hope they come out semi-pretty.)

To make the noodles you combine about 2 cups of AP flour with about a cup of water (add more flour or water a little at a time as needed) until you have a smooth, elastic, workable dough.  Knead for about 5-10 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky, then let it rest for 20-30 minutes, covered in saran wrap, on a floured board.  Roll out the dough as thick or thin as you like and cut into noodley shapes. I use a pizza cutter for this.

The soup was a snap to make since I already had a couple of quarts of veggie stock in the freezer plus a leftover roasted game hen from last week, so I defrosted the stock, added in some carrots, parsnips, and celery, brought it to a boil, then dropped in the noodles.  They cook up in about 5 minutes, and best of all retain their al dente chewyness (because they are so thick), rather than sogging-up like regular pasta.

If you have never made homemade noodles, give it a go.  You don't need any fancy equipment, trust me.

PS I am only using roasted game hens for my chicken noodle soup from now on.  The flavor was ohmygodtodiefor.

The best tuna salad

A touch hyperbolic? Perhaps. But I really think I make the best tuna salad and what's funny about that is: everyone loves their own tuna salad the best, don't they?

In my opinion, tuna salad should never contain pickle relish (pickles a-ok, just not sugary relish) or mustard, and it should be creamy not just-barely-bound-together with mayo. And speaking of mayo, it's Best Foods (or Hellmann's) all the way. It's the only mayo that will do. It should also be made with albacore tuna packed in oil whenever possible (oh, don't be afraid, you drain it off), but water-packed will do in a pinch.

THE BEST TUNA SALAD

• 1 can of albacore tuna (or boneless skinless salmon), drained thoroughly
• 1/2 a fresh lemon
• 1/4 of a sweet onion, very finely minced
• 1/2 a dill pickle, very finely minced
• 1/2 stalk of celery, very finely minced
• Best Foods mayonnaise
• fresh ground pepper
• a little chopped, fresh dill

Place tuna in a bowl, flake it, then moisten with juice of half a lemon and give it a quick mix. This gives the tuna a nice, fresh taste.  Add in onion, pickle, and celery, mix well.  Add in enough mayonnaise to bind all the ingredients, then add a little more to taste so that it's creamy without getting sogged down. I use at least 1 tablespoon to bind, then add another tablespoon at a time until I get the consistency I like. Add in pepper and a sprinkling of fresh dill to taste, mix and serve.  I love it on sandwiches, but I also love it on a Triscuit cracker topped with a dash of habanero hot sauce.

Two days, two bread puddings

Savory bread pudding with tomato, gruyere, Parmesan cheese, and Serrano ham.
 
My pal @VDog is always Twittering about making bread puddings for dinner and after she linked me to a recent NY Times article on what to do with leftover bread, I decided to make some mahseff. I made the savory one yesterday, and to kick off the first day of winter vacation, I made the sweet one for breakfast this morning. (Scoring mom points...)

The main reason why I don't make bread puddings more often (even though I love them) I realized is because we just don't eat a lot of artisan-style bread in our house. Sure we eat toast in the morning, and my kid takes a sandwich to school most days, but that's whole grain sliced wheat bread, which I buy two loaves at a time.

I know people who makes special trips to their local artisan baker or who bake their own breads, and it's a treat for them, but really, I could take it or leave it. I don't have a bread "thing," but pasta and rice? Totally different story. I didn't grow up eating bread and butter so it's not something I think about when putting a meal together. We rarely have it with dinner or at any other time of day.  I do buy bread when we have parties (which we recently did and why I had leftovers) or if I am making stuffing, but other than that, it's just not a food product we regularly consume.

Because it's the holidays (and because of aforementioned party) we happened to have some great bread on hand to make bread pudding: a half-eaten panettone (godilovethem) and some Acme Bakery ciabatta and herb slab, a rosemary-scented bread.

Once you have the basic procedure down, the bread puddings are a cinch to make.  For both recipes start with:

• a preheated 350º oven
• a buttered 9x11 pan
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups of milk + a little more for soaking hard bread if needed (not low fat and if you want to be indulgent, use half-n-half or cream)

How to: Improvise when you don't have a Crock-Pot [NaBloPoMo Day 12]

Throughout my cooking life, I have had a love/hate relationship with slow cookers. Even with the help of two slow cooker cookbooks, I have never been bowled over by anything that comes out of a slow cooker. It seems to me that they are best used for keeping soups, stews, and chilis hot on a buffet.

I think my biggest problem with Crock-Pots (and I use that term to mean all plug-in slow cookers) is that when cooking meats, to get the best results, you have to brown it in a separate pan first then transfer it to the Crock-Pot and add the remaining ingredients. Those looking for a mess-free short cut to cooking (me) now have to deal with a crusted pan and a splattered stove, and that totally defeats the purpose for me.

Two recipes that I do think work really well in a slow cooker are chicken breasts that are cooked with a little water and then shredded to use in tacos or enchiladas (they do stay moist this way), and chile verde also made with chicken.

I have owned slow-cookers and always ended up giving them away. Here's what I do instead.

Project for a cold, gray (sick) morning: chicken stock

How to: Bake an Acorn Squash (and what to do with it!) [NaBloPoMo Day 11]

Acorn squash stuffed with cous cous, garbanzos, raisins, orange zest, thyme and chives.

Now that it's Fall, one of the dishes I love cooking is baked acorn squash. Unlike summer squash, winter squashes aren't as waterlogged and gushy so they stand up to baking and still retain their sturdiness. Once they are baked anything goes.  You can:

• put a pat of butter in each, warm in the oven until melted, then serve.
• drizzle with honey or maple syrup, butter, and a grating of fresh nutmeg.
• sprinkle with gorgonzola, pancetta, and chopped fresh sage and bake until pancetta is crispy.
• slice and serve over a bed of spinach tossed with dried cranberries, walnuts, crumbled chevre, and warm vinaigrette.
• sprinkle with curry powder and drizzle with butter, bake 10 minutes, then serve.
• top with chopped chipotle chile en adobo and minced onion, bake 10 minutes, then serve.
• top with garlic and grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
• top with carmelized onions, thyme and prosciutto strips, bake until prosciutto is crisp.
• stuff with any grain (cous cous, quinoa, wild rice etc.) or a combination of cooked ground lamb and cooked rice, bake, serve.

I love it because it's so versatile and when stuffed, as I did it last night, it makes for a pretty and satisfying vegetarian main course.

BAKED ACORN SQUASH (a tutorial)

First, cut the squash in half (I used two to serve four people):