Melaney's French Dip

What cookin'?

 

My friend Melaney sent me this recipe last week.  I was already prepped for making BBQ short ribs in the slow cooker, so I set the recipe aside for this weekend.  I just got home from Wegmans and it's simmering now.  Within an hour my house is gonna smell soooo goood.

 

Here it is, exactly as she sent it to me.  I used top steak instead of chuck roast. 

2 cups water

½ cup soy sauce

4 whole peppercorns

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. garlic powder or one minced garlic clove

3 lbs boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of all fat.

Combine water, soy sauce, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme and garlic in a slow cooker, stirring until well blended. Place roast in crockpot and cover.

Cook on high for 5-6 hours or until beef is tender. Remove meat from broth and shred with a fork. Serve beef on rolls. Pour broth in small bowls for dipping. Good topped with Swiss cheese or sautéed onions, peppers or both.

Peanut Butter Noodles

This came from allrecipes.com. 

Ingredients

8 ounces spaghetti (next time I will use udon noodles)

1 bunch green onions, sliced (white parts only)

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root (I used ginger paste)

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup hot water

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

 

Directions

1.Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until done. Drain.

2. Combine oil and onions in a small skillet. Saute over low heat until tender. Add ginger; cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes. Mix in peanut butter, soy sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes.

3.Toss noodles with sauce.

 

I threw some lightly salted peanuts on top of the pasta.

Another recipe I found used chicken broth, chile paste, honey and garlic in the sauce mixture.  I will add those the next time, they seem like a good addition.

Five Easy Pieces IV

This was definitely easy, but, my verdict:  don't bother.  Also a Mark Bittman recipe from the NYTimes. 

As Louis XVI would say on July 14, 1789:  Rien.

17. With thanks to Szechuan Gourmet restaurant: Finely chop celery and mix with a roughly equal amount of pressed or smoked tofu, chopped. Dress with peanut oil warmed with chili flakes and Sichuan peppercorns, then mixed with soy sauce.

Now I have a whole lot of leftover tofu and no where to go.

(NUMBER FOURTEEN in 2010)

Five Easy Pieces III

OK, OK, perhaps I am cheating a little bit tonight.  This was more of a side dish to accompany Paula Deen's Mashed Potatoes (PDMP) which I now know how to make by heart.  It's a dinner of side dishes and I'm going to top it off with a bowl of dark chocolate ice cream. 

This again was from the NYTimes Mark Bittman.  His recipe for this "salad" is below - and he is quite correct, it's an absolutely incredible combination.  I'm hooked.

15. Cut cherry or grape tomatoes in half; toss with soy sauce, a bit of dark sesame oil and basil or cilantro. I love this — the tomato juice-soy thing is incredible.

The link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html?_r=1

The back link to PDMP:

http://52mealsinoneyear.blogspot.com/2008/11/paula-deens-mashed-potatoes.html

(NUMBER THIRTEEN in 2010)

Five Easy Pieces II

Part two of Five Easy Pieces - but can I keep up the pace until I am through?  It's easy on the weekends, and especially when I've got kitty-watch detail both days (I took them in to the vet for their annual vaccinations which means staying home to watch them for a few hours afterwards - one at a time).

Today for lunch was another easy-peasy "salad".  Also taken from the NYTimes Minimalist Mark Bittman, this recipe is a peanut sauce intended to be tossed with cold noodles.  Here are most of the assembled ingredients:

Here is the recipe:

87. Cold not-sesame noodles: Combine about a half-cup peanut butter with a tablespoon soy sauce and enough coconut milk to make the mixture creamy (about a half cup), along with garlic and chili flakes in a blender or food processor. Toss sauce with cooked and cooled noodles, a load of mint, Thai basil, and/or cilantro, and lime juice. Shredded cucumber and carrots optional.

I used chili oil from the Asian food aisle as I could not find chili flakes anywhere.  Trust me, this oil will get the point across.  I wish I had bought carrots.  I've got cilantro for the topping.

The verdict:  VERY creamy sauce.  The coconut milk really helps to un-stick the peanut butter.  That said, the peanut butter was still clearly very dominant even with the other strong ingredients.  I think it could use a tad more chili oil and soy sauce.  The cilantro was a nice touch.  I have enough leftovers for at least 3 other meals I would say.

Here are photos of my kitties who keep me on the straight and narrow:

(NUMBER TWELVE in 2010)

I'd like a wafer thin mint... another successful dinner party!

I invited my friends Colleen and Adam (AKA my Foodie Consultants) and Bethann and Dan.  We found out we all met because of friends of friends, and even though we rarely get to see the friends who introduced us we all remained friends with each other. 

Three bottles of wine, three apps, two main course components, dessert, and great conversation.  If there is a better way to spend an evening I don't want to know about it. 

The apps were:  pate with truffles; brie and cherry jam; and Colleen and Adam brought absolutely divine goat-cheese stuffed little red peppers - spicy and marinated in heavenly juice (I need to find out the name of the peppers).  Two baguettes, a bottle of prosecco, one of white Bordeaux (from the area of Entre deux Mers, in honor of Bethann's heritage) and we were well on our way to a food coma before the main course.  With the meal we had a Cab from California (via Wegmans). 

For the main course I made two standbys:  marinated tenderloin and mashed potatoes - Paula Deen's mashed potatoes, no less. 

The marinated tenderloins could not be easier.  I got the recipe from a book my friend Jody gave to me (and quite the cook she is, too).  Here it is:

Curry Glazed Beef Tenderloins

It makes 16-18 servings which clearly I did not need or want.  Adjust accordingly.  I bought 6 cuts of beef which were about half a pound each (worked out to about 3.5 lbs of beef) and with that I halved the below recipe.

1.25 cups of mushroom soy sauce or tamari sauce (I got the tamari sauce - it is basically a more intense soy sauce)
.33 cups honey
.25 cup curry powder
Two 4-lb tenderloin slabs (I got half pound slices)
olive oil

Whisk the tamari sauce, honey and curry powder.  Score the meat.  Put the meat in two gallon ziplocs and pour the marinade in each.  Mix well and then throw in the fridge overnight. 

To cook:  Heat oven to 500.  Tenderloins, with all marinade sauce, should go into a baking dish large enough to hold it all - I used a 13x9 cake pan.  Pour olive oil on top.  Roast the meat in the top third of the oven.  Every ten minutes, baste the juices on top of the meat.  30 minutes should be enough, I had them in there for almost 40 (last ten the gas was turned off) and they were moist and tender although not rare.  The last ten minutes probably weren't necessary.

Paula Deen's Mashed Potatoes

As it turned out, I used the 10 potatoes it called for but didn't pay attention to the MEDIUM in the book, and bought large ones. Oops.  I doubled up on the butter and sour cream because it was clear there were a lot of potatoes.  It turned out magnificently and in fact more butter wouldn't have hurt.

8-10 medium potatoes (it calls for red, I used regular ones)
1/2 cup hot milk (I used heavy cream)
1 stick of butter (I used two)
.5 cup of sour cream - I used a full one.

Slice potatoes about 1/4 inch thick.  Boil about 15 minutes.  Any old potato masher will work fine.  I threw in the two sticks of butter and put a lid on the potatoes (off heat) for about 10 minutes to get it nice and creamy.  Mash mash mash, then add the heavy cream and sour cream.  Mash mash mash. 

This stuff is SO EASY.  I really should do this more often. 

Bethann brought Rum Cake, which recipe will be put here later.  It was also quite good but we were all pretty full by then.  Oh yes, let's not forget the Twinings Tea I brought home from London. 

Time to take my tummy for a nap.  A run would be better, but, it's 35 degrees out and dark.  Maybe a nice walk tomorrow... 

I didn't take photos (of course, what is wrong with me??) so here is a photo taken in France earlier this year: