Corned Beef and Cabbage: A Variation

If you're looking for the classic Irish recipe, you're in the wrong place. This is how my Mom tells the story. When my Asian grandmother first came to the U.S., she was very interested in cooking all the different foods that were popular here. However, she didn't exactly follow the traditional recipes. I don't think she even bothered to try and look them up. Instead, she'd whip up her own version. If it tasted good, she'd run with it.

This one is very popular in my family. Yes, this dish features cabbage and corned beef. However, that's pretty much where the resemblance ends. It has a bit of an Asian influence, is a fast saute rather than a stew, and is best eaten over a big plate of hot white rice.

Ingredients:
1 can corned beef (not corned beef hash)
1 medium-sized head of cabbage, sliced into 1-inch wide strips.
1 onion
1 can diced tomatoes or 4-5 fresh tomatoes, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 eggs
1 tblsp. oil
2 tblsp. fish sauce. This is used heavily in many South Asian cuisines.
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 to 1/2 c. water (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. I use one of the wide, high-sided skillets they sell as "chicken fryers." Add the onions and minced garlic, and cook until the onions are translucent and lightly browned. Throw in the tomatoes and fish sauce, and cook until the tomatoes are hot. Next is the the corned beef. Break it apart while cooking, the way you would with ground beef. If your pan is a little dry, add some water. You want at least a 1/4-inch of liquid in the pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, until ingredients are well-combined.

Once that is done, add the eggs. Just break them right into the pan and stir well. You want them mixed in with the pan contents. It helps give a boost of flavor. Cook for another 2-3 minutes to be sure the egg is cooked.

When the base mixture is done, add the cabbage. Turn the heat down to medium and cover the pan with a lid. Stir on occasion until the cabbage is tender, then season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Serve it over fresh-cooked white rice. It's wonderful.

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

I love butternut squash. It's one of my favorite veggies. I throw it in soups or stews, bake it in the oven, and even serve it mashed on occasion. This salad is a favorite around my house. It seems I can never make enough of it. I personally love the color of it, and think it's so festive-looking.

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized butternut squash
1 can black beans, or equivalent amount of home-cooked black beans
1 can sweet corn, or equivalent amount of frozen (thaw before using) or fresh-cooked.
Half an onion, finely minced or diced. Red onion gives a nice dash of color, but I prefer the sharper taste of yellow.
1 tblsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Juice from 1 lime (use 2 limes if needed)
additional salt and pepper, to taste, for the salad

Drain the black beans and corn. You want them as dry as possible. Put them in a bowl with the minced onion and lime juice. Add a bit of salt and pepper, to taste, and mix well. I think it's best to do this step in advance, even the day before, and store it in the fridge. The extra sitting time helps the flavors meld nicely.

Peel the butternut squash. I use a veggie peeler. It does the job quickly and easily. Cut off the ends to get rid of the stem, then cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and pulp with a spoon. Cut the squash in half lengthwise again. You should end up with four long, wide, triangular pieces of squash. Then, put your knife at the tip of the triangle and cut each quarter in half lengthwise one more time. This will give you eight long triangular pieces. Cut the pieces widthwise to give yourself triangles about 1/4-inch thick. You can cut your squash into squares, cubes, curlicues, or whatever you want, but I think the triangles are prettiest.

Put the squash pieces in a bowl and toss them with the olive oil, salt and black pepper until they're all well-coated. Put the pieces on a cookie sheet with sides or a shallow baking pan. Be sure to spread them out so that there's only one layer of pieces. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Stir the pieces around midway through baking so that the sides all brown evenly.
Mix the squash pieces with the salad.

I think the salad is best served at room temp, but it's also good when served cold.

Marinara Meat Sauce

I'd love to make homemade spaghetti sauce completely from scratch, from fresh tomatoes. It's high up there on my cooking wish list. I have visions of myself lovingly seeding and peeling tomatoes, and simmering them for hours with fresh herbs and seasonings.

Unfortunately, my cheapskate reality smashes that dream pretty rudely. I live in a region that isn't exactly known for local fresh produce. As a result, fresh vegetables command fairly high prices. Tomatoes cost as much or more per pound as many meats. When I think of the amount of tomatoes required to make homemade sauce, it makes both my head and my wallet reel. I love my pasta, but I can't bring myself to drop $20 just to make a pot of spaghetti sauce. If I'm ever going to drop that much money on one meal, it's going to be at a restaurant.

This sauce uses canned spaghetti sauce for its base. It's a lot more cost-effective. The addition of fresh ingredients and red wine gives it a big zing of flavor. Everybody whose tasted this stuff really enjoys it, so I can assume it does the job.

I'm only going to give the recipe for the sauce. I'll assume everybody knows how to boil spaghetti, ziti, or any other pasta they want to use. This recipe makes enough sauce for about 1/2 to 1 pound of pasta, depending on how sauce-y you like your food.

Ingredients:
-1 can of spaghetti sauce, any flavor that you like. I use Del Monte, which I find is very tasty, and cheap at less than $1 per can. I've tried using the higher-priced, "gourmet" sauces in the jar, but I find it doesn't make much (if any) difference in the finished product.
-1 onion, chopped
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-2 tblsp. olive oil
-1/2 c. red wine. I like to keep boxed wine around for cooking. Unlike bottles, it stays fresh and sound for months, and its no problem to use only small amounts each time.
-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes. You can vary the amount based on how spicy you like it.
-1 lb. fresh Italian sausage, without casing. You can either buy it without the casing, or cut the casing open and take the meat out. I have a meat grinder, so I make my own Italian sausage from scratch. I can find pork, on a good sale, at $0.79 per pound. Premade Italian sausage ranges from $2.99 to upwards of $4 per pound. Making it at home is a huge saving. I buy the pork in bulk when its on sale, make 10-20 lbs of sausage of a time, and freeze it in meal-sized packages. If you don't have a meat grinder at home, try asking the butcher counter of the grocery store if they can grind it for you. Many of them will do so at no charge.

Put a saucepan or pot over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute until the onion is translucent. Put in the sausage. Be sure to stir well to break up any lumps. Cook until the sausage is completely done, anywhere from 10-20 minutes.

Add your canned sauce and red wine, and bring it to a simmer. Cover the pot, turn the heat down low, and simmer for 20 minutes to blend the flavors. Serve hot over your favorite pasta.

Chicken-Fried Steak and Yellow Gravy

This has to be one of the classic sinful foods. A piece of red meat, slathered in batter, fried and covered in a rich gravy. Depending on the region you live, it can be known as "country fried" steak and be served with brown gravy.

I think this is another one of those simple foods that has fallen into mystique. Everyone says their Grandma, Great-Aunt Bertha or the hole-in-the-wall diner around the corner makes chicken-fried steak to perfection, but few people seem to tackle making it themselves. There's nothing secret or fancy about a good chicken-fried steak. Like most traditional comfort foods, it's simple to make and requires only basic ingredients.

You'll notice that this recipe doesn't really have any exact measurements. There's nothing exact about chicken-fried steak. The amount you need depends on the number of steaks you make, and how strongly you like them seasoned.

Chicken fried Ingredients:
-A cheap cut of steak, tenderized. Don't break out the ribeyes or the T-bones for a chicken fried steak. You want a slice of cheap, bottom-of-the-barrel chuck or round. You can either buy the steak intact and tenderize it yourself with a mallet, or you can buy it already-tenderized.
-eggs
-milk
-flour
-Worcestershire sauce
-salt
-pepper
-paprika
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-oil for frying

First, you need to season your steak. Douse each steak with a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, on both sides. You don't want to soak it, just hit it with enough sauce to lightly rub over the surface. Sprinkle both sides of the steak with the spices -- not a thick crust, just a moderate dusting. Let the steaks sit in the seasonings for at least 45 minutes.

Next, you get your dredging materials ready. You'll need two shallow pans, or one plate and one pan. In the plate, put in a cup or two of flour. Season the flour with a few pinches of the spices, and mix well. In the pan, add an equal amount of eggs and milk. No measuring required, just eyeball it. Mix it well with a wisk or fork.

Now, you're ready to fry. Heat about a half-inch of oil in a large frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. This is a pan-frying technique, not deep frying. You don't want your steak to be completely submerged.

Take a steak, and dredge it in the flour. It may take a couple of turns to be sure its well-coated. From there, dip it in the egg mixture. Let it hang over the egg pan for a moment to let the excess drip off. Then, it's back to the flour. Dredge your steak in the flour one more time to make a nice crust. Put your steak in the frying pan immediately.

The most common problem I've heard about making chicken-fried steak is keeping the batter on. The trick is to fry the steak at a relatively low temperature. You want your oil bubbling steadily like any good fry, but not at an overly hot temperature. If your batter is coming off in the pan, the heat is too high. Turn down the heat and take it slow. Be patient.

Unlike traditional steaks, chicken-fried steak should be cooked until its well done; completely cooked through. I pan-fry my steak for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Don't go flip-flopping the steak all over the place, either. Ideally, you should only turn the steak once during the entire cooking process. If your batter is burning on one side before the meat is done, the oil is too hot.

Drain your finished steaks on paper towels. If you have a big stack of steaks to fry, store the finished steaks in a warm oven to keep them hot while you prepare the rest. Like any fried food, they should be served as soon as possible.

This steak is traditionally served with either brown or cream gravy. But if you're feeling like something a bit different, try this yellow gravy. It's an oh-so-delicious, insanely rich variation on the traditional cream gravy. Rather than being started from pan drippings like most gravies, this gravy gets its flavor and light yellow tint from butter. Yes, butter. I've had it at a few restaurants, and had to replicate it at home. It's amazing on chicken-fried steak. Sure, it's fattening. But seriously, c'mon. You're already eating a fried hunk of red meat. Might as well go the whole nine yards. You can break out the salad recipes tomorrow.

Yellow gravy ingredients:

1 stick of butter
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper, to taste
dash of tumeric (optional)

Take three tablespoons of the butter and melt it in a saucepan or large frying pan over low heat. You can also melt it in the microwave and then add it to the pan. When you're melting butter in an empty pan, always use low heat. Unlike oil, butter tends to burn very quickly. You want to keep the butter bright yellow. If your butter turns brown, the pan's too hot. Throw out the butter and start over.

When they butter is melted, add the flour and turn up the heat to medium. Stir the flour and butter mixture well, to make a roux. You want a light-colored roux for this, so it only needs to cook for a minute or two...just long enough to get rid of the raw flour taste.

When the roux is done, stir in your milk. I like to use a wisk for this. Turn up your heat to medium-high to get the milk bubbling. Add the rest of the butter and let it it melt into the gravy. Your gravy should have a nice light yellow tint. Season with salt and pepper. I also add a dash of tumeric. It adds a very slight additional zip of flavor to the gravy and enhances the yellow color. Heat the gravy, stirring constantly, until its nice and thickened. Serve immediately.

I like to serve my steak with garlic mashed potatoes and corn. Mmmm.

Five Spice Roast Duck

This dish is my favorite thing to eat in the whole world. Chocolate? Cheesecake? Eh, I have plenty of self-control where those are concerned. Duck...I am completely helpless to resist. I have been known to devour an entire duck at one sitting. I swear if somebody threw a roast duck off a cliff, I would jump off after it.

If you've never tried Chinese-style roast duck, you're missing out. It's rich and delicious, and the flavor is amazing. And for heaven's sake, eat the skin! It's the best part of the entire duck. In Chinese cuisine, the skin is often removed and served separately from the meat. It's just that good.

Ingredients:
1 whole duckling/duck. You can find these in many stores now. Sometimes they're called ducklings, sometimes ducks.
3 tblsp. kosher salt
3 tblsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. Chinese five spice powder
1 tsp. powdered ginger

For the glaze:
2 tblsp. Hoisin sauce
1 tblsp. molasses
1 tsp. white vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce

Take your duck out of the bag. Just like whole chickens, ducks often come with gizzards, necks, and other innards inside. Take those out, you don't need them. Same with the bags of stuffing and orange sauce that are often included with ducks. With either a knife or a kitchen scissors, cut off the wingtips. Unlike chickens, ducks have rather long wingtips. They tend to get in the way when you're trying to flip the duck, so it's easier to just remove them altogether.

Put your duck, breast-up, on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Don't have a roasting rack? I use a cooling rack for cookies, laid widthwise across the top of the roasting pan. It works great. All you need to do is keep the duck at least 1 inch above the bottom of the pan. Mix the salt, sugar, five spice powder and powdered ginger in a bowl. Generously rub it all over the duck, both outside on the skin and inside the cavity. Put the entire roasting pan...rack, duck, and all...in the fridge, uncovered. You want it to sit in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours, although it can be left for up to 2 days. The sugar and the salt will partially cure the duck and add to its final flavor and texture, and leaving it uncovered will let the skin dry out. Drying out the skin is key to having a crispy finish.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Add enough water to the roasting pan so there's about 1/2 inch of water on the bottom of the pan. Duck is a very fatty bird, and the fat drippings tend to smoke and burn in the pan at 400 degrees. Adding the water helps prevent this from happening, which keeps your house from getting smoky.

Put the duck in the oven for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, flip the bird over and cook it for another 45 minutes to brown the underside. In the meantime, mix all the glaze ingredients in a bowl. After the underside has cooked for 45 minutes, take the duck out of the oven and paint the uppermost side with the glaze. It's just like painting a wall - you want enough glaze to cover the surface completely and evenly, but not so much that it forms globs. Return your duck to the oven for 15 minutes. Take your duck out of the oven again, flip it over so the breast side is once more uppermost, then glaze that side of the duck. Return it to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Let the duck rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

Mojito-Lime Steak Pitas

I once thought that pita bread was something special, beyond the skill of the home cook to make. I thought it was a gourmet type of bread, baked in such a way as to be perfectly flat, and then carefully sliced by machine to make pockets. Why else would it be so expensive?

Shows what I know. It turns out that our pita bread is nothing but a type of tortilla. Nope, I'm not even kidding. The ingredients and methods are extremely similar, and just as simple. If you can make a tortilla, you can make pita bread. And that wonderful pocket? That's not the work of either man or machine. Pitas swell when they bake, creating that pocket naturally. No surgically-accurate cutting involved.

Take the time to try it out. Homemade pita bread is easy and fun to make. It makes me wonder why store-bought pita bread is so expensive, but store-bought tortillas are so cheap. Hmm. I guess the pita bread has a better marketing department.

This is one of my favorite ways to serve pitas. I think something about steak and pitas go together perfectly.

Pita bread ingredients (makes 12):
1 1/8 c. water, slightly warm.
3 c. flour. I use plain all-purpose flour for every recipe I make. I'm too cheap to invest in cake flour, bread flour, etc. I also don't bother with name-brand flour. It never seems to affect the deliciousness of the results.
1 1/2 tsp. salt.
1 tablespoon oil. I prefer vegetable or canola oil.
1 1/2 tsp. white sugar.
1 1/2 tsp. dry yeast. This is 3/4 of a teaspoon less than the traditional yeast packet, so be sure to measure it out.
You can also add a bit of seasoning to the pita bread, if you like. I add about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of onion powder to mine.

Mix the water, sugar and yeast together in a bowl. Let it sit until the yeast is foamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well until you have a soft dough (as usual, feel free to add more flour or water as needed). Knead on a lightly-floured surface until it's springy and elastic, anywhere from 5-10 minutes. Put the dough face-down in a lightly greased bowl, then flip it over on its back to grease both sides. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled in size.

Gently punch the extra air out of your dough. Now, it's time to put those childhood Playdough skills to work. Roll out the dough into a long "snake". Try to keep the width as even as possible. Then, cut it into 12 equal pieces with a knife. It's pretty simple to do: cut the snake in half, then cut each section in half, and keep halving the pieces until you have 12 of them.

Take each piece and roll it into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, squish the ball flat with the palm of your hand. Now, take your rolling pin and roll the dough into a circle about 6-8 inches in diameter. Leave the pitas covered with a dishtowel on lightly floured surface. Let them sit for about 20-30 minutes. They won't rise very noticeably, but they will become the very slightest bit puffy. While you're waiting, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Yup, I said 500 degrees.

It's best to bake your pitas on a wire rack of some kind. I use the cooling racks that I normally use for baking cookies. But if you don't have a rack, a cookie sheet will work.

Lay your pitas on the rack or cookie sheet. Don't panic if the edges kinda droop through the gaps in the rack, it's not a big deal. Slide the pitas into the oven, turn on the oven light, and pull up a chair to watch the show.

It will look like nothing is happening initially. Then, you'll see your pitas start to swell. They'll puff up enormously, like pillows. Take your pitas out of the oven when they're fully puffy and have a very light golden brown tint to them. This happens very quickly....pitas can be done in anywhere from 2-4 minutes. Don't dally about pulling them out of the oven when the color is right. An extra 30 seconds can be the difference between a perfect pita and a burnt one.

Your pitas will probably have a bit of a crunch to their crust, just like any other bread. Immediately put the hot pitas into a plastic freezer bag and close it. The hot pitas will generate a lot of steam. Let the pitas steam in the bag for anywhere from 5-10 minutes. The steaming process is what gives pita bread its trademark tenderness and chew. Take the pitas out of the bag once they're soft. If you leave them in the bag for a long time, they'll get soggy.

Let the pitas sit on the counter and cool completely before storing. You can cut them in half to make pita pockets, cut a slit on one edge to make stuffable whole pitas, or just serve them as is. The pitas keep a day or two at room temperature, about a week in the fridge, or for several months in the freezer.

For the steak:
1 to 1.5 lb steak. Cut doesn't really matter, I use whatever's on sale. Usually chuck or sirloin.
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tblsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 tblsp. chili powder
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 c. moijto

For the dressing:
1/2 c. mayonnaise
A few teaspoons of canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped

Other filling ingredients:
1 avocado, sliced
Jalapeno jack cheese, shredded
Fresh cilantro, chopped

Combine all the steak ingredients and let it marinate for at least 1-2 hours. Overnight is even better. Grill the steak to to the desired degree of doneness. I think medium/medium rare is perfect for this pita. Let the steak rest for 10-15 minutes, then slice as thinly as possible.

To make the chipotle mayo, mix the chopped chipotle peppers into the mayo. Do it one teaspoon at a time. Taste after each addition. Make it however spicy as you want.

Spread a bit of the mayo in each pita, then add steak, sliced avocado, cheese and cilantro. Serve warm.

Parmesan Pizza Crust

Homemade pizza is a lot of fun to make. There's something enjoyable about sprinkling on toppings, knowing you can pile on the cheese to your heart's content without having to pay an extra $1.95. The worst part about making homemade pizza is the smell. I don't mean it makes a stench...I mean that a baking pizza makes the most intoxicating, heavenly aroma in your oven, resulting in every member of the household hovering around the kitchen and asking "Is it done yet?"

This particular pizza crust isn't exactly traditional dough. It includes herbs, spices, and a generous amount of parmesan cheese mixed right in. If made in a pizza pan, this makes about a 14-16 inch pizza crust.

Pizza crust ingredients:

2 1/4 c. flour (approximate)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese. Nothing fresh or fancy; the grated powder right out of the can works best for this application.
1 packet dry yeast.
3/4 tsp. salt.
Pinch of sugar.
1/2 tsp. garlic powder.
1/2 tsp. onion powder.
1 tsp. dried oregano.
1 cup warm water
2 tblsp. oil/liquid fat. I think olive oil gives the best flavor, but you can also use melted butter or vegetable oil.

Start by putting warm water in a good-sized mixing bowl. The water should be slightly warm; just a bit warmer than body temp. Mix in your bit of sugar and packet of yeast, and let sit until the yeast is foamy. It takes maybe 3-5 minutes. Add the oil and mix a bit, then add your dry ingredients: flour, cheese, and seasonings.

So many times, I've seen the whole "pre-mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl" recommendation, both on TV cooking shows and in recipe books. I never do that. I hate doing dishes, and never saw the point of generating more dirty ones than I absolutely have to. I do something different. When you add dry ingredients to wet, they don't magically mix instantly. The dry ingredients sit in a mound on top of the wet ingredients until you stir them together. What I do is add the flour first, right on top of the wet ingredients. I add the herbs and other ingredients on top of the flour. Next, I give the mountain of dry ingredients a thorough tossing with my clean fingers -- being careful not to mix in any of the wet ingredients -- and call it blended. Then, I stir the wet and dry together. It's worked for me every time.

It should come together in a nice dough, soft but not sticky. Feel free to add more flour or water as needed. Breadmaking isn't an exact science. Then, it's time to knead. Turn out your pizza dough on a lightly floured surface. Never kneaded before? It's easy. With the palm of your hand, squish the dough down on the board, slightly flattening it. Grab the top half of the dough and flip it over the bottom half, folding the dough ball roughly in half. Don't worry about being exact or anything. Squish down again, mashing the two halves together. Then, rotate the dough a quarter-turn and repeat. Squish, fold, squish, turn, repeat. Every time you fold and squish the dough, you're working air into it and developing the gluten. This gives the finished products its final texture and flavor.

How long do you knead the dough? Well, it depends. It takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes of kneading. Don't worry about overworking dough when it comes to yeast bread. Bang it around, abuse it, take out your frustrations. It can take it, and it's all good in the end. You can tell by feel when your dough is ready. You know those dense, foam stress balls? The ones that are so soft and squishy, yet spring back once you release your grip on it? That's what your dough will feel like when it's ready to rise. It will be soft and smooth, and puff right back after you smoosh it.

Lightly grease the inside of a large bowl. I use those cooking sprays, but you can also rub a stick of butter on the inside of the bowl. Form your dough into a rough ball or mound. Put it face-down in the bowl, then flip it on its back. This lightly greases both sides of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and leave it on the counter to rise until it doubles its size. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours or more, depending on how warm your kitchen is. The warmer the temperature, the faster the dough rises.

When your dough has risen, take your fist and gently punch right in the middle of it. It should deflate as the extra air is punched out. Now it's ready to go in the pan. You can toss the dough around on your hands if you want, and that'll stretch it out pretty well. I, unfortunately, am not coordinated enough for that. I know, I've tried. Luckily, I find that grabbing and gently stretching the edges of the dough works just fine for klutzes like me. You can bake this pizza on a round pizza pan, or you can make it into a rectangular pizza and cook it on a cookie sheet. Be sure to grease the pan or cookie sheet first.

Once your dough is stretched out, it's time for toppings. Be as creative or as simple as you want. The only rule in pizza topping is to make sure that any meat ingredients...chicken, sausage, bacon or whatever....are fully-cooked before they go on your pizza. The pizza won't be in the oven long enough to cook raw meat thoroughly. Veggies, however, can go on raw without a problem. For pizza sauce, I find that the cheap, plain old spaghetti sauce out of the can works just fine for the purpose. Then I put on the cheese, and then the rest of the toppings. The pizza in the picture is topped with sauce, a mix of jalapeno jack and mozzarella cheese, chicken, black olives, mushrooms and onions.

Bake your pizza in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. It's done when the crust is lightly browned, and the cheese is melted and a bit bubbly.