I love to barbecue .... but...

I love it when spring starts.

We fill the propane tank and start finding excuses to use the barbecue. Beyond the regular grilling of various meat products; we steam vegetables in foil-packets, and by summer I'm cooking with the cast-iron skillet on the barbecue just to be outside.

Last night, however - I wasn't so enthused with the barbecue.

I bought 24 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs from my butcher (La Preference) at a good price.

They marinated overnight in a delicious recipe of black bean paste, Thai chili paste, mirin, and olive oil.

And then I put them on the grill.
And.
After a few minutes.
They exploded into flame!

A brave volunteer got them off the grill as quickly as he could without burning himself. The flames were incredible. All the fat and skin was seared, but the meat within was still raw. Wait a minute. ... fat and skin .... and the recipe calls for trimming and I didn't do it.

So I put as many as I could in pans and cooked them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. The five that were still raw & un-singed (because I couldn't fit them on a grill) took 40 minutes to cook. I threw-out the worst 5 because they felt solid when I pressed on the upper part of the thigh (but still bled red).

My error (I realize now) was stretching the marinade with olive oil. I should have used stock or water instead. The poor bird parts were edible, but the flavour of the marinade was a soft under-note beneath all that smoky flavour.

The recipe is a good one, and one I intend to keep making - but maybe next time, I'll reduce the olive oil. Just a tad. And skin & trim the chicken.

I served it with a salad of mixed greens, a light cesar salad dressing, and baked new red potatoes. It was surprisingly well received and the butt of many jokes.

Barbeque chicken thighs in black bean sauce
Original recipe available on Kalyn's Kitchen blog.
Modified for the barbecue & to reduce salt and remove citrus from the recipe.

Serves:4 Doubles well, although you will run out of marinade.

Ingredients:
12 bone-in chicken thighs

Marinade:
2 tablespoons Black Bean Garlic Sauce
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon Thai Chili Garlic Paste
1 teaspoon mirin

Directions:

1. Use a sharp knife to remove skin and trim all visible fat from chicken thighs.
2. Cut small slits lengthwise so the marinade will penetrate the meat.
   
3. Mix marinade ingredients, then put chicken pieces in single layer inside large Ziploc bag, pour marinade in and let marinate for 6 hours or more in the refrigerator.
4. When ready to cook, remove chicken from refrigerator and let it come to room temperature while the barbecue preheats.
   
5. Arrange chicken on the upper grill, keeping as much marinade clinging to the chicken as you can.
   
6. Roast about 40 minutes, turning several times and brushing with remaining marinade.
   
7. Chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer shows the meat is 160 F.
   

I'm Watching Dinner confidential

So Fayfood, my favourite food blog, has branched out into a you tube channel called Dinner Confidential. The episodes are a bit slow in coming out - but feature two women (Fae and Kelly) who are currently helping a very busy family of four figure out how to get dinner on the table in a reasonable amount of time and maybe even eat together once a week.

Their previous story involved helping Kelly's daughter start cooking. I wish I could say the idea of someone who would not buy vegetables or roast something was new; but not everyone loves to cook and this episode (in several parts) they come up with a few different things for the daughter to try and are carefully non-judgmental about her choices. They want her to enjoy cooking, and not do it because it's a chore.

The episodes are short (well under 10 minutes on average) and pretty chatty. Neither Fae nor Kelly are afraid of giving opinions, but they're honest about it.

What I really enjoy is that this is a cooking-advice show that focuses on what's real. They're is no professional kitchen with perfect results every time. There's no immaculate set nor are the hosts immaculate in the way they present themselves. Instead you have two real people who care about what they're trying to do. They don't want the food to be fussy, or bothersome; instead they want it to be healthy, quick, and easy.

It's great lunchtime watching.

A recipe that was sort-of mentioned brought to mind something Fae suggested on her blog a while ago. It's a great and highly-scalable recipe that comes together in about 40 minutes without much tending.

Martedi
Her version is here.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:
12 sausages, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tin cannellini beans, well rinsed
1 tin tomatoes, pureed
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon fresh thyme or sage
2 teaspoons oregano
1 clove of garlic, smashed and diced
1 onion, finely diced

Directions:

1. Sear off the sausages in a hot pan. Drain any excess oil.
2. Add the garlic, onion, and sage. Stir to incorporate.
   
3. Add a can of pureed tomatoes and deglaze the pan.
   
4. When this has cooked for a good twenty minutes, add the beans, and other seasonings.
5. Allow to boil down for another 20 minutes. Serve hot over bread, rice, or polenta.
   

Menu for the week of March 21, 2010

I planned this week pretty well. Sunday I made bread, roasted chicken, and... didn't quite getting around to cooking the baked beans. They were actually cooked on Monday. The bread mostly came out OK and set the tone for my week. It's been mostly OK.

The seasonal cold has retreated into the background, and my fridge now overfloweth with leftovers again and my freezer is full-to-bursting. Tuesday's dinner was technically unplanned (it would have been Easter Monday Ham & Cheese Bake, but I went for deli-bought fried chicken instead). I have a bad habit of going in and changing my weekly menu on Springpad about twice or three times before the week is out. Officially I never plan dinners on Friday or Saturday night.

Friday night is my night out - if I've not already ordered in or brought in take-out during the week. Saturday I shop, so dinner is as much determined by what's on sale that day as by what's available in my fridge/freezer/pantry.

I do inventory on Wednesday, write my menu on Thursday, visit the butcher/deli on Friday and the bulk store/vegetables/everything else on Saturday. Then I tweak the menu again on Saturday to better match what I have/have bought.

Sunday 21	Toast & almond butter Keller's Roast Chicken with Winter Vegetables Vegetarian Baked Beans Hony Oatmeal Bread
Monday 22	Breakfast toast & Almond butter Leftover Keller's Roast Chicken with Winter Vegetables Spice-rubbed BBQ Flank Steak and Cesar mixed-leaf salad
Tuesday 23	Breakfast egg sandwich with cheese Leftover Black beans & rice with Baked beans Fried chicken, sweet-potato fries & leftover Cesar mixed-leaf salad
Wednesday 24	Breakfast oatmeal Leftover Keller's Roast Chicken with Winter Vegetables Lemon-pepper white fish & risotto
Thursday 25	Breakfast musli Leftover Black beans & rice with Baked beans Roasted Chicken Thighs with Black Bean Garlic Marinade with Mixed-leaf salad and vinagrette dressing for 6.
Friday 26	Toast & almond butter Leftover Baked Beans, rice & Steamed Vegetables Hosin chicken rice bowls
Saturday 27	Breakfast egg sandwich Lunch roast chicken, fresh bread and salad Dinner: TBD!

Black beans and rice - to nice to be mild

Some nights, I just want something hot and filling for dinner; and I don't really seem to care what that contains. There's a specific texture I'm looking for--silken without sauce--that always comes to mind when I think of rice and beans. I think it's a perfect dinner for any night. My SO thinks its bland. We live in two different worlds of taste. He's a fire-eater and I, alas, am not.

So this is my non-fire-eating version, which he thinks is just OK. More for me!

I like making beans from scratch, but in the spring--when the beans take 2+ hours to cook, being that they are so very old, I use canned. I drained 1 can of black beans and 1 can of navy beans and rinsed the beans well. This gets rid of a lot of salt, and I've always found the thick bean liquid in cans rather disgusting.

Once well-drained, I carefully diced up a yellow onion, red bell pepper, chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, two-ounces of medium chorizo, and 4 garlic cloves. I warmed olive oil in a pan, then added the onions and bell peppers, stirring occasionally until the onions wilted.

Then I added the rest of the vegetables. I cooked the rice separately (in water). When it was done, I added the beans and rice to the pan along with 2 cups of home-made chicken broth. This replaces the bean cooking liquid required by the original recipe and adds a lot of flavour.

Stir well to incorporate, add the spices, and allow to simmer. The cooked rice will absorb a lot of the liquid. If it comes to a boil, turn off the heat and uncover to allow the steam to escape. Serve it hot topped with cilantro and lime.

Ingredients
1 cup dried black beans (3 cups cooked)
1 two-ounce link chorizo, diced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 red bell pepper, coarseley chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, diced
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cumin
1 cup white rice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced

Directions
1. Bring 1 1/2 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil; add the rice, reduce heat to low, and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes more. Fluff with a fork and then spoon some rice into each bowl.

2. Drain the beans. Dice the onion, pepper, and garlic. Heat the oil over medium-high in a large sauce pan, and add the minced vegetables, chorizo, and cumin. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften somewhat, about 5 minutes. Add the drained beans, cilantro, cooked rice, and 2 cups of broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook off any extra liquid.

3. Remove the beans from the heat and stir in the lime juice and top with cilantro. Serve hot.

Menu plan for the week of March 14, 2010

What a week! The weather has become warm and spring-like and the colds are finally lifting from my house. There's lots to do this week that didn't get done last week (being sick is not condusive to doing chores); and the week is perfect for baking (not too warm and not too cold), so I'm going to make cookies this week and try to squeeze some bread-making in on the weekend.

Typically I have less than a serving left over after dinner. So, I just dump them in a container and put it in the freezer. Most lunches are the contents of one or two containers combined. I realized earlier, while talking to a co-worker - if I actually layered my leftovers rather than just dumping them in a single container - I could call my leftover lunches a "bento" again. They'd probably be a lot more appetizing to look at too.

Not many links this week, as most of the recipes are pretty straight forward.

snacks: I have a lot of choices for snacks this week as we did a run to the local Cosco recently.
taco chips (remainders from a party on the weekend)
mixed veggies & dip (leftovers from a party platter on the weekend)
pita chips & hummus (neither of which is homemade)
yogurt & flax seed
apples (always)
granola bars
rice crisps

The menu:

Sunday 14	Toast & almond butter Crab pasta salad Leftover Lentil and sausage soup
Monday 15	Breakfast oatmeal Leftover chili, spaghetti & salad BBQ hamburgers with The best and simplest green salad by Mark Bittman topped with Red wine and feta vinaigrette
Tuesday 16	Breakfast musli Taco salad Leftovers Steamed vegetables with Black Beans and Rice, My Way
Wednesday 17	Breakfast oatmeal Chicken salad sandwich and soup The best and simplest green salad with red wine vinagrette BBQ New York Strip steak & Mashed Potatoes Gratin The Whole Wheat Tollhouse Cookies
Thursday 18	Breakfast musli Lunch Bento Chinese Buffet - for 4
Friday 19	Toast & almond butter Lunch Bento Shawarma sandwich with rice & salad - for 6
Saturday 20	Breakfast egg sandwich Lunch roast chicken, fresh bread and salad Dinner: TBD Event: Draconis Game Day

Beef Stroganoff - my way

The morning after report.

The beef was still pretty frozen when I took it out to cook. I love my new fridge, but it's sometimes a bit too good at keeping cold things cold. The ice crystals made the beef very easy to slice. I cut the strips in half (it was a wide piece of meat), but that was just a stylistic preference.

The meat cooked easily and I got a nice brown coating on the bottom of my pan. I'm getting better at being able to watch a pan and not fuss with it. If the meat doesn't lay long enough before you try to flip it -- it will either stick and tear (leaving little meaty bits behind) or not deposit the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

Once cooked, and set aside, I added 2 whole shallots (for some reason, I read the recipe as requiring 1 cup not 1/2 cup -- sigh) and 8 oz of sliced button mushrooms (I halved the slices because the SO doesn't like mushrooms--so small=good). I turned down the heat and let it cook, stirring occasionally and trying really hard not to scrape up too much of the brown bits. The mushroom stems went into my collection of food scraps for soup. The SO tends to notice the stems way more than the tops, so I don't often cook with them.

The chicken broth (I prefer the flavour of chicken broth to beef broth--and I had fresh homemade chicken broth in the fridge as compared to the box of stuff in the pantry) went in with the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. And then I stirred. My arms got a workout from the stirring. I scraped every bit of brown stuff up off the bottom and into the broth. Then I added the meat back into the pan (flank steak is pretty tough and the extra cooking time helped tenderize it a bit).

I set the noodles to boil, and ignored the sauce as it reduced (I did up the heat just a smidge under the sauce--because I'm impatient when my kitchen starts to become so wonderfully fragrant).

As the noodles were done, and the (nuked frozen) vegetables were ready I made the realization that I was out of sour cream. So I used unflavoured yogurt. Unfortunately, I didn't strain it. It had been sitting for a while, so I poured off the liquid and scooped from what was left -- but once added to the sauce, it separated rather than becoming creamy. I put the meat back into the pan and stirred it all together. The sauce wasn't a pale brown or a pink, instead it was brown with a multitude of white pokadots!

I served the mix (and the rather thin sauce) over egg noodles with a side of green beans for me and corn for him. It tasted delicious, but it didn't look too good.

Now I know better. This morning I googled "sour cream substitution" and realize that I should have (a) drained the yogurt for at least 30 minutes, (b) added 1 tablespoon flour and 2 teaspoons water to the mix before adding. This replaces some of the strained-out liquid without adding an acid, and the flour provides the thickening-agent that the fat (in the sour cream) would provide.

The recipe came out really well. We both liked it, and since I had friends cancel out on me (I had intended to double the recipe), I made 1/2, have leftovers for lunch today and have enough ingredients to make it again next week. It's a win-win situation.

The recipe

• 1 lb steak (top round or flank), cut into strips
• 1/2 tsp each salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp non-hydrogenated margarine
• 1/2 cup shallots, chopped
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth (low fat, low sodium)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 4 servings of egg noodles.
• 3/4 cup unflavoured yogurt (strained for 30 minutes)
• 1 tsp flour
• 2 tsp water
  

Directions

1. Measure out 1 cup of yogurt and place it in a fine sieve or piece of cheese cloth suspended above a bowl. Leave to drain for 30 minutes.
   
2. Cut the steak to the desired size and lay out the pieces.
   
3. Sprinkle steak strips with salt and pepper.
   
4. Dice your shallots and cut up your mushrooms.
   
5. In large non-stick frying pan, heat oil over high heat.
   
6. Add meat in single layer (working in batches if necessary) and cook until just brown on outside, about 1 minute per side. Reduce heat if the pan begins to smoke or if meat gets more than a bit brown. You're building a layer of brown on your pan here -- so patience is the rule.
   
7. Remove meat to plate and set aside.
8. In same frying pan, melt margarine over medium-high heat.
   
9. Add shallots and cook until starting to soften, about 2 minutes.
   
10. Add mushrooms and cook until tender and all liquid is evaporated, 8-10 minutes.
11. Put a pan on to start cooking the egg noodles. Bring the water to a roiling boil.
    
12. In a small bowl, whisk together broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard.
    
13. Return steak to pan and pour broth mixture over.
14. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the brown bits up into the liquid.
    
15. Simmer until liquid reduces and thickens slightly, about 12 minutes.
    
16. Cook the egg noodles (ideally they're done the same time as your stroganoff. Your stroganoff can wait, the egg noodles can't).
17. Prepare your steamed vegetables.
    
18. Mix the flour and water together to form a slurry. No lumps. Add it to the strained yogurt.
    
19. Add the yogurt mixture to the pan (stir to incorporate) and cook on low heat until heated through.
20. Serve over freshly-cooked egg noodles with a side of steamed (nuked) vegetables.
    

Menu for the week of 21 Feburary

Belated posting.
I'm following my own advice from last week, buying only what I need and trying to use up what I have. The hardest part is actually sticking to the menu. I remembered to put it on my kitchen table, and that's helped. I also chose recipes that weren't supposed to be too fussy (see my notes to see how well that worked).

I've learned from practice, that since by Friday I'm just tired and uninspired that I'll either cook up with the leftovers in the fridge or eat out. It's pretty much whatever strikes my fancy.

Saturday 20	Breakfast: Breakfast out. Lunch: Chicken sandwich on whole wheat with hummus & salad Dinner: Beef fajitas
Sunday 21	Breakfast: Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup Dinner: Quiznos
Monday 22	Breakfast: Cinnamon oatmeal Lunch: Leftover meatballs, spaghetti sauce and basmati rice Dinner: Salad-dressing marinaded and breaded (baked) chicken [Springpad link], green salad with red wine vinagrette
Tuesday 23	Breakfast: Cinnamon oatmeal Lunch: Tortierre and green salad with red wine vinagrette Dinner: Almond haddock fillets [Springpad link], green salad with red wine vinagrette and basmati rice.
Wednesday 24	Breakfast: Cinnamon oatmeal Lunch: Empanadas and broccoli with salsa Dinner: Hamburgers, all dressed.
Thursday 25	Breakfast: Toast & banana with almond butter Lunch: Tortierre and salad with red wine vinagrette Dinner: Beef Strogonoff [Springpad link]
Friday 26	Breakfast: Toast & banana with almond butter Lunch: Almond crusted fish with basmati rice and green beans Dinner: Leftover buffet & Steamed vegetables