Shaved Brussels sprouts

Another delicious Brussels sprouts recipe from my mother, just the way she rolls!


Shaved Brussels Sprouts

1/4 C Olive Oil
3 # Brussels Sprouts, trimmed, sliced thin
1/4 # Shallots
1 T fresh Thyme, chopped
1/2 C Water
2 T fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat large nonstick sauté pan on High.  Add Brussels Sprouts.  Cook, stirring 6-7min.

Add shallots and thyme: continue to caramelize 2-3 minutes.  Add water and stir while cooking uncovered 1 minute,  Remove from heat and add lemon juice.  Season to taste with Salt and Pepper. 

Diets

Brian Gordon, Chuck & Beans, Shoeboxblog

Chain linked bagels

Mathematically Correct Breakfast

How to Slice a Bagel into Two Linked Halves 

by George W. Hart

via Mariana Furtney Fyfe

Citrus-Miso dressing for tofu, tempeh, fish, or roasted vegetables

I've gotten into tempeh lately.  It has a more interesting mouth-feel to me than plain tofu, and Mike likes it better too.  Recently I crumbled up a package of it and marinated it in a citrus-miso dressing that we came across while in Hawai'i.  I don't know that my mix is exactly the same as the one we had there, but we like it!  It has a nice light flavor that can be used as either a marinade or a dressing for any lightly-flavored protein or vegetables.  

Citrus-Miso dressing for tofu, tempeh, fish, or roasted vegetables

2 T yellow miso
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 T fresh orange juice
1 T vegetable oil
1 t sherry vinegar
1/2 c fresh parsley leaves, chopped
Salt

In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients, adding salt to taste.  Use as a marinade or dressing.  After soaking tofu or tempeh, they can be drained and stir fried, reserving the dressing for serving.

Kalbi beef

The most recent wedding that Mike and I attended was for a Korean couple, and the food which followed the ceremony was absolutely to die for.  Now before you yell and scream about the soda being included, I was assured that it has become totally traditional and acceptable to use it.  Don't argue with me...argue with them!

When I made it at home, we had the shortribs with Thai Basil Rice and Chinese-Style Green Beans.


Kalbi Beef (Korean Shortribs)

1/2 c soy sauce
1 Asian pear, grated
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, grated
1 T grated fresh ginger
2 T brown sugar
1 T honey
2 T toasted sesame seeds
2 T toasted sesame oil
1 T cayenne pepper flakes
2 green onions, white and green thinly sliced
16 oz lemon-lime soda, like Sprite

4 lbs short ribs

Bacon grease or olive oil
   
Whisk together all the marinade ingredients in a large baking dish. Add the ribs and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or more.

Set oven to 325.  Remove ribs from the dish and place it in the oven to begin heating.  Brown the ribs in the bacon fat or olive oil in a large skillet, turning as they brown.  Return them to the baking dish when browned and cover it tightly with foil.  

Bake for 90 minutes at 325; reduce heat to 250°F and bake for another 2 hours or until ribs are fork tender, basting occasionally.

Thai basil rice

This is one of my very favorite types of rice in the whole wide world.  And I love rice!





Thai Basil Rice

1 c jasmine rice
1 1/4 c chicken stock
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 shallots, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 c basil, coarsely chopped
Cayenne pepper flakes, optional


Prepare the jasmine rice ahead of time in a steamer. 

In a large non-stick skillet, melt the butter and oil together over medium heat.  Sauté the shallots, garlic, and green onion until soft.  Add the basil and stir till wilted.  Fluff the rice with a fork and add to the skillet.  Heat through and serve with pepper flakes if desired.   
   

Sinfully good shallots in red wine sauce

Mike and I love all members of the onion family, and shallots are certainly no exception.  And here is a link to a recipe that I found by Arwen O'Reilly Griffith that was so superior to any we'd had before.  In fact, we were seriously thinking about re-doing the calendar based upon before and after this shallot recipe, except that we realized our previous life would be referred to as BS.  Nope.  Not gonna do it. 

Try the shallots.  You'll thank her!

Spanakopita

I am a huge fan of Greek spinach and feta pie (Spanakopita) ever since I first had it.  But it can be a monstrous bear to make.  Surprisingly enough, Cook's Illustrated, the magazine with a reputation for amazing but complicated recipes, has one of the best versions I've ever had...and it didn't take me all day to make it!

I made some minor adjustments, upping the eggs to 3 and reducing the feta cheese to 8 oz (Mike doesn't like it quite so salty), and I also swapped olive oil for the butter that they called for in the phyllo layers.  I mean really!  This isn't baklava!

Homemade graham crackers

I don't know why it never occurred to me before to try making graham crackers!  They were one of my favorite snacks when I was a kid, and I like them almost as much now as I did then.  But until I saw my friend June's post about making them (link above), I just never thought about it.

You can bet that I've added them to my repertoire now!

Mom's shortbread

I've been making shortbread for all of my adult life, but this past Christmas my mother brought some plain shortbread to the house to share that put all other shortbreads to shame.  And it was such a simple tweak: no confectioner's sugar, no leavening of any type, nothing fancy at all.  Just a ton of butter.  I'm going to share it with you just as she wrote it: 


Mom's Shortbread

5 C Sifted Flour
1 # Butter
Vanilla - pinch of Salt
1 C sugar

Cream butter and Sugar together with electric beater until light and fluffy like cream. Add salt, Vanilla and Flour slowly. Bake in a 9" x 13" Glass Dish at 275 degrees for an hour. Score in squares. When you remove from baking score again and sprinkle with Sugar.

Here is the Chocolate variation!

Good Pesach!

My new favorite scones

I forgot to take a picture!!  So I'm borrowing Martha's.

I've tried lots of recipes for scones, but I now have a new favorite for the basics: Rich Cream Scones from Martha Stewart.  I did make a few tweaks, using my food processor to cut up the butter into the flour in the first step, subbing light cream for the heavy cream, and skipping the additional sugar on top.  Just be careful if you use the processor not to over-chop the butter.

For future use, I would cut back on the sugar if the scones were going to be used in place of biscuits at dinner.  These are not overly sweet, but they definitely do have a sweet taste that may not be completely to your liking for dinner.  But as a breakfast treat, for tea, or for dessert, these are excellent.  I can think of lots of different ways to "dress them up" in the future.

Collards

We love anything green, but most of the time I end up putting collards into soups or stews rather than eat them plain.  They have a bit more bite than kale, Swiss chard, or spinach, and they do take a tiny bit longer to cook.  But they hold their shape so well, especially in comparison to spinach, that they're worth the extra effort...which really isn't much, honestly!

Collards

One bunch of collards
Butter
Red wine vinegar
Maple syrup

Clean and chop the collards, removing the toughest parts of the stems.  In a large saucepan, melt a few T of butter and add the collards, turning to coat.  Add about 1/4 c of vinegar and stir.  Keep the temperature low and allow the collards to cook and steam, covered, for about 12 to 15 minutes.  Add a few T of maple syrup and stir to coat just before serving.

Bacon