Indian Red Beans

The onions are the key

This would be good with red lentils as well.

Baked Rajma

• 1 red onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 fresh green chile
• 1″ piece fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• ¼ tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp sea salt
•  28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups kidney beans soaked and cooked
• ½ tsp cayenne
• ¼ tsp garam masala
• ½ cup heavy cream 
• ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves

For the Pickle

• 3 tsp granulated sugar
• 3 tsp sea salt
• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Quarter the onion, then thinly slice one portion. Set aside sliced onion. Blend remaining onion with garlic, chile and ginger. Purée until fairly smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. In a large, deep ovenproof skillet, heat the oil over medium. Add the cumin seeds and cook until lightly toasted, about 30 seconds. Add the onion mixture and salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the excess liquid has evaporated and the mixture is just starting to take on a golden color, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the beans and chile powder to the onion mixture, and mix well. Use a fork to mash a tablespoon or so of the beans against the side of the skillet to help thicken the sauce. Add tomatoes and garam masala to the beans, and mix well. Drizzle the top with cream then slide into the oven and bake, uncovered, until the sauce has thickened and the top is lightly browned, 30 to 40 minutes without stirring. Prepare the pickle: While the beans are baking, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Transfer 3/4 cup hot water to a small bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt until dissolved. Add the reserved onion slices to the boiling water in the saucepan, turn off the heat and, after 1 minute, drain the onion. Transfer the softened onion to the small bowl and stir in the vinegar. When the beans are ready, fish out the pickled onion slices and arrange on top, letting a few drops of the pickling liquid flick over the beans to season them. Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot rice, buttered toast or flour tortillas.

Soy Sauce Eggs

Sunnyside up

This recipe is an adaptation of Momofuku’s eggs.

The cooking time must be followed exactly.

Fresh farm eggs give the best result.

Soy Sauce Eggs

• 6 tbsp hot water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup light soy sauce
• 1-2 tbsp sriracha or other pepper sauce
• 6 large eggs

 

In a bowl whisk together the water and sugar until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully put the eggs into the boiling water and cook for exactly 6 minutes and 50 seconds, stirring slowly for the first 1 1/2 minutes to distribute the heat evenly. Fill a large bowl with cold water and ice. When the eggs are done, transfer them to the ice. Once the eggs cool, peel them under water. Transfer the eggs to the soy sauce mixture and marinate in the fridge for at least 4, and up to 8, hours, making sure they are completely submerged. If necessary, top the eggs with a small plate to ensure submersion.

 

Fish Pepper Brine

Look at that oil working its way out

This is a basic brine for any firm flesh/low oil fish for smoking. This makes enough for about 1 lb of fish fillets. On how to smoke go here.

Basic Fish Brine

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 dried ancho chili
• 1 dried new mexican chili
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1 star anise
• 5-7 juniper berries

Put chilis and spices in a pot. Cover with boiling water and let stand until peppers are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove peppers and use in salsa or sauce for finished fish. Add sugar and salt and bring to a boil until dissolved. Cool completely then brine fish for at least 4 and up to 10 hours. Rinse fillets and air dry on rack.

Domino Potatoes

Imagine a mix between potato chips and fries

This is a great dish for a party or fancy meal. Serve them room temperature or reheat right before serving.

Domino Potatoes

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
• 3 1/2 pounds Idaho potatoes (4-6 large)
• 24 (about) fresh or dried bay leaves
• Kosher salt and fleur de sel

Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush a cast-iron griddle with melted butter. Peel potatoes and trim ends, don’t wash. Trim all 4 sides of potatoes to form a rectangle. Using a mandoline, cut potatoes crosswise into 1/8″ slices, keeping slices in stacks as best you can. Re-form slices from each potato into a stack. Place in prepared dish, fanning apart slightly like a deck of cards. Insert bay leaves between potato slices at even intervals. Brush with remaining butter and season with salt and pepper. Bake potatoes, rotating pan halfway through cooking, until the edges are crisp and golden and the centers are tender, about 1 hour.

Chicken Picatta

 

Chicken Picatta

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup semolina flour
• 1/2 cup mushrooms sliced thin
• 4 garlic cloves smashed
• ⅓ cup dry white wine
• 2 tbsp capers coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Chopped parsley

Butterfly chicken breasts into 4 cutlets and lightly pound each piece. Mix flours in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Working one at a time, place cutlets in bowl and toss to coat in flour. Knock off excess flour and transfer to a plate.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Brown cutlets on both sides about 2 minutes each and remove to a plate. Add garlic, mushrooms and another tbsp butter to the skillet and cook, stirring often and reducing heat if needed to keep garlic from scorching, until golden brown.  Add wine and capers and cook, swirling pan and scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of skillet. Return chicken to pan and simmer with lemon juice until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon, about 2 minutes. Serve with fresh chopped parsley and polenta.

Blueberry Lemon Scones

Gonna need two to go

Blueberry Lemon Scones

• 4 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. lemon zest, grated
• 1 cup + 1 T. unsalted butter, very cold
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add sugar, salt and lemon zest and stir to combine. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles pea sized lumps. Add the buttermilk all at once along with the blueberries and mix gently with a wooden spoon until the dough holds together. If the mixture seems dry, add a little bit more buttermilk. Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Divide the dough into two even portions. Using your hands, pat each portion into a circular disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Place on baking sheet, sprinkle top with sugar and cut each disk into 4 wedges but leave the disc together. Bake until golden brown on top and done in center about 30 minutes.

 

Crab Stuffed Portabellas

Yes that is pretty much just a big pile of crab

These work better as bite sized rather than eating with a fork and knife.

Use cremini caps.

Crab Stuffed Portabellas

• 2 Portabellas stems and gills chopped fine
• 1 stalk celery diced fine
• 2 cups cleaned crab
• 1/2 cup onion diced fine
• 1 pickled jalapeno diced fine
• 2 tbsp oregano chopped fine
• 1/4 cup romano grated fine
• 2-3 tbsp mayo
• 4-5 tbsp bread crumbs

Saute onion in butter over medium heat until golden. Saute mushrooms until browned, saute jalapeno until dried. Mix with remaining ingredients and scoop into mushroom caps. Bake at 370 degrees until done. Serve hot.

 

Ginger Snaps

So much sugar

These cookies are nice and moist in the center and crisp outside.

And they taste fantastic.

Ginger Snaps

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 cup sugar

In a large bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until blended. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; gradually add to brown sugar mixture a handful at a time and mix well (dough will be stiff). Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Shape dough into 1 in. balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes or until set. Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks.

Grape Currant Jelly

Perfect late night snack

Recently got a whole bunch of fresh grapes and currants. This is a jellied jam. The currant is pressed into a juice that jellies the grape jam and it’s tartness is a perfect match to the ripe table grapes.

It is pretty awesome.

To extract juice from fruit for every pound cleaned fruit mix with 2/3 cup water bring to a boil then simmer covered for 10 minutes then cool to room temperature. Strain juice through cheese cloth and let hang to drain. If pressed causes jelly to cloud. To form a jelly for every cup extracted liquid add 3/4 cup sugar and can like jam.

Grape Currant Jelly

• 9 cups halved ripe small grapes
• 2 cups extracted currant juice
• 5 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 Star Anise pods whole

Bring to a boil all ingredients and bring to a thermometer reading of 220 adjusting temperature to keep from boiling over. Makes roughly 4 jam jars.

Semolina Plum Coffee Cake

Any pattern works as long as it looks like this

This is a great coffee cake that takes advantage of fresh large plums.

Semolina Plum Cake

• 4 plums halved and pitted
• 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp semolina flour
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 13 tbsp butter room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• zest from 1 lemon
• 1/4-1/2 brown sugar
• Salt

Mix flours and baking powder with a pinch of salt. In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until golden and smooth. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat in scraping down sides each time. Add eggs and repeat for each. Add vanilla and lemon zest and repeat again. Add flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Spoon into a greased round cake pan. Press plums into batter skin side down and cover top with sprinkle of brown sugar and bake at 350 until done about 1 hour.