Braised Bolognese Sauce

After doing the pork satay for the January DC Challenge, I thought I’d give this book another go. Adapted from Five-spice Lamb in 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 cup beef stock
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp ginger root, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp five-spice powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of chopped vegetables (optional)
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
1 dollop of tahini paste (optional)

Preheat oven to 325.

Brown beef in a large skillet. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Maintain the grease in the pan to saute onions, garlic and ginger root. Cook on medium-high heat until onions turn translucent or even golden.

Add the meat back to the pan, as well as tomatoes, stock, hoisin, soy sauce, and five-spice. Mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer to a casserole dish and bake, covered, for 60 minutes. If you’re using the optional vegetables, bake for 45 minutes, stir in vegetables, then bake for another 15 minutes.

Stir in cilantro and tahini just before serving.

The original recipe calls for minced lamb and lamb stock, as well as toasted sesame seeds instead of tahini.

I skipped the vegetables and served this (with a full 1/2 cup of cilantro) as a bolognese sauce on top of Elise’s Spanish rice. I think it would have tasted great on top of soba noodles… maybe next time.

Army of Pot Stickers

Adapted from Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott.

3/4 c cooked mashed potatoes
3/4 c cooked mashed sweet potatoes
15-20 Ritz crackers, crumbled
2 green onions (scallions), finely chopped
1/3 c cilantro, finely chopped
1 egg
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

gyoza (or wonton) wrappers or dough
3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil for frying
1-2 c vegetable stock
water for fingertips

In a large bowl, mix together potatoes, cracker crumbs, onions, cilantro, egg and seasonings.

Place two teaspoons to one tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side.

Heat 1-2 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large frying pan (preferably one with a snug-fitting lid) on medium-high heat. Arrange as many pot stickers as you can in the frying pan, and fry until bottoms are golden (2-3 minutes). Add 1/4 cup vegetable stock and cover quickly and tightly. Cook until the water has boiled itself away (about 3 minutes). Repeat for remaining pot stickers.

I served this with double soy sweet and sour sauce and white rice. (Go there to see a picture of the cooked pot stickers.)

I can fit 11-12 dumplings in my frying pan, if I’m using wonton wrappers. This exact recipe made 42 dumplings for me.

Daring Cooks can reference the pot sticker challenge from June 2009 for more information on homemade gyoza dough, details on pleating and alternative cooking instructions.

Curried Pot Stickers with Double Soy Sweet & Sour Sauce

1 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp tamarind paste
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
2-3 tsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp curry powder
1/8 tsp crushed red chili peppers

Mix well, warm or room temperature.

I didn’t really measure any of this, I just kind of dumped in and flavored it to taste to match the curried pot stickers.

Pork Satay III

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by me, and I chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

I picked this recipe for the DC challenge because it’s what I was cooking some 8 hours after offering to be the last-minute host, three days before the challenge was to be posted. The focus of this challenge is to marinade.

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Thai dragon (bird’s eye) chili pepper
2 T ginger root, chopped (4 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 T fish sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Pan-fried tofu satay and broiled chicken satay

Directions:
1. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic, ginger and peppers really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.
4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Shown above with peanut sauce.

TexMex Pork Satay

I also did this challenge using my trusty Pork Satay II marinade on tofu, pan fried (middle picture), chicken satay marinated in raita (shown with tofu), and the experimental but oh-so-wonderful TexMex Pork Satay marinated in a Chevy’s inspired chipotle and jalapeno cream sauce.

I also did all three dipping sauces suggested in the challenge (peanut sauce, Thai pepper dip, tamarind dip, with changes), as well as using the TexMex dip and my favorite raita.

Universal Thai Dip - fish sauce and peppers

4 Tbsp soy sauce (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)
1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)

Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.

Substitute fish sauce for soy sauce and Thai dragon (bird’s eye) chili for the dried red chili.

Tamarind Dip

4 Tbsp tamarind paste (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)
1 Tbsp brown or white sugar, or to taste (about 5 mls)
2 Tbsp minced cilantro
1/4 tsp ground coriander

Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.

Chipotle-Jalapeno Cream Cheese Sauce

1/2 cup onion
1 jalapeno
2 cloves garlic
3/4 c heavy cream
2 T cream cheese, softened
1-2 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 T ground chipotle powder
1 T tomato paste
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cumin

Mince onion, jalapeno, and garlic separately or together.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute onions until they start to turn clear. Add the jalapeno and garlic and saute until soft. Add all of the other remaining ingredients except cream and cream cheese. Mix until smooth.

Reduce heat to low. Slowly add cream cheese, mix until smooth. Slowly add the cream. Simmer on low for 5 minutes.

Serve warm or chilled. If you plan to use this as a marinade, chill completely before use.

Make it a dip: Add 1/2 cup shredded cheese at the end and mix well.

Soft Fudge

2 cups white sugar
2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 ounces evaporated milk
4 T butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, toss together chocolate chips and marshmallows. Set aside. Lightly butter or spray the bottom of an 8 x 8 pan. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, salt, milk and butter. Bring to a boil. The contents will DOUBLE IN SIZE when it’s at a “boil”, so be prepared that your pan is large enough to handle it. Start your timer from there.

Boil for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and mix well.

Pour boiled mixture on top of chocolate and marshmallows. Mix really well for 3-5 minutes or however long it takes for the “glossy” look to fade from the chocolate. (It’ll look shiny at first, but the more you stir [or mix on low to medium speed], the more it’ll take on a faded look.)

Scoop contents into 8×8 dish. Spread evenly across the pan and pat down to make it as even as possible. Chill for 3-4 hours before cutting.

I’ve been trying to avoid corn syrup anything the last 10 years of my life. It’s been that long or more since I last made fudge.

This is my first attempt at fudge without marshmallow creme. Unfortunately, I thought it would make enough to put at least an inch on the bottom of my 9 x 13 lasagna dish – not so much; it maybe sticks up half an inch off the bottom of my glass pan.

This is definitely the sort of soft fudge you’d want in the middle layer of a decadent cake or inside truffles – but not chop up and hand out at Christmas. It is, also, perfect for making chocolate fondue. (Set your pot on low and add milk until you reach the desired consistency.)

Looking for peanut butter fudge? Click here.

Barbecue Sauce on Pulled Pork

1/2 onion, quartered
1 tomato, quartered
2 serrano peppers
1 clove garlic
1/3 c molasses
1/4 c ketchup
1/4 c red wine vinegar
2 T horseradish mustard
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T ground chipotle pepper
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Blend the first four ingredients into a fine puree or until smooth. Stir in the other ingredients and mix well. Ready for dipping or cooking.

Shown here after sitting in the crockpot all day for pulled pork sandwiches.

The sweetness and flavor was exactly what I was looking for, but it needed a little more heat. I originally did this with one serrano. If I could “do-over”, I’d add a second one, so I’ve updated the recipe to match my taste.

Large and in charge breakfast pastry!

The December 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croûte (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croûte) from Good Food Online. The key to the challenge was to cook with a pastry, and I opted for a thriftier alternative, breakfast en croûte.

1/2 pound regular pork sausage
3 large eggs
1-2 large potatoes, quartered (enough to yield 2 cups)
1 Tbsp milk
16 oz pastry dough, cool or chilled, divided

Boil potato pieces for 10-15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Separate sausage into 2 uniform rectangular patties. Cook on medium heat until completely browned on all sides (about 10 minutes). Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat eggs with milk. Lightly grease or butter a large (>= 12 inches) frying pan and heat on medium-low. Spread half the egg mixture in the pan (you may need to tilt the pan to cover the entire area). Cook on medium-low for 2-3 minutes. Cover and continue to cook for 2 more minutes. Gently remove from the pan and onto a plate. Set aside. Repeat with the remaining egg mix. These are your egg wraps.

Grate, shred, slice or mash potatoes.

Breakfast en croûte!

On a large, clean surface, lay out a sheet of saran wrap or wax paper. Place one cooked egg wrap in the center of the sheet. Spread half of the shredded potatoes evenly across the egg wrap. Press lightly into place.

Place one of your cooked sausage patties on top of the potatoes, as close to the center as possible. Wrap the eggs and potatoes around the sausage patty. Use the saran wrap to press and hold it firmly in place. Chill for one hour (or overnight!).

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Divide pastry dough. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap an egg-wrap in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it may hang over the edges). Put an egg-wrap in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don’t have any thick lumps of pastry as these won’t cook through properly. Trim off any excess as you need to. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like. Repeat for the second egg-wrap.

Bake for 30-60 minutes or until the crust turns brown.

The more pastries you put on the cookie sheet, the longer it takes.

Whatever you do, don’t skip the chill phase; it’s really important to chill your filling completely before wrapping it in pastry.

To make a more glamorous pastry, you could brush the top of the pastry with beaten egg before baking.

I originally doubled this recipe and made 3 of these bad boys, but they were huge, and it took forever to bake. The second time I made 4 using a doubled recipe, and it was still a lot of food (and they were still quite large). I think I’ll use this halved recipe next time and only make two for the three of us.

I also did a silly little enchilada en croûte with chicken, black beans, and spicy red sauce.