I bought some skirt steak last week because it was on sale $1.99/pound. I got a 5lb pack of it, cut it up, trimmed it and divided into meal size bags to freeze. I made up a recipe tonight and its about the best damn steak and brown sauce i've ever made. (I am pretty sure this recipe would work for any steak.)
Marinade:
one head garlic crushed into bowl
1/2 C (or more) olive oil
Sage, Rosemary, Thyme chopped (Herbes de Provence would be a fine substitute--or basil/oregano)
Salt/Pepper
Mix into a paste and rub onto steaks. then sprinkle two teaspoons of sugar over steaks and a few douses of Steen's Cane Vinegar (redwine or apple cider would be fine). Let sit at least 4 hours, cause it's skirt steak.
Meanwhile--cooked the sides. Broccoli and leeks and sweet potatoes.
Leeks were done a la vinaigre:
Poireaux au Vinaigre:
(I made this recipe up after eating leeks in Paris for a long time and after consulting old friends passionate about all-things french.)
Boil leeks in water about 10 minutes (maybe more depending on how many leeks--but only cover leeks with 1/2 inch water), until fork goes through cleanly. remove from water (save water for next step) and slice leeks. in bowl, add olive oil, a few drops of vinegar, herbes de provence and salt/pepper. Let chill. Serve cold.
Broccoli was boiled in same water as leeks. Then removed, salted, and cooked in pan with thyme butter. The liquid remaining after boiling both vegetables is great just as a broth. I am considering saving this as vegetable broth next time I make leek soup.
Sweet potatoes--famous Sweet 'er Taters recipe:
Slice em 1/4 inch. Toss in bowl with brown sugar and butter. For 1 medium size potato, about 1 and 1/2 tbls brown sugar and 2 tbls butter. Bake at 400 degrees until very soft inside--I usually turn them half way through to get both sides brown. Sometimes I add a drizzle of Steens Cane Syrup.
Steak:
heat skillet with a little oil until very very hot. scrape off most of marinade from steak and save--make sure steaks are pat-dry--then brown steak on both sides with marinade paste cooking around it--cook no more than 1 and 1/2 minutes each side. remove.
Scrape up crushed garlic and let cook until browned--the garlic should crisp up nicely, but you have to keep scraping pan so it doesnt burn. then add some butter and a little more olive oil and one chopped shallot. (The darker you brown the garlic in the already browned pan from steaks, the browner and better the sauce will come out.) After shallot is soft and brown too, add white wine glob. reduce. add 1/2 c chicken stock and salt pepper to adjust. reduce. Then if you want a perfect sauce, add one more tbls butter and let melt. Then put steaks back in to re-heat--if you cook Skirt Steak more than 6 minutes, it will toughen--so total cook time less than 6 minutes--I did mine minute and half to brown each side then extra 2 minutes to reheat and it was perfect rare to medium rare.
Serve.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
September 25, 2008
Happy Birth-Day Sparrow
candelabra light dances in gazebo to guitar strings
echoing birthday laughters and bastille day farewells
now single candlelit chapels light silent prayers
a new Saint is born into heaven today
candelabra light dances in gazebo to guitar strings
echoing birthday laughters and bastille day farewells
now single candlelit chapels light silent prayers
a new Saint is born into heaven today
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Mon Dieu!
Recent conversations on campus, in the media, and at local butcher counters where they make wonderful Cajun sausages and stuffed rabbit are all wondering exactly what is God's place in a democracy. Apparently some people believe there is no place and that anyone with views to the contrary are merely clinging to their religion and guns in a bitterness. Perhaps they need a history lesson.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Pork Chops and Mashed Potatoes
Pork Chops are a mystery to me. I have attempted several different recipes and have never gotten them to taste the way I want them to taste. But here is a recipe adapted from Julia Childs.
Season Pork with thyme, sage, salt pepper and marinade in white and red wine for several hours.
Remove pork, dry with paper towel and brown on both sides in bacon fat.
Remove pork from pan, remove fat, add in butter and I added fresh thyme and three cloves smashed garlic. heated on low, after butter melted, added pork and covered until done (turned in between).
When done, removed pork, added the marinade liquid and half a chopped shallot and reduced to a thick purple gravy. That was weird. But it tasted good.
Mashed Potatoes--peel, cube, add to boiling water until fork soft. Remove, strain, add back to same pot on low heat until water evaporates. Add glob of milk, lots of butter and blend. Salt Pepper.
The purple gravy went well over potatoes.
In the end, I have to say I like pork better on grill or in oven. So goes the mysteries of stove top pork chops.
Season Pork with thyme, sage, salt pepper and marinade in white and red wine for several hours.
Remove pork, dry with paper towel and brown on both sides in bacon fat.
Remove pork from pan, remove fat, add in butter and I added fresh thyme and three cloves smashed garlic. heated on low, after butter melted, added pork and covered until done (turned in between).
When done, removed pork, added the marinade liquid and half a chopped shallot and reduced to a thick purple gravy. That was weird. But it tasted good.
Mashed Potatoes--peel, cube, add to boiling water until fork soft. Remove, strain, add back to same pot on low heat until water evaporates. Add glob of milk, lots of butter and blend. Salt Pepper.
The purple gravy went well over potatoes.
In the end, I have to say I like pork better on grill or in oven. So goes the mysteries of stove top pork chops.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I don't exactly know what this post is supposed to be about. I do know that I have been trying to figure out how to rhyme "crossmaker" with "community organizer" from that song, "Jesus was a Crossmaker"...I think it's impossible, and it doesnt quite matter anyway. The real point is how sick this is, this world that we wake up to on 24/7 news, 24/7 journalists/bloggers/professors/etc...I don't know if it really matters who becomes president--because, really, for those of us who do believe in God, we know there is a larger plan. But, I always wonder, doesnt that larger plan have a lot to do with us--I mean, doesnt it matter what we do and how we do it to carry that fire of God's love--so, it does matter, essentially, each day, what idiotic debacle those shitheads get into...
I think both sides are afraid of a small-town mentality, and they are afraid because they have been influenced for so long by the word "fiscal" and not simply "conservative." I think the word "fiscal" has forced us to see the economic values of a conservative government and not the principles of conserving. Perhaps this is paradox. Because even these journalists (for instance, George F. Will--whom I respect very much), I suspect, don't always have that sense of small-town agrarian communities that have held strong and survived through all the various despotisms of Human History, from Egypt, Babylon, to Greece, Rome, Britain, and, possibly, the U.S. It is interesting to trace the history of America's beginning and its origins in small-town life--that rugged individualism which set out and cleared this country, settled it, civilized it through agriculture. And now to look at that small-world become bigger in seconds, that individualism become collectivism with handouts and loans by the federal government. Chesterton noted in The Everlasting Man how agrarian man was the real civilization, and once progress set it, all those civilizations ended with despots. It is clear, that by increasing the size of the government, we will eventually have what is called a despotism, in which the government, the bureaucrats in Washington are allowed to rule for the many. Are allowed? I should be so generous. No, more accurately, it follows that certain people will vote for some "messiah" some quick fix, and what we will get, in maybe four years, maybe fourteen, is a large organization controlling all the mortgages, all the banks, all the businesses, regulating everything down to what you are allowed to eat (saturated fats outlawed), what and where you can smoke, what words are appropriate, what to teach, what you are allowed to say in college classrooms without offending lifestyle choices, what books we read because of how they portray race, gender, society, politics, or how we believe the world was created, etc...wait, you say...we are already there?
But I decline to accept this as the end. That's the one thing the Olympics showed us. How only those with the freedom to choose, only those with the liberty to fight, can win 8 gold medals in a row. Will fight it out.
Like I said, I dont know where this is going.
I think both sides are afraid of a small-town mentality, and they are afraid because they have been influenced for so long by the word "fiscal" and not simply "conservative." I think the word "fiscal" has forced us to see the economic values of a conservative government and not the principles of conserving. Perhaps this is paradox. Because even these journalists (for instance, George F. Will--whom I respect very much), I suspect, don't always have that sense of small-town agrarian communities that have held strong and survived through all the various despotisms of Human History, from Egypt, Babylon, to Greece, Rome, Britain, and, possibly, the U.S. It is interesting to trace the history of America's beginning and its origins in small-town life--that rugged individualism which set out and cleared this country, settled it, civilized it through agriculture. And now to look at that small-world become bigger in seconds, that individualism become collectivism with handouts and loans by the federal government. Chesterton noted in The Everlasting Man how agrarian man was the real civilization, and once progress set it, all those civilizations ended with despots. It is clear, that by increasing the size of the government, we will eventually have what is called a despotism, in which the government, the bureaucrats in Washington are allowed to rule for the many. Are allowed? I should be so generous. No, more accurately, it follows that certain people will vote for some "messiah" some quick fix, and what we will get, in maybe four years, maybe fourteen, is a large organization controlling all the mortgages, all the banks, all the businesses, regulating everything down to what you are allowed to eat (saturated fats outlawed), what and where you can smoke, what words are appropriate, what to teach, what you are allowed to say in college classrooms without offending lifestyle choices, what books we read because of how they portray race, gender, society, politics, or how we believe the world was created, etc...wait, you say...we are already there?
But I decline to accept this as the end. That's the one thing the Olympics showed us. How only those with the freedom to choose, only those with the liberty to fight, can win 8 gold medals in a row. Will fight it out.
Like I said, I dont know where this is going.
Steak and Mushrooms
This is a new steak dish.
Any steak you can get or have.
Marinade in:
1-2 Chopped shallot
2 tbl olive oil
three sprigs oregano
7 leaves basil
Salt pepper
Crush all spices and shallots into steaks, turn frequently for 2-3 hours, etc.
Heat oil in pan, brown steaks and remove from heat before fully cooked.
Add sliced mushrooms to pan and cook with remaining shallots and spices. After mushrooms are browned, add glob of white wine and tbl of butter. Reduce, add in steaks to heat.
Serve.
We served with roasted potatoes. Cube potatoes, toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and several sprigs rosemary. Put on pan, in oven at 420 degrees and cook for 1 hour.
Any steak you can get or have.
Marinade in:
1-2 Chopped shallot
2 tbl olive oil
three sprigs oregano
7 leaves basil
Salt pepper
Crush all spices and shallots into steaks, turn frequently for 2-3 hours, etc.
Heat oil in pan, brown steaks and remove from heat before fully cooked.
Add sliced mushrooms to pan and cook with remaining shallots and spices. After mushrooms are browned, add glob of white wine and tbl of butter. Reduce, add in steaks to heat.
Serve.
We served with roasted potatoes. Cube potatoes, toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and several sprigs rosemary. Put on pan, in oven at 420 degrees and cook for 1 hour.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
What to do with Split Chicken Breats that happen to be on sale...
This is a post about exactly what to do with split chicken breasts when they are on sale and you say, "Holy, gee whiz Mary and Joseph, I have never seen chicken so friggin cheap."
Make Stock with them. Plop the ripe breasts into a deep pot, cut up three carrots and three ribs celery (add greens if you have them), quarter an onion, throw in about 5 crushed garlic cloves, bay leaf and spices (anything you have--from thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary...I guess even basil). Add water till covered (a glob of white wine), bay leaf, salt pepper and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and let it go for at least 3 hours (maybe 4). If it has no flavor after that amount of time, either you added too much water or you suck. No, really, just throw in a few bouillon cubes, or, better yet, a spoonful of "Better Than Bouillon."
Ok, fine, chicken soup, right. No. After this is done, strain it and save stock in freezer for some day down the road. Save the rest of the chicken for special dishes to be made.
You can add it to a salad. Simply shred chicken pieces, add to your favorite dressing, and toss into a salad.
Or a make-shift BBQ sandwich--with extra Mayo, garlic Tabasco sauce and favorite BBQ Sauce.
Or, an Asian dish. Mince ginger root, crush 4 cloves garlic, and mix in lots of soy sauce. Add sesame oil, heat some more oil in pan, throw in some left over garlic to brown, then add shredded chicken and sauce (and another glob of white wine). Mix thoroughly and reduce most of the liquid. If you want it spicy, throw in red pepper. You might even throw in one of those frozen vegetable sautees. Voila.
I guess at the end of the day, you ask yourself, what can I not do with split chicken breasts.
Make Stock with them. Plop the ripe breasts into a deep pot, cut up three carrots and three ribs celery (add greens if you have them), quarter an onion, throw in about 5 crushed garlic cloves, bay leaf and spices (anything you have--from thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary...I guess even basil). Add water till covered (a glob of white wine), bay leaf, salt pepper and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and let it go for at least 3 hours (maybe 4). If it has no flavor after that amount of time, either you added too much water or you suck. No, really, just throw in a few bouillon cubes, or, better yet, a spoonful of "Better Than Bouillon."
Ok, fine, chicken soup, right. No. After this is done, strain it and save stock in freezer for some day down the road. Save the rest of the chicken for special dishes to be made.
You can add it to a salad. Simply shred chicken pieces, add to your favorite dressing, and toss into a salad.
Or a make-shift BBQ sandwich--with extra Mayo, garlic Tabasco sauce and favorite BBQ Sauce.
Or, an Asian dish. Mince ginger root, crush 4 cloves garlic, and mix in lots of soy sauce. Add sesame oil, heat some more oil in pan, throw in some left over garlic to brown, then add shredded chicken and sauce (and another glob of white wine). Mix thoroughly and reduce most of the liquid. If you want it spicy, throw in red pepper. You might even throw in one of those frozen vegetable sautees. Voila.
I guess at the end of the day, you ask yourself, what can I not do with split chicken breasts.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Sashimi Tuna for dinner
This was a very minimalist recipe except for the price of tuna--which is not, if compared with steaks, very expensive. Two individual sized tuna steaks cost $10 total--so, dinner was kept to about $6 a head with additional expenses for Wine. We had an old bottle of Vacquerays laying around (I like to collect them when on sale (about $9-$13). They are better than low-line Cotes du Rhone and pack enough punch without having to be a Gigondas. And Cote du Rhone is iffy lately--too many watered down or over-tannic wines in the bins under $10.
Anyway--recipe was easy.
two tablespoons butter melted, add lots of thyme leaves and one chopped shallot. Salt Pepper, mix and rub all over tunas. Let sit in fridge (ideally for an hour).
Meanwhile, slice sweet potatoes (less than 1/4 inch slices), toss in bowl with butter and brown sugar. Place in oven safe dish and bake em until soft.
Heat skillet with olive oil, when really hot, add tunas and do not overcook. No more than 2 minutes each side (if its really fresh, merely searing it for 1 minute each side is enough).
Remove tunas, set aside. I degreased pan with a little bourbon, scraped up shallots, and added over tunas. Perfect with salad or cheese as last course.
as for Gustav--fuck him. He's done and we're here--Unfortunately Gustav fucked our neighbor-friends and ripped off half their tin roof (on second largest house in town)--so it did damage and we sustained gusts from 90-100 mph. Good luck for all those awaiting Ike.
Anyway--recipe was easy.
two tablespoons butter melted, add lots of thyme leaves and one chopped shallot. Salt Pepper, mix and rub all over tunas. Let sit in fridge (ideally for an hour).
Meanwhile, slice sweet potatoes (less than 1/4 inch slices), toss in bowl with butter and brown sugar. Place in oven safe dish and bake em until soft.
Heat skillet with olive oil, when really hot, add tunas and do not overcook. No more than 2 minutes each side (if its really fresh, merely searing it for 1 minute each side is enough).
Remove tunas, set aside. I degreased pan with a little bourbon, scraped up shallots, and added over tunas. Perfect with salad or cheese as last course.
as for Gustav--fuck him. He's done and we're here--Unfortunately Gustav fucked our neighbor-friends and ripped off half their tin roof (on second largest house in town)--so it did damage and we sustained gusts from 90-100 mph. Good luck for all those awaiting Ike.
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