Guest Photographer! – Japanese Curry

Jan6

The photos are here and its finally time to post about my evening with Yelp Elite reviewer and student food photographer Mary Colleran! First, a little background, Mary is one of my fellow LMU MBAers. She recently graduated and expressed an interest in learning how to cook. I, on the other hand, have been wondering how to get some better pics of my cooking. I LOVE my little Canon Elph but it’s not really up to the task of really great up close food pics. So Mary and I decided to do a collaboration. I cook, she watches/learns and takes photos. Problem solved! I wanted to cook her something she really likes since she’s taking the time to drive to my place and wait around while I put everything together so when she said she was really loving Japanese curry at the moment I thought “why not? I’ve never tried that before!”. I found a recipe from the Japanese Food Report. I wanted it to be as authentic as it could be coming from a “white girl’s” kitchen. So here it is!

All photos are styled, shot and chosen by Mary Colleran.

10.5 oz beef brisket (you can also try short ribs or other cuts but I used brisket), cut into bite-sized cubes

Salt and pepper for the beef

2 1/2 tablespoons butter

14 oz onions, sliced as thin as possible

2 teaspoons ginger, finely grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into wedges, ringiri style (I had to Google this one. See photo)

1 large apple, peeled and coarsely grated

5 cups beef stock

1 tablespoon salt (I used half this)

10.5 oz new potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

FOR THE ROUX:

4 tablespoons butter

7 tablespoons flour (I wanted to use whole wheat but there was an unfortunate mishap the prevented it. White flour was fine)

2 tablespoons curry powder (Japanese preferred but I used Madras and it worked well)

2 tablespoons garam masala

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper.

2. Melt the butter in a stock pot large enough to hold 5 quarts of liquid, over medium heat.

Add the onions, ginger, garlic, carrots and beef.

Stir and cook for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent and the beef browned.

Add the apple, beef stock and salt, and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Meanwhile make the roux. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat

and add the flour.

Stir, stir, stir, stir, stir until the butter and flour fuse and swell.

Don’t stop stirring or the roux will burn!

After about 20 minutes or so, the roux will become the “color of a fox” as the say in Japan, or a deep tan color.

At this point, add the curry and garam masala, and cook and stir for 30 seconds, until the spices release their aroma. Turn off the heat, add a ladlefull or two of cooking liquid from the stock and mix into the paste.

4. Add the roux paste into the stock pot and stir to combine. Add the potatoes.

Simmer uncovered on low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 1 hour, or until the beef becomes tender and the curry thick. Serve the curry with Japanese short grained rice (I used brown to be healthy) on the side.

I have to give a big thanks to Chef Nobuko-san from the Japanese Food Report. I don’t often brag about the food I make but I honestly think this is the best thing I have ever made. It was so delicious that after Mary had gone for the evening, I stood over the pot on the stove eating spoonfuls of the stuff. It really turned out well. I hope it does for you too! A huge thank you to Mary! Happy cooking!

This is not a healthy recipe! – Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting

Jan4

Okay so this may not be the best way to start out the New Year, to tempt you with sweet deliciousness, but they turned out so well I had to share! I did use some organic ingredients but with sugar it really doesn’t make any difference. Sugar makes you fat, period. So proceed at your own risk! I made these for a New Years Eve party and they were a hit! I will add notes as I go on what I could have done to make these more healthy.

CHOCOLATE SOUR CREAM CUPCAKE BATTER

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped (obviously organic would have been best but I couldn’t find it!)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (whole wheat would have been better but I was worried how it would turn out)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used raw which is what you should do!)

1 1/4 cups sugar (rapadura would be the best but it’s very hard to come by!)

2 large eggs (got this one right too with pasture raised eggs)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (organic)

1/2 cup sour cream (I haven’t found raw yet but that would be best)

1/2 cup water

Put the chocolate in a heat proof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler).

Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer (yay I get to use the big blue bad ass!) on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop and scrape the bowl as needed during mixing.

On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate.

On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture looks creamy and the color has lightened slightly, about 1 minute.

Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain.

On low speed, add half the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until the matter looks smooth.

The batter is ready to bake! Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/3 cup of batter, to about 1/8 inch below the top of the liner.

Bake until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack.

Use a small knife to loosen any tops that have stuck to the top of the pan. Carefully place the wire rack on top of the cupcakes in their pan. Protecting your hands with pot holders and holding the pan and rack together, invert them to release the cupcakes onto the wire rack. Turn the cupcakes top side up to cool completely. (I just stuck a fork under each cupcake and took it out with that so I didn’t ruin the top of the cakes).

ICING

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (there is no healthy option here, sadly)

1/4 cup unsalted butter

6 tablespoons water

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl. Heat the butter and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until the better melts.

Remove pan from heat and stir in peppermint extract. Pour the warm mixture over the powdered sugar,

then whisk vigorously until smooth. The icing will be soft but thick enough to cling to the top of the cupcakes.

Use a small spatula to spread a scant 2 tablespoons of icing over the top of each cupcake, spreading carefully to the edges. Leaving about 3/4-inch plain edge, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of the crushed candy over each cupcake. The cupcake can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

I had some problems with these guys. When I’ve made this batter it’s risen up a lot more but these were very flat. I think it had something to do with the baking powder’s age. The frosting was very thin and slid right off the cupcake as well. But they tasted super yummy so that’s all that counts right? Happy baking!

Happy 2013! – Forgotten Jambalaya

Jan2

Happy 2013 to you all! I hope you had a wonderful NYE with friends and family. Tonight I am serving something new. Usually I cook a traditional Brazilian meal for New Years but I decided to go back to some different roots and serve Jambalaya! My paternal grandmother is originally from New Orleans so this is my tribute to that part of my heritage! I used my brand new slow cooker to make this and my brand new slow cooker cookbook, both things I got for Christmas from my cooking wiz mom.

1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef or chicken broth (I used boxed and weighed it out with a kitchen scale)

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

2 medium green peppers, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3 celery ribs, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

3 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 pound smoked sausage, halved and cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Hot cooked rice

1. In a 5-qt. slow cooker (mine’s 6-qt but it worked fine), combine the tomatoes, broth and tomato paste.

Stir in the green peppers, onion, celery, garlic and seasonings.

Stir in chicken and sausage.

2. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until chicken is tender.

Stir in shrimp. Cover and cook 15-30 minutes longer or until shrimp turn pink. Serve with rice.

This one turned out really tasty. Rob mentioned that next time I should add okra and I couldn’t agree more so if you feel so inclined, toss some in! Happy cooking!

Christmas Eve Tamales

Dec25

Happy holidays! I’m here with my family in Knoxville, helping my mom cook up a storm (now you know where I get it from!). We have no Mexican blood in any of us but my mother grew up in New Mexico so we have adopted the tamale and posole on Christmas Eve tradition and have been doing it since before I was born. Today I will give you our family’s tamale recipe! It’s hard to find organic ingredients in Knoxville so none of the ones used here are, but I’m sure you could find them all if you really tried.

The first step is to cook the meat. I don’t have a slow cooker but my mom does so we threw it in there and cooked it over night (about 8 hours) on low.

Now the real fun begins!

Before you start cooking you need to separate the corn husks and soak in a large bowl of water.

CHILE CON CARNE (Sauce & Filling)

1 3/4 pounds pork tenderloin

3-4 tablespoons bacon drippings or lard (according to Weston A Price, lard is the best oil to cook with. The jury is still out for me but my mom uses it so it’s in the blog)

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup ground red chile (my mom makes a red chile sauce. Some day I’ll post the recipe for that)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon oregano, or more to suit taste

2 clove garlic, minced

1/3 cups meat stock (we used the juices from the slow cooker)

1. Simmer the pork in water to cover, using medium to low heat . Cook until tender. (This is the slower cooker step but I put this for those who don’t have one)

2. Shred the meat.

3. Add the flour and lard and brown it, stirring constantly. Add the chile sauce or powder. Stir well.

4. Season with salt, oregano, and garlic. Add the stock. Cook for a few minutes until well mixed and warm. Now you have your meat filling.

MASA (Cornmeal Mixture)

4 cups masa harina

2 1/3 cups warm water

1 1/3 cups lard

1 1/3 teaspoons salt

Corn husks

1. Add water to the masa harina.

Cream the lard and salt, using a mixer at medium speed.

Combine the lard with the masa and mix well.

2. Spread each corn husk with about two tablespoons masa and add one generous spoon of the meat filling. (We like out tamales meaty so we put less masa and more meat). Fold the bottom of the husk up and role the husk over the filling like a burrito. (In this photo you see the Cepeda women rolling our tamales!)

Our completed work!

3. Steam the tamales on a rack in a large steamer for 10-15 minutes. My mom has a steamer but I don’t so if I were doing this at my place I’d do it in a large pot with a steamer basket.

4. To serve, remove husks and serve with red chile sauce.

And there you have it! Have a very merry Christmas and lots of happy cooking!

Acorn Squash

Dec22

I’m getting ready to head out of town for the holidays so I’m trying to eat all the food in my frige. I got an acorn squash in my last box so I decided to fix it for dinner last night. I LOVE squash but I usually just bake it and eat it plain and that’s too boring for a cooking blog. So this is what I came up with!

Only three ingredients! Super quick and easy! This recipe is from Allrecipes.com.

My squash was a little on the small side so I didn’t use quite as much of the ingredients.

I also think I over cooked it a little. I did what the recipe said for a normal sized squash. It was still good though.

1 medium acorn squash

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Turn acorn squash upside down onto cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven until it begins to soften, approximately 30 to 45 minutes.

3. Remove squash from the oven and turn onto a plate so that the flesh is facing upwards. Place butter and brown sugar into the squash, and place remaining squash over the other piece. Place squash in a baking dish.

4. Place squash in the 350 degree oven and bake another 30 minutes. Remove, spoon squash from skin and serve.

There you go! Quick and easy side dish! Happy cooking!

My favorite quick, healthy meal – Stir Fry!

Dec18

This blog is about cooking when you don’t have much time I usually cook the meals I post here on Sunday when I have more time, so what do I eat during the week? I eat my version of stir fry at least once a week because it’s SO easy! So here I give you my all purpose recipe for those days when you only have a half hour and you don’t want to eat fast food or a frozen meal. It’s quick, it’s easy, its yummy, and it’s perfect for one person (although you can tweak the recipe for more). I will admit that I may have stolen the idea for this from a certain roommate I had a few years ago 🙂

There are four key ingredients to my all purpose stir fry:

Rice: I use brown of course and for one person I use 1/4 cup with 3/4 cup of water and cook according to the package directions

Meat: I find that chicken or shrimp work best. I’ll use one boneless skinless chicken thigh (I like dark meat) or half a breast cut into cubes. Or 7 or 8 peeled deveined raw shrimp. Sausage works pretty well too. I’ve tried beef before but wasn’t a fan. I think you can probably use any meat you want.

Veggies: 3 different kinds. I’m not joking when I say I’ve tried everything! Potatoes, radishes, peppers, bok choi, mushrooms, zucchini, squash, onions of every color, broccoli, egg plant, carrots, celery, you name it and I’ve probably tried it in stir fry.

Sauce: There are a number of different stir fry sauces out there. I’ve tried tons of them. I tend to like the sweet and tangy sauces but there are lots of savory ones too. Whole Foods has them all over the place, by the seafood counter, in the Asian isle, near the BBQ sauce, there are any number of sauces just waiting to be tried. Trader Joe’s also has a variety of sauces that are pretty good.

The first step is to chop up your veggies. I am obsessed with Chinese eggplant right now so it’s made its way into many of my quickie meals recently. You cant go wrong with onions and peppers of any hue are great too.

Saute in olive oil all your veggies starting with the ones that take longer (onions, potatoes, carrots, root veggies, etc) then gradually adding the stuff that needs less cooking. With most meats you want to start with them then add veggies, with shrimp they take less time to cook so I add them last. Once all is cooked through, add the sauce, coat the veggies an heat through. Serve over the rice! Total cooking time: less than 30 minutes!

There you have it folks! Happy cooking!

Sauteed Baby Bok Choi

Dec17

I’ve moved! I am now a real life blog! So this is my first blog post on WordPress. Bear with me as I learn to use this platform. I’m sure there will be some kinks along the way! My first post will be a side dish that I served with the turkey recipe I posted earlier today on Tumblr. I found this recipe in the New York Times cooking section Jan 5, 2011.I got these baby bok chois (is bok choi already plural?) in my CSA box this month and needed to use them before they went bad so although I’m not sure asian veggies go so well with American turkey I figured what the heck. We live in a melting pot right? Why not cook that way too!

2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, like canola (I used olive because I don’t like those light veggie oils)

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 1/2 inch piece ginger root, peeled and minced (I used about a half teaspoon pre-minced ginger which I forgot to include in the photo)

1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste

4 bunches of baby bok choi, approximately 1 1/2 pounds, cleaned, with the ends trimmed

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon chicken stock or water

Toasted sesame oil for drizzling.

1. In a large saute pan with a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Add garlic, ginger and red-pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 45 seconds. (Watch for flying oil drops, it hurts!)

2. Add bok choi and stir carefully to cover with oil, then cook approximately 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, stock or water, then cover pan and cook for approximately 2 minutes more, until steam begins to escape from beneath the lid of the pan.

3. Uncover and continue to cook until liquid is close to evaporated and stalks are soft to the touch, approximately 3 minutes more.

4. Remove to warmed platter and drizzle with sesame oil. (This was a last minute dish and I was out of sesame oil so I skipped this part).

This was a simple but delish recipe. I definitely recommend. Happy cooking!

The Unrefined Pantry

Real Food Cooking in Today's Busy, Modern World.