Category: Recipes

recipes we’ve made

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Recipes

steak salad with mango dressing

Last week for girls’ night we inaugurated Robin’s grill – a pretty momentous occasion in the life a grill, at least from my experience. Robin had been talking about making a grill purchase for over a month and finally the weather was nice enough to merit it. We decided to make a steak salad. Robin strong-armed grilling the meat and I made the salad and the dressing.

For the steak
1 lb flank steak
Salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper the steak. Marinate the steak for about 15 minutes in some balsamic vingar. Heat your brand spankin’ new grill to high. Cook the steak 8 – 10 minutes per side, or until the internal temperature is 130 degrees for medium rare. Rest for about 10 minutes and slice against the grain.

For the salad
1/2 jicama, cut into batons
1 bell pepper, diced
mixed greens

Mango Dressing
1 mango, peeled and seeded
1 t red wine vinegar
1 t rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt, pepper

Puree the mango in a food processor. Add the vinegars and mix. In a slow stream, add the oil until the dressing has emulsified. You may need less or more oil depending on your mango’s juiciness. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with salad just before serving. Top with the steak.

While we overcooked our steak slightly, the grill’s maiden voyage was a success! (We need a bit more practice to master the grill’s temperature range). This salad is easy, quick and tasty. To be honest, I think I could skip the mango dressing. My mango was pretty mild and did not impart nearly enough tropical flavor into the dish for the amount of work it is to get the flesh off those suckers. Maybe if I knew how to pick a good mango, I’d try it again. I think next time we are going to make a strawberry-champange vinegar dressing!

-Emily

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Recipes

tortilla soup

The first time that I can remember having tortilla soup was at Chili’s. Yes, the chain restaurant home to blue margaritas, hot wings and molten chocolate cake. It was called chicken enchilada soup and I thought it was good. When planning our meals on Sunday morning, I decided to improve upon my chicken enchilada soup memories. As it turns out, tortilla soup/chicken enchilada soup is pretty darn easy to make and my soup blew that one from Chili’s out of the water. Big surprise, right?

Tortilla Soup
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart vegetable stock
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
2 chipotles in adobo sauce (This is the secret ingredient that adds a smokey, spicy quality to the soup. You can find it in the ethnic section of any grocery store. These chipotles are very spicy. A little goes a long way.)
2 chicken legs and thighs
1 can black beans, rinsed
salt, pepper, olive oil
For garnish: cilantro, sour cream, cheese, crisped tortilla strips or chips, green onion

Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken legs and thighs.

In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot, saute the diced onion and garlic over medium heat in a little olive oil until it starts to become translucent. Push the onions to the sides of the pan and add the chicken. Brown each side of the meat. Add the vegetable stock, diced tomatoes and two chipotles. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, until the chicken has cooked through.

Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Remove the chipotles and discard. Puree the soup. You’re welcome to leave the chillis in the soup, but I found the broth was spicy enough without pureeing the chillis. Put the soup back on to simmer. Shred the chicken. About 10 minutes before serving, add the chicken and black beans to the soup.

Serve with cilantro, sour cream, cheese, crumbled chips and green onion. We also enjoyed some roasted purple cauliflower.

This soup was awesome and will become part of the permanent repertoire. I love all of these flavors. Jordan and I ate it for two days straight! The broth is spicy and tomatoey, but still creamy and viscous.  Another bonus: the soup could easily be made vegetarian – just add an extra can of black beans.

-Emily

 

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Recipes

linguini with fresh ricotta, leeks and mushrooms

What do you do when you’ve got several cups of fresh, homemade ricotta? Make a delightful pasta! This dish is quick, delicious and reheats amazing well (for pasta, at least).

Linguini with Fresh Ricotta, Leeks and Mushrooms

2 leeks, sliced and rinsed of their grit
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (We used button mushrooms and shitakes)
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 T cream
salt and pepper
1/2 lb linguini or other dry pasta
a few generous dollops of fresh ricotta per serving

Preheat an over to 350 degrees. Put on a pot of water to boil.

Slice the mushrooms and arrange them into a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake the mushrooms until they are shriveled, about 15 minutes. This makes them extra flavorful.

Meanwhile, gently saute the leeks in the butter and oil over medium low heat. After the leeks are soft, add the cream. Add the pasta to the boiling water. Reduce the leek and cream mixture just slightly. Add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. After the pasta is al dente, add it to the sauce. Toss to coat. Plate the sauced pasta and top with a few generous dollops of ricotta. Not gorgeous, but delicious!

-Emily

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Queso Chronicles Recipes

queso chronicles: homemade ricotta

You all might remember my trials and tribulations in the mozzarella realm. Well, after some deliberation, I decided my faint heart could not handle another mozzarella failure and that I should try to make an easier cheese. Ricotta is probably the easiest cheese to make (according to cheesemakers on the internet) and recently I found a new recipe on a great blog called I Made That. I followed her directions and ended up with a perfect ricotta. No tears or wasted milk!

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

6 cups whole milk
2 cups cultured buttermilk
1 1/2 cups cream
1 T salt

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat, heat until curds begin to form, stirring gently. After the curds form, turn off the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes. Put two layers of cheesecloth in a strainer. Strain cheese until it has reached your desired consistency. I let it sit for about an hour. Transfer cheese into a tupper and refrigerate. When you pull your cheese out the next day, there may be some residual whey. Just pour that off and continue eating and cooking with your delicious fresh cheese!

Making ricotta from scratch is not any cheaper than buying it at the grocery store, but it is much more flavorful. I’ve found that many store-bought ricottas taste like nothing and often have a grainy texture. The milk flavor is very prominent in this homemade cheese and the texture is smooth and creamy. Yum!

-Emily

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Recipes

homemade sandwich bread

Jordan was on a bread kick for a while, making all kinds of delicious breads from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. Sadly, his bread baking has declined since he is super busy being an awesome student. I decided to pick up the torch when my friend Andrea recommended a fail-proof sandwich bread recipe that she’s been making for the past few weeks. I like fail-proof, especially when there is hours of rising time on the line.

This recipe is from Farmgirl Fare and it details the process and potential pitfalls of bread baking really well. I’d recomend you check out her post if you are new to the homemade bread world.

Farmhouse White, a classic sandwich bread by Farmgirl Fare

4 cups all-purpose flour (I used Whole Foods 365 brand)
1 1/2 T instant yeast (I used Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast)
2 T granulated or brown sugar
2 T melted butter
4 cups milk, warmed to 85 degrees
About 6 cups bread flour (I used King Arthur Bread Flour – King Arthur makes quality flours and I recommend them)
1 1/2 T salt

Mix together the all-purpose flour, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the mixture  and pour in the warm milk and melted butter. Mix well. Continue to stir vigorously slowing adding the bread flour one cup at a time, until you have added 3  – 4 cups and have a sticky, shaggy dough. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for 20 minutes.

Walk your whiny dog who can’t understand why you are putzing around in the kitchen when at this hour you should be walking her to the park.

Add the salt and 1 more cup of the bread flour. Stir as best you can. Add a bit more flour if the dough seems too sticky to knead. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead with floured hands for 8 – 10 minutes. Your arms will get very tired, but you will find an awesome slapping-dough-into-counter-rhythm that will allow you to confidently turn down the assistance of your much stronger boyfriend.

Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl and dust the top with flour. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for 60 – 75 minutes in a warm place. I used the oven with pans of boiling water inside technique developed when I made cinnamon rolls and it worked very well.

Grease 3 loaf pans (I used two glass pans and one metal pan without issue). Turn the dough onto a floured counter. Divide into 3 equal balls and pat into loaf-like shapes. Put the dough in the loaf pans and dust with flour. Cover with a tea towel and let them rise for another 40 – 60 minutes. They are ready to go into the oven when you poke a floured finger into the dough and it springs back just a little.

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees. Bake the loaves for 35 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove the loaves from their pans immediately and allow to cool on a rack for 40 minutes. Store at room temperature in a bag or in the freezer wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

This bread is good. It has a great crumb and a mild taste. It makes great peanut butter sandwiches and awesome grilled cheese sandwiches. It contains just a few normal ingredients, not a ton of weird gums and preservatives like store-bought sandwich breads. Now that I have the classic recipe down, I am excited to try a few variations … maybe adding some whole grain flours or sourdough bread starter.

-Emily

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Recipes

tart frozen yogurt

We’ve had three days of perfect weather here in San Francisco. It has been positively summery and I couldn’t be happier! Sunny, 75 degree days are not the norm in the city by the bay and so I celebrated by drinking iced tea, taking the pup to the beach and making tart frozen yogurt.

I really love frozen yogurt, but it can get to be quite expensive at the serve-yourself joints that have popped up all over the place. Plus, I prefer to make things myself. Plus, my neighbor Robin is an instigator (in a good way) and sent me fro-yo recipes all day. This recipe is adapted from The Perfect Scoop and I was amazed how easy frozen yogurt is to make.

Tart Frozen Yogurt
4 cups greek yogurt, or strained plain yogurt (I used Fage because it is my personal favorite)
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Whisk together the yogurt and sugar. Pour into an ice cream maker. Churn until frozen. Freeze to harden (or eat immediately if you don’t have the patience or will power to wait). How easy is that?

Because there are so few ingredients in this recipe, it is important that the yogurt be good quality. Choose a yogurt you love to eat on its own and you’ll have great frozen yogurt. It is also important that the yogurt have little water in it; the water will crystalize and give your frozen yogurt a granita effect. Not ideal.

We enjoyed ours with some fresh strawberries, but tart frozen yogurt is a very versatile base. You could add a little vanilla or lemon zest before freezing or top with flaked coconut, chocolate chips, granola, berry sauce … the possibilities are endless! I can only hope the warm weather holds so I can experiment some more!

Update: I tried to eat the leftover fro-yo over the weekend and it was a solid chunk. Not sure if this is just my overzealous freezer, but I had to leave it on the counter for 30 minutes before it was even scoopable. This frozen yogurt is definitely best the first day.

-Emily

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Recipes

oven ribs and buttermilk biscuits

We love pork. Pork spare ribs are an amazingly delicious and yet affordable cut. Sadly, we do not have a barbecue. Or a smoker. But, we do have an oven and some ingenuity! This recipe is for all you barbecueless, smokerless apartment dwellers out there … introducing Jordan’s oven ribs!

These ribs are delicious and versatile. This time around we kept them super simple to let the pork flavor shine (and test our new technique), but this low and slow recipe is adaptable to all kinds of flavors. Next time we are going for a more traditional BBQ flavor with a brown sugar, ketchup, chili, mustard and vinegar glaze. I cannot wait!

Jordan’s Oven Ribs
1 rack of pork spare ribs
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1/2 lemon, sliced thin
1/2 cup broth
salt, pepper

Preheat an oven to 250 degrees. Salt the ribs. Make a packet out of tin foil. Cover the bottom with the onion slices, then layer on the lemon slices. Top with the ribs. Pour in the broth and cover with another piece of foil. Seal tightly. Put on on baking sheet and bake low and slow for 4 – 5 hours, until the meat is tender and falling of the bone.

Once the ribs are tender, remove them from the packet and cover loosely with foil. Pour the rib juice from the packet into a sauce pan. Puree. Reduce over medium high heat and taste for seasoning. Heat the broiler. Brush the sauce onto the ribs and broil for a few minutes until brown and caramelized to mimic the grill effect. Enjoy with cabbage slaw and buttermilk biscuits.

Buttermilk Biscuits, from Ad Hoc at Home

I halved this recipe and made 10 two-inch biscuits. These are best right out of the oven so plan to pull them out just before broiling your ribs.

1 cup cake flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 T kosher salt
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 stick butter, cut into cubes and chilled
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 T melted butter, for brushing after they come out of the oven

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the butter cubes and pulse until the pieces of butter are the size of small peas. Pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Add the buttermilk, stirring just to incorporate. The dough will not form a solid mass – this is what makes the biscuits so delightful and flaky.

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured counter and pat into a rectangle. Cut the biscuits using a round cutter or cut into squares if you don’t have an adorable cutter. Gather the dough scraps and cut the remaining biscuits. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 – 18 minutes. When they come out of the oven, brush them with the melted butter and enjoy!

What’s not to love about ribs and biscuits!

-Emily

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Recipes

celeriac and leek gratin

One of my favorite things about this time of year is all the wonderful root vegetables that are available, and I think the best way to utilize them is to make a gratin.  You can make a gratin with just about anything, but today’s awesomely cheesy preparation includes celeriac (a.k.a. celery root), some yukon gold potatoes, leeks, and gruyere.  Assembly is very simple and if you have a nifty Japanese mandolin, the dish practically makes itself.

A note on quantities: I’ve found that one medium celery root, two potatoes, and two leeks filled an eight inch round casserole that was about 4 inches high, but this recipe can easily be adjusted to fit whatever size or shape dish you have.

First, peel the potatoes and celeriac and cut them into very thin slices (imagine a thick potato chip) and cut the leeks into similarly thin rings.  Wash the leeks in a bowl of water to remove the grit.  Then, butter up a casserole or, if you have one, an au gratin dish and begin layering.  Just make a thin layer of each vegetable and sprinkle with salt and pepper; you can put some parmesan if you like, I did … of course.  Then repeat until you’ve used up all your ingredients.  Last, pour about a cup of cream over the top and plenty of grated gruyere.  I had some homemade breadcrumbs lying around, so I through those on too, but that’s optional.  Bake with the lid on at 375 until the vegetables are tender (I stick a fork in and if there’s no resistance, it’s done).  Broil to get the top brown and serve after it’s had a chance to cool for a few minutes.

Conclusions: What’s not to love?  This is a rich, satisfying dish, perfect for these rainy San Francisco days we’ve been having.  Also, the nerd in me loves how evenly the vegetables cook because they’re sliced to the same thickness; the mandolin makes this impressive dish so easy to throw together.  Go get one and make this dish!  You won’t regret it!

-Jordan

P.S.  I haven’t specified what all this mandolin business is about.  I know that there are these products out there that cost $50-150 and look completely impractical, but Japanese mandolins are much simpler and more cost effective.  Specifically, the Benriner brand is great and the best price you can get is from Jon at Japanese Knife Imports. They’re only $20 there (compared to at least $30 from other stores) and he sells the replacement blades.  I take knives and such very seriously and I can tell you, these things are sharp.  Enjoy!

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Recipes

baked potato soup

I like the idea of baked potatoes, but the dish in practice is really a let down. The first few cheesy, bacony, oniony bites are delicious and then it just tastes like dry diet food. Bummer.

Thankfully, Deb from Smitten Kitchen feels similarly. I followed her recipe for baked potato soup and it was awesome. This recipe combines all of the great flavors of a baked potato but skirts around all the boring parts. Perfect!

Baked Potato Soup

2 T butter
2 leeks, halved and sliced then rinsed of their grit
1 head garlic
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 bay leaves
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/3 cup sour cream
Salt, pepper
Bacon, green onions, cheddar cheese, sour cream for toppings

Halve the leeks and then thinly slice them. Rinse them of their grit. Cut the top 1/3 off the entire garlic head. Squeeze the cloves out of the top 1/3 and mince them. Peal the thin wispy layers off the bottom 2/3 of the garlic and set aside. Melt butter in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leeks and saute for 5 minutes, until softened. Add minced garlic and saute for a minute or two. Add the broth, bay leaves, and head of garlic. Cook over medium heat for 40 minutes or until the  garlic head is soft.

Add the cubed potatoes. Cook for another 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Remove the garlic and bay leaves. Puree the soup for a minute or two with an immersion blender. I left some potato chunks, but you can puree it as smooth as you’d like. Add the sour cream and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Top with your favorite baked potato toppings and enjoy!

-Emily

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Recipes

shrimp tacos

I’ve already ranted about my love of mexican food so I’ll spare you all those details. Here is another taco recipe, and it is even easier than the carnitas tacos from last week.

Shrimp Tacos

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange
1 clove garlic, grated
1 T olive oil
Salt, chili flake
Tortillas, radishes, salsa, cilantro and sour cream for serving

Clean the shrimp. In a small bowl mix the citrus juices, garlic, olive oil, salt and a dash of chili flake. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Let marinate for 15 minutes. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Toss in the shrimp  and cook until they are just pink, about 3 minutes per side. Pour the shrimp into a bowl. Wipe out the skillet and heat the corn tortillas until they just start to brown on each side. While these are warming, pop the tails off of the shrimp.

Put a few shrimp in a tortilla and add your desired toppings. I went for all of the condiments I described above. It was delicious, and only took about 25 minutes to prepare. Take that Rachel Ray.

-Emily