A Kitchen Primer

Beef stew braised in Chianti and black pepper. The first time I tried this, it came out too salty, and I over-reduced the sauce. But it was still pretty good! I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly.

• 2 1/2 lb chuck roast, cut into chunks
• 1teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, or 1/2 teaspoon Morton’s Kosher salt.
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
• 1, 750ml bottle Chianti or other dry red wine
• 1 to 2 Tbsp coarse-ground black pepper

1. Trim beef of excess fat, then pat dry. Salt judiciously.
2. Add olive oil to dutch oven. Gently saute garlic in the oil until it begins to brown, being careful not to burn it. Remove garlic and reserve.
3. Add the beef to the pan and sear on all sides (about 5 minutes total). If necessary, do this in batches so beef is not crowded. Remove beef and reserve.
4. Add the black pepper and cook for 30 seconds.
5. Add the wine and deglaze. Turn the heat up bring it to a rolling boil
6. Add the beef and garlic, reduce heat to moderate, cover.
7. After a few minutes, adjust heat to a simmer, and cook covered for 90 minutes, then remove cover and continue until the meat is tender, about another 60 minutes.
8. Once the meat is done, remove from pan and, if necessary, reduce sauce. Do not overdo this! If you want the sauce a little thicker, add a little cornstarch. But this sauce is usually served unthickened.
9. Serve over polenta or tagliatelle, or pici if you have it.

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(captured from the internet, not yet tried)

Sort of a chocolate Manhattan. Cocoa-butter-infused bourbon, cacao liquor, campari, sweet vermouth.

For the infused bourbon (prepare a day in advance):

• 60g cocoa butter
• 180ml bourbon

Melt the cocoa butter, pour into a clean jar, add bourbon and leave to cool. Infuse at room temperature for 1/2 an hour, then seal jar, put in freezer overnight. The next day, lift off and discard the solidified cocoa butter, then strain the bourbon through a coffee filter.

For the drink:

• 30ml cocoa-butter-infused bourbon
• 15ml dark cacao liquor
• 30ml campari
• 10ml sweet red vermouth
• 1 square dark chocolate for garnish, broken into small pieces

Measure all liquids into a mixing glass, add ice and stir well. Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with broken chocolate and serve.

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For 1 to 2 pounds of steak (flank, sirloin tips, etc)

• 1 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 or 3 sprigs chopped fresh rosemary
• handful chopped fresh thyme
• 4 cloves crushed garlic

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Bone-in thighs cooked over a slow grill with home-made barbecue sauce.

Marinate thighs for 2 hours or more in olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, garlic powder, and cayenne.

Preheat grill with both burners on low & cover cracked. Temperature should settle around 400F. Place bone-in thighs on cooler side of grill. Turn every 5 minutes or so. After 10 minutes, begin basting with sauce (below). The chicken is done when a meat thermometer registers 165 at the thickest part of the thigh.

The sauce (quantities are approximate. This was more than enough for 3 large thighs but probably not quite enough for 6)

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

mix ingredients thoroughly, then heat in small saucepan till boiling to dissolve sugar and extract flavor from spices

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I find a lot of cole slaw recipes too sweet & too wet, so I’ve started tinkering with my own version. (quantities are approximate)

• 1/2 head green cabbage, shredded (about 8 cups)
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

This came out all right. I think I’d add a little more sugar or a little less lemon juice next time, and maybe try pre-salting and rinsing the cabbage to reduce the amount of liquid. And the celery seeds were too old …

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This used to be Amelia’s favorite dinner, or at least her favorite from my repertoire. I guess it’s a fairly generic take on a Chinese stir-fry.   I adapted it from a book I used to own, the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook.  (A quick check shows it’s still in print, and even has the same cover art.)

As I used to cook it, the dish is a stir-fry of boneless chicken breast with red pepper and mushrooms.  I would separately steam broccoli, and cook spaghetti, using the stir-fry as a sauce for everything.  You could add some green vegetables to the stir fry instead, and skip the separate broccoli.  I would typically use some mixture of cabbage, snow peas, and asparagus.  You could also serve it over rice or lo mein noodles.

As far as quantities go, I would usually use one whole chicken breast weighing about 1 1/2 lb, which made plenty for 2 with leftovers.

The ingredient list is long, but admits to substitutions as noted. Quantities are very rough & subject to your interpretation & whims.

• 1 to 2 lb boneless breast of chicken, cut into slices.  I used to use whole boneless breasts & cut them up myself, but you could use chicken tenders or even pre-sliced breasts to reduce the knife-work.  You should aim for bite-size pieces, about 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick and about 1″ to 2″ across.
• 1 sweet red (bell) pepper, cut into strips about 1/4″ wide
• 1/2 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms, or half a dozen dried shiitakes.  If using dry, pour a cup of boiling water over then & let sit for at least 1/2 hour, and save the water to use in the sauce. In either case, slice each mushroom cap into about 1/2 a dozen pieces, removing & discarding stems.
• (optional) 1 cup snow peas, ends trimmed and strings removed if necessary
• (optional) 1 cup Chinese cabbage (bok choi or napa), stalks sliced about 1/4″ thick, leaves roughly chopped
• (optional) 1 cup asparagus, woody ends trimmed off, cut into 2″ lengths.
• 5 or 6 scallions, whites & tender greens, chopped.  If I forgot to buy scallions I’d just leave them out, but you could probably substitute a couple tbsp. of shallots or sweet onion.  The “proper” way to cut the scallions is into “fans”: make cuts about 1/4″ apart, not quite all the way through the scallion.  Every 4th or 5th cut, go all the way through.  You’ll end up with pieces about 1″ long.
• garlic black bean paste to taste, somewhere between 1 tsp and 1 tbsp.  I’m not sure the brand I used to buy, but it was mostly fermented black beans with garlic, chili, and oil.  The one I have now has chili but no garlic. Adjust your other seasonings if necessary.
• hoisin sauce to taste, around 1 tbsp.  less if you use particularly sweet wine.
• hot pepper to taste.  I use chili oil, which comes in a small bottle & is bright red.  You could substitute fresh or dried chilis, or cayenne.  Or chili paste with garlic, even sriracha.  The nice thing about the chili oil, if you have it, is that it makes it easy to adjust the heat at the end.
• several cloves of garlic, sliced.  More if you like garlic or your black beans and/or chili pastes don’t have garlic in them.
• a piece of fresh ginger about 1″ long, sliced thin against the grain.
• cornstarch for chicken
• cornstarch paste for sauce, 1 to 2 tbsp cornstarch with cold water to form a paste
• 1/2 cup sherry, marsala, or similar fortified wine.  I used to use Alvear Amontillado, which was readily available, medium sweet, good quality, not too expensive.  It’s gotten harder to find and I think more expensive, so you could safely substitute any medium or dry sherry from Spain, or dry or sweet Marsala.  Avoid anything sold as “cooking wine”, anything from the US labeled “Sherry”, and anything that is very sweet (usually labeled “Cream sherry” or “Pedro Ximinez” or “PX”)
• 1 cup mushroom soaking liquid and/or chicken broth, or water if you don’t have either
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• canola or similar cooking oil

Step 1: cook the chicken

• toss chopped chicken with 1 tsp cornstarch, a little hot oil, and a sprinkle of soy sauce
• heat a couple tbsp canola oil in wok
• add 1/2 the hot oil, 1/2 the garlic, 1/2 the ginger, saute until it begins to brown
• add chicken & stir fry for a few minutes until it’s just about cooked through.  None of the pieces should look raw, but the center should be just a little pink.  It will finish cooking later.
• remove chicken from wok to a bowl, set aside for a moment

Step 2: stir fry vegetables

• add a couple more tbsp canola oil
• add remainder of hot oil, garlic, ginger
• add black bean paste
• add scallions
• if you’re using hot peppers, add them now
• saute all until garlic begins to brown
• if using snow peas, add them first & cook alone for a couple minutes
• if using asparagus and/or cabbage, add them next
• add mushrooms
• add red pepper
• saute all for a minute or two

Step 3: make sauce and simmer

• add sherry and allow to boil off for a few seconds
• add mushroom liquid, soy sauce, and chicken broth or water
• cover and allow to steam for a couple minutes
• uncover
• return chicken to wok & mix
• add hoisin sauce
• add cornstarch paste a little at a time until desired consistency is reached
• taste and add soy sauce and hot pepper oil to taste

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• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup (!) paprika
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne

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This is the basic recipe, without garnish.

• 2, 15oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/3 cup lemon juice plus extra to taste
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup water

First, prepare the chickpeas:

• Cook chickpeas with baking soda in 1 to 2 quarts of water for about 20 minutes.
• Drain, then add cold water to cover by about two inches.
• Stir (with hands or slotted spoon) to loosen skins.
• Remove most of the skins however you can.  After some experimentation, I found what worked best for me was to use a slotted spoon to remove the skins, and to alternate skimming with gentle stirring.  The skins didn’t actually float on top of the water, but they sank more slowly than the beans, so by repeated stirring & skimming I was able to get most of them out.
• Drain the chickpeas when you think you’re done.  If you find there are still a lot of skins, put them back in the pan & repeat the above process.
• It’s not necessary to get 100% of the skins out, just most of them.

Prepare the garlic and lemon juice (you can start this while the chickpeas are cooking):

• crush the garlic
• stir in the lemon juice and salt
• let marinate 10 to 20 minutes
• strain out the solids & discard

Assemble the hummus:

• Combine chickpeas, garlic/lemon mixture, and cumin in a food processor
• add 1/4 cup water
• process until smooth, about 1 minute
• add tahini and olive oil and process until well blended

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BIG DISCLAIMER: Mary got this recipe from a friend, we haven’t tried it yet:

• boneless chicken thighs
• flour/egg/panko breading – spice up the flour
• set on a rack in a pan
• bake at 400 for 25 minutes

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I was asked to bring the appetizer to a New Year’s dinner, and the hosts proposed a Mediterranean-themed menu. In the past I’ve had success with shrimp, marinated in olive oil and lemon, and I thought I could adapt this idea, but dress it up a little by wrapping the shrimp in phyllo. The recipe (such as it was) worked out really well, so here it is:

• 1, 1lb package phyllo leaves (about 20, 13″ x 18″ leaves)
• 30 large raw, peeled shrimp (about 20 count to a lb, or 1 1/2 lb total)
• 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 or 5 large cloves garlic, minced
• a cup or more of cilantro leaves (measured before chopping), picked over, cleaned, and minced
• a couple of dried hot peppers, or pepper flakes or pepper oil to taste
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1/4 lb crumbled feta
• salt

Prepare an herb spread by combining the zest of the lemons, about half the cilantro, and the feta cheese.  Set aside for the assembly step (below).

Prepare a marinade for the shrimp by combining the juice of the lemons, olive oil, hot peppers, garlic, the rest of the cilantro, and a large pinch of salt.

Butterfly the shrimp & marinate for about 2 hours.  It is easier to manage the shrimp if you keep the tail on until final assembly.

Melt the butter.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

The phyllo will come in a roll.  Cut it crosswise into 3 equal parts.  Keep the phyllo from drying out by keeping the rolls in a plastic bag and the unrolled leaves under saran wrap, removing them only as you need them to make the shrimp wraps.

Assemble 2 wraps at a time, as follows: one strip of phyllo, butter, 2nd strip, butter, a tablespoon or two of the herb/cheese mixture, 3rd strip, butter, 4th strip, butter.  Cut in half, yielding two rectangles about 4″x9″.  Wrap one shrimp in each, sealing with a little more butter.  (If you left the tails on during the marinade step, pinch them off now).  Place on baking sheet.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 12 minutes.  Remove and serve.

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