Live the Live ™

I suppose the first question someone would ask is: why?

I like to know the ingredients that are in my food, and looking at the label of a bottle of ketchup, there are quite a few ingredients I’m not thrilled with. Things like corn syrup and thickeners. So when I had an overabundance of tomatoes in my garden this year, and I made tons of tomato sauce, I thought it might be cool to make my own ketchup out of some of it. The results were pretty darn good.

If you don’t have your own garden-fresh tomatoes to work with, using canned tomatoes is just fine.

 

 

2 (28 oz.) cans peeled ground tomatoes (or 56 oz. fresh ground garden tomatoes)
3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
2/3 cup cane sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
1/8 teaspoon mustard powder
1 whole clove

 

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot under high heat. Bring it to a boil, and as the ketchup starts to thicken, turn the heat down accordingly so you don’t burn the sugar.

It could take an hour–or more–for the ketchup to reach the thickness you like, but once you’ve achieved it, remove the pot from the heat and pour the ketchup into a blender and puree it until it’s smooth.

Let the ketchup cool completely, then taste it and add more salt and pepper, if needed.

 

The ketchup can be frozen in containers, or kept in the fridge. Try it in recipes for meatloaf, cocktail sauce, barbecue sauce–anywhere you’d use regular ketchup.

In a previous blog, I featured my recipe for a “Thai Grilled Steak.” This recipe is very similar to it. In fact, I was trying to recreate that recipe the other night so that I could marinate a beautiful cut of grass-fed beef flap I had, but I didn’t have all the ingredients in my pantry. So I improvised, and I think I made it just a little bit better!

I really love the flavors of this recipe, and the great thing is that you can use it as a marinade and a dipping sauce–not just for the beef flap–but a dipping sauce for grilled chicken, dumplings, anything. It’s that good.

Make more than you think you’ll need because you can keep it in the fridge for future dipping.

If you use gluten-free soy sauce, this recipe is GF. Chili garlic sauce can be found in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets.

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup sesame oil
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped salted pistachio nuts
2 scallions, minced
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce

 

 

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them together well.

 

Whatever cut of beef you’re using, make sure it isn’t too thick, or the marinade won’t penetrate the meat.

I like to use beef flap because it’s full of flavor, and I slice it crosswise to make cuts of meat that are about 1/2″ thick.

I place the beef in a bowl, and pour just a little marinade in at a time. I don’t want the meat swimming in the marinade…just enough so that it makes contact with all the surfaces of the meat.

Place the unused marinade in a sealed container in the fridge.

If I’m cooking soon, I let the beef marinate at room temperature. But ideally, I want the beef to marinate in the fridge overnight–the longer the better–to really soak up the flavors of the marinade.

Before cooking, take the beef out of the fridge and let it come back to room temperature. Discard the marinade that was in the bowl with the beef.

If your beef flap is thin enough, tossing it onto a very hot cast iron skillet to sear it on both sides will bring the beef to a perfect medium-rare. Otherwise, you can sear it in a regular pan and then finish it in the oven–or–fire up the grill!

Use the remaining marinade for dipping.

If you’re marinating chicken, basically the same steps apply. Marinate the meat as long as possible before cooking, and use the remaining sauce for dipping. But with chicken, you have to be careful not to cross-contaminate. Any sauce that touches raw chicken should not be used for dipping later on!

 

 

Whether you use chicken breast or chicken thighs — I used both here— the flavor is outstanding, especially if you can finish it on the grill!

 

Here’s great hack for fresh ginger that I learned from Liz, the owner of Wishing Stone Farm, an organic farm in Little Compton, RI, where they grow their own ginger roots. Place your ginger root in a Ziploc bag and keep it in the freezer. Whenever a recipe calls for grated ginger, simply pull the frozen root out of the freezer and grate it, skin and all, while it’s frozen. Then simply place the root back in the Ziploc and back in the freezer until next time. No waste!

Beef Stroganoff is a classic dish that I remember from my childhood. It’s easy to make and really satisfying, and you can add or remove ingredients as you wish to make it your own.

 

This is a recipe that is easily changed to accommodate your personal tastes, so feel free to do so. For example, the classic recipe uses sliced white mushrooms. I had some dried porcini in my stash–much more intense in favor–but I like that, so I used them. Classic stroganoff uses egg noodles. I went with bucatini pasta. And the beef is usually a cut like flank steak, but I like using beef flap. Just be sure to slice the meat thinly and against the grain to keep it really tender.

This recipe makes a lot, so feel free to cut the ingredients in half for a smaller batch…

 

 

2 lbs. beef flap, trimmed and cut into thin strips
1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter
1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 cups sour cream, at room temperature
salt and pepper

1 lb. egg noodles or pasta

 

Place the dried porcini in a sauce pan with about 1 1/2 cups of water. Set it on high heat and let it boil until the liquid has reduced to about 1/2 a cup. Set it aside. When it has cooled a bit, strain off the liquid into a glass and chop up the mushrooms on a cutting board.

 

Melt a couple of tablespoons of the butter in a large pan, and start browning the beef in small batches, placing the cooked beef in a bowl on the side while you add more beef to the pan. Don’t overcrowd the pan or the beef will steam and not brown. It may take a few batches to get all the beef cooked.

 

 

Once the beef is done, in the same pan, toss in the chopped onions with a little more of the butter and sauté until they’re translucent. You can add some of the mushroom liquid to the pan now, to deglaze it and remove some of the yummy bits stuck to the bottom.

 

 

Add what’s left of the butter to the pan, then add the mushrooms and the tarragon. Season well with salt and pepper and add the rest of the mushroom liquid, being careful not to pour out any grit that may have settled to the bottom of the glass. Cook until it has thickened a bit.

 

 

You can stop preparations at this point until you’re ready to serve your guests.

Place the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water and cook until al dente.

When the pasta is almost done, return the pan with the mushroom mixture to medium heat, and add the sour cream to it, mixing well. Add the beef and any juices that are in the bowl with it, mixing well.

 

 

 

Drain the pasta and serve the beef stroganoff immediately, seasoning with a finishing salt, like Maldon.

 

 

I don’t have many rules about food. But I do know what I like and what I don’t like. For example, a lobster roll should never have anything green in it: no bed of lettuce, no chopped celery. I think it takes away from the magnificent flavor and texture of the lobster. Butter and mayo? Yes, please.

So when it comes to potato salad, I’m a “with mayonnaise” fan. And I’m a “if it’s mayonnaise, it has to be Hellman’s” guy. Other than that, I think potato salad is up to individual interpretation.

Here’s my recipe…

2 pounds potatoes, cut into equal bite-sized pieces, skin on
2 tablespoons white vinegar
3 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon capers
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped Vidalia onion

Wash and cut the potatoes into equal bite-sized pieces. Put them in a pot of cold water and cook them until they are fork tender. (Do not salt the water.)

Drain the potatoes and place them in a bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and toss the potatoes until they have completely absorbed the vinegar.

Finely chop the three hard-boiled eggs and add them to the bowl with the potatoes.

In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, capers, Dijon mustard, celery seed, salt and pepper, and the finely chopped Vidalia onion. Mix well.

Add the mayonnaise mix to the bowl with the potatoes and eggs and mix well.

Refrigerate the potato salad, covered, and re-season it with more salt and pepper, if necessary, before serving.

When my daughter returned from a week at summer camp recently, I asked her what she wanted for her first meal. She quickly went to her comfort zone and asked for Shepherds pie.

Using the Food Network recipe by Alton Brown as a guide, we made our own changes to accommodate the fact that she doesn’t like lamb. (The original recipe calls for ground lamb. We went with a bottom round beef roast that I trimmed and cubed.)

And, if we’re talking about comfort food, how could adding grated cheddar cheese hurt anything?

It came out absolutely delicious!

A few notes: I use organic vegetables, organic grass-fed dairy products, grass-fed beef, pastured eggs, and homemade chicken stock. These extra efforts make a difference to me, but use what you are most comfortable with and have easiest access to.

If you’re on a gluten-free diet, the only gluten in this recipe is in the all-purpose flour. Using a GF flour, like Cup 4 Cup, does a great job of thickening without the gluten. Feel free to substitute it.

2 oz. cheddar cheese

I start by grating 2 the cheddar cheese. I set it aside for later.

The potatoes…

1 1/2 lbs. Russets, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup half-and-half
2 oz. unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk 

Peeled and cubed potatoes and place them in a pot of cold water. Bring it to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are fork-tender.
While they are boiling, place the half-and-half and butter in a microwave safe bowl and zap them for 35 seconds to warm them up.
Once the potatoes are done, drain them and place them back in the pot. Add the half-and-half and butter and mash really well. Add the salt and pepper and continue mashing. Finally, add the egg yolk, mixing quickly and thoroughly. Then set the potatoes aside.

The meat filling…

2 tablespoons bacon fat (or your favorite oil)
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced small
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 lbs. beef, cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen peas

Preheat the oven to 400°.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the meat filling.

Place the bacon fat or oil in a pan and set it on medium high heat. Add the onions and the carrots and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and stir.
Add the beef and the salt and pepper and cook until the meat has browned nicely.
Sprinkle to meat with the flour, and mix to combine, cooking for another minute.
Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, and thyme, and stir to combine.
Bring this to a boil, reduce it to a simmer, and cook it for about 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened nicely.

Add the corn and the peas to the meat mixture, and then pour it into a baking pan. ( I used a 9-inch round metal baking pan that was about 3 inches deep.)

Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the meat mixture. If you use the mashed potatoes all around the edges, it seals the meat mixture in, and prevents bubbling over and messing up your oven. A rubber spatula makes this job easy.

Place the pan on a parchment-lined baking sheet (to prevent spills), and in the oven to bake for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove the pan and sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese on top of the potatoes. Then return the pan to the oven for 10 more minutes, until the cheese has melted and created a beautiful golden crust on top.

Remove the pan from the oven, placed it on a wire rack, and let it cool at least 15 minutes before serving.