Posts Tagged ‘Herbs’

Pickled Jalapenos

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

When I read the Ruhlman post about Michael Symon’s Pickled chilis back in March I knew I had to try and make them. Not until this week did I actually get as far as buying a pound of fresh Jalapenos at the grocery store, and I couldn’t remember enough of the recipe so I assumed I had everything I needed. Not so. I had to make at least a few substitutions such as rice vinegar instead of sherry vinegar. It’s easy enough to click the link to get the original recipe, so I’ll only put down what I actually used here.

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup rice vinegar
  • dash of french thyme
  • 1 tsp aleppo pepper
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 2 tbsp white pepper
  • 1 1/3 tbsp salt
  • 1 1/3 tbsp cane sugar
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tbsp of  coriander
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ~ 1 lb of fresh jalapenos

The peppers fit snug into a quart mason jar with just cutting the tops off. The remaining ingredients were put in a sauce pan and simmered on the stove for 10 minutes. Let cool just a little bit and poured over the peppers. They go in the fridge as soon as the jar is cool enough. I’ll see if I can keep my hands off of them for a week or so before sampling the first time. Hopefully my substitutions wont have made it horrible.

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Fresh Basil Pesto and Pasta Salad

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

It was pretty good weather out yesterday so Nicholas and I were heading to the farmers market in St. Paul to get some chocolate milk from Crystal Ball Farm Diary out of Osceola, WI. I noticed that quite a few vendors had some good looking fresh sweet basil, so I decided that we should do some fresh basil pesto and use it to make a pasta salad for a Mead Day event later that day. After buying some pine nuts at the grocery store on the way home we made a pesto from the following ingredients:

  • 2 heaping cups of fresh sweet basil
  • heaping pile of grated romano/parmesan (using micro-plane grater medium ribbon)
  • 2 chopped cloves of garlic
  • 1/3 cup fresh toasted pine nuts
  • salt + pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

First the pine nuts went into the food processor with the garlic. After pulsing a few times I added all of the basil along with the cheese. After pulsing for a minute or two I slowly added the olive oil until the consistency was just right, pretty well blended and very small pieces. Then I seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. With the amount of cheese the pesto turned out on the salty side, so I would be a little more cautious with the salt next time.

For the pasta salad I cooked a pound of whole wheat penne. I pulled them off while they were still “al dente”.  I cooled it immediately under running cold water and let it drain in a strainer for 10 minutes. While it was draining I diced 4 oz of pepperoni from Cossettas and added it to the bowl where I was going to make the salad in. I added the drained pasta and about 2/3rds of pesto from the recipe above, which was about right for the amount of pasta.

Today I used some of the remaining pesto in a few chicken and lettuce sandwiches which also turned out pretty good!

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Redwine and Creme de Cassis marinated flank steak & Herb and Cheese Pork Tenderloin with grilled sweet potatoes and grilled polenta

Monday, May 25th, 2009

I wanted to grill out again today, and I had a perfectly fine flank steak in the fridge that I took out from the freezer yesterday. I had just finished watching another episode of Bobby Flay’s “Grill It” where he marinated some beef in Creme de Cassis and Red wine. It certainly sounded good to me, so I knew what to do with the flank steak.

  • 2 lb flank steak
  • 2/3 cup red wine
  • 1/2 cup creme de cassis
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • fresh ground pepper
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • oregano

Remove the sinew and extra fat on the flank steak. Cut in some 1/4″ deep cross marks on the flank steak and sprinkle generously with the kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and oregano. Put the remaining ingredients in a zip lock bag and put the flank steak in the marinade. Refrigerate for an hour before letting it come to room temperature to get ready for the grill.

I also had a pork tenderloin in the fridge that I wanted to grill at the same time.

  • 1.5 lb pork tenderloin
  • sprig fresh thyme
  • sprig fresh oregano
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 1 1/2 cup of fresh grated asiago & romano cheese
  • 4 cloves chopped garlic
  • fresh ground pepper
  • kosher salt

Remove the fat, sinew, and silver skin from the pork tenderloin. Butterfly the tenderloin into a 1/2″ thick flat piece. Sprinkle the seasonings and cheese mix on top of the tenderloin and roll it up tightly. I used some butcher twine to keep the roll together for cooking. It’s fairly easy to tie a few butcher’s knots to keep it together.

The tenderloin needed a little longer cooking time than the flank steak. The flank steak had a nice char to it and was perfect medium rare in the thicker part. The Creme de Cassis really came through in the final product. The pork tenderloin was also perfectly done although a little on the dry side. Also had some nice grill marks on the outside. Next time the pork tenderloin should really have some kind of gravy to compliment it.

I wanted to grill some vegetables and had a roll of polenta from Trader Joe’s that I wanted to grill up too.

  • Roll of organic polenta from Trader Joe’s
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1 cup fresh grated asiago & romano cheese
  • oregano
  • fresh ground pepper
  • kosher salt
  • 1 clove chopped garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Peel the sweet potato and cut it into about 6 equal sized slices. Brush olive oil on each side and sprinkle with ground pepper and kosher salt. Open the roll of polenta and cut them into even sized slices (about 1/2″ thick). Brush both sides with olive oil and sprinkle fresh ground pepper and kosher salt on them. Mix the cheese with the chopped garlic, oregano, and fresh ground pepper.

Put the all the slices over a medium hot fire. The polenta will stick pretty bad even with the olive oil. Leave them for a few minutes – enough to get some grill marks. Once you flip them over sprinkle with the cheese and herb mixture on top – it will lightly melt as the residual radiates up to through the cheese. Even with the sticking it turned the polenta turned out pretty tasty and almost creamy.  The salty cheese mixture on top worked well with it too.

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Planting herbs

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Nicholas and I took a trip to the farmers market today. All that there really was available were plants, so I asked Nicholas if he wanted to plant some flowers and herbs.  I had my eyes on a few herbs especially the Thai Basil. I picked up 4 of the Thai Basil, one of Oregano, and one of cilantro.  Nicholas picked out 2 orange (his favorite color) marigolds and 1 yellow marigold. 

After the farmers market we drove to Home Depot to get some
potting soil and some pots to put the plants in. We have plenty of soil for another dozen or so plants.

Are we done yet?

Are we done yet?

Nicholas was very helpful and we quickly got the plants into the larger pots. Now I just gotta make sure Nicholas and I keep watering them. That has been my biggest problem every other time I’ve started plants.

All done!

All done!

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Edamame dip

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

Edemame dipOnce in a while going to a friends house Jesse has brought this very nice tasting dip made with edamame beans. He gave me a recipe once before that I managed to misplace, so he gave me another copy of it today. It is from the book “entertaining for a veggie planet”. I did change it up a bit because I like my dips a little smoother.

  • 2 bags edamame beans in the shell (10 oz bags – or one 16 oz bag of shelled edamame beans)
  • 1 large shallot chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 2 serrano peppers diced
  • juice of 1 1/2 limes
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • large handful of cilantro leaves
  • kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

Cook the edamame beans in the shell for 2-3 minutes and drain in a sieve. Let cool and take beans out of the shells.

Put all ingredients except edamame beans in a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds. Add edamame beans and blend until smooth with a few chunks. If the paste is a little too thick and wont blend well add a little water.

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Lime/Garlic/Cilantro marinated grilled chicken

Friday, April 10th, 2009

MarinadeI wanted to use the grill since the weather is so nice. I wanted something with a fresh flavor to it. Lime/Garlic/Cilantro seemed to fit the bill.

Marinade:

  • 2 limes juiced
  • 4 cloves garlic choppedDinner is served
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 large dash of Nando’s extra hot peri-peri hot sauce
  • 1 large shallot chopped
  • salt/pepper for seasoning
  • 1 tsp dried oregano from Penzeys
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Marinated 2.5 lbs of chicken tenders in the marinade for about an hour before threading the tenders onto skewers. Cooked on the grill for about 5 minutes on each side – enough to get nice grill marks and be cooked all the way through.

I served it with some new potatoes that I had grilled in tin foil with a sprinkle of olive oil, salt, and Skewered AsparagusBreadpepper. Some fresh baked bread from the very simple recipe in Artisan Break Bread in 5 minutes a day.  Some fresh homemade hummus with spanish red peppers and Nando’s hot sauce. And finally some fresh grilled asparagus that I had threaded onto skewers for easier handling.

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Thai Basil Chicken – Pad Ped Bai Kra Prao

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

After having had a supreme Thai Basil Chicken dish in Bangkok, I’ve wanted to be able to reproduce it. Ruam Mit Thai has a very good interpretation of Pad Ped Bai Kra Prao. I’ve never really been able to tell what was in the sauce they serve.. until today. I think it was another one of these I can’t believe the flavors coming out of the simple ingredients. I Googled the Thai name as “Thai Basil Chicken” yielded a lot of things that seemed irrelevant. With the Thai name if was able to get a better direction of where to take the recipe.

Before I had already picked up some Thai Basil at Shuang Hur earlier today. Already had some chicken breasts in the fridge and was set to make a better attempt at this recipe. I didn’t want to go 100% traditional as Melissa and Nicholas are not quite ready for the spice kick, but I wanted to retain some of the pepper flavor I remember.

  • 1 lb sliced chicken breast
  • 1 large bunch of Thai basil
  • 5 cloves of chopped garlic
  • 4 small chopped shallots
  • 10 mini bell peppers
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp chicken broth mix
  • 2 cups of pre-cooked chilled brown rice
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 1 tsp corn starch dissolved in water to thicken sauce
  • 1/4 tsp of chili-garlic sauce

Since I wanted to make it a quick one-pot meal I decided to add the brown rice. My Zojirushi rice cooker makes unbelievably good brown rice – we keep cooked brown rice around to make a quick meal when we are in a rush.

After The result was very tasty, and mightly close to the taste of Ruam Mit’s sauce. To make it more like Ruam Mit’s dish, I would sub the mini bell peppers for Jalapenos and add a dash of chili flakes.

Compared to the meal I had at the Bangkok restaurant it was a little lacking still, but there wasn’t much for sauce there and the garlic was sauted to become a lot more caramlized. Still a very tasty meal.

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