Meat. It is something that I have gone back and forth about for ages and actually have a few funny hang ups with. For instance, I don’t like to touch it raw–red meat, chicken, fish–it all makes my skin crawl which makes cooking raw meat, well, difficult. Funny, I know! Then there’s the quintessential issues: the cost of really good meat and where it comes from. A nice cut from your local butcher or fillet from the fresh fish vendor can add up if eaten several times a week. And with all the crazy information you hear about how the animals are treated, or abused, before they become our food makes me less inclined to eat it. The extra hormones pumped in cows and being force fed corn (who would naturally eat grass–if you ever drive up Interstate 5 in California and pass by Sacramento, you might think twice about putting those animals in your body too), the genetically modified chickens to make their breasts huge to the point they can’t walk anymore, and all the mercury and over fishing done in the coastal/river waters does give me pause. A lot of pause.
However, living with someone who’s metabolism is faster than the road-runner and is able to put away a lot of food while still keeping his girlish-figure, brings me out of pause and into action. Protein is a hot topic in our house–who needs it, who doesn’t, how much, and how often are the usual direction those conversations take. Because of where we live, I think we are really lucky with all the access we have to fresh, grass fed, farm grown by the-farmer-who-knows-your-name, meat. More often than not, people around here have a whole extra freezer just for the entire cow, pig, or sheep they bought to last them through the year! But that’s hard core. When we do buy meat, especially from our local grocer, we know that it didn’t come from Sacramento area, it wasn’t pumped full of hormones, and it ate grass. Which makes me happy.
So we got ourselves some nice flank steak and seared it up into an amazing spicy beef stir fry. I loosely based it on a Jamie Oliver recipe, but found myself substituting for a lot of things that we didn’t have hanging around, and it worked out perfectly. The cherry tomatoes were a really great addition, as were the snow peas and fresh spinach leaves. The sauce was based with the tang of ume plum vinegar, some soy sauce, red chili paste, sesame oil, a touch of toasted sesame oil, and a touch of honey–incredible. All of those flavors sauteed with a red onion until it was nearly caramelized so it melted in your mouth, paired perfectly with the slight chewiness of the beef strips.
This meal satisfied both of our food needs, which is a focus we’ve been having lately. I was happy with knowing that the meat was fresh and from a farm, and Andrew was happy with eating it. And I must admit, I was too. Cheers!
Spicy Beef Stir Fry, recipe adopted from Jamie Oliver
Light soy sauce
1 clove of garlic
¾in/2cm piece fresh ginger
1 fresh red chilli or red chili paste
1 small carrot, or two handfuls of snow peas, or a cup and a half of cherry tomatoes (or all of the above)
1 small red onion
Three large handfuls of fresh spinach
Small bunch of fresh cilantro
7oz/200g beef flank steaks–this is nice and thin, then you cut it into thin strips
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2-3 teaspoons ume plum vinegar
2 tsp runny honey
Sesame oil
Peel and slice the garlic. Peel the ginger and chop into matchsticks.
Deseed and finely chop the chilli. Peel and finely slice the carrot, cut off stems of the snow peas, and thinly slice the red onion.
Heat a wok up nice and hot on the stove, add your olive oil. When it starts to shimmer, add the garlic and the red onion, turn the stove to medium high. Sautee for 2-3 minutes. Add the vinegar, chili/chili paste, a splash of sesame oil, more vinegar (as it evaporates), the ginger, and the soy sauce to taste. Add your thinly sliced beef strips and cook, adding a little more soy sauce or vinegar to taste as it cooks. When it is done, put in a plate on the side.
Add a little more olive oil and sesame oil to your same wok and then add the veggies–carrots, snow peas, tomatoes. Saute with a little more vinegar, soy sauce, chili paste. When the tomatoes look like they are going to pop, add the spinach, cook for just about a minute, then re-add the steak. Turn off the heat, toss well together and serve over rice. Enjoy!
Last weekend, Andrew and I went to visit his brother and sister-in-law for a little mini-vacation. It had been a while since we had gone anywhere, and when the opportunity arose to get out of town for a bit, we jumped at it. We did some skiing and snowboarding–well, I attempted with the snowboard. I was down in the snow more than I was up on the board! Andrew, on the other hand, is an incredible skier–but he was really patient with my foibles and wipe-outs, never leaving me in the dust (or powder!–what they call that soft, powdery snow in the Rocky Mountains), and always encouraging.
I also had the chance to see a little bit of Salt Lake City itself. The scenery around this city is absolutely stunning. Stunning! Surrounded by mountains on all sides looking like they’ve been lightly dusted with powdered sugar this time of year and the city spreads out across the valley.
While there, Alana (Andrew’s sister-in-law) and I teamed up to make dinner one night. She made her famous prosciutto wrapped scallops with apples and sage–it was fantastic! The combination of flavors and textures was flawless–the apples paired with the sage and browned together with the scallops were like magic. And, surprisingly easy to do! On the side, she made some crispy yet tender roasted asparagus and then threw in some tomatoes to roast too. Together we made a basic french bread loaf and a lovely panna cotta with blackberry compote for dessert. I had so much fun! I really love cooking with others, especially people who are just as excited about good food.
Prosciutto wrapped sea scallops
4 servings
12-16 large scallops, washed and dried
8 slices Prosciutto, halved lengthwise
1 bunch fresh sage
1/4 cup butter (60 ml)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish (30 ml)
2 apples (pink lady, gala, golden delicious), peeled and cored
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (15 ml)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (5 ml)
1 tablespoon butter (15 ml)
Pat the scallops dry and wrap one half-slice of the prosciutto around the equator of the scallop. You can use toothpicks or kitchen twine.
Melt 2 tbsp. of butter and olive oil together in a sauté pan. Bring to a slight smoke.
Toss in the sage leaves and sliced apples wedges into the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Turn up the heat and add the sherry vinegar. Cook until soft and caramelized. Finish the sauce by swirling in butter until just melted. Add lemon juice.
Season the scallops with salt and pepper and place in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes per side, or until golden.
Image by Andrew Owen
Panna Cotta via David Lebovits
4 cups (1l) heavy cream (or half-and-half)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water
Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
(If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing.)
Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil.
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.
Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours. (Judy told me American refrigerators are colder than European ones. )
If you’re pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.
For the blackberry compote:
2/3 bag frozen blackberries thawed or 1 carton fresh blackberries
a dash of cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
a splash of vanilla
In a saute pan over medium high heat, combine all the ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up some of the berries for more juice. Heat until about half of the berries are juicy and serve warm over the cooled panna cottas.
Yesterday was Superbowl Sunday. Following football has never been a ritual of my own, but it is a deeply ingrained part of Andrew’s life. Because of this, I’ve learned more about football this past year–the rules, the players, the teams–than I ever dreamed of knowing! When I do find myself watching with him, it is usually a mix of laughter and horror. I tend to watch football with a different lens, shall we say, finding the humor in the facial expressions of the coaches (intense!), the hilarious dances a player makes (or chest bumping with his other teammates) when he gets a touchdown, the constant butt slaps (?), and of course, the tight pants 
.
I’m going to take a little bit of a leap here, but I found the relationship between the theory of yin & yang and football food to be quite uncanny. Football is fantastically yang. Attributes of yang include: bright, fierce, outward, fast, and masculine. The attributes of yin are: quiet, inward, dark, solitary, and feminine. There is a whole theory about yin and yang pertaining to food where having too much of one or the other tends to offset our bodies and our minds–basically making us feel out of balance, off kilter, blaaah–you get the point. Some examples of yin foods are: alcohol and chemicals, dairy, oil, sugar and coffee, spices, leafy green vegetables, roots and winter squash. Foods that are classified as yang are: salt, eggs, red meat, cheese, poultry, fish, and grains. One example of how the yin & yang theory works is people tend to naturally want to nibble on something salty when they are, say, having a drink. Have you noticed that bars usually have bowls of salted peanuts or salty hot wings to have with the pints of beer or alcohol they serve? The salt (or yang) offsets the alcohol (or yin) balancing the two out so you (theoretically) don’t overdo it–that is entirely up to the consumer, however, as to how much of either is actually consumed 
. So if you eat something hearty with your glass of wine or beer, say, a Superbowl Chili + homemade guacamole, you’ll feel pretty good–because you’ve balanced the beer (yin) with some meaty chili (yang). It’s interesting to think of foods having these properties–and another way to think about eating .
In tribute to this masculine (yang) day, we made some super-meaty chili and homemade guacamole–part of a food group I’ve lovingly dubbed Dude Food. Those of you with boyfriends, husbands, sons, and/or all male households (including the dog) know exactly what I’m talking about. Personally, red meat doesn’t do much for me, even high quality meat fresh from the butcher–it makes me feel sluggish and dulled out. There are some nice cuts of Italian cured meats that I enjoy in small quantities (and usually with a glass of wine with a side of some salty olives! yin and yang…) like prosciutto or a nice salami. But I digress, because I’m not talking about hoity-toity food, I’m talking about dude food here–straightforward, simple, and can be quite delicious.
The guacamole is so simple, I learned how to make it from a Mexican woman in my early twenties. You take 2-3 fresh, ripe avocados, 2-5 limes, some sea salt, and 1 garlic clove (chopped finely). You scrape the avocado into the bowl, removing the skins and pits, you squeeze the hell out of the limes, one at a time into the bowl, sprinkle with about a teaspoon of salt (or to taste), and add the finely chopped garlic. Then with a big fork (or if you have a big mortar and pestel, that would work too), smash it all together leaving big hunks. Dip your chips and enjoy! In the summer, I finely chop a ripe tomato too, taking out all the seeds, and add it in–delish.
The chili seemed to be a big hit with Andrew and his friend Scott–it was a bit meaty for my taste, but I still ate a small bowl of it gladly. Make sure you have fun toppings for it like sour cream, monterey jack cheese, chopped green onion, cilantro, and you can even squeeze a little fresh lime juice on the top. This recipe is generally a crowd pleaser .
Super Bowl Chili via FOODday
Chipotle peppers give a kick to this main dish, which you can make ahead so you don’t miss the game. Makes 8 servings.
3 pounds lean ground beef
1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak, cut into small chunks
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium carrots
2 medium yellow onions
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon chili powder
4 teaspoons cumin
4 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons chopped chipotle chile pepper in adobo sauce
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
6 to 7 cups reduced-sodium beef or chicken stock
2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Garnishes:
chopped fresh cilantro
sour cream
monterey jack cheese
chopped green onions
freshly squeezed lime
In a large heavy pot set over high heat, saute ground beef and steak chunks, stirring frequently, until browned, about 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove beef to a plate and pour off the remaining liquid in the pan. (I used a strainer over a large bowl, and put all the meat in it to drain the excess fat off).
Add olive oil to the same pot that you cooked your meat in and set over medium heat. When hot, add carrots, onions, and garlic and saute, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Return beef to pot, and add chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and chopped chipotle chile; stir and cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes and broth. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to a gentle simmer, and cook for 30 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Much of the liquid will cook down during this time.
Stir in all but 1/3 cup of black beans and cook 5 minutes more. Mash reserved beans with a fork, and stir into the chili to give it extra body. If chili is too thick, stir in as much as 1 cup additional broth and heat several minutes to warm. Chili can be prepared two days ahead. Cool, cover and refrigerate. Reheat over medium heat, stirring often.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with toppings. Enjoy!
