I got a new toy -- Pressure Cooker

I haven't done a lot of interesting cooking lately, been pretty busy. But for St. Patrick's I decided I wanted Corned Beef. My problem was that it was on a week night and takes about 3 hours to cook. I did cheat a little and picked up an already corned beef brisket, but I was still facing 3 hours of cooking time. So I broke down and bought a pressure cooker.

I went for a stove-top model rather than an electric one. I liked the idea that you could brown meat and saute other ingredients before popping in the meat and cooking it under pressure. So a nice 8 quart pressure cooker is now in my arsenal. So I did have my corned beef.

It worked well! Not perfectly, but that's more my fault being a first-time pressure cooker user, but it did work pretty well. I ended up with a nice corned beef dinner. Plus the left over corned beef was my breakfast this weekend. Cut up and rendered like bacon and mixed with some eggs and scrambled -- Yum! I didn't do anything special, just followed the package directions on the John Morrel Corned Beef. I have corned my own in the past and plan to do it again soon. Just didn't have the 10-14 days once I made up my mind.

I also did a Pot Roast on Saturday and it went pretty well also. A nice 3.5 lb bottom-round roast.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb Pot Roast (Bottom round worked well, plan to try a chuck roast next)
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
  
• 1 medium onion (finely diced)
  
• 2 celery stalks (finely diced)
• 2 medium carrots (finely diced)
• 1 cup of beef broth
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
  1/2 tsp of dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

Preparation:

• Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat in the pressure cooker.
• Brown the meat on all sides and remove.
• Toss in the carrots, celery, and onion and saute until softened.
• Add garlic, mustard, and paprika and bloom (heat until fragrant)
• Add broth, brown sugar, and vinegar and de-glaze the pan (scrape up any brown bits off the bottom). The liquid should come up about halfway up the meat. Add more broth/vinegar if needed.
• Return the meat and any juices.
• Put on the lid and cook at pressure for about 75 minutes.

Finish:

• Once the meat is done, remove from the pot. It should try and fall apart it it's done. If it still feels really firm, continue cooking for 15 more minutes. If you are doing nearer to a 4 lb roast you might have this problem.
• Cover the meat on a cutting board or plate. I usually use a plate to catch any liquids.
• Reduce the liquid in the pot by half. If the vegetables are still chunky, you can use a stick blender and reduce them. Personally I like the rustic chunks.
• Once reduced, add a tablespoon of unsalted butter and serve as an pan sauce. You can mix in some flour and make a pretty good gravy.
• I slice the pot roast into 1/4 inch slices and lay on a serving platter. You must use a very sharp knife or it will just fall to pieces.
  
• I put a little cooking liquid on the serving platter to warm it up before adding the sliced roast and top with a small amount of the reduced liquid.

Like I said it came out pretty well. Next time I'll be adding some root vegetables during the last 30 minutes of cooking. I didn't try it here mainly because I didn't have any potatoes and only had baby carrots left. I was worried about them coming apart in the cooker. So next time I'll be better prepared.

I served it with some potato salad (Roasted Potato Salad) and some corn. Not a bad late evening meal after a great day (Warm, sunny, light breezes -- best last Winter day we've had in a long time.)

Pork Tenderloins

I've tried a number of ways to cook up pork tenderloin and to often for no reason at all, they dry out. I've monitored time and temperature close, but all to often I get a dry, sort of tasteless meat. So I finally hit on a foolproof way -- braising. But not a long braise. I have done this in a crock pot and it works, but that takes 6-8 hours. Recently I had two tenderloins in the fridge and nothing else readily available. But I wanted to cook it in less than 40 minutes. So I decided to try something, and it worked well.

Ingredients:

• 2 Pork Tenderloins
• 3 cups of water (Other liquids can be used, but the first time I did this I used water.
• 3 Tbs Soy Sauce
• 1 Medium Onion
• Salt and Pepper

Prep and Cook:

• Open the tenderloins and rinse, pat dry.
• Trim the silver skin from the tenderloins
• Season well with salt and pepper on each side
• Slice onion in about 1/4 inch thick slices. Break up and salt and pepper them.
• Mix the water and soy sauce.
• Sear in a frying pan with a little oil about 43 minutes per side. You are after a nice brown crust.
• Add the onion and water mixture and cover
  
• Braise for 30 minutes -- this is not a boil, but more a simmer so watch the heat.
• Cook to about 155-160 internal temperature.
• Let rest for 5 minutes.
• While it's resting reserve a 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and strain the cooked onions from the liquid.
• Put a little cooking liquid on the serving platter. This helps warm the platter and also provides a little juice for the meat.
• Slice against the grain in about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick slices. Fan on the serving platter.
• Cover with about a 1/4 cup of cooking liquid and the cooked onions.
• Serve and enjoy

The addition of the cooking liquid doesn't do much to keep the meat moist. If it's not moist when you slice it, it's too late. The danger is overcooking. While you are braising, if you cook it to 180 or higher, it's going to be dry. if you find it that high, you do have an alternative. I'll discuss that in a moment.

You can use other liquid. I have done this with Chicken Stock and Apple Juice and like it. I have also use a number of spice mixtures, but found I like to keep it simple and the taste of the pork stands out. I've also used sliced apples instead of the onion, but you won't have anything left to spoon over the meat, the apples tend to break way down. What works well there it to reduce the cooking liquid into a pan sauce while the meat is resting. A little added butter and it's silky and smooth.

If you do find the braise heated the meat to 180 or over, you can save it, but it's not going to be quick. Take the pan and put it in a 225-250 degree oven. Let it continue to braise for about 90 minutes. The temperature of the meat actually goes above 200 and the meat shreds nice. It is a little dry, but it will taste well. Because this time while the meat is resting in a little of the braising liquid. Take the rest of the liquid and add chili powder (3 Tbs), Worcester Sauce (1 tsp), brown sugar (2 Tbs), garlic (1/2 tsp), powdered mustard (1/4 tsp) and whisk in while the liquid is reducing by about half. Yes, what you are making it a BBQ sauce. Shred the meat and put it back in the sauce. It sounds weird because a picnic shoulder would do this much better. But remember you are trying to save a dry tenderloin and this way works fairly well.

Korean/Chinese Mandoo

Last week my wife set up her jewelry kiosk in my office building, so we got to see each other more than usual. For lunch there are several places in my building, most pretty simple -- you know salads and sandwiches. One is a pretty good Chinese restaurant. Now I do like good Chinese food and the first time my building had a Chinese Buffet it was a disaster. Picture, if you would, a short line of various canned Chinese food in steamer trays. It was . . . . well . . . disgusting was the word that came to mind. It didn't last long!

A few years back a contractor came in and opened an actual Chinese lunch place. The menu has about 30 things, beef, chicken, pork and seafood and even a few vegetable dishes. Most are served with a side of rice, a fried honey chicken wing, and a Mandoo -- a Korean or Chinese fried dumpling. I had found myself partial to the Combination Rice, Sweet and Sour Pork, Chicken Lo-Mein, and Mongolian Beef. Since my wife also likes Chinese I introduced her to what is frequently her favorite, the Mongolian Beef. Surprising me, she loved the Mandoo. Her next day's lunch was an order of the Mandoo and a large iced tea.

So that got me thinking -- I know, dangerous -- why not try my hand at making them! So I did what I usually do and went digging for a recipe. I found one interesting on on Food Channel and another one a website I found through Google -- TasteMemories. At this point I'm not sure which one I will attempt, but both looked interesting. Food Channel looks easier, but TasteMemories looks much more flavorful. I'll let you know which I do on Saturday and how they turn out. If they are good I will post the recipe here, including any tweaks I might make :-) What I have loved about reading through the recipes, there isn't much you can't put into one of these dumplings and go wrong -- well I certainly hope not.

Did Chili again!

Ran the Chili recipe again, this time a double batch so I had some at home as well as taking in a small crock pot full for the office. An empty crock pot is a good sign!

Made a couple of small changes. Still use chuck roast meat, but I am not as happy with it's texture after 2 hours of cooking. It does fall apart nicely, but it still is a touch chewy. I am debating cutting into smaller pieces or braising the meat separately before building the chili itself. Still debating on that one. I do know I want the meat to be less chewy.

It also was a little on the thin side, sauce-wise. I used corn starch instead of corn muffin mix and I might not have used enough. It had a great taste, without the slight corn taste I get from the muffin mix. I might have to pick up some Masa Harina flour next time! That seemed to be the perfect thickening agent for chili, but I haven't found a small package. Five pounds of masa flour tends to go bad. Guess I might have to find another use for it. maybe homemade corn tortillas?

Gotta weekend coming up and might have a few inches of snow. So gotta think of a few new recipes, something nice and hearty. Maybe an Irish Stew one evening! Anyone have a good recipe?

Shrimp Scampi, I hope.

I would like to surprise my wife with a little Shrimp Scampi tomorrow night. Like most of the stuff I cook, I have never cooked shrimp outside of tossing some raw shrimp on a grill. So here is my plan:

I am going to start with a bag of pre-cooked shrimp. I know, it's cheating, but I want to concentrate on the butter-garlic sauce this time. Next time I'll try raw shrimp.

Following some advice, I picked up pre-cooked jumbo shrimp and made sure the only ingredient is Shrimp! I will defrost in some hot water for about 15 minutes before starting on the sauce.

The sauce, I was thinking about a verblanc sauce, but thought that might be too heavy, so I am going to simplify it down a bit. A stick of unsalted butter, melted, two minced garlic cloves sauteed for about a minute lightly. Then toss in the defrosted shrimp to heat through -- trying to be careful not to overcook it. A little lemon juice right at the end and a tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with either rice or angel hair pasta. So how do you think it sounds?

I'll give it a shot and see what happens. I know many scampi recipes also call for wine or vermouth, shallots or onion, and even Parmesan cheese. I am going to keep it pretty simple.

Skirt Steak tomorrow night

I didn't get a chance at the Chili Verde, no tomatillos. I guess they aren't in season, so I'll be patient. In the meantime anyone who want to share a recipe, please pass it on.

Since I am holding off on that, I am thinking of some Skirt Steak with a bit of Chimichurri Sauce. Here is a recipe I will try. I'll pick up the fresh herbs on the way home. It's courtesy of Michael Chiarello. I'll let you know how it turned out.

Chimichurri Sauce:

• 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I have seen a number of other recipes, including finely chopped onion, lime juice, green onions, even a mild pepper like a poblano. The first time with a recipe I usually stick to it and then mess with it the next time, especially if there seemed to be something missing. For some reason the onions seem like they would be a good fit, well we shall see. If I mix it up and it doesn't have the expected impact, I always have some yellow onion in the house :-)

The skirt steak will be pretty simple. I love it quick grilled on a hot grill pan with nothing but a little oil, salt, and pepper. Skirt steak cooks in a flash, so don't turn your back on it. Now some might suggest that Chimichurri is a bit overkill on skirt steak and that a bottle of A1 is all you need. Sorry, A1 is OK, but I think it's overkill on thin cut like a skirt. I prefer a sauce that will add it's own level of flavor and still allow the meat to shine. A1, , is good with a thick cut, like a sirloin, but for skirt it's like using a shotgun on a mosquito.

Santa must like to eat! (Chili Verde)

Let's see, Santa brings my wife, among other things, a new computer and a Blue-Ray DVD player. I get a new 9.5 quart enameled cast iron dutch oven and the full 10 years of America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. Around here, that's pretty normal. One year I got a wok and she got a CD player. So in my opinion, Santa must like to eat because I have new toys to play with in the kitchen! Chili Verde, here I come! Anyone have a great recipe?

Now before you start digging, I prefer the spicy New Mexico style of chili verde, at least I think I was in Albuquerque. We were traveling so much it might have been Tucson. No, I think it was Albuquerque. I am pretty sure that in New Mexico when asked if you want green or red, green is spicier than the red. in Arizona it was the opposite. Luckily I like spicy so when I got them confused I wasn't disappointed because while the red wasn't as spicy -- it was delicious. Now the poor Major I was traveling with . . . well let's just say he will never forget which is which!

So seriously, anyone have a really good recipe for spicy New Mexico-style Chili Verde? Here is a recipe I am thinking of scaling up, in volume and maybe in heat. I got it from the Food Channel, courtesy of Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger! Yea, the 'Too Hot Tamales' themselves!

Ingredients

• 4 pounds pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Flour for dredging
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 yellow onions
  
• 2 green bell peppers, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 Anaheim or Poblano chiles, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2-3 jalapenos, seeds removed, and finely chopped
  
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, roasted, peeled and chopped
  
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, crushed and soaked in a scant amount of water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, cleaned and chopped
• 4 cups chicken stock

Directions

• Season the pork meat generously with salt and pepper, lightly flour.
  
• Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat and brown pork chunks well in small batches, on all sides.
  
• Lift pork out of pan and place in a wide soup pot.
  
• Discard fat and place the onions and peppers in the same skillet and sweat over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until limp, about 5 minutes.
  
• Add all of the chiles and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more.
• Add the Sauteed vegetables, chopped tomatillos, dried herbs and cilantro to the meat, cover with the chicken stock and bring up to a boil and reduce to a slight simmer.
  
• Cook for 2-3 hours uncovered or until the pork is fork tender.