Beef Scalliion Stir Fry

Even if your kids HATE onions, do not dismiss this recipe.  The green onions in it basically cook down to the nothing and your kids can easily pick them out.  Left behind in the beef, though, is the lovely buttery flavor of scallions--so not only will you get to eat something that tastes great, they'll also, slowly and without even knowing it, become acclimated to the taste of onions.  How wonderfully Machiavellian is that?

This should be served with rice, of course, so be sure to figure that into your cooking time.  If you hate cooking rice, and use this as an excuse to not make this dish, then perhaps it's time to suck it up and invest a whole $19.99 on a rice steamer.  They're so easy even a distracted monkey can do it.

This recipe comes from Helen Chen's Easy Chinese Stir Fries, an excellent book that lives up to its title.

Beef Scallion Stir Fry
1 lb. flank steak, trimmed
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 Tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry (I use the sherry)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 round slices of unpeeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed and peeled
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 small can of slice bamboo shoots, drained
5 green onions
1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Cook your rice, according to instructions.  
2. Slice the beef with the grain into 2-inch wide strips. 
3. Slice the beef against the grain into 1/8-inch wide pieces. 
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, the soy sauce, the cornstarch, the wine, and the sugar. 
5. Add the beef to the sauce and mix well.  Set aside.  
6. Slice the roots off the green onions.  Then cut the bulbs off and cut them in half, lengthwise.  
7. Cut the rest of the onions (the green stems) into 2-inch long segments. 
8. Heat your wok over high heat.  Once it's hot, add the oil and heat until it shimmers. 
9. Now add the ginger and garlic.  Cook for ten seconds.  Do not let them brown!
10. Add the beef mixture and stir-fry for 1 minute. 
11. Stir in the broth and the bamboo shoots, stirring constantly, for another minute. 
12. Add the green onions and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes until the scallions are wilted.  
13. Turn off heat.  Drizzle sesame oil and mix.  
14. Remove ginger slices and serve!

Family Ratings

Will, who never takes seconds but did for this dish:  10

Lucy, who's not crazy about bamboo shoots:  9

Jamie, who's still getting the hang of this numbering system:  88

Ellen, who's not a big red meat fan: 9

Paul who loooooooves onions:  10

Weekend Chicken Pot Pie

Okay, so:  A)  This dish takes a little too long to make on a weeknight; and B) It uses a pre-made crust, something that, snob that I am, I generally try to avoid.  But even so?  Dang, it's GOOD!

This comes to me from my friend Jane, who got it from a blog somewhere.  I've cut back on the boiling times, because Lucy doesn't like overdone veggies and I hate chicken that's been cooked so long it's stiff.  

Keep in mind, this dish will be great with your store bought chicken, but if you take the time to find a local meat cutter who carries local foods, you won't regret it!

Weekend Chicken Pot Pie

3 medium carrots, chopped

2 large stalks of celery, chopped

4 small red potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 quart chicken stock (I use store-bought broth; I'm just lazy that way)

6 T butter

1 yellow onion, diced

6 T flour

1.5 lbs chicken breasts

1/4 cup cream

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 sheets frozen puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm is good)

1 egg, beaten

1. Take the puff pastries out of the freezer to thaw.
2. Peel and slice all of your veggies. 
3. In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil and add the carrots, celery, cauliflower and potatoes.  Simmer for nine minutes, or until just tender. 
4. Remove veggies with a slotted spoon.  Pour stock into a measuring cup for later use. 
5. Simultaneously (or afterwards, whichever) bring a pot of water to boil.  Add the chicken breasts and simmer for 10 minutes. 
6. Drain the chicken, allow it to cool, then cut it up into tiny bits.  
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
8. Melt the butter in a dutch oven.   Add onion and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. 
9. Add the flour and stir to make a roux.  Cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the roux starts to darken a bit and give off a toasty smell.  
10. Slowly stream in the reserved stock and stir constantly.  Don't panic if it starts to thicken.  Just keep adding the stock steadily.  
11. Cook for another three minutes, then turn off the heat and slowly add the cream. 
12. Add the veggies and chicken to the sauce, along with salt and pepper.  Mix well and pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.  
13. Layer the puff pastry over the top of the pie.  Brush with egg for shine.
14. Cut small slices into the crust to allow steam to escape. 
15. Bake for 10 minutes. 
16. Cover with foil and bake for 25 more minutes.  

Family Ratings

Will, who's getting less fussy as he's becoming a teenager and starting to eat everything: 10
Jamie, who's getting more fussy as he figures out it's a way to draw attention away from his sister:  7
Lucy, who likes everything, particularly when she can help make it:  10
Ellen, who's pleased that there's no cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup in this:  10
Paul, who's been craving homemade pot pie for about a year now:  10

Friday Night Mac and Cheese

To understand this dish, it helps to know that I was stuck in Seattle during Hurricane Sandy.  While generally I like this city, I'd already been gone five days and I missed the kids and really wanted to get home.  When I finally got a plane back, it was diverted just as we flew into the Roanoke Valley due to wind sheer.  As a result, I finally pulled got home at 7 a.m., two-and-a-half days late, not having slept for 24 hours.

Fast forward to Friday.  I've worked all day and I have no idea what Ellen has in the house, food-wise. I'm too tired to run to the store, so I start digging through the fridge.  The results are as follow.  They may sound a little bizarre.  So be it.  You won't regret this dish.  

A note for the grown-ups in the family:  this dish pairs nicely with red wine, white wine, beer, or hard liquor.  

Friday Night Mac and Cheese

6 ounces grated Colby-Jack Cheese (grate it yourself; the pre-grated stuff lacks flavor)

2 ounces grated Gouda

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

12 ounces pasta of any kind (though I prefer penne)

1 small onion, minced beyond recognition

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 of 1 one-inch thick pepperoni stick, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 Tablespoons corn starch

2.5 cups milk

2 Tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Boil water for the pasta and heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook pasta until al dente
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the pan over medium heat
4. Add the onions, garlic, and chopped pepperoni.  Cook 4-5 minutes, until onions are just soft
5. Add the milk and the corn starch.  Stir well and bring to a boil. 
6. Add one cup of the cheese (Gouda and Colby-Jack only).  Stir until melted. 
7. Turn off the heat and remove the pan.  Pour the drained pasta into a 9x13 baking dish. 
8. Pour the melted cheese sauce on top of the pasta. 
9. Add the rest of the Colby-Jack and the Gouda, as well as the salt and pepper to the pan.  Mix well. 
10. Top with the grated parmesan.  
11. Place in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes
12. Serve with baby carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes

Family Ratings

Will, who was done before I could even ask:  10

Lucy, who's idea it was to add the garlic:  10

Jamie, who's becoming increasingly fussy:  8

Ellen, who isn't one for American-style comfort food:  10

Paul, who felt rather clever (and still very sleepy):  10

Grilled Salmon with Thai Basil Sauce

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes.  I found it in Cooking Light way back in the nineties and the first time I cooked it for friends, it was s show stopper.  "This," my friend Greg said, pointing at it with his fork, "is really good."  I'm pretty sure it was the first time I realized that not only could I cook food that didn't suck, I could find recipes that: a) blew people away; and b) even I could make without overtaxing myself.  Seriously, this recipe can be made well ahead of time, it doesn't take very long, and I've never known it to fail.

One additional bonus is that since all of the spice is in the sauce, kids and adults can take it or leave it as fits their own personal tastes.

Grilled Salmon with Thai Basil Sauce

1 & 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves (divided)
1/2+ cup fresh mint leaves (not quite 3/4 of a cup)
1-2 Tablespoons minced, seeded jalapeno pepper
3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 teaspoons minced, peeled ginger
1.5 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons fish sauce
3 garlic cloves, chopped

4-6 six-ounce salmon steaks, at least 1 inch thick

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

 4-6 lime wedges

1. Prepare the grill.
2. Set aside 1/2 cup basil and the limes for garnish.
3. Combine the rest of the basil and the next seven ingredients (through garlic) in a blender or small food processor.  Process until relatively smooth. Set aside. 
4. Sprinkle salmon steaks with salt and pepper. 
5. Coat a grill rack with cooking spray (I use a separate grilling basket), then grill the salmon, skin side down, for five minutes. 
6. Turn the salmon over and grill for five more minutes.  Should be flakey when tested with a fork.  
7. Serve salmon on individual plates, with sauce in a bowl.  Allow everyone to take as much sauce as he/she desires.  Or none at all.  

Family Ratings

Will, who likes fish but doesn't take much of the sauce:  8.5

Lucy, who swears she hates fish but really doesn't and who likes Thai food:  8 (but really probably 10)

Jamie, who can't understand why anyone would eat that green stuff:  7

Ellen:  "Are you kidding? 10!"

Paul who's essentially just a big show-off:  10

My Own Private Kitchen

A little piece I wrote for Roads and Kingdoms about the best private kitchen in Hong Kong.  Arguably the best meal I've ever had.  Feel free to read about it here.

Salade Nicoise

There's just no other way to say this:  this dish makes you look really really cool.  And by "cool" I mean:  sophisticated, accomplished, cultured.  Bring this salad to a party and you will rise in people's estimation.  They will begin to look at you differently, and certainly with more respect.  Even people who used to look down on you, thinking you were trash from the wrong side of Main St., will begin to have second thoughts (not that I would, um, know).

I wish I were kidding, but I'm not:  this salad is just that cool.  Period.

And though it looks fussy--part of the cool factor, of course--it's really not.  I got this recipe from Betty Taylor, a Lexington institution who used to run a catering service out of her house, a beautiful massive brick estate home with twelve-foot ceilings, a grand staircase, and a dining room that could seat eighteen easily.  Betty was my neighbor, and years ago when I was on sabbatical and working on a now-defunct novel, I would sit out in the back yard under the shade of an oak tree and proofread my soon-to-be (I was certain) Pulitzer-prize winning manuscript.  More than once, a smell would drift over from Betty's kitchen, suffusing the air with the scent of rosemary or baking bread or stewing tomatoes.  Needless to say, this made it hard to work.  One day it actually got so bad that I had to walk over, knock on Betty's front door and say, "Please stop.  Whatever you're doing, please stop.  You're killing me."

Of course, Betty was nice enough that she let me in and gave me some of whatever she was making that day--a tomato tart, I seem to recall.  And she also gave me this recipe, which is a joy to cook, a joy to eat, and yes, a joy to show off to your friends.

A few tips:

• Don't freak out when you see the list of ingredients and the necessary steps.  There are a lot of steps, but they're all pretty easy, and it doesn't take that long.  I always find myself finishing this dish sooner than I think I will. 
• Don't skip the anchovies.  Believe me:  you want them in this salad because it gives the whole dish an earthy, salty taste.  If you have fussy little eaters, or if you yourself don't like the look of the slimy little buggers (the anchovies, not your kids), feel free to chop them (again:  the anchovies, not your kids) into tiny little bits that will disappear into the salad.  But again:  don't leave out the anchovies!  Doing so will diminish the taste of the salad enormously.  
• Don't overcook the tuna.  It absolutely must be pink in the middle.  Otherwise it'll taste like a big lump of masticated cardboard.  
• This salad can feed 10 people very easily.  Feel free to cut the recipe in half.  

Salade Nicoise

Ingredients:
6 eggs for boiling
1 lb. Tuna steak
1 small tin of anchovy fillets
2 bags freshly washed and dried mixed lettuces
2 lbs. small New potatoes
2-3 lemons, squeezed to create 1/2 cup of juice

1 lb. sugar snap peas or those really skinny French green beans

Nicoise olives (or Kalamatas, if you can't find Nicoise)

1-1.5 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half

2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup small capers

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1.5 cups first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil 

Fresh or dried dill weed OR Provencal herbs  (I prefer dill)
Fresh chives (chopped)
Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
2 Tablespoons vermouth

1. Hard boil six eggs, peel (under cold water for ease), place in a sealed plastic bag and refrigerate until later. 
2. Scrub and trim (if necessary) the potatoes, cut into halves and quarters (if necessary), and steam or boil until just done, 10-15 minutes.  Do not overcook.  If your fork can just go into them, they're perfect!
3. Puree garlic in a food processor. 
4. Add the Dijon mustard and the lemon juice to the food processor. 
5. Turn the processor on and very slowly--VERY SLOWLY--add the olive oil.  This should take up until about a minute or a minute-and-a-half before it's all in.  
6. Allow this mixture to emulsify into a creamy dressing, then season with salt, pepper, and herbs
7. Place the potatoes in a small bowl and drizzle with the vermouth.  Once they've absorbed that, add the fresh chives, the capers, and 1/2 cup of the vinaigrette.  Mix and set aside.  (If you're pressed for time, the potatoes can be prepared the day before and refrigerated).  
8. Rinse and dry your tuna steak.  Season with salt and pepper, then drizzle with a little of the vinaigrette. Allow to marinate while you warm up the grill or a skillet.  
9. Grill--or fry--the tuna on a very hot grill for three minutes on each side.  Do not overcook. 
10. Bring a pot of water to boil, then cook or sugar snap peas or your skinny fancy French beans until they turn bright green.  Then remove from heat, pour into a colander, and run cold water over the beans until cooled.  Set aside or refrigerate.   

Assembly:  

1. Pile the potatoes in the center of a large platter.  
2. Spread the lettuce around the potatoes. 
3. Circle the beans or peas around the potatoes, on top of the lettuce.  
4. Quarter the eggs (sewing thread works well for this) then scatter them and the tomatoes around the dish, on top of the lettuce. 
5. Place the anchovies, olives and capers at regular intervals on top of the lettuce.  
6. Cut the tuna into chunks and place it over the salad.  
7. Drizzle liberally with the vinaigrette.  
8. Serve!

Family Ratings: 

I'll be frank:  I don't normally serve this to the kids.  I love them, really I do, but this is just too good for them!  That said, I have prepared just the tuna steaks--seasoned with salt and pepper and drizzled with the vinaigrette included in this recipe--on their own to the kids, with great success.  Even Lucy, who insists she HATES tuna, gave it a 10.  Granted, we didn't tell her it was tuna, we just told her it was "steak."  Which gave Will, who likes fish, great glee.  

And for what it's worth?  Ellen and I both give the entire salad a 10.  And so do all our friends.  

Grilled Sate Beef with Peanut Sauce

This recipe is just tasty tasty tasty.  My kids love it, especially since they can control how much peanut sauce they do or don't have with it.  Serve with rice and a nice salad . . .

Sate Beef with Peanut Sauce

1-1.15 lb. flank steak

3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

Sauce:  

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

3 Tablespoons coconut milk

1.5 Tablespoons soy sauce

2.25 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter

1.5 teaspoons sugar

1.5 teaspoons lime jice

3/5 teaspoon red curry paste (you should be able to get this at your grocery store, on the "foreign" food shelf)

1. Start grill (or broiler, if you have air conditioning in your kitchen)
2. Cut steak diagonally across the grain in 1/4 inch slices. 
3. Combine steak and hoisin sauce in a bowl.  Mix to coat.  
4. Thread steak onto skewers.
5. Sprinkle with salt. 
6. Mix sauce ingredients together, stirring until smooth.  Set aside.  
7. Coat grill or broiler pan with cooking spray or lightly brush with oil.
8. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until they're done.  They should still be a little pink in the middle.  If they're not, they'll taste like chalk dust.  
9. Serve meat along with sauce in small dipping bowls.  

Family Ratings: 

Will, who loves this dish but hates picking little bits of beef out of his teeth:  9.999

Lucy, who hates peanut butter but digs this dish:  10

Jamie, who eats it without the peanut sauce:  10

Ellen, who's not a big beef eater, though she does have one of those funny hats: 8

Paul, who's a big fat pig:  10