Archive for the 'Recipes' Category

23
Sep
09

Boozy Toozday

By Tim 1 Comment
Categories: Drink, Food and Recipes

DSCF5551

Yesterday my mom presented me with a challenge: cook a meal using only what we have around the house. We needed to use up stuff.

It actually wasn’t that tricky. We had flank steak in the freezer, and green beans in the fridge, and fresh rosemary and cheese and whole wheat flour and all kinds of lovely things to eat. But as always, I thought it would be nice to try something new. But how to do it, with all these old things?

I have been craving a Bloody Mary lately. I don’t even particularly like Bloody Marys, but there was a can of V8 in the fridge, and this house seems to never run out of vodka, so the idea simply haunted me. So today I made that Bloody Mary. I made it just how I like it, with truckloads of hot sauce and horseradish, and then I put it in a plastic bag with the flank steak.

That settled the entrée: Bloody Mary-nated Flank Steak. It also settled the theme: cooking with booze. As a side I decided to bake beer bread, fancy beer bread with interesting bits and bobs scattered throughout. And as a veg, I ultimately took a gamble on what I will call haricots verts à la gin gimlet, using my Great Aunt Gloria’s homemade kaffir lime marmalade.

The boozy meal was a success. The flank steak, that most underrated of steaks, was juicy and tender and flush with a peppery tomato tang and the pungent umami of Worcestershire sauce and vodka. The bread was soft and sweet and dense and fragrant. The beans were zesty and crunchy and sweet and moreish.

Booze: it’s not just for breakfast anymore.

DSCF5553

Bloody Mary-nated Flank Steak

1 1/4-1 1/2 pound flank steak
olive oil

For the Mary-nade:

12 ounces V8 or tomato juice
1/2 cup vodka
1/4 cup hot sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
2 heaped tablespoons horseradish
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons dill pickle or olive brine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 pepperoncini, chopped
celery seed
celery salt
onion powder
garlic powder
salt
pepper

For the rub (make about 1/3 cup, all of the following in equal measure):

salt
pepper
onion powder
paprika
celery seed

  1. Trim excess fat and pull membranes from flank steak.
  2. In a sealable plastic bag, mix all marinade ingredients. Seal bag and shake to combine.
  3. Add flank steak to bag and marinate, refrigerated, for 8-24 hours.
  4. Remove flank steak from marinade and drain. Pat dry with paper towels.
  5. Mix rub ingredients in a bowl. Rub half into each side of the dry flank steak.
  6. Boil leftover marinade to use as a jus.
  7. Heat olive oil on a griddle to high heat. When oil is very hot, sear flank steak on both sides for 4-5 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Slice against the grain and serve with hot jus.

Parmigiano, Rosemary, and Kalamata Olive Beer Bread

3 cups whole wheat flour
12 ounces beer (use a fairly robust beer, such as a pale ale)
1 1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
6 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
2 large sprigs fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
butter
pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
  2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, reserving 1 sprig rosemary and 1/2 cup cheese. Add beer and knead to combine. Dough should be sturdy but still slightly limp and sticky.
  3. Turn dough into a buttered or oiled bread pan. Bake for 65-80 minutes.
  4. Mix remaining rosemary and cheese with butter. Sprinkle on top of bread about 10 minutes before the end of baking.
  5. Allow to cool at least 1/2 hour before slicing.

Haricots Verts à la Gin Gimlet

about 3 cups green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons gin
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon lime marmalade
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt
pepper
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup fresh basil, torn

  1. Mix gin, honey, marmalade, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
  2. Toast sunflower seeds in a dry pan.
  3. Boil green beans for 5-6 minutes, until just tender. Drain, return to heat and add gin mixture, sunflower seeds, and basil. Toss to coat and serve.
28
Jul
09

Super-Duper Chocolate Cake with Irish Cream-Hazelnut Ganache

By Tim Leave a Comment
Categories: Food, Parties, Festivals, and Holidays and Recipes
Tags: ,

cake2

Am I alone in the belief that the word “ultimate” has no place in the title of a recipe? One of the many joys of cooking is the experimental aspect of it. Even if your aim is to make a dish perfectly, exactly as it was meant to be made, chances are you’ll still have to tweak the recipe a bit to get the finished product just right. “Ultimate” means final. The end. The zenith, the conclusion, the last word. So when a recipe is presented as the “ultimate” of something, I take that as a challenge to do it one better.

For Laura’s birthday a few weeks ago, I made a cake. The recipe I used was called “Ultimate Chocolate Cake,” which I chose because it seemed to be the densest, fudgiest chocolate cake recipe out there. As far as I’m concerned, chocolate cakes ought to be rich, dense, and dark – essentially, my ideal chocolate cake is actually a brownie. So this “ultimate” recipe, which calls for sordid, indecent quantities of dark chocolate, butter, and sugar with flour kept to a bare minimum, looked just about perfect.

And it was. The resultant cake was weighty, moist, and as dark as earth; it was chocolate first and cake second. It was, in fact, so rich that I decided to make tart currant-nectarine sauce to offset it. But as exquisite as it was, the recipe as written ought to have been named “Penultimate” chocolate cake, for I swapped out the original, basic ganache for an experimental frosting formed by alloying Nutella with Bailey’s – making this even more debauched and delicious.

cake3

Of course, I could never presume to call my cover version of this cake the “ultimate,” either, and so I’m giving it a new, more accurate name. Please do tailor it to your own taste!

Super-Duper Chocolate Cake

For the cake:

200 grams high-quality dark chocolate, chopped
200 grams butter, cut in pieces
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules, dissolved into 1/2 cup cold water
85 grams self-raising flour
85 grams plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
200 grams light brown sugar
200 grams golden caster sugar
25 grams cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
5 tablespoons buttermilk

  1. Butter a 20- by 8-centimeter cake tin and line the bottom. Preheat oven to 160ºC/325ºF.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter together with coffee over low heat in a medium saucepan.
  3. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, and cocoa powder into a large bowl. Beat eggs in a separate bowl and stir in buttermilk.
  4. Pour the chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well. Batter should be runny and smooth.
  5. Pour batter into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes-1 hour 45 minutes. Cake is finished when a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely for 3-4 hours.

For the ganache:

150 grams high-quality dark chocolate
1 tablespoons golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
3/4 cup Nutella
6 Ferrero Rocher, crushed

  1. Pour Irish cream into a saucepan and allow alcohol to cook off over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Do not boil.
  2. Add chocolate, sugar, cocoa, butter, and Nutella stir until smooth.
  3. Allow ganache to cool to room temperature, then pour 1/3 ganache into a separate bowl and stir in Ferrero Rocher.
  4. Slice the cake into two layers. Spread the ganache with Ferrero Rocher pieces onto the bottom layer, then replace the top layer. Spread remaining ganache evenly over the entire cake, smoothing with a pallette knife.
  5. Serve with fruit sauce and fresh mint.

cake1

15
May
09

Smokehead Paradox Steak with Herb and Marmite Onions

By Tim Leave a Comment
Categories: Drink, Food and Recipes
Tags: , ,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe. But last week, inspiration struck as I sipped a lovely little beer called Paradox Smokehead… and decided I didn’t really like it. The beer comes from Brew Dog, which for my money is the UK’s most creative brewer, and it is one of many Paradoxes, a series of imperial stouts aged in Scotch whisky casks of varying origin. This particular batch was matured in barrels formerly occupied by the aptly named Smokehead whisky from the Islay region.

As a fan of big stouts as well as Islay whiskies, I had hoped this brew would be a nuanced and complex interplay between uniquely earthy Islay smokiness and the mocha, dark fruit, and roasted flavors of a good stout. Instead, it was disappointingly two-dimensional. Other Beer Advocates disagree with my assessment (mine is the lowest score this beer received), apparently uncovering subtleties that I failed to locate. To me, it was just dark, smoky sweetness. I didn’t feel the urge to finish it, but I recognized that where Paradox Smokehead failed as a beer, it would excel as a marinade for beef! That dark, smoky sweetness, I thought, would be the perfect accent to a good steak.

I was right. Last night I marinated a hunk of sirloin in the brew, with a few embellishments, then fried it up in a pan today for lunch. The result was a tangy, tender, sweet piece of meat with a touch of smoke – almost, but not quite, as if it had been charcoal-grilled. I liked it so much I may buy the beer again just to use as a marinade… I’ll bet it would be good with pork, too. Enjoy!

steak

Paradox Smokehead Steak with Herb and Marmite Onions

Note: If you can’t get Paradox Smokhead in your area, try any stout aged in Scotch casks. You could also use a smoked porter, or you could simply mix a shot or two of Islay whisky into an ordinary stout for a similar flavor.

Steak:

2 250-300 gram sirloin steaks, trimmed
12 ounces Brew Dog Paradox Smokehead
5-6 sprigs fresh thyme, torn
1 clove garlic, smashed
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon Bovril (optional)
cumin, to taste
smoked paprika, to taste
black pepper, for seasoning

Onions:

butter, for sauteing
1/2 large onion, sliced
1/2 teaspoon Marmite
1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence or mixed Italian herbs (use more if herbs are fresh)
black pepper, for seasoning

  1. In an airtight container or plastic bag, mix together Paradox, thyme, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, Bovril, cumin, and paprika. Submerge steaks in marinade and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
  2. Melt butter in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and add onions and pepper.
  3. When onions have softened slightly, add Marmite and herbs and toss well.
  4. Continue sauteing for 4-5 minutes, until onions begin to brown.
  5. When onions are quite soft and brown, move to the sides of the pan. Remove steaks from marinade and season on both sides with black pepper, then lay them in the center of the pan.
  6. Cook steaks as you like them. Spoon marinade over them while cooking.
  7. When steaks and onions are finished, remove from pan. Pour in some of the marinade and use it to deglaze. Pour the resulting jus into a bowl or cup and serve on the side.
28
Feb
09

Viking Five: Chicken

By Tim 1 Comment
Categories: Food, Recipes and Viking Five
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

On account that I find it fun and easy to compile lists of things, I am starting a new feature on my blog: Viking Five. These will be lists of what I consider to be exemplars of any given category. In most cases, I don’t have the experience or knowledge to create what might be called definitive “top five” lists, so these are simply five personal recommendations. Please add to the lists by leaving comments!

I’m starting the feature with a food that is often overlooked – but when it’s good, damn is it good. Chicken is so frequently bland and dry, a rather pointless thing to eat when prepared or processed witlessly, but if it’s prepared well, then there is almost no meat I’d rather eat.

n14500715_30999959_5089

Zankou Chicken
Los Angeles, California

Taco trucks aside, there may be no LA food institution so cherished as Zankou Chicken. The darling of streetsmart food critics like Jonathan Gold, Zankou is beloved among all strata of Los Angeles society, including the loyal Armenians that invented it. It’s so good that Beck name checks it in a song about having a threesome on Midnite Vultures. I must say, there is something very nearly sexual about the buttery, delicately spiced skin and the voluptuously tender and juicy meat of a spit-roasted Zankou Chicken. And that garlic sauce is a wicked aphrodisiac.

n14500715_31126678_8745

Yangon Restaurant’s Hot and Sour Deep-Fried Chicken
Bagan, Myanmar

All of the chicken I ate in Burma was really good, which I suspect has a lot to do with the fact that there aren’t any industrial chicken farms there. “Free range” isn’t even a meaningful category there, because the chickens just roam free around people’s houses. Our drivers had to hit the brakes a lot to dodge them – along with cows and lots of dogs. The Burmese chicken that stands out in my memory was a searingly spicy, addictively tangy dish of crispy and succulent fried chicken, perfumed with an immoderate amount of garlic and green onions.

Jitokko Sumibiyaki
Miyazaki, Japan

One thing I miss about Japan is the thrill of discovering new meibutsu. The Japanese present their unique regional cuisines to the rest of the nation with an enthusiastic pride, and the rest of the nation eats it up. Food and drink, along with flowers, temples, and hot springs, really seem to be what drives domestic tourism in Japan. For salmon, go to Hokkaido; for soba, go to Nagano; and for chicken, go to Miyazaki. There are at least two very famous Japanese chicken dishes originating in Miyazaki: the tartar saucy chicken nanban, and my favorite, jitokko sumibiyaki: literally, charcoal-grilled local chicken. It’s as simple as it sounds, and so very good. Miyazaki chicken has a firm texture and a fantastically buttery quality that sings beautifully with the smoky, blackened flavor of charcoal grilling.

Chicken Truck
Kitakyushu, Japan

One more for Japan – they do chicken right. At one of the schools where I taught, I used to walk to a nearby supermarket pretty much every day for lunch. I usually got some fruit and onigiri, maybe a pastry. But on certain days, there was this truck there. I think the truck was an outpost of a local restaurant, but I can’t remember the name of it. At any rate, this truck sold chicken – really good chicken. You could get the chicken wraps, or you could just go for a huge chunk of chicken, simply grilled with salt and pepper and probably MSG. I think it was the back quarter of the bird, neatly boned and flattened, full of fatty skin, just about as juicy and flavorful as chicken gets. It never failed to brighten my boring days as a human tape recorder.

Homemade Roast Chicken with Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing
Wherever you live

There’s nothin’ like a chicken you roast yourself – expecially when you rub it up with butter and herbs and serve it with a rich, moist sausage and chestnut stuffing. I’m not really much of a roasting guy (I’m more of a sautéing guy), so this week I took it upon myself to try something new. The result was a lovely, exceedingly juicy chicken with a delicate skin and deep flavor. Together with the stuffing, it is a rather rich dinner, so I served it with a palate cleansing salad of arugula and pea shoots with a lemon dressing.

The Chicken

1 4.5 pound chicken (get the free range kind, you cheapskate)
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
a few bunches of fresh herbs (try rosemary, lemon thyme, oregano, thyme, and flat leaf parsley)
3 bay leaves
1 onion
1 lemon or orange
paprika
salt
pepper

  1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (205ºC).
  2. Clean the giblets out of the chicken, if they’re in there.
  3. Rinse the chicken inside and out with cold water, then dry thoroughly with paper towel. The bird should be very, very dry on the outside especially to help crisp the skin.
  4. Finely mince the herbs and mash them together with the butter and a pinch of salt.
  5. Quarter the onion and lemon or orange and stuff them into the cavity, along with the bay leaves and anything else you have to flavor the chicken: celery greens, additional herbs, apple peels, and garlic cloves work well. Pin the skin together to close the cavity with a toothpick.
  6. Rub the herb butter all over the bird, then season well with salt, pepper, and paprika.
  7. Put the bird on a rack and place in the oven. Roast for 10-15 minutes at 400º, then decrease heat to 375º (190ºC) and roast for another hour and a half (basically, you should cook the bird for 20 minutes per pound, plus the initial 10-15 minutes at a higher heat to crisp the skin).
  8. Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.
  9. Thicken the drippings and add a spritz of lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce to make a gravy. Add a bit of chicken stock and/or cider or beer if there aren’t enough drippings.

The Stuffing

500 grams sausage meat
250 grams cooked, peeled chestnuts, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 apple, cored, peeled, and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pound (about six cups) stale bread, lightly toasted and cubed
about 1 1/2 cups medium-dry cider and/or chicken stock
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
about 1/2 cup fresh sage leaves, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

  1. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain the grease.
  2. Add the butter to the pan. Sauté the onion, celery, and fennel seeds along with salt and pepper until the onions are translucent.
  3. Add the chestnuts, apple, and sage and sauté for another few minutes.
  4. Add the bread cubes and sauté until they have absorbed almost all the butter.
  5. Add the cooked sausage, then the cider or stock a bit at a time, until the bread is quite soft but not mushy.
  6. Scoop the stuffing into a buttered baking dish and bake for about 20 minutes, or until top has browned. Serve with gravy.
« Previous Entries

Velkommen/ようこそ

This site began as an exploration of Japanese food culture inspired by the Japanese word vaikingu, meaning "all-you-can-eat." It continues in its present form as a London-based resource for Danish beer, food, and culture.

Your Guide: Tim Andersøn

This is me.

Danish beer here:

95% Danish, your source for Denmark's finest craft beers.

Categories

Viking Tweats

Archives

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive Danish beer and food news by e-mail!