AwesomeBites

Category: Omnivore’s Best

  • Beef and Broccoli Stirfry

    Beef and Broccoli Stirfry

    From the Christmas dinner  ribeye roast, I cut the ribs from the roast, removed the eye of the roast and what was left looked like a flank steak once I remove the extra fat.  I saved this flank piece of meat for later – this is later – and tied the eye back onto the ribs and cooked the roast for Christmas Eve dinner. 

    If you are planning on serving your stirfry with rice, start it now.  (See no fail rice.)

    Slice the flank steak against the grain into small 1/8th inch slices.  My roast yielded about 5 cups. 

    Oil for stirfrying.

    4 cups of broccoli flowerettes

    Mix the next five ingredients together for the sauce.

    1 cup teriyaki

    1/4 cup pepper jelly

    1 tsp hot mustard1

    1 tsp red pepper flakes

    3 T finely chopped scallions

    1 T corn starch and 1 cup water mix together

    salt and pepper to taste.

    Turn your wok on to heat while chopping the flank steak.  Prepare the teriyaki sauce

    and the thickening agent in separate bowls. 

    You are now ready.  Drizzle two Tablespoons of oil in the bottom of the wok and add 1/2 the beef.  Cook until almost done, remove from pan.  Cook other half of the beef until almost done and remove from pan.  Add broccoli to the wok and add a lid covering the broccoli, add about 1/4 cup of water. Allow to steam for 60 seconds, then stir.  When the broccoli is fork tender, add teriyaki mixture and finish cooking the broccoli, add the beef mixture allow to heat for 60 seconds.   If the teriyaki sauce needs thickening, add the corn starch, allow to cook until the broth is clear.  Salt and Pepper to taste.

    Remove from the heat.  Check your rice, when it is tender serve your meal.

    You can not order this meal and have it delivered quicker than cooking it yourself.  Enjoy.

  • Roast Beef – Beef Tenderloin, Sirloin, Ribeye, or New York Strip

    Roast Beef – Beef Tenderloin, Sirloin, Ribeye, or New York Strip

    I love prime rib, but you can easily use sirloin.  I remember reading in one of my cookbooks, if you want to cook better, start out by buying better quality food.   That holds true for a wonderful roast.  So, if you want to splurg, go with Beef Tenderloin.  Meat should be out of the refrigerator for 1 hour so it can be at room temperature before roasting.  Rinse it and trim as necessary.  Pat it dry with paper towels. 

    Trim of all fat and silverskin.

    Heat your oven to 500 degrees for 30 minutes. 

    Season the Prime Rib Roast with your favorite salt and pepper and garlic rub. I use a little olive oil and rub it on the meat, then use pat on your rub of salt pepper and garlic or use the mustard rub that follows. 

    LOW HEAT METHOD: Sear the meat on the stovetop prior to roasting in the oven.  Smear mustard rub over the meat and place on rack of roasting pan.  Reduce the heat in oven to 225 degrees.  Bake until temperature probe reads 135 degrees.  Turn down your oven to it’s lowest setting 140-200 degrees and keep warm until ready to serve.

    Slice into 1/4 inch slices or serve from the buffet line.

    Ribeye Roast

    HIGH HEAT METHOD:  Place the beef on rack of roasting pan in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes per pound at high heat.  For instance, after preheating your oven, a 3 pound roast should be at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.  Then, shut the oven off.  DON’T OPEN THE DOOR.  Let the oven slowly cool down for the next 90 minutes.  You meat should turn out medium rare in the middle and perfect to eat

    Mustard Rub:

    1/4 cup whole-grain mustard
    3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
    1 Tbs. dried savory, finely crumbled
    1 Tbs. dried thyme, finely crumbled
    1 whole filet of beef (7 to 8 lb. untrimmed or 5 to 6 lb. trimmed)
    Vegetable oil for sautéing
    Coarse salt
    Freshly ground black pepper

    In a small bowl, mix together the mustard, olive oil, savory, and thyme. 

    Cut the filet in half to make two equal pieces about 7 inches long. You’ll have one piece with the broad double-pieced butt portion and a thinner piece that tapers to a small tip. Tuck the tapered tip under and tie with twine to fashion two equally thick roasts. Tie each roast at 2-inch intervals.Heat the oven to 450°F. Heat a heavy-duty roasting pan or large Dutch oven or skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in enough vegetable oil to just cover the bottom of the pan. Pat the filets dry, salt them generously, and lay them in the pan; cook without disturbing them until the bottoms are a rich brown. Turn the beef and sear the other sides. It will take about 4 min. per side (there are three or four sides per roast) to get a good sear.

    When the filets are seared, transfer them to a cutting board, brush them with the mustard and herb mix, and then generously grind fresh pepper over them. Put a rack in the roasting pan, lay the meat on the rack, and roast until the internal temperature reaches 120°F for medium rare, about 20 min. (Check after 15 min.; roasting time will vary depending on searing time.) Remove the filets from the oven and let them rest in a warm spot for at least 15 min. before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

  • Chicken Parmigiano

    Chicken Parmigiano

    “I feel like Italian food tonight.”  This is one of those quick dinners you can make in 30 minutes.  If you are going to serve with pasta or rice, get those started, then move on to pounding your chicken breasts.  Turn the oven on to preheat at 350. 

    3 tablespoons olive oil

    3 eggs beaten

    Panko Bread Crumbs

    Season with ground rosemary, salt, pepper

    1 1/2 cups Tomato Sauce or marinara sauce.

    1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella or pepper jack

    16 teaspoons grated Parmesan.

    Pound your skinless chicken breasts into filets. Use a mallet and a ziplock bag to minimize the mess. Pounding the chicken breast, you are trying to get a uniform thickness of about 3/8’s of an inch so the chicken cooks evenly.

    Dip the chicken in beaten egg, and then the seasoned panko breadcrumbs.

    Brown the chicken filets in olive oil, about 3 minutes per side.

    Place on a baking sheet, and spoon over the top a couple of tablespoons of marinara sauce.  Top with your cheeses and then bake the browned filets for about 10 minutes in the oven until they reach 160 degrees on your instant read thermometer. 

  • Turkey en Croute

    Turkey en Croute

     

    Puff Pastry 6 sheets (3 frozen packs)
    Egg wash

    Whole Turkey
    Salt & Pepper
    Rosemary

    Whole Garlic

    2 lemons cut into wedges

    Oven proof tray just large enough to hold the bird. I prefer an oval stainless serving platter.

    Wash turkey.
    Season with herbs, salt and pepper.  Place a handful of garlic and the lemon slices

    into the cavity of the bird.

    Bake according to package directions for unstuffed bird.

    45 minutes before bird is done, prepare your puff pastry.
    Use 4 sheets and seam together using egg wash and a fork.  I hide these seams using braids I make from the remaining sheets of puff pastry. 
    Make braids, leaves, or bows.

    As soon as your puff pastry is ready, remove bird from oven. 

    Remove the bird from the original roasting pan and place on a smaller oven proof serving tray. I use an oval stainless tray.  This gives the puff pastry a nice shape.
    Seal the puff pastry around the oven proof serving tray.

    Brush the egg wash all over the pastry so it will brown evenly.  Quickly get the bird back into the oven because the heat from the bird will start to cook the pastry and make it slide off the bird if you are not fast.

    When placing the puff pastry covered bird back into the oven, if you are using the bottom rack, place a cookie sheet down first to keep the puff pastry from getting too close to the flame or heat element, you could burn it.  

    When the puff pastry is nicely brown, the turkey is done, appoximately 45-60 minutes.

    Remove from oven and place tray onto a larger serving tray and garnish with roast garlic and vegetables or parsley or oranges and rosemary sprigs.

    Ask one of your guests to carve the turkey for you. 

  • Gourmet Smoked Turkey or Chicken Salad

    Gourmet Smoked Turkey or Chicken Salad

    Years ago, I tasted this smoked turkey salad.  At the time, I made a mental note that I had to make my own version. It was so delicious.  I happen to love chicken or turkey salad, but this one has a surprise.  The smokey-ness.  It pops it into a gourmet category, and yet it is still so simple to make.

    Gourmet Smoked Turkey Salad

    I like to use left over turkey breast meat.  I cube the meat, making sure to remove any skin. 

    You do not need to measure for this recipe, but I will give them to you anyway. 

    1 cup cubed turkey breast meat (you can always substitute chicken)

    1/4 cup celery and/or white onion (optional)

    1/4 cup seedless grapes (optional)

    1/4 cup mayonaise – Best Foods is my favorite.

    1 tsp dijon mustard

    1/2 tsp Hickory Smoke Flavoring

    1/2 cup Pecans or Walnuts (optional)

    1/2 cup apples – cubed

    Mix together and salt and pepper to taste.

    Serve on toasted sour dough bread or with saltine or Ritz crackers.

    Do you want to make it richer? Try adding some cubed apple and toasted pecans or walnuts.  You end up with a smoked turkey waldorf salad.  Put that on your buffet table!

  • Polish Sausage, Peppers and Onions Sandwich

    Polish Sausage, Peppers and Onions Sandwich

    Onions, Peppers and Sausage – Oh My!

    1 Onion sliced

    2 Bell Peppers – I like two different colors like yellow and red

    1 polish sausage – Kilbasa  – sliced

    ½ tsp red pepper flakes

    ½ cup grated cheese – matzarella or your favorite mixture

    Onion roll, or sesame seed roll.

    Dijon Mustard

    Carmelize the onions and bell peppers, add the sausage and let warm.  Salt and pepper to taste.

    Spread your bread roll with mustard and top with a bit of grated cheese.

    Spoon onion, peppers and sausage mixture over cheese. 

    Top the a warm sausage with more cheese.  It will melt from the sausage.

    Satisfying, very tasty.

    Polish Sausage, Peppers and Onions Sandwich
  • Roast Turkey – It is not just for Thanksgiving!!

    Roast Turkey – It is not just for Thanksgiving!!

    It is nearing Thanksgiving and once again I overhear people nervously confess they have never cooked a turkey.  Their concerns?  It will be dry, or worse yet not cooked. Stop over thinking it.  

    I love turkey sandwiches and while at Costco yesterday, I was going to buy some sliced turkey, but wow, for the price I could purchase a whole turkey – so I did. 

    I’ve been roasting turkey since I was a teenager. My parents divorced and to help my Dad, I was in the kitchen.  I loved those days of making the dressing while the turkey was in the oven.   Cook with your kids, they will remember it forever. I have wonderful memories of meal times, large table, big platters of food, the unbelievable smells and of course many smiling faces chatting around the table.

    Turn the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the bird, I always figure if I am going to cook a turkey, I like the largest turkey that will fit in the oven.  One year I purchased a 26 going on 27 pounds. Well, that was a bit big.  I actually had a hard time fitting it in my pan, my oven, and it was very difficult to hoist into and out of the oven.  Stick with what you can lift, but don’t buy anything less than 12 pounds.

    You may think that is a lot of turkey, but with sandwiches and the freezer being nearby, just cook the whole turkey.

    This fresh young turkey – that’s what it said on the package – is a little over 19 pounds.  I brought it home, washed the outside and inside out removing those extra parts.  You know there is a big resurgance in using the internal organs, but I just toss them.  I keep the neck and carcass and freeze in a ziplock until I am ready to make soup. 

    For you, my friend Denise, take that plastic thing out of the turkey.  And, there can be extra stuff in the neck as well as the body cavity. You need to do a full body search removing everything, then was the turkey inside and out, and then you are  ready for the next step.

    Pat the turkey dry and set it on you roasting pan.   At the moment it should look very, very white.  Soon to be gorgeous and irresistable.  Notice: I didn’t brine it or go thru any other work. I don’t think turkey needs to be brined and I am not going to baste it either. The oven is my friend and it should be yours too! 

    Using olive oil I rub the turkey all over and sprinkle salt and pepper liberally over the turkey.

    At this point, you can add rosemary or thyme.  But, it is not necessary. 

    Using aluminum foil, cover the entire bird. Crinkle it up, sealing the tent around the roasting pan.  If your foil is smaller then the pan, put two pieces of foil together and seal it up.   Put it into your 350 degree oven. 

    My 19 pounder took about 3.5 hours to cook.  One hour before the turkey is scheduled to be done, take off the tent and place it back into the oven for the remaining hour.  Your turkey will brown nicely over the next hour.

    Remove from the oven and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.  (I use my foil again to cover the turkey loosely.)

    Hot Turkey Croissant Sandwich anyone?

  • Roast Chicken

    Roast Chicken

    A chicken in every oven. Why? So you can make enchiladas tomorrow.

    Buy the biggest chickens for roasting as you can.  6 pounds would be perfection, but usually you’re lucky if you can find them over 3

    pounds.  It is nice to buy organic, and yet it’ll cost ya. 

    Wash inside and out removing the internal stuff.

    Pat dry and using your favorite dry rub and or herbs go to town. Start first by rubbing with a bit of olive oil.

    Bake for 1 hour at 400 degrees.

    Roast Chicken Breasst and Potao Wedge
  • 14 Carrot Braised Pork Shoulder with Apple Gravy and Pulled BBQ Pork

    14 Carrot Braised Pork Shoulder with Apple Gravy and Pulled BBQ Pork

    Two Amazing Dinners with minimal effort.

    2 Pork Shoulders, the package from Costco is perfect.

    Pork Roast Apples, Onions and Carrots

    2 Onions sliced

    1 Celery Stock

    14 Carrots

     Potatoes cut in quarters (Optional)

     Turnips (Optional)

     1 cup Apple Juice

     1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

     4 cups of water

     Rinse the meat and fit in a large braising pan. Add the vegetables along the sides.  Add the liquids.  Put the top on your pan. Bake in the oven for 6 hours at 350 degrees. I put this in the oven before leaving for work and have my hubby shut off the oven during his lunch.  Careful, he may just have an early snack!  You want to keep liquid in the pot for proper braising.  Yes, you can do this in a crockpot, but I like the flavor better from the oven. Who would have thunk it.

    Braised Pork Shoulder

    When you remove from the oven, set aside the meat under a piece of foil to keep warm.  In a frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and add 1/4 cup of flour and brown the flour.  Ladle the braising liquid over the golden brown flour, add salt and pepper to taste.  You may want to strain the gavy f you want it to look polished. Otherwise, if you are okay with the rustic coutry look, go with it.  Plate by floating the gravy on the dish, add a sliced piece of pork, alongside add the potatoes, carrots and carmelized onions.

     If you are a mashed pototoes kinda person, you can go with that as well. 

     So very yummy.

     With the remaining pork roast or left overs, pull the pork with a fork and it will shred apart.  Add your favorite BBQ sauce, go easy. No too much, just enough to flavor the meat.

    Pulled Pork Anyone?

    Serve with Coleslaw and toasted buns.  Excellent.

  • Grilled Chicken Meatballs – Yakitori

    Place three meatballs on a scewer and barbecue on the grill.  Serve with dipping sauce and a nice green salad. 

    Recipe: Grilled Chicken Meat Balls (Yakitori)

    Ingredients:

    11 oz skinless chicken (minced)
    2 eggs
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 teaspoons plain (all-purpose) flour
    2 teaspoons corn starch
    6 tablespoons dried bread crumbs
    2 inches fresh ginger root (grated)
    Bamboo skewers

    For the “tare” yakitori sauce:

    4 tablespoons sake
    5 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
    1 tablespoon mirin
    1 tablespoon sugar
    1/2 teaspoon corn starch blended with 1 teaspoon water

    Method:

    1. Put all the ingredients for the chicken balls (except the ginger) in a food processor and blend well.
    2. Wet your hands and scoop about a tablespoonful of the mixture into your palm. Shape it into a small ball about half the size of a golf ball.
    3. Squeeze the juice from the grated ginger into a small mixing bowl. Discard the pulp.
    4. Add the ginger juice to a small pan of boiling water. Add the chicken balls and boil for about 7 minutes, or until the color of the meat changes and the balls float to the surface. Scoop out and drain on a plate covered with paper towels.
    5. In a small pan, mix all the ingredients for the yakitori sauce, except for the corn starch solution. Bring the mixture to boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sauce slightly reduced. Add the corn starch solution and stir until the sauce is thickened. Transfer to a small bowl.
    6. Thread 3-4 balls on to each bamboo skewer. Grill the skewers with an indoor grill or broiler or on a barbeque (preferred). Brush them with the yakitori sauce and turn the skewers frequently until the balls turn brown.
    7. Serve hot and sprinkle with shichimi togarashi (Japanese chile powder with sesame seeds) and some yakitori sauce if you like.