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By Sheriff, September 1, 2010 12:47 am

Best Burgers

Sam and I spent fifteen delicious days in Israel this July. Before we left we made three lists- people to see, things to do and places to eat – the last being arguably the most crucial. I was seriously excited about bringing Sam to my favorite burger spot in the Holy Land, Burgers Bar. The company which started as a one store deal on Rechov Shamai in Jerusalem, has exploded into multiple restaurants in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, including a coveted location in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. What used to be great about Burgers Bar was how homey it felt- fries were served out of newspaper cones and they dished out an astounding array of home made sauces/burger condiments. They have streamlined their branding now and you won’t find any more newsprint but their home made sauces are still just as good as I remember from the early days. I like my burgers there spicy, smothered in four out of the eight or so sauces. I always get a funny look when I place my order but when in Israel it’s important to be thick skinned. Sam and I actually made three trips to their various locations. Sam got on board with my favored sauce combo: pesto, garlic mayo, chimichurri plus BBQ. I forgo the techina, Dijon mustard, sweet and hot chili and Thousand Island.

So today I’ve got a few Burgers Bar inspired burgers to share with you and help satisfying my craving by making them at home. If you haven’t yet had a Golden West hamburger this summer you still have a short window to remedy that situation. And if you want to be able to say you had a great summer, remedy you must. In a blind taste test at our own mother – daughter burger cook off at my parents home in Upstate, NY several weeks ago the Golden West versions we’re the clear winners. These were just plain burgers we’re talking about. I could tell mine we’re going to win over my mother’s frozen ground beef from a NY area kosher butcher because the Golden West meat was still market fresh pink after being defrosted in the fridge and my mom’s was not.

There are a few tips I want to share with you before I delve into the recipes, which I hope will help make yours a better burger. The more you handle ground beef the tougher your burgers will get. So I recommend that you don’t mix them with seasoning, bread crumbs or eggs – you can sprinkle any seasoning on them after you gently shape them. Begin by dividing your one pound package of ground beef into four even pieces and gently pat them each to form a rough circle approximately 4 inches in diameter and 2 inches high. Now is when you can add your seasoning- definitely do the basic salt and pepper, then you can get creative with add-ons. Season both sides of the burger, let them rest in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes. You should cook the burgers over a medium high flame – either on a grill or in an iron cast skillet – and for no longer than 3-5 minutes on a side for a nice medium done burger. And if you’re feeling adventurous, you can make buns yourself in 20 minutes. They will taste infinitely better than what you buy in the store and will hold up much better to a juicy hamburger with lots of fixings. Always toast your bun, as it will help it hold up even more.

Below you will find a bunch of recipes to help you construct multiple burger experiences. First I’ll share the recipe I used to make the buns. Then you’ll read the basic burger recipe and I’ll share the recipes for some killer sauce combinations.

Hamburger Buns

For my first attempt at home made buns I used a recipe from the blog One Frugal Foodie. I found the sugar and yeast a bit too heavy so I have reduced them here.

1 tablespoon of yeast

1 cup warm water

1/2 tbsp of sugar

1 tsp salt

3.5 cups flour

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Pour the water into large bowl and sprinkle the yeast in the water and dissolve. Add the sugar and oil and stir. Let stand for 5 minutes.

The mixture will be bubbly. Add the egg, salt and flour. Knead the dough for about 3-5 minutes and break the dough into 7 pieces and form into 4 inch discs that are about 2 inches thick on a lined baking sheet. Cover with a dish towel and let rest for 5 minutes.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack, and then cut in half to toast and enjoy.

Basic Burger

1 lb ground beef, thawed in the refrigerator

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

If you will be grilling the burgers start the charcoals for the grill.

Divide the meat into four mounds. Don’t pack the burgers too tightly or roll them – that will make them rubbery. Instead pat them to form a rough circle- they don’t have to be perfectly smooth – they should be about 4 inches wide and 2 inches high. Season with salt and pepper on one side and then flip the burgers and season on the other side. Put the burgers into the refrigerator and make the sauce by whisking all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

For cooking on the Grill

Place the burgers over the hot coals. Heat for 3-5 minutes on each side depending on your personal doneness preference.

For cooking on a stove Top

Set a pan over a medium high flame and add a little olive oil to coat the pan. Let it start smoking a bit and then add the burgers to the skillet. Cook the burgers for 3 minutes and then flip them and cook for another 2 minutes.

Put the burgers on toasted buns with the sauce and condiments of your choosing. Enjoy asap.

Burgers with Pesto, Chimichurri, Spicy Mayo and BBQ Sauce

Basic Burger, recipe above

Home made buns, recipe above

Store bought BBQ sauce

Mayo:

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp Sriracha garlic chile paste

2 gloves of garlic

Pesto:

2 gloves of garlic

1 cup fresh basil

1/2 cup of pine nuts (or walnut, almond or pistachio)

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt

Pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

Chimichurri:

1 bunch flat parsley

1 tbsp cilantro

8 cloves garlic

Juice of half a lemon

1/3 c olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

In a medium sized bowl, mix the mayonnaise with the sriracha chile and crush in 2 cloves of the garlic. Stir well and set aside.

In a blender combine 2 cloves of garlic and the other pesto ingredients through the lemon juice. Give the blender a few pulses and then slowly add the oil whith the blender running. Add more oil if too thick and then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Mix all the chimichuri ingredients in a clean blender and pulse 6 times. Set aside.

Spread all the sauces, including the store bought BBQ, onto the toasted burger and bun and enjoy.

Basic Burgers with My Go-To Sauce

Sam and I learned this method from a Cook’s Illustrated Video

Homemade hamburger bun

Basic Burger

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp ketchup

1/2 tsp sweet pickle relish

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all of the ingredients into a bowl and top the burger and bun with the sauce.

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By Sheriff, August 10, 2010 10:49 am

I broke from my usual easy-only philosophy and used a total of three pots and one broiler pan to make this dish – not my typical style. I’m very into one-pot-wonders and don’t usually embark on a recipe that has too many steps. But I fell in love with the look of this recipe on the pages of Food and Wine magazine and I had to try it. Of course I cut a few corners, as is my style, but the long and messy process was worth it- probably the best meat I’ve eaten all summer- and my husband concurred. The jewel like blueberries were the hook, line and sinker. I’m a real fan of this antioxidant summertime fruit and am most often happy to gobble them up plain, but I am also known to throw them over yogurt and granola or a bowl of cereal, whip them into a chilly smoothie or bake them into an incredibly delicious biscuit topped pie. But never had I tried them on meat. Now, if you’re like my mother, you don’t like the sound of fruit with meat (you may even be hypocritical like her and enjoy Tajine but still claim to not like fruit with meat). But I’d urge you to still give the recipe a go since there is a definite savory note to the dish. Onions and sage are in the sauce and the ribs get coated with paprika, onion powder and pepper before being glazed.

In my dream world I would have picked the blueberries myself for this recipe, or even gotten them from my CSA. But alas, we only get one blueberry appearance in our CSA and that was enjoyed several weeks ago. It was actually one of the weeks when our neighbor Bruce asked us to pick up his CSA share for him to retrieve later from our place – and when I was packing up both of our bundles I noticed that his blueberries looked one notch more delectable than ours, as did his basil come to think of it, and I had a moment of moral back and forth. But in the end I was a trustworthy CSA member and I didn’t make any stealthy switches. If you were considering blueberry picking this summer go on and get out there- the season is coming to an end! I used to love blueberry picking in the summer at Grieg Farm in upstate NY, near where my family spent our summers. We would get a massive plastic bucket to fill with blueberries and I remember it taking a very long time for our blueberry pickings to reach the top of that bucket because I ate so many as we were still amongst the bushes. I took Sam to this blueberry farm two years ago on our first anniversary and turns out I haven’t grown up too much- I still like the habit of munching as I go.

No matter how you get your blueberries they are going to make the most wonderful sauce for some short ribs, so strap your aprons on, break out three pots and get your broiler going. In one pot you’ll mash the blueberries with water, in another you’ll mix water, sugar and lemon zest and in the third you’ll saute onions with garlic, olive oil, sage and vinegar. Then these three individual projects will come together to form a perfectly balanced sauce – the sugar giving the meat wonderfully crisp edges and the onion-sage bringing out the earthy flavor of the meat. I decided to serve up this perfect meat with some other wonderful summer produce and make a pareve corn bread. One friend from the South denies that a pareve corn bread could ever be qualified as good, but I’m going to try to get him a slice of the stuff that I whipped up because I think it will change his mind. You know the line from the song that goes like this – “I’m as corny as Kansas in August”? Well if you replaced the word ‘Kansas’ with ‘Gechter’s refrigerator’ you’d get the exact same sentiment. When we were visiting my parents place upstate the other weekend we brought home a bushel. That’s a huge sack of corn. Our fridge is still stuffed even after sharing some with our very lucky colleagues. Lucky because the Hudson Valley is famous for it’s incredible tasting, large-kerneled, butter and sugar corn. That’s the kind that is alternating yellow and white kernels and quite beautiful. Your life will change when you taste it- raw or cooked this stuff doesn’t need anything added to it to taste good. In the last week I’ve made countless corn on the cobs, a delicious corn and goat cheese salad, corn and onion fry as a side to grilled cheese sandwiches and corn and salmon salad wraps. The corn bread I made was really the perfect accompaniment to the blueberry glazed short ribs. It was an absolute revelry of summer flavors.

Blueberry Glazed Short Ribs

I adapted a recipe from Food and Wine Magazine for regular ribs. It worked wonderfully on short ribs and the recipe below cuts the prep and cooking time down to about an hour.

4 packages of Golden West shot ribs

pepper

paprika

onion powder

garlic powder

1 pint of blueberries, washed

1/2 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

2 sprigs of fresh (or dried) sage

1/4 cup of vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp lemon zest

Set the short ribs on a plate and sprinkle lightly and evenly with pepper, paprika, onion powder and garlic powder on one side. Set aside while you make the sauce.

The sauce is made in three parts, and in three separate pots. One pot will bring the blueberries together, another will make a sugar syrup and the third will make a savory onion sautee. At the end of the three step process, the contents of each of these pots will be combined to make the final sauce, which will go on the ribs.

In your first pot (a small one will do), combine the blueberries with 1/2 cup of water. Mash the blueberries with a potato masher or slotted spoon to combine with the water. Bring the crushed berries and water to a simmer and let it simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes. Then strain the blueberry water mixture through a fine mesh sieve over a bowl to catch all the solids in the sieve. Discard the solids and keep the blueberry water.

In the mean time start your second pot. This too can be small. Bring 1.5 cups of water mixed with 1 cup of sugar and lemon zest to a boil. Continue to boil until the mixture reaches 225 degrees – this should take about 10 minutes.

While the sugar water boils, start your third pot, this time using a medium-sized pot. Warm 2 tbsps of olive oil over a medium flame and then add the onion, garlic and sage. Let these soften for about 4 minutes while stirring. Add the vinegar and bring to a boil. Now it’s time to add the contents of the other two pots.

Make sure that the sugar water has reached the correct temperature. Then add the strained blueberry water and the sugar water to the onion, garlic and sage pot. Stir this all together and let it simmer over medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes.

Brush or spoon the final blueberry, onion, sugar sauce generously over the ribs. Put the ribs under the broiler for 10 minutes, turning once half way through, and then turn the broiler off and let them rest in the warm oven for 10 more minutes. Serve warm with more blueberry sauce spooned over the top or serve the blueberry sauce in a gravy boat on the side.

Corn Bread

This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light’s Annual Recipes 2004 Cook Book

1.5 cups flour

1.5 cups of cornmeal

1.5 tsp salt

1.5 tsp baking powder

5 ears of corn

1 and 1/4 cup of water

4 tbsp of pareve shortening (or oil) divided

2 eggs

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place a 9 inch round cast iron skillet into the oven.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder.

Shuck the 5 ears of corn and then cut off the tips of the ears. One by one balance the ear on the cut off ends and slide the knife down the sides of the cob to remove the corn kernels. After you have done this with each ear divide the corn kernels in half.

In a food processor, blend half the corn, 2 tbsp shortening, and water for a minute and a half. Add the eggs and process until combined. Add this wet mixture to the dry flour mixture.

Using an oven mitt pull the cast iron skillet out of the oven and add 2 tbsp of shortening and swirl while it melts to cover the bottom and sides of the skillet. Add the corn bread batter to the skillet. Bake for 25 minutes.

Serve warm.

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By Sheriff, August 3, 2010 2:37 am

Last Friday it smelled a little like Thanksgiving in our house. I know that’s a strange statement to make in the middle of July in humid Cambridge, but we were having special guests for the weekend and I wanted to pull out the best piece of meat I had in my freezer from Golden West Glatt. Since I was a little pipsqueek I have been best friends with Devo, and next month she is moving to Israel along with her two adorable kids and her husband. We all knew we needed to get in some time together before that departure date so we planned a big sleepover- the pull out couch, our neighbors’ air mattress and a pack’n’play were all set up – and the six of us had a wonderful few days together. The weekend featured a park outing, making and eating delicious food together, dinosaurs at a museum and dress up.

To our utter delight, Devo’s five-and-a-half-year-old daughter tried on half my jewelry collection and every single pair of my shoes. At one point during Shabbat lunch my entire shoe collection was on full display, stretching the width of our living room. It reminded me of my younger self parading around in my mom’s friends shoes like a veritable grown up. While Devo’s daughter is quite adventurous in the fashion department, she’s less so in the eating department. So she didn’t have any of the fragrant roast that all the adults had been lusting after – all the adults, that is, except for the three vegetarian guests who were at our Shabbat lunch table. For them I made a protein rich herbed bean salad with some of the bright green beans that came home in this week’s bag full of local organic produce from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Lucky for the non vegetarians they got to enjoy both and the beans went very nicely with the meat.

I think what made me get over my slightly unseasonal choice in roast preparation was that I was able to put the meat in my crock pot before going to work and Friday and just forget about it until serving it at Shabbat lunch the next day. That fit my lazy summer schedule just fine. The Thanksgiving smells that were swirling around the kitchen on Erev Shabbat can be attributed to the orange and cranberries that were simmering in the crockpot with the roast. I’m not entirely sure where this idea came to me from but it was a good one. The orange peels and dried cranberries gave the roast a light tangy sweet flavor, aided by some of the acidity in the tomato sauce. Whether you choose to try this dish in the summer or the winter it will be delicious. And I suggest arranging for a been salad to accompany it – the lavender in the Herbs de Provence gives it a delicate flavor that is a nice light note next to the meat.

Orange Cranberry Roast

3 lb Golden West Colorado Roast

¼ cup peppery spice rub (I use this)

1 onion, peeled and sliced into four

½ cup of dried cranberries

2 oranges, washed and sliced into four

¼ cup of tomato sauce

2 tbsp of brown sugar

Water

Pat the roast with some spice rub on both sides. Place the roast in a crock pot and nestle the onion and orange slices around it. Spoon the tomato sauce and the brown sugar over the top of the roast. Sprinkle the dried cranberries around the roast and then cover everything with water. Set to cook on low for 8-12 hours. You can keep it on warm for several hours after before you serve it for Shabbat lunch.

Remove the roast from the crockpot and let it rest on a cutting board for a few minutes. Slice the meat with a sharp knife against the grain and serve on a platter with the gravy on the side.

Herbs De Provonce Bean Salad

1 cup of dried mixed beans (like you would use for a chulent)

1 cup of green beans

Water

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp of vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

½ tbsp of Herbs de Provence (I use the Whole Foods brand)

Soak the dried beans in water overnight. This is a crucial step – don’t skip it or your beans will be hard.

Trim the green beans with a pair of scissors or a knife. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Immerse the cut green beans in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then remove with slotted spoon and submerge beans in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. The green beans should be bright green and still have a bit of a snap to them. When cooled, cut the green beans down to bite size pieces.

Add the mixed dried beans to the same pot of water, and add salt. Boil for 20 minutes and then drain the beans. When they have cooled, toss with the green beans and dress with vinegar, oil and Herbs de Provence. Refrigerate and serve cold.

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By Sheriff, July 12, 2010 11:07 am

Perfect for a dinner for two on a Sunday night.  Gather up the leftover vegetables in the fridge and throw them into the mix.  This versatile stew changes each time depending on what you have eaten the week before.  Here is one suggestion of  a vegetable combination, but the possibilities are endless.

Boston Brisket

Salt

Black pepper

Paprika

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Tbsp oil

1 onion chopped

1 parsnip peeled and chopped

2-3 carrots peeled and chopped

2-3 celery ribs chopped

3 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled an cubed

6 ounce can of tomato paste

2 cups stock (Any flavorful liquid will do)

1.Preheat oven to 370

2.Season Golden West Cattle Company’s succulent Boston Brisket with a little some salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder.

3.Heat oil in skillet and brown both sides of the Boston Brisket for 1-2 minutes each.

4.Remove meat and brown onion, parsnip, carrots, celery, and potatoes for 5-7 minutes until softened

5.Put Boston Brisket, vegetables, in an oven roasting bag, and place bag in a roasting pan.

6.Mix together the tomato paste and stock and pour over meat and veggies.

7.Seal bag.

8.Cook for 2 hours or until meat is nice and tender (you will know it is tender when you can stick a knife into it and remove the knife easily)

9.Slice meat and serve with veggies.

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By Sheriff, July 5, 2010 9:27 pm

I made a promise to you in my last post that I plan to make good on in this one.  The short ribs that I had made were a huge hit and there were only two small ribs left over from our Shabbat meal with friends, but when Sam and I wanted a little post-Shabbat snack that week I had an idea for how to stretch them into another meal for us. It’s funny that I have been cooking so much Asian food since I’m normally not a huge fan. Plus when asked at my bridal shower a few years ago, in one of those silly games you end up playing at those, where Sam and I most wanted to travel together I said- “Sam probably said China, and I haven’t told him yet that I have no interest in going.” Don’t worry we got that cleared up before the wedding and the truth is now I’d be more interested.

Anyway, back to the leftover ribs. Those two little ribs made quite the comeback in a Bimbimbap. I’ve never cooked or eaten Bimbimbap before but have been hearing about it in food magazines and podcasts and I wanted to give it a try. Not only because I love the way that the name sounds and the way my lips skip along the word, but also because it sounds like it was made for leftovers – some rice, some veggies and some protein. When I practically had all the ingredients on hand from our Shabbat leftovers I decided to give it a go. I didn’t really follow a recipe but tried to incorporate what I understood as the cornerstones of the dish – rice, cooked vegetables, meat and a fried egg. Into a pot went two servings of leftover rice and kimchee. We carefully cut up the leftover short rib meat into bite-sized strands and added them to the pot as well. In a frying pan I heated up some oil, cracked an egg and let it sizzle, just like I learned to do from the spilt milk podcast on fried eggs. Then I served up two heaping bowls for myself and Sam, bringing all of those ingredients together- the egg and meat on top of the warm rice and kimchee. For the finishing touch I mixed in some soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and hot sauce. Those seasonings are really a killer combination.

The dish was a perfect late night dinner. The textures of the rice and the cabbage, the egg and the meat, played so well together, giving my mouth a little surprise with every few bites. The rice was soft and expected, the veggies still had a bit of crunch, the meat was savory and the egg was rich tasting. Since this dish was such a hit, and since we still had some leftover rice and kimchee, I made another batch of Bimbimbap. I decided the dish needed more meat so I marinated some of the very thinly sliced pepper steaks I received from Golden West. I put them in a shallow bowl with soy sauce, garlic and scallions and an hour or so later, stuck them under the broiler. I sliced the cooked pepper steaks nice and thin and put them atop the bimbimbop along with whole the fried eggs. Yummy! We’ll definitely keep this dish coming back. And with it will probably be the “bim bim bim bim bim bam” refrain of the Hinay Matov song I have gotten stuck in my head that a kindergarten teacher used to sing to my class.

Pepper Steak and Vegetable Rice Bowl – Bimbimbap

Serves Two

1/4 cup and two splashes of soy sauce

2 diced scallions

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 cup of cooked white rice

1 cup of prepared kimchee (or use some thinly sliced, lightly sauteed vegetables)

2 eggs

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp of sesame oil, divided

2 tsbp of rice wine vinegar divided

1/2 tsp of hot sauce, divided

Marinate the steak in ¼ soy sauce, garlic and scallion for ½ an hour to an hour. Broil the meat for 5 minutes on each side, remove from the broiler and let it rest on a cutting board. Once it has cooled a bit, slice it against the grain in thin slices.

Heat the rice and kimchee in a medium pot over a low heat for 10 minutes with the lid on. Divide the warm rice and cabbage into two bowls.

In the mean time, in a medium sized frying pan add the oil and heat. Then crack two eggs and let them sizzle until the whites have firmed – about 3 minutes. To make sure the top isn’t too runny you can either cover the pan with a lid or do a quick flip of the egg right before you remove it from the frying pan.

Top the rice and kimchee with the steak slices and the eggs. Mix in a splash of soy sauce, the sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and hot sauce into each bowl. Enjoy warm.

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By Sheriff, June 25, 2010 5:55 pm

For some people, this week being the official beginning of summer, it might mean outdoor grill time. But for me, stuck in a city apartment with no legal outdoor space to BBQ, it means fantasizing about outdoors BBQing versus the reality of indoor broiler time. While having the broiler on makes my kitchen pretty hot, only ten minutes are needed to produce a nice flame licked taste. So if you’re lucky enough to have a BBQ you can flaunt it over me and adapt my recipes to your outdoor grill heaven. And if you don’t, well then we’re in the same boat and we can, in the words of Tim Gun – make it work. And I say we can still call it BBQed food.

In the last week I have turned our kitchen into a little Korean BBQ joint. I’ve only actually ever seen such BBQ joints on the pages of cooking magazines and various TV cooking shows, but I believe that the Asian flavors I’ve been cooking with could probably measure up. With the combination of bottled soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil with fresh garlic, ginger and scallions I’ve been throwing into dishes, I’ve  produced mouthwatering results.

I got the idea for this combo while researching ideas to cook up the Golden West short ribs that were recently shipped to me. I turned to my Jeff Nathan cookbook which I picked up for $3 at TJMaxx last year – best $3 I ever spent. Frankly, I don’t know how this book ended up on a discount rack. Nathan is the  chef at Abigail’s, one of my favorite Manhattan steak restaurants.  I can only dream about it now that I live in a city without any kosher steak houses. But I rather enjoyed the indulgence of the Bison steak that my dad treated me to there when I was in college. I actually fell in love with it. The cook book, however, makes the restaurant recipes easy and affordable for the home cook. The recipe in it for BBQ Korean Short Ribs with this spectacular marinade caught my eye and I knew I could cook them in my broiler.

These ribs turned out as tender as what they’re serving up in New York restaurants. I am continually impressed with Golden West’s meat cuts and have learned that the key to success with all meat is a good marinade. I first mixed up the Asian style marinade on Thursday night and let the ribs soak in the refrigerator for quite some time- until the following afternoon. You don’t have to let them sit that long, but if you do go for the lengthy soak be sure to flip them half way through the soaking time so they’re evenly saturated. The soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and scallions really worked their flavors into the morsels of meat on the bone. Broiling them for several minutes on each side only enhanced those flavors and in a few batches they were ready to be served to our guests, who were patiently waiting in the dining room, despite the alluring aromas and excitement going on in the kitchen. As the cook book suggested, I served the meat along with some steaming white rice and home-made cold kimchee, an Asian pickled cabbage dish.

Making kimchee is a newer endeavor for me but one I’m hooked on. I don’t do it old school style- there’s no burying an earthenware jug for years-on-end to ferment this stuff. The process is done in under an hour, start to finish – chop up some bok choy and napa cabbage, submerge it for half a minute in boiling water, drain well and then add some spices and cool. Soon after buying Nathan’s cookbook, I had a lot of bok choy on hand that I was trying to use up from our summer CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, it’s like a farm produce subscription, and in the summer we get a delivery of fruits and veggies each week). Boy did I stumbled across a winner! I find that it’s pickle-like-crunchiness has a great balance of sweet and savory flavors. It’s also got a spicy kick from some sriracha garlic and chile sauce that I throw in. It’s easy to vary the quantity that you make, and the longer it sits in the fridge after being cooked and dressed, the better it tastes (but after about a week you should finish it off).

Our well behaved guest were impressed with the trio on their plates – the rich brown ribs flecked with green slices of scallions laying next to a white bed of rice and a light green splay of kimchee. Their patience payed off as we ate the tender ribs, the meat easily came off the bones and we savored those flavors in our mouths. The saltiness of the ribs was balanced out by the neutrality of the rice along with the crunchy, juicy kimchee. If you don’t already have a lot of these Asian condiments at home I encourage you to go out and get some. You can use a number of them again for the next recipe I promise to share – I had so much fun with the leftovers (thought somehow there weren’t too many left over ribs)! The condiments are pretty easy to find with a hechsher in big supermarkets (you can actually find a good number of the ingredients at Trader Joe’s). For the Napa cabbage I go to Whole Foods or ask your grocer to carry it if they don’t already. The one up side of living pretty far from Abigail’s is that when I make Nathan’s recipes at home I get to re-imagine creative uses for the leftovers.

Asian Short Ribs with Rice and Kimchee

Adapted from Jeff Nathan’s Family Suppers: Bringing the Ones You Love to the Table

For the short Ribs

3/4 cup of soy sauce

3/4 cup of water

1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar (I buy the Trader Joe’s one)

2 tsbp of sesame oil

6 garlic cloves, crushed with a good quality garlic crusher

Pinch of ground black pepper

6 scallions, thinly sliced

6 lbs of short ribs

Mix all of the above, minus the ribs, in a measuring cup or small bowl. Place the short ribs in a glass or Pyrex baking dish and cover with the marinade. Let it sit overnight. Flip the ribs and let marinate another 4-7 hours. separate the ribs into batches of like-sizes – group the big ones with the big ones, medium with medium and small with small. Turn on the broiler. Start with the batch that has the smaller size ribs and cook for 4 minutes on each side. Next, cook the medium batch for 6 minutes on each side and then the large batch gets 7 minutes per side. Keep these in an oven at 150 degrees until you serve them.

For the Kimchee

1 head of bok choy

1 head of napa cabbage

2 tbsp salt

1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup of sugar

2 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp of srirachi garlic and chili sauce

3 tbsp of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

3 scallions chopped

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In the mean time, wash and coarsely chop the bok choy and napa cabbage. When the water has started to boil, submerge the bok choy and cabbage into the water and stir for 30 seconds until blanched and the color has brightened. Drain in a colander and run cold water over the leaves to stop the cooking process, until they are cool to the touch.

You now want to get as much of the water out of the leaves as possible. Start by squeezing them with your hands and then place a plate with some heavy cans on top of the leaves in the colander and weigh them down for an hour. Meanwhile, whisk the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl.

Return the large pot to medium hear and add the bok choy and cabbage leaves once they are finished draining. Pour in the dressing and swirl around for 1 minute, then remove from the heat. Cool to room temperature and serve, or serve cold right out the the fridge. The kimchee will keep for a week in the fridge.

For the Rice

1 cup of Basmati rice

2 cups of water

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar

Add the rice and water to a medium sauce pan, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it has reached a boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer or 20 minutes until the water has absorbed. Fluff with a fork and sprinkle with the rice wine vinegar. Serve warm with the kimchee and ribs.

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By Sheriff, June 14, 2010 2:36 pm

Slow-Cooker Chili

You have not tasted chili done right until you have used our Golden West Extra Lean Ground Beef.  Slow cooking it with the right flavors will fill your house with the scents of a Tex-Mex BBQ all day long.  Here is one variation of this versatile stew that will easily feed every one back on your ranch.  You can put it up in the morning and not worry about dinner for the rest of the day.

2lbs Golden West Extra Lean Ground Beef

2 large onions chopped

1 15 ounce can of drained and rinsed red kidney beans

1 15 ounce can of drained and rinsed black beans

1 medium sized sweet green pepper chopped

1 Jalapeño chopped with seeds and ribs removed

12 ounce can tomato paste

15 ounce can tomato sauce

5 cloves crushed garlic

(Depending on your slow cooker, you may need to add a cup or two of water. Others won’t require any)

1 tbsp yellow mustard

1 heaping tsp salt

1 heaping tsp black pepper

1 heaping tsp chili powder

1 heaping tsp cumin

Cayenne pepper for desired spiciness

A few dashes of Tabasco sauce

Directions

1. Brown Extra Lean Golden West Ground Beef and onions (no oil is necessary) together in a large skillet until meat is no longer pink. Add to slow cooker insert.

2.Add green pepper, jalapeño, kidney beans, black beans, tomato sauce and tomato paste and mix well.  (Add water id needed) 3. Add garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, Tabasco and mix well.

4. Set slow cooker on low for 8-9 hours or (or high for around 5 hours)

5. Garnish with some chopped cilantro and serve with tortilla chips.

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By Sheriff, June 9, 2010 1:46 am

I hear that my grandmother was a knockout cook – this was a lady who made her gefilte fish from carp in the bathtub, ground her own horseradish in the kitchen with a clamp-on-to-your-counter meat grinder, and whose chicken soup with heavy matzah balls were the talk of the town. But in her Philadelphia home in the 40s, 50s and 60s, she kept to more traditional recipes and ingredients. My parents on the other hand, are more adventurous, both in their travels and their cooking. While in their 30s they both traveled to Latin America, when flights were dirt cheap and there were many more unbeaten paths than there are now. They immersed themselves in foreign cultures for weeks and months at a time – meeting with locals and eating traditional cuisine. They brought back embroidered clothing, aromatic coffee, and a palate trained for new flavors. They cooked dishes for my brother and I growing up that introduced us to some amazing spices, flavors and dishes. The twists they added taught me how to be fearless and experimental in the kitchen. You almost certainly would never have found tropical ginger, chile or tamarind in my grandmother’s kitchen. But my father long ago updated his mother’s classic chicken soup with a twist of ginger that our family loves, and I can tell you that all three work really well in the update to traditional brisket below.

I first discovered tamarind, “a fruit in pod form,” on a family trip to Costa Rica nine years ago. In a craft store, some deep brown jewelry made out of thick shiny seeds caught my eye. Later in the fresh fruit and vegetable market I saw long brown pods of tamarind hanging in the stalls. I found out that the two products were related – the jewelry was made out of the tamarind seed. We bought some pods and I carefully ate the mouth-puckering sweet-and-sour tamarinds, saving the seeds in hopes of one day making them into necklaces and earrings myself. On a more recent trip, Sam and I enjoyed an amazing Tamarind Margarita on the beach in Mexico. Hands down it was the best thing we drank on that vacation. I attempted to recreate the drink for Sam’s birthday and bought a can of tamarind juice from a local supermarket. When I ended up with an extra can of juice from the birthday bartending, the idea for this brisket was born.

After I put the tamarind juice in the crock pot, covering another amazing looking Golden West Denver Deckle, (see the post on my first one below, from 5/25/10) I pulled some ginger out of the fridge, grated it all up and added that to the crock pot too. Now fresh ginger may look a bit freaky in the aisle of a supermarket, and you might not feel like taking it home to your kitchen, but if you haven’t already cozied up to this root, just try it once. You don’t have to take home a huge chunk – select a small to medium sized “branch,” which is what they look like, and don’t worry about leftovers. You can use it for stir-frys, soups (it’s great in carrot soups), salad dressings, in lemonade, and you can also peel and slice the leftovers and easily freeze them. A trick that I learned from my husband (who found the info on Cooks Illustrated) is to use the back of a metal spoon to peel ginger. It’s so much easier to get into the crevices of the ginger with a spoon than a peeler – genius!

I knew I wanted to add some heat to the brisket dish so I added some whole dried chiles by Badia. Truth be told, I have had a love-hate relationship with chiles since I was quite young. When I was three, I touched a particularly spicy chile on my dad’s plate and then rubbed my eyes. My eyes quickly swelled shut from the hot pepper oils, and my little fingers burned and throbbed, and I was very unhappy. Now I am much more careful when cutting fresh chiles. I have grown to love the flavor and heat of chiles, but they do still burn my tongue (and sometimes my tummy) so I try to go with the more gentle varieties. In this dish, using mild, dried chiles allowed me to avoid the dangerous task of touching and cutting the chiles, while still giving the dish a lot of flavor.

I have to boast and say that I am immensely proud of coming up with such a killer dish myself. The combination of tamarind, ginger and chillies really packed a flavor punch in this brisket.  A few hours later the rich smells were escaping the crock pot and when we served it to our guests on Shabbat, everyone was happy. Next time I make this dish, I may even spike it with a bit of Tequila. I’m also sharing the recipe from Sam’s birthday for the Tamarind Margaritas, which will pair nicely with the meat.

Tamarind, Ginger and Chile Brisket

3 lb Denver Deckle

1 Onion sliced into 1/2 inch slices

2 whole dried New Mexican Chiles

2 inches of fresh ginger

1 Bay Leaf

1 can of tamarind Juice

Water

2 garlic cloves, peeled

Place the meat into your slow cooker. Pour the Tamarind juice over the meat and then add water until the meat is covered. Add in the onions and bay leaf. Peel the ginger with the back of a spoon and then grate the ginger over the meat with a zester or grater. Place the chiles and garlic around the meat. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or more.

Remove from slow cooker. Cool and then slice against the grain (which means perpendicular to the lines of the meat). Serve or store in its juices and reheat it sliced. Great on sandwiches or as a main dish with a bright salad and roasted vegetables on the side.

Tamarind Margaritas

Serves 4

1 can of tamarind juice

4 ounces of tequila

8 limes, juiced

4 ounces of triple sec

10 ice cubes

Pour the tamarind juice into a large glass pitcher. Add the tequila, lime juice, and triple sec. Stir with a wooden spoon and add ice cubes. Serve immediately.

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By Sheriff, June 8, 2010 1:43 am

To cook the corned beef:

Let the all natural Angus beef start defrosting in your fridge the morning of the day before you want to cook it (if you plan on cooking on Thursday, take it out on Wednesday morning)

When it is cooking time, take it out of the plastic.

Fill a pot with enough water to cover the meat

Bring the water to a boil.

Once the water is boiling, add the corned beef and turn down the flame so that it continues to simmer.

Add 1/2 cup of sugar and some pickling spices.

Let it boil for 3 hours and then check with a fork to make sure it is soft enough.

You might need to let it boil for another 30 minutes.

Slice it when cool.

Enjoy and chow down

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By Sheriff, June 2, 2010 12:22 am

Sure, its great having Kosher certified meat delivered to your door, but there is so much more to Golden West Cattle Company beef than just its convenience.  One thing that makes our meat superb is how our cuts are marbled.  Marbling (or graining) is seen in the streaks of fat that run through our choice steaks and roasts. This is what makes them tender and delicious, since, as the meat cooks, the marbling dissolves into the texture of the meat, injecting it with bursts of rich flavor.

Broiling, roasting, and pan frying are the best ways to prepare our natural angus kosher cuts.  Our marbled meat is so flavorful that only a a few pinches of herbs and spices or a slight brush of sauce is necessary in its preparation.