October 2008 – Page 2 – The Constables Larder

Brisket braised in Sweet Peppers & Squash

My entry to the Low and Slow (link) blog event (you have until the end of Oct 15th to submit!) is a brisket braised in sweet peppers and carnival squash. I was inspired by a Boulud recipe for creole stew, and took it in my own direction. I had a wonderful cut of brisket and some slab bacon from my favorite butcher Fleishers, and vegetables right off the field from the local farm. It is coming to the end of the New York growing season, so I’m making the most of it! The end result was a “wow (long pause) this is good!” response from Lisl. And so with no further ado (and lots of pictures):

2 1/2 lb brisket
dry rub of salt, sweet paprika, and ground cumin
4 to 6 slices slab bacon
1 1/2 spanish onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red, 1 orange, 1 green pepper, diced
1 carnival squash, flesh only, cut into 1/2 inch dice
7 or 8 plum or medium tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 cup white wine
juice from 1 lime
black pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 275F.

Take your brisket and rub a hearty amount of salt, sweet paprika (smoked paprika would also be great) and ground cumin. I would guess I used about a tablespoon of each. Note: I only cut the brisket in half to fit in the dutch oven more easily because it was a long cut.

In a large oven-proof pot or dutch oven, saute the onion, garlic and sweet peppers in olive oil until the onion starts to turn slightly transparent.

Keeping the pot on low heat, wrap the bacon around the brisket and place on top of the vegetable base. I had very thickly sliced slab bacon, and so with more normal bacon I would probably use a few more slices.

De-seed your carnival squash (a butternut squash would also be great), remove the tough skin, and chop it into 1/2 inch dice. Then add the squash around the brisket.

Halve your tomatoes across the middle (if it was the earth and the stem was the north pole, you would be cutting across the equator) and de-seed. Then place in a food processor with the two bay leaves and pulse until smooth. Pour this on top of and around the brisket, and then pour in the white wine. Cover and place in the oven for 4 or 5 hours.

This is what the braise looked like after about 2 hours. At this point, you can taste the vegetable mixture for salt and add more if needed. Spoon some of the braising liquid over the top of the brisket, then return to oven.

After about 3 hours, I pulled it out and spooned off some of the excess fat on top of the liquid, and again spooned some of the remaining liquid ove the meat. When I placed the pot back in the oven, I left a very slight crack open on the lid to let some of the moisture out.

In total, I cooked the braise at 275F for just over 4 hours. As the cooking time gets on, you want to keep an eye on the amount of liquid so it doesn’t dry out. If the braise is moist but only a little loose liquid remains, remove from the oven and keep covered until you are ready to serve. You can always reheat gently on the stove top.

Final step to serve

Make a sauce / gravy by taking two large spoonfuls of the vegetables and placing in the food processor with the juice of one lime. Add some ground pepper and puree. Add a little bit of water if you want to thin the consistency.

Take your brisket, discard the bacon, and with two forks, pull apart “slices” for serving, working with the grain. Taste for salt — you will most likely want to add some more salt to the brisket itself even though the vegetables are probably fine at this point.

Braises tend to be difficult to plate beautifully for photos (although rustic bowls tend to work well). In our case, I served with some white rice (with a touch of cilantro sprinkled on top), and placed the meat on a bed of the braised vegetables, covered with the pureed sauce.

So there you have it. Delicious! And now that I’m done writing, I’m curious: is that too many photos for this blog post? Let me know what you think.

P.S. Lisl had the clever idea of using some of the leftover brisket and lime-veggie sauce the next day for quesadillas, along with chopped tomato and grated monterey jack cheese. SO good.

Gigantes with Tomato and Fennel

I fell in love with Greek food the summer Lisl dragged me over to a tiny island called Serifos, and brought me to where the locals eat. Heavenly. I discovered a dish where large beans (“Gigantes”) are cooked in a tomato sauce. I’ve been meaning to make it for years. I guess I was waiting for a starting point.

Enter the blogosphere. There are a number of Greek-oriented food blogs I enjoy, and one of my favorites is Kalofagas, by Peter Minakas. I discovered that he wrote about “Gigantes St Fourno” in Oct 2007. I took the recipe in a slightly different, more anise-flavored direction, but want to say thank you to Peter for providing the framework.

Gigantes with Tomato and Fennel

1 bag (~450 grams) dried large lima/butter beans*
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cloves garlic, smashed
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 large onions, diced
1 lb canned, skinless plum tomatoes, loosely chopped
1/2 large fennel bulb (or 1 smaller one), diced
1 large handful of parsely, finely chopped
2 tbsp tarragon, finely chopped
large pinch fennel seeds
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
large pinch of ground savory (optional)
2 tbsp pernod
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 380F early enough that it will be at the right temperature when you are ready to put the baking dish into the oven.

Cooking the Beans
I soaked the beans during the day in cold water, but you can skip this step and just cook them for longer. Place the beans in a large pot along with the carrots, celery, garlic and bay leaf, then cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a bubbling simmer (not a gentle simmer) and cook until tender. If you soaked the beans, this can be about 20 to 25 minutes, and if not, more like 45 to 50 minutes but only cook the carrots and celery for about 20 min. Remove from the heat.

Making the Sauce (can be done in parallel with beans)
Heat up 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook the onions. When they start to turn translucent, add the tomatoes, fennel, fennel seed, paprika, parsely, tarragon and savory, and cook at a light simmer, stirring occasionally. Add about 1/2 tsp of salt and several pinches of black pepper. After about 10 minutes, stir in the pernod and continue to cook for another 20 minutes or so, adding more water if it starts to get too dry. Taste for salt and pepper. Because the beans will have no salt, it is fine to make the sauce a touch saltier than you might normally go.

With a slotted spoon, scoop out the beans, carrots and celery and place in a large baking dish (I had to use my biggest one). Pour the tomato sauce on top and gently mix in. Then pour in the cooking liquid from the butter beans until everything is just barely covered.

Place the baking tray in the oven and cook for an hour, or until much of liquid is gone and the top is browned. Note: I got hungry and pulled them after about 50 to 55 minutes before they really browned nicely, but they still tasted delicious.

I don’t know what the blogosphere Greeks will say about my fennel/pernod/tarragon direction compared to the classic, but I really enjoyed it and Lisl gave it an enthusiastic two thumbs up. In tonight’s case, I went in a non-vegetarian direction by pairing it with some lamb chops marinated with rosemary and then grilled, and served it all with a nice red Zinfindel.

* Note: while I gather from online reading that true gigantes are a different bean from the large butter/lima beans we find in our supermarkets, most recipes allow for the swapping of the two.

I thought I would submit this to My Legume Love Affair, which is a blog event I’ve been wanting to join for a while now. This month it is being hosted by When My Soup Came Alive.

Chorizo & Mussels

Lisl had a work dinner tonight so, eating solo, I wanted something fast and simple. We had a few leftover mussels from the weekend, and of course mussels fit that bill. I have been wanting to cook mussels with chorizo for some time, so checked out foodblogsearch and decided to play with MattBites’ Clams & Chorizo recipe (which he picked up from Epicurious).

I followed the recipe pretty closely, so will not duplicate here. It was delicious. Obviously I switched from clams to mussels, but you don’t need to change anything other than shortening the cooking by a couple minutes (mussels cooks faster). Speaking of Epicurious and mussels, I want to try this one too (a carrot ginger broth)!

The best part was sopping up the leftover broth with hunks of cuban bread, which Lisl made this weekend from Beth Hensperger’s The Bread Bible. Lisl has been experimenting with starting loafs with the bread maker, then moving to the oven, and will probably write up some thoughts as she progresses.

It was amusing to check into twitter before heading back to work and see that bitchin camero, a food blog I like a lot, had also made chorizo mussels for dinner. Now I’m curious to see what her version looked like. Ah social media and the shrinking world…

Shepherd’s Pie (my favorite comfort food dish)

Back in June, when we first started this site, I posted a number of old, favorite recipes including shepherd’s pie. When the air gets cool, Lisl and I find no comfort food more satisfying than this dish. My version was originally inspired by the Dean & Deluca cookbook, and I make it slightly differently almost every time. Tonight was no exception, so I’ll post tonight’s approach here and note the differences to the old recipe at the end.

Shepherd’s Pie

Mashed Potatoes (the top layer)
6 to 8 medium red or gold potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup milk (but be prepared to use more)
2 tbsp butter, cut into smaller pieces
salt
pepper
handful of parsely, finely chopped

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until cooked all the way through. You can cut them into smaller pieces to speed cooking. Drain the potatoes, return to the pot, add the butter and mash. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, the parsley and milk. Taste for salt. Add milk – your exact amount of milk will depend on size and number of potatoes. You want the mashed potatoes to be quite moist without crossing over into being liquid. (Frankly, I would say make the mashed potatoes the way you really love to make them; just don’t make it too dry as this all is going to bake before being served).

The Base
1 to 1.5 lb of ground beef
5 slices of bacon
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 large onion, chopped
5 or 6 carrots, finely chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp dried oregano
salt
pinch of red pepper flakes (spicy)

Cook the bacon in a large cast iron pan to the point where they are almost crispy, then remove and chop. Cook the ground beef in the bacon fat until browned, adding in 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce, and the dried oregano. Once browned, remove to a bowl.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Add a splash of olive oil to the cast iron pan and saute the onions on medium-low heat until they start to turn translucent, then add the carrots. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then turn up the heat slightly and add the wine and tomato paste. Continue to cook, stirring regularly, for another 5 to 10 minutes, then add in the ground beef, chopped bacon, another tbsp of worcestershire sauce, another pinch of salt, and the pinch of red pepper flakes. Let this cook together for 5 or 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, and taste for salt and oregano. You’ll note that I’m writing flexible cooking times, but I prefer more time when possible in order to let the carrots soften. If it starts to dry out, add a little more wine (or water or beef stock).

Forming the Pie
Turn off the heat and flatten the mixture out. With a large ladel, place your mash potatoes on top carefully in dollops, trying not to allow the potatoes and meat base to mix. Take a fork, hold it mostly horizontal with the curve of the tines pointing down (like the bottom of a boat) and use this to spread the mashed potatoes around until it evenly covers the dish. I find that this allows you to spread the potatoes more delicately and thus prevents everything from mushing together. For aesthetics, I also like to use the tines of the fork to decorate the top with various patterns.

Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then turn on the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Let cool for 5 or 10 minutes, then serve.

A couple years ago, Lisl discovered that this goes really well with a side-sauce of ketchup and sriracha sauce mixed together evenly. If you don’t have Thai chili sauce, try Tabasco (if you like things spicy). This goes really well with a red shiraz or zinfandel, or a good beer.

Notes:
In the original recipe, the exact quantities of several things were slightly different. The other version also added 2 tsp of flour to the beef while cooking, used rosemary rather than oregano, and vermouth rather than white wine (I love cooking with vermouth), and included some beef stock. I started cooking this dish back in 2001 while we lived in London, and where “bacon” is more like what American’s call Canadian bacon; I’ll often use that instead of typical American bacon.

Yum.

Variations:
Shepherd’s Pie with a more middle eastern spice combination
Original Shepherd’s Pie recipe

Chickpea Chorizo & Spinach Soup

Several weeks ago, the food portions of my brain were tickled by Bitchin Camero’s chickpea and chorizo casseroles, and 80 Breakfasts’ cabbage, chickpea and chorizo soup. I decided that the chorizo and chickpea combination was a necessity for my tastebuds, and this soup was born. It was perfect for a crisp fall Saturday, and could take its time cooking while we buzzed around the house.

Chickpea Chorizo and Spinach Soup

1/2 lb dried chickpeas
2 oz chorizo, sliced into bite-sized pieces*
1 sweet onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken broth
Pinch of smoked paprika*
1 jalapeno pepper (in this case, red), de-seeded and finely chopped
1 bay leaf
4 oz baby spinach, washed and loosely chopped
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and pepper

Put your chickpeas in a large soup pot with enough water to cover 2 inches above the top of the chickpeas. Bring to a boil and then simmer until tender. Place a colander atop a bowl and strain the chickpeas, reserving 3 or 4 cups of the cooking water. Set both chickpeas and reserved liquid aside.

Heat up a dash of olive oil in the soup pot over medium heat and then cook the chorizo, stirring regularly, or a couple of minutes. Lower the heat, add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add the wine, chicken broth, reserved cooking liquid, smoked paprika, bay leaf, jalapeno, and about 1/4 tbsp of salt. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to a gentle simmer. Loosely cover and cook for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf, and add the spinach, lemon zest, tomato paste, and a few grindings of black pepper. Once again, bring to a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer. Loosely cover and cook for another 30 minutes.

Before serving, taste for lemon zest, salt and pepper.

* Notes
You can get very different types of chorizo, and this will definitely affect the soup. The 2 ounces I mention is probably equivalent to 3 inches or so of a normal chorizo sausage. If the sausage is potent, you probably don’t need to add much smoked paprika, but if it is on the milder side, you might want to add another pinch than recommended above.

O Foods roundup for Ovarian Cancer

We were sadly unable to participate in the “O” Foods blog event for Ovarian Cancer, but I did want to do a shout out to Jenn at The Left Over Queen, Michelle at Bleeding Expresso, and Sara at Ms. Adventures in Italy for organizing the successful event. You can see links to participants and recipes on their blogs. It’s an important cause that has touched our family, so we’re glad to see it highlighted. Well done all!

Low and Slow reminder; potting the pie

First off I want to remind folks about the Low and Slow blog event between now and October 15th. It’s all about slow cooking at low heat, and we’re giving away a choice of a braise cookbook to the winner (see post for more info). I’m greedy for more slow-cooking recipes so hoping folks have time to participate.

As the weather cools down, I’ve been cooking more and more like this, with low, slow dishes like a pork braise, cuban black beans, a short ribs braise, and even a version of my vegetarian chili for 30 people.

Tonight I went in the comfort food direction again, with a chicken pot pie, although I tried to shortcut the process quite a bit given time limits. I had promised a pot pie to Lisl, but got home from work and realized we barely had any flour or salt! Aren’t emergency market runs a pain?!

For the pot pie mixture, I experimented with combining leeks, carrots, and turnip, as well as reducing the butter and milk and adding a little more white wine. The turnips added an earthiness that was nice, but which I probably won’t repeat. The combination of white wine and thyme also made the dish a little less heavy, but just not as wonderfully “comfort foodish”.

I did not have Lisl to lean on for the pastry, as I usually do, and had be self-sufficient in that department. This might have been the first time I ever used a rolling pin (I’m not completely sure, but we’re talking reasonable odds). Baker, I am not. “You don’t say,” you mutter, “why do I read this blog again?”

Amazingly, while I made the noob mistake of too-thick pastry, it tasted right. Granted that there are only so many ways to destroy flour, butter, salt and baking powder, but I was half expecting to walk headfirst into one of those ways.

All things considered, I don’t think I am going to post tonight’s recipe since the dish was rushed and enjoyable but very improvable. Shocker of shockers, perhaps the classic is the classic for a reason. I’ve done it better in past, even while employing short-cuts, so next time I’ll hopefully have a version that is shareable in detail.