Meatless Monday: Shakshuka

I tried to pull a meatless Monday on my family to try to be more responsible with respect to our meat consumption and environmental impact. We haven’t made shakshuka in a while and thought I would bring it out, with a twist, duck eggs. I was just trying to try something new with a more vegetarian twist that we usually don’t do. Here’s what we did:

  • Glug of olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced thinly
  • 2 cans (28 oz) peeled whole tomatoes
  • 1/2 green pepper
  • handful Italian parsley
  • few big shakes paprika
  • couple shakes cumin
  • salt and pepper

Soften garlic and shallots in olive oil over mediumish heat. Once translucent but not brown add tomatoes and pepper. Simmer for about 1/2 hour. Add herbs and spices and simmer another 15 minutes or until everything seems melded. Make 6 wells in the sauce and put a duck egg in each well. Cover and cook for 5 (8 if you like your yolks fully cooked).

Serve with bread for dipping.

Sorry took the first serving out before I took the picture.

Oyster Casserole

With all the fun that I have been having recently, my wife wanted to take center stage this Sunday. On a trip to the western shore of the Chesapeake a couple years ago, we picked up a book about Maryland’s cooking roots that we have been playing around with a bit. She did a modification of one of the recipes in Maryland Cooking. I wouldn’t say it’s the healthiest thing we have ever made but sometimes a nice casserole on a cold winter day can be great

  • Glug of olive oil
  • stick of butter
  • Few sticks of thyme with leaves torn off
  • Box of bread crumbs
  • 1/2 lb Tuscan style sausage
  • 1/2 pint of shucked oysters
  • Old Bay seasoning
  • Pint of heavy cream
  • Salt and pepper

Lay down a nice layer of olive oil with some thin slices of butter in a 9×13 pan. Next, a layer of bread crumbs, a layer of oysters spread around, a layer of sausage and a sprinkle of Old Bay and some salt. Repeat with the other half of the ingredients. Finish with a layer of bread crumbs and the liquor from the oysters. Finally, another sprinkling of Old Bay. Pour in the cream around until you think its full enough. Add another sprinkling of Old Bay. Bake at 350 for about 45-60 minutes until it has come together.

She served it with a side of sauteed brussels sprouts and garlic. Just finely chop brussels sprouts so that they cook super quickly and fine chop the garlic. Saute with a little olive oil.

Couple of changes we would make, more oysters and sausage and a bit more cream. Just not a lot of oyster flavor.

Bourbon cured Salmon

Decided to do a bit of an experiment because the market had some beautiful Sockey salmon that I wanted to buy and have wanted to take a stab at curing fish. Did a bit of research and thought that a bourbon cured salmon over the next 72 hours might be something cool to try. Looked at a bunch of recipes and found the common ingredients and quantities given that I like salmon, bourbon, fennel, and dill. Here is my attempt, (writing it before I try it like the hot dogs, it might be a failure).

  • 1 lb-ish Best salmon you can buy (ours was $13.99/lb on sale)
  • 1/4 C. American whiskey (I changed it because what I had was Tincup which isn’t technically a bourbon)
  • 1 fennel bulb
  • large handful dill
  • 1 C. packed brown sugar
  • 1 C. coarse kosher sea salt
  • Handful of black peppercorns
  • Zest of an orange

Lay out a couple layers of plastic wrap and lay salmon on top. In a separate bowl mix everything else together besides whiskey. Brush/dump whiskey on top of salmon and set for 10-15 minutes. Mix together all the other ingredients making sure it is super mixed up. Once whiskey has “set” for 15 minutes or so, pack in the salt/sugar mixture. Wrap up as tight as you can get. Put in a 9×13 pyrex pan because everyone says it will leak and I have a bad record with messes. Let set for 3 days. Will let you know how it works out.

Day 1: I dumped the liquid. I didn’t want to stink up the fridge.

Day 2: Dumped the liquid again, holy crap there is a lot of water coming out

Day 3: Rinsed off brine and served with blini, sour cream (with and without horseradish), and dill. It was really good and will definitely be making again.

New fermentation trials

I have recently developed a tasted/obsession for the fermentation arts. When I was in college I spent way too much time making beer because good beer was not something a small Midwestern college town was proud of. A decade of living in Boulder with a chemical engineer as a roommate means we spent a good bit of time brewing. Now I am experimenting with things other than beer. Don’t get me wrong, I spent most of the 90’s and 00’s making beer but I have now switched to figuring out how I can make interesting food with the same techniques. My wife bought me a kombucha kit for Christmas and have recently finished our first batch. Because I believe in experimentation, we tried lime/ginger, raspberry/mint, and mango. All were pretty good but the family liked the mango the best. Starting the next batch and my SCOBY seems really healthy even though it hasn’t risen to the top like it did on the first batch. Doesn’t seem to be any mold on top and seems like it is forming a new layer on the top.

The other one that we are trying is super simple and we got the idea from Bon Appetite’s Its Alive podcast. We just took three heads of garlic, peeled and threw them in a mason jar and covered them with honey. Will let you know if a few days if it turns out.

Flap meat tacos

I saw some flap meat in the butcher case and thought, “tacos.” As anyone who thinks more than 15 minutes about what they are going to eat, I spent some of my Friday prep time preparing for the next days dinner. The flap meat was marinated in:

  • Couple glugs of anchovy fish sauce
  • Couple glugs of soy sauce
  • Couple slow glugs sweet soy sauce
  • Couple glugs canola oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 15 pods of cardamon
  • 1 tbsp fennel, cracked
  • 2 star anise broken apart
  • 1 tbsp fenugreek powder
  • handful peppercorns

Mix all the ingredients together and marinade flap meat overnight.

It was a bit chilly outside so we did the cast iron grill pan on the stove. Took about 7 minutes a side and was still medium rare. We served it simply with some grilled peppers and onions, cilantro and raw onion, and Cholula. As usual, I made the Serious Eats flour tortillas.

Simple healthy, Friday

Not the greatest presentation but this was just a nice healthy dinner that had a sweet desert that we will get to. Pacific Dover sole was on sale when I went to the market and I always check on the specials. Tonight was just simple. For the fish, simple flour dredge to crisp it up, rice with a bouillon cube and steamed broccoli. For the dredge:

  • 1/3 C flour
  • garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • salt
  • pepper

Simply dredge sole fillets in flour mixture and fry with a glug of canola oil. Cook a couple minutes per side until golden brown

For the rice, we splurged with some Madagascar pink rice. Mix 1 C. rice with 2 C. water and a chicken bouillon cube. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Broccoli: just cut it up and steam it. Done.

And for the panache: fruit tarts.

Puff pastry was on sale so we made a puff pastry with macerated fruit (peach and blue berry). Simply cut up your favorite fruit and macerate for about 30 minutes. Lay puff pastry on parchment paper and throw the fruit on top. Cook in 450 degree oven for 20 minutes or until it looks right.

Maidrites: An Iowa tradition

My family randomly moved back to near where I grew up about a decade ago (we have since left and are enjoying the DC area). During that time, I took my wife to some of the restaurants that I grew up with. One of the best is the Marion Maidrite, corner of 7th Avenue and 10th St. Went by it every day going home from school and as an adult it was next to the pub that everyone went to when they were home visiting their parents. It seems as though everyone dated a Maidrite girl growing up but they wouldn’t give you the recipe (or it was just a big bag they threw, which is probably the case). Our take this time is a Maidrite with corn salsa.

For the corn salsa:

  • 1/2 bag frozen corn, thawed
  • 1/2 red pepper, small diced
  • 1/3 red onion, small diced
  • 2 jalapeno, seeded and small diced
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Handful of cilantro cut small
  • salt
  • Grated Cotija

Mix it all together except cheese and then sprinkle cotija.

For the Maidrites:

  • 1/3 red onion
  • 1 lb ground Bison
  • Onion powder
  • Garlic powder
  • Coriander
  • Ground mustard
  • Fenugreek powder
  • Oregano
  • Cube of chicken Bouillon
  • Water

There are a ton of mimic recipes on the internet. This is what we like to make. My wife affectionately refers to ours as “loose meat sandwiches” because we haven’t nailed it, yet. Our simple recipe is to saute the red onions and then quickly brown (against the Maidrite rules) bison. Add the herbs and spices and quickly mix to distribute. Add 1 cup of water and cook until water evaporates. We like to serve it with cucumbers and carrots along with the usual suspects of sauces: Sriracha, Cholula, ketchup, and BBQ sauce.

Lamb stew for make ahead

To prepare for the week, my son and I made a lamb stem that is a bit different than we usually make. My wife is a sucker for the Outlander series so she bought the Outlander cookbook a year or so ago. This is a recipe that somewhat follows a venison stew in there.

  • 1-1.5 lbs lamb cut into 1 inch pieces
  • Glug of olive oie
  • 1/4 C flour
  • 1/4 lb bacon cut into 1/2 inch chunks
  • 1 onion cut into 1/2 inch wedges
  • 1 lb beets (we used golden) cut into 1/2 inch wedges
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes
  • 2 cans kidney beans
  • 1 Quart beef stock
  • 1 branch rosemary
  • 4 bay leaves
  • salt and pepper

Dredge the lamb in flour with a bit of salt and pepper. In batches, brown lamb in olive oil in dutch oven. Remove and set aside. In same dutch oven, fry bacon. Remove once crispy. Add in onion and beets and get them some color. Add tomatoes and smash a bit. Add beans, stock and herbs and add back lamb and bacon. Get back up to a simmer and put in 325 degree oven.

Roast in oven for about 1 hour covered then 1.5 hours uncovered or until stew thickens. I served it with the left over mac and cheese instead of making something new. I know the plate is messy.

Mac and Cheese with ham and bacon

It was cold today so we decided to make a bit of comfort food, mac and cheese with sauteed spinach. Simple meal but fills the tummy well. Our simple recipe was:

  • 1 lb pasta of your choice
  • 1/4 C flour
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 C heavy cream
  • 1 C whole milk
  • 3-4 C shredded cheese (we find the odds and ends at the grocery store and combine it with about half edam to make it creamy)
  • 1 ham steak
  • few strips of bacon (we had some leftover from the lamb stew)

Cook pasta to slightly less than al dente. It is going to cook in the oven and you don’t want it super soggy. Melt butter and make a golden roux with the flour. Add the cream and milk and bring to warm. And in all but a handful of the cheese and melt. Add cooked pasta and ham and mix to distribute cheese and ham. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour pasta, cheese, and ham into a buttered 9×13 pan. Top with bacon and rest of cheese. Place on a rimmed baking sheet (I remembered this time) and bake for 30-40 minutes.

We served it with sauteed spinach to give it a bit of health. Should have done a salad with a nice lemon vinaigrette to cut through all the fat but this is why we are keeping track, so we make it better next time (the wine did help).

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