Vietnamese Beef Pho - Phở Bò

There is a pleasant aroma floating through the air, filling my home with the enticing feeling of warmth and comfort often enjoyed as the days grow shorter and cooler, as fall knocks at the front door. It's a wonderful soup, slowly cooking, allowing all the flavors of each ingredient to mingle together... 

Peppered Crusted Ribeye with Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce

Last Wednesday I shared my the first recipe, leek soup with a hint of blue cheese, from my husband's and my cook-off we did on our anniversary. Here's recipe number two and you can read the following post for recipe 3 - Oven Baked Potato Chips. This dish is easy to make and wonderful tasting.

The steak only takes about 6 minutes to cook, however before you can cook it, it needs to sit out on the counter for about an hour to come to room temperature. Have all your sides ready to go before you throw the steak into the skillet. Depending on what type of peppercorn you use and fresh ground is a must here, your steak can be very spicy. The first time I made it I used tellicherry peppercorns, which had wonderful flavor, but were not overly spicy. The second time I used black peppercorns and wow my mouth was a flaming, but they were good. The blue cheese sauce helps cut down the heat and goes perfectly with this type of steak.

I was able to get some awesome blue cheese at the co-op. It was from a local farm and was made with raw milk from grass-fed cows! If you don't have blue cheese, gorgonzola would work too.  For this meal I was able to get everything, but the sea salt, pepper and olive oil, from local sources!

Homemade Corned Beef

 
Homemade corned beef is extremely easy to make and it's delicious! The only downfall to it is you have to have room in your refrigerator to store your meat in a pan or bag for 2-3 weeks. Other than that anyone could make this and have no problems at all. No cooking experience needed here! :-)

I've made it a couple of times now, messing around with the proportion of spices you add to the brine. In the end my husband preferred the heavier seasoned brine while I preferred a little less seasoning. I'm going to share with you the round 2 brine I made. I think it makes a corned beef that is more similar in taste to something you may get at the store. 

What You'll Need
For the Brine

• 1 organic, grass-fed beef brisket
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup mustard seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 heaping tsp. of whole peppercorns
• 8 whole cloves
• 1/4 tsp cardamon seed
• 6 allspice berries 
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Water - preferably filtered or distilled

For Cooking the Brisket

• 2-3 carrots peeled and chopped into large chunks
• 1 medium onion chopped into large chunks
• 2-3 celery stalks chopped into large chunks
• Water - preferably filtered or distilled

Getting Started
1. In a medium size pot heat 4-6 cups of water to boiling, then add all of your spices, sugar and salt. Turn heat off and stir to dissolve sugar and salt then let sit for 15+ min.You are both letting the water cool some and flavoring the water for the beef brisket.

2. You want your water room temperature or cooler before submerging your meat in it, so either put some ice cubes in it, add cold water or let it sit on the counter until it's completely cooled off.

3. Place your brisket in a large dish or bag and cover with your seasoned water. Add more water so that the brisket is fully submerged.  Make sure brisket stays covered with liquid by placing a heavy object on it. In my case the casserole dish I had came with a lid, so I placed a small cup on the brisket and used the lid of the dish to push the cup down and keep the meat submerged.

4. Allow meat to cure in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. About twice a week turn the brisket over and check to make sure it is still fully submerged.


Before curing                                                              After curing for 2 weeks

                              


5. Once meat is done curing you do need to cook it for a couple of hours before it's ready for the dinner table. Place your chopped carrots, onions and celery into a large heavy bottom pot and place cured brisket on top.

6. Fill pot with enough water to cover vegetables and meat and then heat liquid to boiling. Place a lid on your pot and turn the heat down to low and allow meat to cook for 2-3 hours.

7.  Pull your meat out of the pot and slice it up. Enjoy on a sandwich with some homemade sauerkraut or with some steamed cabbage. (By the way, if you are wondering why my sauerkraut is purplish pink, it's because I made it using both white and purple cabbage.)

Poblano and Anaheim Peppers Stuffed With Gorgonzola Cheese, Rice & Hamburger

It's the season for hot peppers and what better way to spice up a meal and give it a bit of extra flavor than with stuffed poblano and anaheim peppers! If your taste buds aren't fans of spicy foods, don't worry – these two peppers are on the mild side and even my two year old son had no problem eating them. They have just enough spice to get your taste buds kicking, but not so much that you're running to the refrigerator to grab a glass of milk and chug it down. :-)

 

What You'll Need - Servers 4-6

• 6-8 organic poblano and anaheim peppers with tops cut off and seeds removed - try to get larger ones as they are easier to stuff
• 1lb organic hamburger
• 1/2 lb of gorgonzola cheese broken into small pieces
• 1 1/4 cup of organic cream
• 2+ Tbsp. white flour or another thickening agent like arrowroot or cornstarch
• 3/4 cup brown rice
• 1 1/2+ organic, beef stock/broth - enough broth to cook your rice in 
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2-3 fresh garlic scapes, chopped into 1/4" or smaller pieces - if you don't have the garlic scapes, use two cloves of smashed, chopped garlic
• Olive oil

Getting Started
 
1. In a small pot bring your beef stock to a simmer and then add your brown rice. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pot with a lid and cook for about 45 minutes or until rice is done. Set aside.

2. While rice is cooking, over medium-high heat, saute your onion in olive oil for 1-2 minutes then add your hamburger and cook until browned.

3. Place cooked hamburger on a plate covered in paper towel to drain all of the fat.

4. While your hamburger is cooking or right afterwords, turn on your oven's broiler. Place your peppers on a cookie sheet and put under the broiler until their skins blister. Alternatively, if you have a gas stove you can place the peppers directly on the flame and blister the skins this way. That is how I always did my peppers when I had a gas stove available to me.

 5. Remove the skin from the exterior of the peppers. You may have to flip the peppers so the other side blisters and the skin is more easily removed. If you have some plastic gloves they are very handy to use at this point, since the capsicum oil in these little babies can burn your hands if you aren't careful. Definitely don't touch your face, like accidentally rubbing your nose or eyes. I've done that before and boy does it hurt.

6. In another small pot or pan add 3/4 cup cream and all but 2 Tbsp. of your gorgonzola cheese. Heat and stir cream until cheese has melted then add your 2 Tbsp. of flour. Stir the mixture until it has thickened considerably. You are looking for the consistency of yogurt. If your sauce is too thin all of your delicious stuffing will run out of the peppers.

7. Place your cooked hamburger, cooked rice and your sauce back into the pan you cooked your hamburger in and warm it up if it has cooled, then toss in your fresh garlic scapes or garlic. Finally stuff your pepper fulls of this yummy mixture

8. Once you have stuffed all your peppers you may want to warm them back up, so they are piping hot when you serve them. Place your stuffed peppers on a lined cookie sheet or in a casserole dish and place on the center rack in your oven. Broil them for about 3-5 minutes or longer if necessary until they are hot.

9. While you warm up the peppers, place your remaining cream and gorgonzola cheese in a small pot over medium heat and warm until cheese has melted. Stir in about 1 teaspoon of flour and stir sauce until it begins to thicken, about 2-3 minutes.

10. Pour a little bit of sauce on each plate and then place peppers on top. Garnish with scallions or even garlic scapes.

Enjoy!

Beef Stock - Tradition with Cooking

A while back I did a post on how to make chicken broth and I had meant to also soon after do a post on beef broth/stock, but time has gotten away from me and other posts snuck their way in instead.

One thing I thought I should mention is the difference between broth and stock. The base for both broth and stock are the same, which is water, carrots, celery and onions along with any herbs you may wish to add. For stock you are going to add a large portion of bones and some meat and allow the stock to simmer for a min. of 12 hours up to about 3 days (at least in the case of beef stock). The long cooking time allows for all of the gelatin in the bones to disintegrate and add a lot of extra flavor to your stock. In the case of broth, you are going to add a greater portion of meat, like in the case of chicken broth you add a whole chicken. Broth can cook for much less time, although if you can allow it to simmer up to 12-24 hours, do so, again for the extra flavor and nutrition.

In the home kitchen, broth and stock are often considered interchangeable and that's how I treat them in my kitchen. Frankly for me it comes down to what I have on hand. I don't tend to keep both around because of lack of space in my deep freeze. A chef at a restaurant may argue with you that you can't interchange them and perhaps in the case of a restaurant that would be true, but how many of us are running restaurants out of our kitchens? (-:

When making beef stock, get the best bones you can, preferably from organic grass-fed cows. I was talking to my meat farmer and she was telling me how her sister always had to skim her stock once it started simmering to get all of the scum off of the top. She never understood this because when she made stock there was no scum or at least very little. Then one day she made stock with meat and bones from a supermarket cow. She said her stock had over 2" of scum on top!!! YUCK! Then she understood what her sister was talking about. With that in mind, I'm not sure I'll ever use non-organic meat/bones for broth, but I've always had a bit of a hard time using that type of meat anyways. Have you ever seen what they do to animals at large meat farms? All I'll say is it's very, very sad the way people take care of animals. Of course not all mega farms are bad, but enough are.

Now on to the recipe... This stock recipe is from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and can be found on page 122. I'd like to mention that as you read this recipe you'll see that you are supposed to brown the meaty bones in the oven. I have to say that I don't normally do this, one I don't always have time and two I buy a bag of bones from my meat farmer and what's in it, is what's in it. Rarely is there real meaty bones. The benefit of using meatier bones and browning them is they impart more flavor to the stock. I also don't usually add fresh thyme, unless it's summer and I have it growing in my herb garden. When I'm on a really tight budget, I don't want to spend the extra $3-$4 dollars to buy it. The same goes for the meatier bones, they cost more and I can't always justify the expense. What I most care about is getting a healthy stock and even with omitting some of the ingredients it still tastes wonderful.



What You'll Need:

• About 4lbs beef marrow and knuckle bones
• 1 calves foot, cut into pieces (optional)
• 3 pounds meaty rib or neck bones
• 4 or more quarts of cold filtered water
• 1/2 cups vinegar
• 3 onions, coarsely chopped
• 3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
• several sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together
• 1 tsp. dried green peppercorns, crushed
• 1 bunch of parsley

• Large stock pot - 6 quarts or larger
• Mesh strainer
• Roasting pan
• Wooden spoon
• Large bowl to hold all stock in
• Storage containers

Getting Started

1. Place your marrow and knuckle bones into your stock pot along with the vinegar and cover with water. Allow to sit for about an hour.

2. While your marrow and knuckle bones are soaking, place your meaty rib and neck bones in the roasting pan and roast them at 350 degrees until they've browned.

3. Add the browned bones to the stock pot along with your carrots, onions and celery.

4. Remove the excess fat from the roasting pan than add a couple cups of cold water to the roasting pan. Set roasting pan over high heat on the stove and bring water to a boil. Using a wooden spoon loosen up everything that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan then add this liquid to your stock pot.

5. Over high heat, bring liquid in stock pot to a boil. Using a spoon, skim off any scum that may come to the top, then reduce your heat to low and add your thyme and crushed peppercorns.
6. Simmer stock for at least 12 hours and as long as 72 hours. Add the parsley 10 minutes before your stock is done. This will impart extra minerals.

Note: If you can, always try to simmer the stock for 72 hours. I'm always amazed at how much more flavorful the stock is the longer it simmers.

7. Allow the stock to cool then pour through a mesh strainer into a large bowl. This step filters out all of the small pieces of meat, veggies, etc.

8. Place the bowl of stock in the fridge until it's cold, then remove the congealed fat from the top. Once the stock is cool you'll notice that it is gelatinous – this is perfect and means the gelatin came out of the bones. Gelatin is very good for you.

The picture below shows what the fat in the stock looks like after it's been refrigerated. If you left all of that fat in your stock it would make whatever food you use your stock in very greasy and frankly this type of fat isn't very enjoyable to eat when it's in rice or soup. It kind of coats your mouth.


Now you're done and you have an excellent stock to use as you wish. Store what you won't use in a couple of days in your freezer.

Meatballs

Ah meatballs, they be good! Normally people think of meatballs with spaghetti – well at least us Americans – which you could certainly serve as a side with this recipe. But meatballs by themselves are delicious and extremely filling. Personally I'd rather have some hot sliced garlic bread instead of the pasta, but that's me. My dad would say otherwise. He is a firm believer that meatballs should always go with pasta and he couldn't hide his disappointment when I made this recipe for him and my mom and didn't have any spaghetti to go with. He still loved the meatballs though and that's what counts!

These babies are delicious and I keep making them because I enjoy them so much. I can't help it, I love them! Honestly go through the ingredients list and what's not to love? One thing to note, once you prepare the meatballs they need to simmer in the sauce for 1-2 hours, so be sure to allow enough time for this step. You could forgo this step and only cook the meatballs for 1/2 hour or so, but the flavor wouldn't be nearly as good.



What You'll Need - serves 4-6

1lb organic, grass-fed ground beef
1lb organic ground pork
1 cup fresh bread crumbs - I use whole wheat or sourdough bread, but white would work too
1/2 cup organic onion finely chopped
1/4 cup organic parsley finely chopped, plus more to garnish with
4 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil, plus more for cooking with
2 tsp. sea salt
4 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese, plus more to garnish with
2 organic, free-range eggs
1 28oz. can of organic plum tomatoes - no seasoning
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 medium onion, diced

Large mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Heavy bottom cooking pot, a dutch oven works great
Tongs
Large plate with a couple pieces of paper towel on it


Getting Started

1. Mix together thoroughly but gently, your ground beef, ground pork, bread crumbs, 1/2 cup onion that has been finely chopped, parsley, 4 tbsp. olive oil, salt, 4 tbsp. parmesan cheese and eggs. I think using your hands for this step works best. You want to make sure you don't have any large clumps of meat and all the ingredients are evenly distributed.




2. To form a meatball, measure out a 1/3 cup amount and then using your hands shape the mixture into balls. Press the mixture pretty firmly together. You don't want the meatballs to fall apart when you are cooking them.




3. After you are done shaping your meatballs place your heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat and heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Place enough meatballs in the bottom to fill the pot, but leave enough room so they aren't touching. You'll have to cook the meatballs in several batches. Brown the meatballs, turning them as necessary to brown all sides. Tongs work best to turn the meatballs, but be sure to gently pick the meatballs up or they'll break apart. Don't worry about getting the meatballs cooked through, you'll cook them more a bit later. As each batch of meatballs is done browning place them on the paper towel covered plate.




4. After the meatballs are all browned, remove all but 1-2 tbsp. of fat from pot, if there isn't any excess fat add 1-2 tbsp. of olive oil. Saute the medium diced onion until softened, then add the fennel seed and saute for 1-2 more minutes. Now add your can of plum tomatoes including juice.

5. Finally add all of the meatballs to the sauce. They'll probably be stacked on top of one another, which is fine. Turn the heat down to low and cook the meatballs and sauce together for at least an hour and preferably about 2 hours. The sauce should be at a very gentle simmer, you want the sauce to reduce so that it's nice and thick, but you don't want all of your liquid to evaporate too quickly and then scorch the bottom of the pot.






6. Now that your house smells wonderful and your stomach is probably grumbling from waiting to eat these babies, sit down and serve them up. You can garnish with some parmesan and chopped parsley.

I wish I had a better picture, but by the time I realized none of the pictures turned out very well I didn't have any meatballs left! (-: Next time I make them I'll try to snap a better shot.



If you try this recipe, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you, so let me know. Always remember if you ever have a question about any of my recipes or just a general question you can email me or ask me on my blog and I'll do my best to respond as quickly as possible!

Thanks and enjoy!