Tag: dinner

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Leg of lamb (sous vide)

  • 4-5 lb. boneless leg of lamb
  • 2 heads of garlic
  • 3 tbsp. chopped parsley
  • 3 fresh 2-3″ rosemary sprigs

Prep the garlic-parsley paste

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place garlic heads cut side up on sheet of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap foil tightly around garlic; place on baking sheet and roast until cloves are very soft and golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. When cool enough to handle, squeeze garlic head to remove cloves from skins. Mash cloves into paste with side of chef’s knife. Combine with parsley in small bowl.

Prep the lamb

  1. Unroll lamb. Following natural seams (delineated by lines of fat), separate into three smaller roasts, using sharp boning knife as needed.
  2. Trim visible fat and gristle from exterior of each roast. With small, pointed cuts, penetrate deeper to remove interior pockets of gristle, fat, and silver skin. (Roasts open up and flatten slightly during trimming.)
  3. Lightly score inside of each roast, making ¼-inch-deep cuts spaced 1 inch apart in crosshatch pattern.
  4. Rub scored surface of brined lamb with garlic-parsley paste, working paste into grooves.
  5. Roll into compact roast, tucking in flaps, to form log shape. Tie with twine at 1-inch intervals.

Sous vide the lamb

Cook the 3 lamb roasts in separate bags for 6-8 hours at 135*F. Sear for 45 seconds on each side before serving.

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Soy Sauce Chicken

  • 2 lbs of chicken parts
  • 2-inch ginger (skin peeled and lightly pounded)
  • 4 cloves garlic (lightly pounded)
  • 2 stalks scallions (cut into 2-inch lengths)
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick (about 2-inch length)
  • 1 dried honey dates
  • ½ c. soy sauce
  • ¼ c. dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 3 dashes white pepper powder
  • 4 oz. rock sugar or white sugar
  • 4 cups water
  1. Bring ingredients, except chicken, to a boil and simmer 10 mins.
  2. Add chicken to pot. Add more water to cover chicken if needed.
  3. Bring pot back to boil, cover. Simmer 20 mins.
  4. Turn off and keep covered for 20 more mins.

Optional: add 1 lb diced daikon or turnip in step 1 to simmer.

Sauce can be reused 2-3 times for new chicken, or soy sauce eggs or tofu.

Recipes

Corn Chowder for Two

SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 ears corn, husks and silk removed
  • 2 slices bacon, chopped coarse
  • 1 small onion, chopped fine
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ¼ teaspoon minced fresh thyme or pinch dried
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 2.5 cups chicken broth
  • 2-3 red potatos (6 ounces), unpeeled, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
  • Salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut kernels from one ear of corn into bowl. In separate bowl, grate remaining two ears corn over large holes of box grater. Using back of butter knife, scrape any remaining pulp from cobs into bowl with grated corn.

2. Cook bacon in medium saucepan over medium heat until crisp, 5-7 minutes. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.

3. Slowly whisk in broth, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out any lumps. Stir in potato and grated corn mixture, bring to simmer, and cook until potato is tender, about 15 minutes.

4. Stir in cream and remaining corn kernels and simmer until corn kernels are tender yet still slightly crunchy, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

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Mushroom Ragu

  • 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed well
  • 1 cup mushroom or chicken broth
  • 1 small onion, minced fine
  • ½ lb portobello mushrooms (2 large), stems and gills removed and discarded, caps cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 ½ cups)
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thin
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 tsp minced fresh rosemary leaves
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can whole tomatoes, roughly crushed by hand
  1. Place porcini and broth in small bowl for at least 1 hour, up to overnight, to soften dried mushrooms. Lift mushrooms from broth with fork and finely chop. Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer lined with large coffee filter into medium bowl. Set aside mushrooms and broth.
  2. Heat 12-inch skillet over medium heat with olive oil; cook onions, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and softened, 7 to 10 minutes. Add portobellos, chopped porcini, olive oil, garlic, tomato paste, and rosemary; cook, stirring occasionally, until all liquid has evaporated and tomato paste starts to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. 
  3. Add reserved chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, and their juices; increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, 10 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Serve with zucchini noodles or spaghetti, top with parmesan.
Recipes Uncategorized

Lamb and Sweet Pepper Ragù

Could also be beef ragu, just swap out for ground beef and beef stock. Best served with rigatoni or thick spaghetti.

  • 1 lb. ground lamb
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, minced small
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 1½ cups lamb stock
  • 28 oz. whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand, or diced tomatoes
  • 2 large red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, quartered and sliced ¼″ thick
  1. Heat some olive oil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high. Cook onion, garlic, rosemary, oregano, bay leaves, salt and pepper until softened, about 5 mins.
  2. Add lamb, stirring and breaking up meat into small pieces, until browned, 6–8 minutes. Stir in wine; cook until reduced by half, 2–3 minutes. 
  3. Add stock and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened, 35–40 minutes. Stir in peppers; cook until peppers are tender but not falling apart, 4–6 minutes. Discard bay leaves.
  4. Using tongs, toss pasta in sauce. Divide pasta between bowls; garnish with pecorino.
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Farro risotto

  • 4 cups broth or water
  • 2 medium leeks or 1 onion halved lengthwise and sliced into half moons
  • 2 cups semi-pearled farro
  • 1 cup dry white wine 
  • ¾ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese 

Vegetable add-ins:

  • 3 cups shelled English peas 
  • 1 pound pencil-thin asparagus cut into ½-inch pieces
  • Or similar amount of veggies
  1. Warm broth in a pot over low heat until ready to use. 
  2. Heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add leeks, season with ½ teaspoon of salt and pepper, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add the farro and stir to coat. Add white wine and simmer until absorbed. Stir in 3 cups of the broth and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer, stirring every 8 to 10 minutes, until rice is tender and creamy but the center of each farro grain is tender to the bite, about 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in the asparagus and peas and cook until bright green, about 5 minutes more.
  4. Turn off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, cover and rest a few minutes before serving. 
Recipes

Chinese beef stew

Ingredients

  • 2 lb beef brisket or stew meat or tendon mix, trimmed of fat, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 3 lb Chinese turnips, white daikon radish, or carrots; peeled, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 3-5 cups chicken broth
  • 3.5 oz. ginger, thickly sliced
  • 5 shallots, minced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3 bean curd sticks, soaked in water 2 hours and cut into 1.5″ pieces
  • 10 shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted, stemmed and sliced, with liquid reserved

Aromatics

  • 2 licorice slices 甘草片
  • 1 tsao ko cardamon (Amomum tsaoko) 草果
  • 1 dried tangerine peel
  • 1 cinnamon stick (½ of it’s fresh)
  • 1 star anise
  • 3 dashes white pepper powder
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/3 tsp Szechuan peppercorn

Sauce

  • 3.5 oz / 100g Chu Hou sauce
  • 5g five-spice powder
  • 2 tbsp of sugar
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 100 ml shaoxing wine
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  1. Lightly flour the beef cubes and sear on all sides until light brown. Add to crockpot with the cubed turnip/daikon/carrot.
  2. Sauté the shallots, garlic, ginger until fragrant.
  3. Add the aromatics ingredients for a quick sauté.
  4. Add the sauce ingredients, stir in 3 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil.
  5. Add boiling sauce to crockpot. Now add remaining boiling chicken broth to crockpot until ingredients are covered.
  6. Cook for 2 hours on high. Add the bean curd sticks. Continue cooking for 4 more hours, or until beef is tender. Let sit overnight for best flavor.

For Instant Pot: add 0.5 cup of the shiitake mushroom liquid instead of 3-5 cups broth. Pressure cook beef, mushrooms, liquid, sauce and aromatics on High for 30 minutes. Remove beef. Pressure cook radish/carrots and bean curd on High for 10 minutes. Combine everything together.