Flank Steak with Simple Chimichurri Sauce

Posted by Lee on April 3rd, 2012
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I hate throwing out food. Maybe it the foodie in me, maybe it’s my Jewish background and my mother’s voice in my head saying “don’t throw that out, we can find a way to use it” but I just have to find a way to use up those spare ingredients lying around after a recipe.

A few weeks back I found myself with a plethora of parsley left over from a tabbouleh salad. I looked online for creative ways to use parsley. It couldn’t find anything that grabbed my attention. Finally and out of the blue I remembered how much I love chimichurri sauce and knew that was the recipe. As usual I knew that I had to put my own spin on it. I love the taste of chimichurri but hate that its typically a mash of ingredients you apply to the meat after cooking. Even worse the “mash” always falls off the meat when its sliced leaving the meat with very little actual chimichurri flavor. I was looking for a strong chimichurri flavor throughout the meat, not just on the surface. I decided I was going to blend the sauce so that i could marinate the meat in the sauce. This way you get 100% chimichurri flavor penetrated throughout the meat Instead of on the surface.

As for the delivery vessel I chose a traditional flank steak. Thin, marbled with fat and quick cooking, it’s a great cut of meat for this application, especially as the weather improves and I can finally use the grill.  Served with some veggies and rice for a delicious meal.

The sauce comes together quickly with ingredients most of us already have on hand (other than the parsley). Easy to make in the morning and marinade before you leave for work. We’ll use 1/2  of the sauce as a marinade and the remainder as a finishing sauce to apply after cooking.  I usually save some of the leftover sauce as a condiment in the fridge for eggs, chicken and fish.  It really does go on pretty much everything.

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Caramel Rosemary Popcorn

Posted by Lee on February 12th, 2012
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A few weeks back my wife came home from work and said “you have to make this for me”.  I was fully expecting her to hand me something delicious I could try and then decide if I shared in her excitement.  To my disappointment she didn’t have anything for me to sample, just a demand that I make more of this “addictive popcorn” someone brought into work.

I searched around the web for a few variations of this caramel rosemary popcorn and found a few that looked simple to make… simple enough that I could test it out without a ton of effort.  Eventually I settled on  this recipe from Martha Stewart and made my first batch.  No alterations, just copied the recipe directly from Martha.  I thought it was good, but it could be better (despite it only being good, I absolutely devoured it).  So I decided to tweak the recipe a bit to my personal taste.

I thought that the pop of rosemary gave it a great floral taste that brightened up the sweet caramel but there just wasn’t enough.  I increased the rosemary by 50% to ensure that each bite had that same pop of flavor to counter the sweet caramel.

The second improvement I made was to heat the caramel to a lower temperature.  I thought that heating it to 255 made the caramel too hard and a bit burnt.  Instead I heated the caramel to 245 so that the caramel was not as crunchy.  While its only 10 degrees, in candy land 10 degrees is two stages and a whole world of difference.  It also removed that slight burnt taste that can easily overpower.

With these subtle but important changes the second batch came out much better.  I took a batch to work and to my foodie friends at IndyHall to sample.  If it went over well I planned on taking it to the Philadelphia Food Swap, February 22nd.  The consensus was that the popcorn was amazing.  In fact a few people asked what drug I sprinkled in because it was that addictive.  That was all the feedback I needed and it was clear this recipe was worth swapping.  Get the full recipe after the jump.

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Healthier Banana Oat Walnut Muffins (Freezable)

Posted by Lee on January 29th, 2012
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As I’ve said in previous posts I don’t have time to whip up a fancy breakfast before work everyday. To be fair, who does? With that in mind my latest edition to my grab and go breakfast series is these remade banana walnut muffins. The best part (besides taste and nutrition content) is that these muffins are freezable. Make a batch and freeze in your favorite freezer bag. In the morning microwave 1 muffin for 45 seconds and you have a warm, healthy breakfast faster than it takes to brush your teeth.

Muffins are one of those tricky foods in so many different ways. The first is the sheer fact of it being healthy or not. It’s very easy to add sugar for sweetness, oil to keep the cake moist and basic ingredients like flour that add little in terms of nutrition. To make these muffins a little more nutritionally sounds I’ve incorporated a few modifications to the original recipe:

  1. Replace the oil with applesauce - This is a common replacement that helps keep the cake moist without adding fat.
  2. Substitute some of the white flour with whole wheat flour - For me this is another easy one. Since whole wheat has a bit of a nutty taste it goes well with these banana nut muffins while providing a whole grain instead of processed grains.
  3. Add nutrition boosters - I’ve been partial to ground flax and chia seeds which add fiber and omega 3′s to your diet.    A sneaky way to add nutrition with very little impact on taste. You could just as easily add your favorite supplement or grain.

These 3 modifications are pretty standard and can easily be implemented into a lot of home baked goods. The result is a similar tasting product which is significantly healthier overall, a win-win all around.  While there are a lot of ingredients most are basic pantry staples we should all have lying around.  My kind of recipe.

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Simple Chocolate Souffle

Posted by Lee on January 9th, 2012
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Chocolate souffle… fancy!  I’ve always loved souffle’s regardless of the type.  A savory breakfast souffle with chees and herbs or as I takle here a rich, chocolatey souffle for dessert.  There is something magical about a souffle that rises to create a light and airy concoction that amazingly retains an abundance of flavor.

Like most home cooks I’ve always been a bit intimidated by souffle’s and the horror stories of it not rising properly or even worse it rising and then immediately deflating as soon as its removed from the oven (just as my confidence would deflate as I watched in disappointment).  Coincidentally, or perhaps because she wanted souffle’s my wife bought me 2 Le Creuset mini cocotte’s for Hanukkah.  As soon as I opened the gifts I knew I had to take my chances and tackle souffle making.

After consulting my trusty Joy of Cooking book and a few recipes online I decided to go with this recipe from the Food Network.  I decided to make a few modifications by removing the lemon and adding leftover coffee to the mix.  Coffee adds a complex depth of flavor to any chocolate recipe and I felt the addition would be a perfect fit in the recipe.  As always I took pictures documenting the recipe and process, fully expecting to have this first batch be an “experiment” that I could fine tune until I found a recipe worthy of posting.

To my surprise this batch turned out very well.  More surprising the process was actually fairly simple.  Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t something you just whip up on a whim, but its no harder than any other chocolate cake dessert.  Even better its made with ingredients that all of us typically have on hand; a bag of chocolate chips, eggs, vanilla, some leftover coffee, vanilla extract, butter and sugar.  With a bit of time and a mixer you can make a chocolate souffle worthy of any restaurant menu.  With this simple recipe, no one should fear that temperamental souffle.

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Asian Roasted Chicken Thighs

Posted by Lee on December 4th, 2011
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Delicious!  There is something about the mix of spices and flavorful liquids in Asian cuisine that just work so well together.  Pungent garlic and ginger balanced out with sweet honey and salty soy sauce. The flavors in this recipe marry so well to provide a deep level of flavor without one overpowering note.  They are simply sublime.  All of these wonderful flavors on my new favorite protein, chicken thighs (I’ll explain why below).   Add a bit of rice and bok choy for an easy well balanced, healthy meal centered around your crispy succulent chicken thigh.  You’ll want to make a few extra as they are ideal leftovers heated up for lunch the next day, or shredded off the bone and put into a salad or wrap.

Why I keep chicken thighs in my freezer at all times.  With thighs being dark meat they are well suited for longer cooking without drying out.  This opens up additional cooking methods so that even the same type of protein can take on hundreds of variations.   I also love that they are perfectly portioned with an average of 5-7 ounces each.  Much better than a chicken breast of 12-14 ounces, as I can’t help myself from eating all of the food that’s on the plate in front of me.  I just have to remember not to go back for another piece.  They contain a bone, which just makes meat taste better (although this is mostly about beef, I’ll argue that its true for chicken as well)

This recipe specifically is quite easy.  Combine a few ingredients, pour over the chicken and place it in the oven.  While the chicken bakes it gives you enough time to put together the sides.  It’s a perfect weeknight meal for anyone on a tight schedule.

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Philly Food and Drink Writers Meetup

Posted by Lee on October 26th, 2011
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Amazing!  That’s how I described my Saturday afternoon to my wife and friends who asked how the “Philly food blogger thing” went.  The food, the restaurant and the people were all highlights to an eventful afternoon.  Being new to blogging  I had no idea there was such a community (and I stress community as opposed to a group of random people with some common interests) out there.

After attending my first food event, the Philly food swap in September I was eager for another.  At the food swap I met some great bloggers I’d been following for a while now and got a glimpse at the great food community that Philly has.  Fast forward a month and Wendy of La Phemme Phoodie posted about a Philly food and drink writers meetup she was organizing in conjunction with Philly Homegrown.  I knew immediately that I had to attend.

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Green Tomato Chutney

Posted by Lee on October 2nd, 2011
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I never thought I would look forward to having green tomatoes at the end of the growing season, but after a friend gave me this chutney back in June, I’ve been really looking forward to making it on my own.  My friends’ mother, who still lives in the UK, recently visited the US for a few weeks and as any good mother does, she brought goodies from home to share with her daughter.  Luckily, my friend knows that I love to cook and she brought me a few of her mothers’ home made goodies including this delicious green tomato chutney.

I immediately took it home and spread it over some brie as part of a charcuterie platter.  Delicious.  Sweet, tart, spiced, a perfect balance of ingredients.  With the rest, I simply put it on a few crackers as a snack after work.  Although it is amazing on its own, this chutney would also be great over chicken or fish!  I quickly found myself licking the jar clean.  I went back to my friend and asked if her mom would share the recipe for the chutney so I could make more.  Lucky for me Mamma G was happy to oblige and quickly e-mailed the recipe.   I kept the recipe handy until I could acquire a batch of green tomatoes.

Fast forward a few months and  it’s getting cold on the east coast.  My garden had a dozen green tomatoes that probably wouldn’t ripen on the vine, so the time has finally come for the green tomato chutney.

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Habanero Jelly

Posted by Lee on September 25th, 2011
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If you’ve read through some of my recipes you know I love spicy foods.  I’ve posted a tropical hot sauce and a corn and black bean salsa recipe which highlight a bit of heat. This year I grew my own habanero’s and I had to find creative ways to use them.  Since I love canning, I thought a good way of preserving the harvest would be to create a habanero jelly. The recipe was so easy, and my habanero’s so bountiful, I made 8 half pint jars in my first batch.

Having so many jars of this jelly, I started using this jelly on everything; a glaze for grilled chicken and ribs, broiled salmon, ham, or as a condiment on BLT’s, sandwiches or simply a spread on crackers and cheese.  It’s such a versatile condiment.  Until last week I thought I was the only person gutsy (maybe stupid or crazy) enough to eat habanero pepper jelly.

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Salted Caramel Bars

Posted by Lee on August 21st, 2011
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Salted caramel, my new obsession.  While this is no new combination, its something I’ve recently rekindled a relationship with.  It started recently with a trip to Barbuzzo which was recommended to me by a few of my friends.  I was told that no matter what I ate, I had to save room for the budino, a salted caramel pudding that was simply addicting.  I have plans to attempt my own homemade budino in the near future, but my first foray into the salted caramel world would be a simple salted caramel shortbread bar.

The combination of a crumbly shortbread cookie topped with a sweet caramel and a bit of salty accents is just heavenly.  The perfect little treat after a meal or just a snack to satisfy you sweet tooth, these little bites of decadence will surely go quickly.

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Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream

Posted by Lee on July 12th, 2011
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream
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For part of my bachelor party celebration we went on a food tour of New York.  It was amazing.  One of the more memorable stops on the tour was Momofuku’s Milk Bar in the east village.  David Chang is world renowned for his creativity in both technique and flavors.  I would not be disappointed.  We sampled their compost cookie which consisted of any cookie ingredient you could think of (candy, nuts, chocolate chips) all thrown together into one cookie.   While this was certainly unique and a pretty good cookie, the star of the show for me was the cereal ice cream.

We tasted his corn flake ice cream.  Eating it felt exactly like slurping the milk out of your breakfast bowl.  Such an intense cereal flavor instantly took me back to my childhood of rushing to eat the cereal so I could slurp the milk as loudly as possible.  While the corn flake ice cream was delicious, I immediately thought of the dozens of cereals that you could replicate this recipe with.

Cheerios – could be good.  Subtle honey flavor and who doesn’t have a fond memory of eating cheerios as a kid

Cocoa Puffs – mmm chocolate.  This may be good, or it may just taste like a basic chocolate ice cream

Cinnamon Toast Crunch – My favorite cereal as a kid.  Sweet, sugary with a decent punch of cinnamon flavor.  How could this ice cream not be amazing?  This was the winner.

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