St. Patrick's Day Dinner, Part Two

I have to say WOW! this turned out so much better than I expected it to.

As you can tell from my previous post I felt a little iffy about rubbing a big piece of beef with salt and spices and smashing it under a bunch of cans in my fridge for a week.

But I highly recommend it.

The veggies, prepped and ready for their turn in the pot. As you can see from the recipe, you can choose from an assortment of veggies. I chose brussels sprouts, parsnips, and carrots. I thought we would eat those best.

Note--I don't know if I would use parsnips again. I really like them, but I prefer them roasted. Boiling them like this just didn't cook them evenly. The outsides sort of turned to mush and the woody core inside remained sort of firm which was not a pleasant affect. I liked the brussels sprouts and the carrots, though.
I also made some Irish soda bread and thought it was tasty with the meal.

Here is my lovely dinner. The meat turned out so tender and very tasty. The flavor of the spices was nicely subtle, not too strong, and it was not too salty (I was relieved to see in the recipe that you rinse the brisket before you cook it).

Definitely a keeper! Again, from Cook's Illustrated.

CORNED BEEF WITH VEGETABLES (serves 8, but I halved everything and it worked great)

1 beef brisket, corned/cured as in previous post

7-8 pounds veggies, chosen from the categories below:

Category 1 Veggies:

Carrots, peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise

Rutabagas (small), peeled and halved crosswise, then each half cut into 6 chunks

White turnips (medium), peeled and quartered

New potatoes (small), scrubbed and left whole

Boiling onions, peeled and left whole

Category 2 Veggies:

Green cabbage (small head), blemished leaves removed and cut into 6-8 wedges

Parsnips, prepared same was as carrots above

Brussels sprouts, blemished leaves removed and left whole

Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. Bring the brisket to boil with water to cover by 1/2-1" in a large soup kettle or stockpot, skimming any scum that rises to the surface. Cover and simmer until skewer inserted in thickets part of brisket slides out with ease, 2-3 hours (for the half-size brisket I cooked it about 2 hours, maybe a little more).

Heat oven to 200. Transfer meat to large platter, ladling about 1 c of cooking liquid over it to keep it moist. Cover with foil and set in oven.

Add vegetables from category 1 to kettle and bring to boil, cover and simmer about 10 minutes, until vegetables begin to soften. Add vegetables from Category 2 and bring to boil, cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender, 10-15 minutes longer.

Remove meat from oven, cut across the grain into 1/4" thick slices.

Serve meat with horseradish or grainy mustard (we ate it with Grey Poupon mustard, the Country Dijon kind, and it was GREAT. It added a little extra zing to the dish).

CLASSIC IRISH SODA BREAD (Note: I suggest making AND baking this while the beef is boiling, so you can use the oven to keep the meat warm while cooking the veggies)

3 c flour

1 c cake flour

2 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 T unsalted butter (2 T softened + 1 T melted)

1 1/2 c buttermilk

Heat oven to 400. Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in large bowl. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingers until texture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough comes together. Turn out onto floured surface and knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy (12-14 turns, don't overknead).

Pat dough into 6" round, about 2" high. Place on greased baking sheet or in cast-iron pot (cast iron makes the crust a little crispier).

Bake until golden brown and skewer in center of loaf comes out clean (internal temp 180). Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.

Corned Beef

I've never made the "traditional" St. Patrick's day dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage, but I've always wanted to try it. So I looked it up on the trusty Cooks Illustrated website. According to Cook's, the corned beef you buy at the grocery store is nasty. So, they suggest you "corn", or cure, your own beef. So, here goes.

You need to purchase beef brisket. I halved the recipe because it feeds 8, but here's the original recipe from cooksillustrated.com:

HOME CORNED BEEF BRISKET

1/2 c kosher salt

1 T black peppercorns, cracked (I put them in a bag and used a rolling pin to crack them)

3/4 T ground allspice

1 T dried thyme

1/2 T paprika

2 bay leaves, crumbled

1 beef brisket, 4-6 pounds, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed and patted dry

Mix all spices in small bowl. Poke 30 holes in each side of the beef brisket with a meat fork or metal skewer. Rub each side evenly with spice mixture and place in 2-gallon zipper-lock bag. Press as much air out as possible. Place brisket in jelly roll, cookie sheet, or similar pan. Place another pan on top and weight with bricks or cans. Refrigerate 5-7 days, turning once a day.

Here's my set-up with the corned beef underneath the cans.
Looks and sounds a bit motley, eh?! We'll see if it turns out!
Stay tuned . . .

Spaghetti and (Turkey) Meatballs

I've been exploring my Christmas gift to myself: Nigella Lawson's new cookbook, "Nigella Kitchen". I really like her style of cooking and her recipes are usually good ones. Her recipe for Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce was on the menu for this week.

It turned out pretty well. I like the idea of using turkey, it's a healthier alternative to ground beef or sausage for the meatballs and I found it plenty flavorful. Her idea of cooking the meatballs in the tomato sauce rather than frying them keeps the turkey moist and tender. (Although I have to admit a small part of me missed the crusty brown exterior of a fried meatball!)

My only complaint on this recipe is perhaps the runny consistency of the sauce, even after boiling for 30-40 minutes. Likely next time I will add less water, which I have modified in the recipe. I like a nice, robust tomato sauce with my pasta. The sauce here was very flavorful, just not thick enough.

SPAGHETTI AND TURKEY MEATBALLS (modified from Nigella Kitchen)

For the Sauce:

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

1 celery stalk, washed and quartered

2 T olive or veg oil

1 clove garlic

1 tsp dried thyme

28 oz can diced tomatoes plus 2/3-3/4 can full of water

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp kosher salt or 1/2 tsp table salt

pepper to taste

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey

1 egg

3 T unseasoned dry breadcrumbs (baking aisle or homemade)

3 T grated Parmesan cheese

2 T finely chopped onion and celery (from tomato sauce ingredients)

1 tsp Worcesteshire sauce

1/2 tsp dried thyme

Put onion and celery pieces in food processor and grind to a mush. Or, dice by hand. Reserve 2 T for meatball mixture.

In heavy large saucepan or Dutch oven, warm oil and garlic until garlic is fragrant. Add onion and celery mixture and thyme and cook at moderate to low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Add the canned tomatoes and 2/3-3/4 can full of water. Season with sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir and let it come to a boil then turn the heat down to simmer gently.

Put all ingredients for the meatballs into a large bowl, including salt to taste (I suggest about 1 tsp kosher salt) into a large bowl and mix together gently (don't overmix as it will make the meatballs dense and heavy). Use gloves if you're squeamish!

When the ingredients are mixed, use a teaspoon measure to take out generously heaped teaspoon-sized balls and roll gently between the palms of your hands. Put the meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet as you go. You should get about 50 little meatballs.

Drop the meatballs gently one by one into the simmering sauce, in concentric circles working around the outside of the pan to the inside. Let the meatballs simmer 30 minutes, until cooked through. If necessary, stir very gently once or twice, being careful not to break up the meatballs. While cooking the meatballs, bring water to boil and cook spaghetti (can also serve over rice).

Ladle meatballs and sauce over hot pasta and enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake

I've always thought Red Velvet Cake sounded so luxurious. With the proliferation of the trendy "gourmet cupcakes" I think red velvet has come back into fashion a little. In any case I've been hearing/reading about it in my foodie mags. So I decided to give it a try for a fun, festive Valentine's Day dessert.

I actually had a tough time finding a recipe, there are not as many recipes out there as I thought there would be! But I was saved by my favorite foodie blog, www.smittenkitchen.com

I modified the recipe slightly, which I will note below. Red has always been my favorite color and I love that this cake is red! I also love that it's chocolate. The best of both worlds. Some of the recipes I looked at had a puny Tablespoon or two of cocoa. This recipe has 1/2 cup. But, even if you're not a huge chocolate cake fan it's not too strong. Believe me.

The texture of this cake (moist but still with a nice firm crumb) was perfect, as was the flavor. I'm not a huge fan of cream cheese frosting, but it fit well with this cake and the amounts were proportional (enough frosting, not too much). We'll definitely be making this again sometime . . .
RED VELVET CAKE
Adapted from www.smittenkitchen.com
**Note: I halved the amount of red food coloring. The original called for 6 T. My cake was still plenty red enough for me. I also baked it in 2 cake pans instead of the 3 called for in the recipe. Mostly because I don't have 3 cake pans. I then cut each layer in half sideways to have 4 layers to look fancy with frosting between!)**
1 T soft unsalted butter
3 1/2 c cake flour (really important, don't substitute)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 c canola oil
2 1/4 c granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2-3 T red food coloring (I bought the 1.? oz bottle of red coloring and used it all, it ended up being around 2 1/2 T)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c buttermilk (can substitute 1 1/8 c milk+2 T lemon juice, let stand 5 min)
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350. Use butter to thoroughly grease bottom and sides of 2 (or 3 if desired) round 9" cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment or wax paper and smear with additional butter or spray with nonstick spray.
Whisk cake flour, cocoa, and salt in small bowl.
Place oil and sugar in bowl of electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Running machine on low, slowly add red food coloring so it won't splash too much. Add vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk alternately in 2 batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
Place baking soda in small dish, stir in vinegar, and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
Divide batter among pans, place in oven, and bake until cake tester comes out clean. For 3 pans, 40-45 minutes. For 2 pans, about 55-60 minutes. Let cool in pans 15-20 minutes then remove from pans and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 c (1 stick) butter at room temperature
3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy, then add sugar and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

Pasta and Tomato Sauce with Bacon and Parsley

Looking for a tasty way to sauce up some of our favorite Wegman's pasta, I ran across this recipe.

This pasta is the real thing, imported from Italy. It's our favorite.
Nothing like a little bacon to make everything so very tasty!
The recipe is from cooksillustrated.com.
I'm sure this would be great on any pasta you can find, although I like the shape of these (sort of corkscrews) to grab hold of the bits of tomato and bacon.
PASTA AND TOMATO SAUCE WITH BACON AND PARSLEY
1 (28-oz) can diced or whole tomatoes packed in juice,
or one quart bottle home-canned tomatoes
4 oz bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (trust me, the little bit of heat is subtle but great)
2 T chopped fresh parsley leaves (I used flat-leaf)
1/4 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 pound pasta (an awkward amount, but more dilutes the sauce)

1. Drain and reserve liquid from tomatoes. If using whole or home-canned tomatoes, dice tomatoes by hand or pulse gently 3 times in food processor to roughly chop. If necessary add reserved liquid to tomatoes to total 2 cups (my chopped canned tomatoes made 3 cups without liquid). Discard remaining liquid.
2. In 10" skillet, fry bacon over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate, pour off all but 2 T bacon fat from pan.
3. Process garlic through press or dice, into small bowl. Stir in 1 tsp water. Heat garlic/water and red pepper flakes in bacon fat over medium heat about 2 minutes (garlic should not brown). Stir in tomatoes and simmer until thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, bacon, sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente in large pot of boiling, salted water. Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking water, drain ipasta, and transfer it back to cooking pot. Mix in reserved cooking water, sauce, and remaining 1 tsp salt. Cook together over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly, and serve immediately.

Christmas Dinner

I love that Christmas is a great excuse to fix fancy food. This year our menu consisted of: Prime Rib with Yorkshire Puddings, Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms, mashed potatoes and French green beans.

Because of time spent in England, my husband loves Yorkshire Puddings. I usually only make them once a year at Christmas. I ought to make them more!
Here's the Prime Rib, roasting away.
The mushrooms before roasting

And after. Can I just say the garlic sauce in the bottom was lovely poured over the meat and for dipping the Yorkshire puddings in? Thanks to my favorite cooking blog, smittenkitchen.com. Here's the link to the recipe if you're interested (if you like mushrooms, you're interested):

www.smittenkitchen.com/2010/12/garlic-butter-roasted-mushrooms/#more-6986

The Prime Rib and Yorkshire Pudding recipes are from Cook's Illustrated Website and Best Recipe Cookbook (respectively). Here they are, tweaked just a bit (and in the portions I cooked for our family):

PERFECT PRIME RIB (serves 4-6)

prime rib roast, about 3 1/2 lbs (2 ribs)

1. Set rib roast out for about 2-3 hours on counter to come to room temperature.

2. Heat oven to 200F. Meanwhile, bring roasting pan to medium-high heat on stove.

3. Dry roast with paper towels and tie a piece of kitchen twine around roast between ribs.

4. Sear roast in pan, turning as needed, until all sides are well-browned.

5. Remove roast from pan, place rack in pan and place roast on rack.

6. Cook, uncovered, in oven about 2-2 1/2 hours, until center of meat registers 130F on instant-read thermometer (for medium-rare).

7. Remove roast from oven and let rest 20-30 minutes, while making:

YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS (Makes 12)

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 cups whole milk OR 1 c half and half+1 c regular milk

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 tsp salt

3 T beef fat (reserved from roasting pan)

1. Whisk eggs and milk together in bowl until well-combined (if possible, use a large liquid measuring cup or bowl with a pour spout).

2. Add flour and salt to egg mixture, whisk quickly until combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.

3. Cover batter with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature at least 1 hour, up to 3 hours.

4. After roast is out of oven, measure 1 T fat from roasting pan and whisk into batter. Raise oven temperature to 450F.

5. Measure 1/2 tsp fat each into 12 muffin cups (standard-sized muffin pan) and place muffin pan in 450F oven for 3 minutes. Fat may smoke.

6. Working quickly, remove muffin pan from oven, close oven door, and divide batter evenly among cups, filling them about 2/3 full.

7. Immediately return pan to oven. Bake, without opening the door, for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until deep golden brown.

8. Remove the pan from the oven and pierce each pudding with a skewer to release the steam and prevent collapse. Serve immediately.

TO CARVE PRIME RIB

Place roast on its side on cutting board (ribs should be perpendicular to cutting board). Use sharp knife to separate ribs from roast. Turn roast onto cut side and cut into thick slices.

Happy Holidays!

I'm Baack . . .

Well, life got crazy there for a while and I was not a great blogger. I hope to be better!

I'll start with a restaurant review for our fellow Ithacans.

We went to Delilah's with some friends a couple of nights ago. Delilah's used to be Wildfire. They changed the name and revamped the restaurant to reflect a Southern/Creole theme.
Overall I would say it was a good restaurant. Although I clearly ordered the wrong dish! On the waitresses recommendation I ordered the fried chicken, which was overcooked. The skin was too crunchy and the chicken inside was dry.
However, the appetizers we ordered were fantastic. We had the fried green tomatoes and the day's special tuna with buckwheat noodles. The fried green tomatoes were served with a crispy coating that was deliciously seasoned and also came with a fabulous balsamic sauce. The tuna was perfectly cooked and tender.
My husband had crab-encrusted red snapper, which was very fresh and delicious.
Delilah's is also trying to establish a reputation for their gourmet cupcakes, which I have to say were a bit of a disappointment. The cupcakes were moist but quite heavy and the flavors were prosaic.
Overall, I would try it again, the cuisine definitely had brilliant spots and the pricing was less than many of the other gourmet restaurants in town (about $12-18 a plate).