Minestrone soup. Where to begin? I have so much to say on minestrone and on soup alone. I’m going to be doing a series on soup as the weather continues to cool. For this reason, I’ll hold my thoughts on soup for later posts. Back …
If you’ve read my previous pizza post on sourdough Neapolitan-style pizza, you know how deeply I love pizza. Detroit-style pizza has become trendy lately. A number of chefs, YouTube channels, and food blogs have tried their hand at this craze. I had to join in …
I was never a big cooking competition shows and then my husband introduced me to Top Chef. The caliber of the competition and the structure of the show are a completely different level than some of the dramatic, gimmicky competitions I was familiar with. It’s a really great show and has brought into popularity some incredible talent. One of those chefs is Brooke Williamson. If you watch the show, you’ll often see a few chefs in the competition that can consistently cook at a very high level. Brooke is definitely high on that list. And so often, when I’m searching for new recipes, I’ll search for some of the chefs that I’ve seen cook amazing food and locate some of their recipes. There’s just a credibility that comes with them that you can trust to be good.
This was a recipe I found searching for Brooke’s recipes. The recipe called for tri tip, but we purchased a ¼ of a cow and didn’t have the tri tip cut. Instead, we used bavette which is a cut that comes from the same region of the cow as the flank steak or skirt steak. It’s sometimes referred to as the bottom sirloin and is one of our new favorite cuts. It’s lean, has a long grain to it (like flank) and yet is extremely tender. In fact, Mike and I recently went to a local steak house to celebrate our wedding anniversary and we both ordered a version of bavette – even ahead of a rib eye or filet. It’s that good!
I’ve made this recipe only once and would probably adjust it the second time around. I love butter, but this recipe has SO MUCH butter in it. I think it’d be just as good with about half of what it calls for. I’d put less of the compound butter in the herbed corn. And prioritize the compound butter for the steak. This recipe also calls for Calabrian chilis, which can be hard to find. Calabrian chilis are an Italian pepper known for a combination of sweet, fruity, smoky, and spicey. They’re not like any other pepper I’ve had, so it’s hard to substitute another. Our local grocers didn’t carry them – including the high end grocery stores near us. So we ended up having to order a couple of jars online.
If you're looking for a flavorful steak recipe that is suited for summer, this is it! A delicious bavette, flank, or tri tip cut served with smoky, and slightly spicey compound butter.
First, toast the whole peppercorns and coriander seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant. Using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind all spice rub ingredients into a fine powder working in batches if necessary. Mix thoroughly in a bowl.
Next, pat the steak dry with paper towels and place on a sheet pan. Season thoroughly with a spice rub mixture on all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes. Cook the steak to your desired doneness, but make sure to get a nice crust on the outside over high heat. Let the meat rest for 15 minutes before cutting into it.
Next, make the compound butter by combining all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stirring to combine. Divide this in half in two separate bowls and let sit at room temperature.
For the garlic & herbed corn, grill the corn over high heat until lightly charred on all sides. Remove from the grill and cut corn from the cobs once cooled slightly.
Place a cast iron skillet over medium high heat (or onto the high heat portion of the grill). Melt half of the butter and add the garlic to the pan. Once the butter melts, add the shallot and anchovies to the pan. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until the shallots are fragrant and the anchovies dissolve. Add Fresno chilies and cook for another couple minutes. Add the corn and stir to coat. Remove from the heat and add parsley, oregano, thyme, and the lemon juice. Season to taste with salt.
Slice the meat against the grain, serve with the compound butter atop the warm meat and along side the herbed corn. Enjoy!
Inspired by: Brooke Williamson
Steak: We made this with a Bavette Steak, which comes from the same section on the cow as the flank or skirt. It has a long grain like a flank, but is incredibly tender. If you haven't cooked with it before, I'd highly recommend. If you can't find a Bavette, you can substitute, a flank steak, hangar steak, or even tri tip.
Chicken satay can be a great appetizer or meal. I love it because it’s high protein, full of flavorful, pretty easy to pull together and feels special. It can be served as an appetizer accompanying other Thai dishes. You can serve it alongside vegetables as …
We love Summer for an endless list of reasons. One of the big ones is Summer is harvest and Summer is abundance. All throughout history, before our supermarkets had global reach and fresh produce became available year-round, Summer was the busiest season of the year …
It’s summer! Which means there should be some ice cream in your summer evenings, especially with soaring temperatures. Watching the prices of ice cream soar made me question why I was buying it. And then looking at the ingredients of even “quality” ice cream, again, made me wonder why I was buying it. We have an ice cream maker – we’ve had it for quite a while. I’ve made ice cream in it quite a few times, but for some reason, I thought that you should eat the ice cream the day you made it. I was never quite satisfied with the outcome – not because it didn’t taste good, but because it was too soft. And then I actually followed a homemade ice cream recipe ALL the way through and discovered a few tricks to making good ice cream at home. First, you should thoroughly chill (like refrigerate overnight) the ice cream base before you ever put it in the frozen bowl of the machine. And second, once you make it in the machine, you should transfer it to a container and freeze overnight. Wa-la! Delicious homemade ice cream.
Ok, we all know the best homemade ice cream starts with a good vanilla base. I have two to share with you, depending on what you like in your vanilla ice cream. These recipes give you the canvas to then top or create sundaes in any way you enjoy.
The first recipe “custardy vanilla ice cream” is rich, creamy, and chewy reflecting the addition of egg yolks in the recipe. Don’t worry, the eggs are brought up to 170F so are cooked properly. If I had to pick one, this is my favorite vanilla ice cream.
The second recipe “pure vanilla ice cream” is a simple, clean, creamy vanilla ice cream. If you want pure, clean vanilla goodness to compliment a cobbler, pie, or not interfere with specific sundae toppings this is it!
Both recipes are delicious and will last in the freezer for some time. So you should really try both and let me know which is your favorite.
This vanilla ice cream is rich, creamy, and chewy reflecting the addition of egg yolks. If I had to pick one, this is my favorite vanilla ice cream recipe!
In a small saucepan, simmer heavy cream, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks. While whisking constantly, slowly whisk about one-third of the hot cream in to the yolks, the whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170F on an instant-read thermometer).
Next, strain the ice cream base through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool to room temperature and then cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Make the ice cream in the machine of choice. Place in an airtight container and freezer overnight for best results.
Inspired by: NY Times Cooking
This is a simple, clean, creamy vanilla ice cream that's a great compliment to a cobbler or pie, not interfering with the star of the dessert.
Using a saucepan, combine all the ingredients and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Remove from the heat, just before the mixture comes to a boil. Transfer the ice cream base to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.
Pour the mixture into the ice cream machine of choice and process until it forms the texture of soft serve. Transfer the ice cream to an air tight container and freeze overnight.
Inspired by: Molly Moon's, Seattle
It’s August, the temperatures are at some of the highest of the year, grilling is preferred to avoid heating up your kitchen, something cold like a salad, yet filling with protein and carbs seems like a great dinner option. If you feel like Thai but …
August is one of my favorite months of the year. Just the mention of it drums up an image in my mind of completely dry lawn the color of straw, ripened wild blackberries, salmon filets, salmon running in local rivers, fresh corn from local farms, …
Week 5 of the summer salad series brings us to a classic – the wedge salad. Although not an entrée salad, it is my favorite accompaniment to steak. Blue cheese and red meat are a rich and decadent combination. For this reason, the wedge is a steakhouse salad classic.
This salad has been around for at least 100 years. It’s something that started as a classic and remains a classic throughout the last century. It’s recipes like these that we have an obligation to cook and serve at our tables to carry on the tradition of American cooking. When we look at Italy or France or frankly almost any country outside of the US, we often look longingly for a food culture to cling to ourselves. In the US, sadly our food culture has reflected convenience or industrialization in the last 60-70 years. We don’t have the rich history of the highest quality humble ingredients, cooked with care and time by the oldest generations of our culture. Countries like Italy and France are standouts in my mind, but this exists in most countries that have long histories and a deep culture of food.
When we find classics like the wedge, serve it. Introduce it to someone who hasn’t had it. Let’s make the 100-year history of this salad live on. It’s a big ambition to influence and establish the food culture of our country, but this is how it happens. Family by family, establishing traditions, respecting food, respecting our land, and respecting the people who cultivate and grow our food. Little by little, drip by drip, we can create a rich history of food culture in our country of origin, which is my favorite country in the world!
This is an American classic steakhouse salad! The dressing is rich, but not too thick and the acid of the tomato, shallot, and vinegar combination perfects this version.
Toss the tomatoes, shallot, red wine vinegar together in a small bowl. Season with salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Set aside.
Prepare the dressing. Add half of the cheese to a mixing bowl. Combine with buttermilk, mayonnaise, olive oil, hot sauce, lemon juice, and worcestershire. You may need to mash with something like a potato masher or pastry blender. Mix until at desired consistency and set aside.
Assemble the salad, starting with the wedge. Next, spoon some dressing. Sprinkle with bacon, tomato mixture, blue cheese crumbles, and minced chives. Shower with ground pepper, and serve!
Buttermilk: If you don't have this or don't want to buy an entire container for the 1/4 cup needed in this recipe, you can easily make this. In a measuring cup, add your dairy of choice (any fat content cow milk will work) to just below the 1/4 cup mark. Top to the 1/4 cup mark with 1-2 TSP freshly squeezed lemon juice (or white vinegar) and let sit for 10 minutes.
Inspired by: NY Times, Sam Sifton
In a previous budgeting post, I shared that the best tool to manage your grocery spending is planning. Most anything that you spend time planning will have a better outcome. Planning is the difference between success and happenstance. Planning is an underrated hack. There’s something …