Category Archives: roasted meats and veggies

Feb 06 3 comments
roasted meats and veggies, tutorials

A Perfectly Cooked Steak

Oftentimes I begin to compose posts for this site in my head, far from my computer screen.  Whether I’m driving through suburban Maryland trying to avoid 495 or laying in bed trying to fall asleep, stories will begin to form in my head.  Incidentally this is also how I wrote my wedding vows, over the course of many a late night.  This week I was thinking about this post, how when I was learning to cook meat I would have loved a detailed, in depth post.  In my head, this post began “now that grilling season is upon us.”  Which immediately reminded me that grilling season is not upon us.  That if you listened to that groundhog this week, grilling season will never be upon us.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter that it’s not the appropriate time to grill things.  It doesn’t matter that it is CURRENTLY SNOWING (like, three feet on the ground snowing).  Mostly those things don’t matter because I don’t have a balcony or a backyard and therefore do not have a grill, which means that grilling season doesn’t exist for me.  What does exist is “pan roasting” season, which, in my opinion, is a great way to cook steak.  First of all, let me just say that it took me a really long time to learn how to cook a steak perfectly.  Maybe it had something to do with my being a vegetarian, the fact that my father prefers everything still bleeding, or maybe learning to cook meat is something that just takes time.

In my opinion, a “perfectly” cooked steak is salty and crunchy on the outside with a medium rare center.  Medium rare means pinkish red but warm.  Less cooked alternatives are rare, which is red and warmish and bloody, which is  a cool center.  More cooked alternatives are medium, a solid pink and warm center, medium well (very light pink center), or well done, which is a waste of your money (in my opinion.  Though we do have friends who order their steaks done and dip them in ketchup).  Pan roasting is exactly what it sounds like, cooking over medium heat for a longer period of time on the stove top.  The reason I like pan roasting steaks is partially because, as I mentioned, I don’t have a grill and partially because it creates a delicious crust on the steak, which I think is vital.

As for measuring doneness, I rely on three separate methods (because I have served grossly undercooked meat before and don’t care to repeat it.)  First, there is temperature.  I  use a meat thermometer to take the temperature of the center of the steak, which should be 145 for medium rare.  Secondly, there is the hand test.  With this test you compare the firmness of your hand in various positions to the firmness of the meat.  An open hand has the same firmness as rare meat, thumb to pointer is medium rare, thumb middle finger is medium, thumb to ring finger is medium well, and thumb to pinky is well done.  Finally, there is simply the test of time.  I’ve heard that you don’t want to flip a steak on the grill/in the pan more than once.  I’m not sure why but that always sticks with me while I’m cooking steak.  So, I try and decide on a time per side based on the thickness of the steak.  If the steak is 1/2″ thick I’ll cook it 8-10 minutes per side.  For a steak that’s 1″ thick I’ll go 10-12 minutes.  Usually I combine a general time forecast with a meat thermometer and frequent firmness tests.  It’s obsessive, yes, but the payoff (a perfectly good steak) is large.

Finally, lets discuss seasoning.  Kosher salt and pepper.  That’s it. I use my cast iron pan to pan roast, sprayed with canola oil.  I sprinkle a generous portion of kosher salt and pepper on each side and voila.  Actually, lets also discuss what kind of steak you’re buying.  For this method, eating it with only salt and pepper to bring out the flavor, I buy grass fed, organic strip steak.  Because the flavor is so amazing that it’s an almost otherworldly experience.  It’s just… perfect.  You could also use filet mignon, porterhouse, sirloin, or t-bone.  The key is cooking it over low to medium heat for a longer amount of time so the flavor has the opportunity to really blossom.  Also, after you’ve cooked it, you must let it rest.  ”Resting” the meat is just what it sounds like, letting it sit.  You do this so the juices can redistribute, which is vital to having a juicy, delicious steak.  Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to doing what I’ve been doing best lately, being sick in the snow.  Hello Gilmore Girls marathon!

dan measuring the snow outside our window. how much? too much.

Pan Roasted Strip Steak

1 lb strip steak (enough for 2)

1 tbsp kosher salt

1 tbsp black pepper

Heat a cast iron pan over medium low heat (3 or 4 or a gas stove).  Spray with cooking oil and let the pan warm.

Pull out your steak and pat it down with a paper towel.  Meat won’t get that crisp edge that is essential for the perfect steak unless it is dry when it touches the pan, so dabbing it down is essential.  Sprinkle half your salt & pepper on each side.

When your pan is hot, place the steak on the pan and set a timer for 12 minutes (for a steak about 1″ thick).  When the 12 minutes is up, flip the steak and reset the timer for another 12 minutes.  During this time you can also take the temperature and check the firmness.  At the end of the final 12 minutes, or when the inner temperature is 145 for medium rare, remove the steak from heat.  Set aside and let rest 10 minutes.

Carve and serve.

Jan 01 2 comments
holiday, roasted meats and veggies, vegetables

Collard Greens, for Prosperity

I joke a lot here and around the interwebs about my distain for escarole.  I’ll clarify that, as an adult, I’m actually fine with escarole.  But as a child I hated it.  It was the one food that I absolutely could not eat, the only thing I couldn’t stomach.  Until I became a vegetarian, and then there were lots of things I couldn’t stomach (including meatloaf).  I read somewhere once that kids have something like twice as many tastebuds as adults, and therefore taste everything twice as intensely,which is why children often have catastrophic aversions to certain foods.

The point of this story is that my mom’s lucky New Year’s day dish was lentil soup and escarole.  Gag.  Which is why I always preferred my dad’s lucky foods, collard greens and black eyed peas.  On New Year’s Day, greens (whether they be spinach, escarole, collards, chard, etc) are served to bring prosperity.  The greens are traditionally cooked with ham, because pork symbolizes progress.  Other common foods for ringing in the New Year are beans (prosperity), fish (good luck), and anything circular, like cakes (the year comes full circle).

This year I opted for fish and collards, skipping the ham hocks and beans because after a few batches of bean soup, I’ve been kind of beaned out lately.  And when it comes cuts of the pig, I’m not the biggest ham fan (I prefer the shoulder).  Collards cooked without ham are cooked essentially the same way, just pan roasted with water or stock, served with garlic and onions.  Because collards are a tough green pan roasting is the ideal way to cook them, low and slow for 45 minutes to an hour allows them to soften and develop flavor.

Instead of resolutions this year I’ve written my “culinary life list.”  Right now it’s 100 things, but it may grow.  It’s a list of things, all food related, that I’d like to accomplish before I kick the bucket.  Do you have a life list, culinary or not?  What’s on it?

Collard Greens

3-4 large collard leaves

1/2 white onion

2 garlic cloves

Salt & pepper

Red pepper flakes

1 tsp nutmeg

2 cups mushroom broth (or vegetable stock)

3 tbsp butter

In a medium size pan, melt butter.  Mince garlic and chop the onion, and saute both in butter until soft.  Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and red pepper.  Chop the collards into 1/2″ strips.

Add the collards a handful at a time, wilting them before you add more.  Use tongs to toss the greens with the butter and onions.  Add broth, cover.  Simmer on low heat for 45 minutes to an hour.

Uncover and allow the broth to reduce.  Serve and enjoy a year of prosperity!

 

Nov 20 0 comments
holiday, roasted meats and veggies

Roasted Mango and Habanero Turkey


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Nothing freaks me out as much as cooking whole turkeys.  Part of it, I think, stems from my years as a vegetarian.  Cooking all meats makes me squeamish, but there’s also just something about turkey.  Roasting whole chickens, which is essentially the same thing just a little smaller, makes me uncomfortable, but it’s doable.  But the turkey.  The big, honking, scary turkey gives me agida.  Ogeda? The willies.

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You know what didn’t help?  This year, MY TURKEY DIDN’T HAVE LEGS.  I spent more money than I’m willing to admit on an organic free range antibiotic free Whole Foods approved turkey because Dan and I are on this kick where we’re buying ethically raised meats.  And on top of being antibiotic free, it was also leg free. And you know what helps you understand which way is up when cooking a turkey?  THE LEGS AND WINGS.  I couldn’t figure out which way was up!  It’s whole center of gravity was off, it wouldn’t sit straight in the roasting pan and it kept falling over and I’m 99% sure I cooked it upside down.

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Thankfully, even though I cooked it upside down and I had no legs to truss together and I was home sick with a nasty stomach bug, it tasted amazing.  Totally delicious.  Now, you may think that the whole habanero thing is intense and scary and way too spicy for your “not the pepper again” family, but it’s not.  First of all, roasting a habanero takes a lot of the punch out of it, and so the marinade gives the skin a little extra (very subtle) flavor, and keeps the meat perfectly moist.  It’s incredible.

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Don’t forget, springing this recipe onto your springpad, either from b&s or my springpad page, will automatically enter you to win $100!  And if you’re feeling generous, spring all my thanksgiving 2009 recipes to help me win $500!

Roasted Mango & Habanero Turkey

1 habanero

1 mango

1 cup orange juice

1 whole turkey (preferably with legs)

Salt & pepper

Aluminum foil for turkey triangle

*If you’d like your turkey to have an extra punch, you can inject the marinade into the meat of the turkey.  If you’d like to do so, double all the ingredients (save the turkey) and make twice as much marinade.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Roast whole mango for 90 minutes and whole habanero for 20. Let cool.

Peel mango and use a knife to scrape pulp off into the food processor. Combine with orange juice and pepper. Blend.

Remove your turkey from it’s packaging and remove any innards. Slather with marinade. Cover in plastic wrap and marinate overnight.

When you’re ready to cook your turkey place in a roasting pan legs up. Tie the legs together.

Fit your turkey triangle. A turkey triangle keeps the white meat juicy while cooking the dark meat. Make a triangle out of the foil and fit it around the body of the turkey.

Heat your oven to 500. Cook turkey at 500 for 30 minutes (without triangle). Then drop the temperature down to 350, put on the triangle, and cook until the temperature of the breast is 165.

Allow to rest 20 minutes before carving.

Nov 09 2 comments
roasted meats and veggies, vegetables

Apartment Kabobs


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I know, logically, that it’s not winter yet.  I also know that I should stop whining about the fact that the seasons are changing and just embrace it, because it’s going to be a very long winter.  But did anyone else notice that it was 30 degrees on Saturday? I mean, seriously?  That’s BELOW FREEZING.

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It’s times like these that many people say oooh, it’s chilly!  Let’s light a fire!  Let’s have soup!  Sometimes I’m that person.  Sometimes I can curl up in a heavy blanket with a bowl of thick, creamy, life-giving soup.  And when I am in that mood, I’m so happy.  But that’s usually like October 15.  When by “change of season” I really mean “it’s 60 degrees out.”  Not when it’s 30 degrees out.  That’s when I close my eyes and try and magic myself somewhere tropical.

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Unfortunately for me I have yet to successfully magic myself anywhere, which means that I have to resort to recreating some of my summer favorites inside my cold apartment.  Take the shish kabob.  A summertime favorite ’round the world.  A combination of marinated meats and veggies all skewered and cooked over hot coals.  How could you go wrong?!?  You may be thinking that “cooked over hot coals” is the imperative phrase here, something tricky to recreate in the winter let alone in an apartment with no balcony or yard.

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Wait for it… THE OVEN!  Shish kabobs, marinated and placed on a rack, can be roasted in the oven with essentially the same results as a grill.  I mean, you lose the grill flavor and the pass time of grilling things, but still- this means shish kabobs year round!  You can vary the vegetables (and meats) that you use, but pretty much everything tastes good skewered.  It’s the on-a-stick principle.  That’s why fairs and renaissance festivals have the best food.

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Apartment Kabobs

Marinade:

2/3 cup red wine vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil

4 tbsp honey

Paprika

Cayenne

Garlic

Cumin

Chipotle

Cinnamon

Coriander

Kabobs:

1 steak, cubed

1 white onion

1 green bell pepper

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup mushrooms

1 cup tomatillos

1 eggplant

Chop steak, onion, pepper, and eggplant.  Put the steak in one bag and the veggies in another.

Use a food processor or immersion blender to combine the marinade ingredients.  Pour half with the meat and half with the veggies.  Marinate overnight.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil.  Place a cooling rack on top.  Stick different combinations of veggies and meat on skewers and line up on the rack.  Roast at 400 for 15 minutes, or until meat is cooked.  Let cool.

Serves 6.

Jun 24 1 comments
roasted meats and veggies

Herb Roasted Chicken


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When I’m at the grocery store, I always look at the whole chickens and think about what I would do with them.  Usually I refrain because a whole chicken is a little more than Dan and I can eat by ourselves.  But last week when I was planning out our meals I found a way to make it economical and totally doable.  I’ve been itching to show y’all how to make chicken stock, so this chicken served three purposes.  Dan and I ate some with rosemary red potatoes and green beans for dinner, Dan used the remaining meat in his lunch sandwiches for the week instead of the herb turkey we get at the store, and I froze the bones to give you my chicken stock recipe in the next few weeks.

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One thing I particularly like about making whole birds is that they’re insanely easy.  You season them and then throw them in the oven, occasionally adjusting the temperature and moving around the turkey triangle (or I guess the chicken triangle in this case).  Since they cook for a while, you can start it a few hours before you’re ready to eat and then spend the time reading, cleaning, napping, and, eventually, making your side dishes.

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I know in November when I posted our Thanksgiving recipes I introduced the concept of a turkey triangle on b&s, but that was AGES ago, so I’ll refresh your memories.  A turkey triangle is something I learned from Alton brown, and it allows the legs and wings to get cooked well enough without overcooking the breast meats.  In addition, to give the chicken a nice, crispy skin, you cook it for a bit at a higher temperature and then drop it down to cook it under the triangle.

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I seasoned this particular chicken with a homemade herb butter.  I’ll admit that a part of my motivation was trying to prove that if we repotted our rosemary in a larger pot and let it get bigger, I’d use more.  The rest of the motivation came from an opportunity to use my beautiful immersion blender.  I combined fresh and dried herbs, butter, a little milk, and some olive oil.  You can easily do it without an immersion blender (or, for that matter any electronics) in a food processor, with a beater, or with a plain old whisk.  I like using a little electricity behind it because it breaks up the herbs a little to give it an extra punch.

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Now, coating the chicken is not for the faint of heart.  Generally speaking, working with whole birds is not for the faint of heart.  When you unwrap your bird the first thing you want to do is remove the gizzards, which will be in a tidy bag in the cavity.  If you’re not planning on eating them, you can throw them away.  Next, you want to rub the butter into the chicken.  I also try and get some under the skin so that the flavor can really soak into the meat  and not just drip off.  It’s kind of like massaging someone’s back, and if you imagine you’re massing someone particularly appealing (Clive Owen, perchance), it’ll go a little easier.  You’re also going to want to tie the legs together so that the chicken can cook easily.  You can do this with a little kitchen twine.  Then, cook, relax, and enjoy!

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an interesting article in glamour magazine about what meryl streep does to make a roasted chicken last a whole week

Herb Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

Dash of oregano

Dash of herbs de provence

Dash of coriander

Dash of celery salt

1/2 stick butter, room temperature

2 tbsp milk

1 tbsp olive oil

Tin foil

Kitchen twine

Heat your oven to 500 degrees.

Blend your butter, herbs, milk, and oil.  Remove the gizzards from the chicken.  Use your hands to massage the butter all over the chicken and under the skin.  Tie the legs together with kitchen twine and place in a roasting pan.

Fold your foil into a triangle shape and fit to the shape of the chicken.  This is so when you put it on later it’s a bit easier.  Take it off and put it aside.  Also, place a meat thermometer in the side of your chicken.

Put your chicken in the oven for 25 minutes.  This will give your bird a good, crispy, skin.  Drop the temperature to 375 and place the turkey triangle on the chicken.  Cook for another hour or so, or until the thermometer reads 190 degrees.