Category: Main Dishes

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Christmas Main Dishes Pork Recipes

Merry Christmas 2021!

Christmas Morning – Sharon Park

Merry Christmas! Even in these Covid times in late 2021 we celebrate this special holiday – although with a much, much smaller get together of family and friends!

This morning’s walk at Sharon Park was beautiful with low clouds, early morning sun and still air. A restful respite in between recent rains with more rolling in later today.

For today’s Christmas dinner we are making one of our favorite recipes: Scott’s Favorite Slow Roasted Chipotle Pork. I first posted this recipe back in 2005 – over 15 years ago. We’ve made it many times over the years since. Slow roasting is perfect for those days when you just want a dinner that’s very tasty but super easy to prepare. It’s always been a hit with our guests too. This year pork prices have spiked (what inflation?) but even so pork shoulder is perhaps the least expensive main meat course you can make.

Last night for Christmas Eve we had cracked Dungeness crab (from Cook’s Seafood) with sourdough bread and melted butter. A real San Francisco Bay Area holiday treat!

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas!

Categories
beef Kitchen Main Dishes Meat Short Ribs

Scott’s 2018 Short Ribs

 

IMG_5579 (1)

This is a perfect recipe for a lazy Sunday afternoon – serving two or with guests serving four! The short ribs need about 3 hours to cook – so start around 2 PM and you’ll be ready for a great dinner about 5:30 or 6 PM.

The inspiration for this recipe came from chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Obama’s Short Ribs recipe as described in the New York Times – and it’s also in the chef’s Red Rooster Cookbook – The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem.

I’ve made several modifications – basically to make it simpler and easier. I usually try to rework recipes that use amounts of ingredients that result in wasting portions that you might buy in standard size packages. So, I adjusted – and simplified – and the result was great!

[First posted: February 26, 2018]




Ingredients

  • 1 lemongrass stalk, trimmed, smashed and minced
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped – or about 1-1/2 tbs of already minced garlic
  • 1 Optional (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and minced
  • ½ cup red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel)
  • 3 cups beef broth (2 cups if only 4 ribs)
  • ½ cup plum sauce (¼ cup if only 4 ribs)
  • ½ cup soy sauce (¼ cup if only 4 ribs)
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 bay leaves

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pat meat dry with paper towels. Season ribs all over with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When oil shimmers, add short ribs and brown on all four sides, about 2 minutes per side; transfer to a plate.
  3. Add mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery), lemongrass, garlic and ginger to the pot. Season with salt and cook, stirring often, until onion softens, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add in wine, beef broth, plum sauce, soy sauce, thyme, parsley and bay leaves and bring to a simmer.
  5. Return short ribs to pot, along with any juices, cover and slide pot into oven. Braise until meat is fork-tender, about 3 hours.
  6. Transfer meat to a plate. Use a ladle to skim the fat off the top of the braising liquid. Discard bay leaves and thyme stems. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. Add short ribs and turn to coat in the sauce; set aside until you’re ready to serve.
  8. Serve short ribs in shallow bowls and top with a spoonful of sauce. Put remaining sauce in a bowl for the table. Enjoy!
  9. Serve with the rest of the red wine – and, likely, a second bottle! If there are leftovers, congratulations – as the ribs are even better warmed up tomorrow!

Categories
Kitchen Main Dishes Meat Soups

Scott’s Wintertime Beef, Mushroom and Barley Soup

A favorite of mine this time of year is a hearty beef, mushroom and barley soup.

Some might call it a “beef stew” – and they’d be right. But it’s got a lot of liquid – assuming you use all of the liquids called for – yet has the great flavor of a beef stew. We made this for a second time today – using an amalgamation of one of Mark Bittman’s recipes along with a slow cooker recipe from Cooks Illustrated.

Read on for ingredients and directions!

First published: January 5, 2013




Ingredients

  • 1 oz dried Porcini mushrooms
  • 1.5 – 2 lbs beef chuck roast – cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 8 oz fresh Cremini mushrooms
  • 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
  • 8 oz mini carrots
  • 3 yellow onions – chopped
  • 4 oz tomato paste
  • 8 oz mini carrots
  • 2 oz Penzey’s shallots
  • 2 oz Penzey’s garlic
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 2 cups chicken broth


Directions

  1. Soak the dried Porcini mushrooms in a cup of hot water.
  2. In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and add the beef – brown for 10-15 minutes. Remove using a slotted spoon. Discard most of the fat remaining.
  3. In a separate pan, brown the mushrooms – first dry and later adding a bit of olive oil.
  4. In the Dutch oven, add the onions, salt and pepper. Add in the tomato paste, carrots, shallots, and garlic. Add in the mushrooms. Add in the porcini mushrooms – and the liquid while being careful to avoid any grit. Saute for 10 mins. Add the red wine. After 10 mins, add the tomatoes, beef broth and chicken broth.
  5. Bring mixture to a boil.
  6. Reduce heat to low – cover the Dutch oven and continue cooking for 1.5-2 hours. Taste the beef for tenderness to determine when ready to serve.
  7. Serve in large soup bowls – perhaps with crusty bread! Enjoy!

Categories
Chicken Chicken Recipes Kitchen Main Dishes Poultry Scott's Kitchen

It’s Time for Minimalist Roast Chicken

Roast chicken

It’s starting to feel a bit like fall here in Menlo Park – which always brings to mind cooking roast chicken in the oven. We’re mostly wintertime roast chicken people – not wanting to bother with it during the summer. But as we get into the fall season, and the days cool off, roast chicken comes to mind as one of our weekend dinners.

I recently came across this simple roast chicken recipe from Mark Bittman. Click through for the recipe and also a link to one of his Minimalist videos where he shows the technique.

It’s a really simple recipe. His key breakthrough was discovering that the use of a cast iron skillet for roasting the chicken helped balance having the white/dark meat cooking appropriately. He recommends putting the skillet into the oven when you first turn it on – and use a high heat (he suggests 500 degrees which our oven won’t quite reach!). As the oven warms, the skillet warms up with it – so that when the chicken is put into the skillet to cook, the warm skillet will help the thighs and dark meat cook a bit faster while letting the breast meat cook normally. It’s this orchestrated imbalance that provides the magic to his recipe.

Give it a try for one of your weekend dinners!

Photo by Rosie 55.

Categories
Kitchen Main Dishes Meat

Christmas Eve 2008 Oven-Roasted Tri-Tip Dinner

We’ll be hosting Christmas Eve again at our house this year – and we’re handling the just main courses while the rest of the family is bringing salads, side dishes, and desserts!

Last year, we were about to head for Hawaii for another family reunion – and didn’t cook anything! But, this year, we’re back with our favorites again: a combination of honey-baked ham along with our easy Lazy-S easy oven-roasted tri-tips.

We first shared our approach to this Christmas Eve menu back in 2005 – and we’ll be following the same approach this year. The honey-baked ham is basically just a warm up exercise – nothing complicated about preparing it.

For the tri-tips, we’ll have one plain (unmarinated) tri-tip along with a couple of marinated tri-tips. Our favorite local meat market (Bianchini’s Market in Portola Valley) highly recommends their Zinfandel-marinated tri-tips – so we’ll be giving them a try this year. But, the unmarinated version – with just lots of salt and pepper several hours ahead of roasting – is pretty special too!

See the directions here for how we like to prepare the tri-tips (in the morning) and then cook them (in the late afternoon)!

Yum! And, Merry Christmas!

Categories
beef Charcoal Grilled Kitchen Main Dishes Meat

Scott’s Lazy Sunday Tri-Tip Caesar Salad

This Sunday dinner is perfect when BBQ season has arrived. This afternoon in Menlo Park was ideal – light up the Weber BBQ (charcoal version) and go! The ingredients are super simple: a Santa Maria-seasoned Tri-Tip from Trader Joe’s (or your favorite alternative) and a package of one of those Caesar Lite pre-packaged salads.

For a 5:30 PM dinner, start this at about 4 PM. You’ll have plenty of time to read the Sunday papers in between while things are happening. Add a bottle of your favorite red or chilled white wine and you’re truly good to go! Serves 2.

(Added: March 26, 2006 – Menlo Park, California)
 




Ingredients

  • 1 Trader Joe’s Santa Maria Seasoned Tri-Tip Top Sirloin
  • Coarse sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 package of Fresh Choice Caesar Lite pre-packaged salad greens and dressing
  • Red or chilled white wine to accompany salad

Directions

  1. Coat both sides of the tri-tip in coarse sea salt. Add a bit of coarse ground pepper to both sides as well.
  2. Fire up the Weber charcoal grill. When the coals are ready (20-30 minutes after lighting), push them all to one side of the grill for indirect heating.
  3. Place the tri-tip over that portion of the grill without hot coals underneath. Cook for 50 minutes. Periodically monitor the temperature and adjust the top and bottom vents so that it stays within the range of 350-450 degrees.
  4. Remove the tri-tip from the BBQ and place on a platter and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rest for 20 minutues to allow the juices to blend into the meat.
  5. While waiting for the tri-tip, make the salad. Add some pickle and tomato chunks as available to the salad. Season with coarse ground pepper. Add the salad dressing and mix well with two tablespoons.
  6. Slice the tri-tip into strips across the grain. Slice the strips into “bite size” chunks suitable for the salad. Plan to use about 1/2 of the tri-tip for this meal and to save the remaining half for another meal in a day or two.
  7. Serve the salad with the wine. Yum!

Categories
Chicken Recipes Kitchen Main Dishes Poultry

Hamersley’s Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Onions

Roast chicken
Everyone needs an everyday roast chicken recipe – and this is ours! It a minor adaptation of the original by Gordon Hamersley, chef-owner of Hamersley’s Bistro in Boston — as published in Fine Cooking magazine.

We lived in Boston many years ago and used to love having dinner at Hamersley’s Bistro for this roast chicken dinner! We were back in Boston in 2007 and enjoyed another lovely edition of this dish!

(Originally Added: April 21, 2001)


Ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme (or 1 Tbs. fresh, chopped)
  • 1 tsp. dried rosemary (or 1 Tbs. fresh, chopped)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 whole roasting chicken (about 3-1/2 lb.), rinsed under cold water and dried
  • 1-2 yellow onions, cut into thick slices
  • 8-10 small red or Yukon Gold potatoes, washed (but not peeled)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375º.
  2. In a small bowl, combine 1 Tbsp of the olive oil, the mustard, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Squeeze the juice from one lemon half into the herb mixture; squeeze the juice from the other half into a small bowl and reserve. Reserve the squeezed lemon halves.
  3. Spoon the herb mixture over the chicken and inside its cavity, rubbing to coat the chicken thoroughly. Put the reserved lemon halves inside the chicken’s cavity.
  4. Using a bowl, coat the potatoes with 2 Tbsp olive oil and either chopped fresh rosemary or herbs de Provence, salt and pepper.
  5. Put the onion slices onto the bottom of the roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. Put the chicken in the pan, breast side up. Surround the chicken with the potatoes.
  7. Cook until the meat is tender and the juices run clear at the thigh, about 1-1/4 hours. By this time, the potatoes should also be tender.
  8. Transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl. Pour the juices from inside the chicken’s cavity into the roasting pan and transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Transfer the onions to a serving bowl.
  9. Spoon off and discard as much fat as possible from the juices in the roasting pan. Set the pan with the juices over medium-low heat and pour in the reserved lemon juice along with 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour the pan juices into a serving pitcher.
  10. Cut the chicken into pieces. Serve with the pan juices poured individually over the chicken pieces.

Categories
Kitchen Main Dishes Meat Pork Scott's Kitchen

Scott’s Favorite Slow Roasted Chipotle Pork

Slow Roasted Chipotle Pork

This is truly one of those 5 minutes to prepare recipes. Basically, coat the pork shoulder roast, throw it in the Dutch oven and then into the real oven.

Makes really great pork tortillas — or just pork to pile onto your plate. Great with salsa on the side!

We originally came across a version of this recipe in The New Cooks Tour of Sonoma by Michele Anna Jordan. It became a Loftesness family favorite from the first time we tried it! In addition to her own web site, Jordan also writes a regular food column for the Santa Rose Press Democrat.

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