Brooklyn Forager

Spring may be peeking demurely around the corner in Brooklyn, but not too long ago, we seemed to be getting the Blizzard of the Year weekly.  To prepare for the most recent of those storms, I turned to the crockpot to keep us warm and fed during the blizzard days and the cold ones that followed.  Particularly, beef stew.  I have loved beef stew since I was a little girl, especially my grandmother's which I used to request as a birthday dish, even in May (the rest of my family fired up the grill....I guess I wasn't so seasonal then!).

This time around, I thought I would try to create a new twist, yet another attempt to bring one of my more simply flavored family dishes into my husband's stomach which, as is by now well documented here, craves Asian flavors.  In the cold weather, I also like some extra spice and so the Red Curry Beef Stew was born. 

With some lovely local red creamer potatoes, frozen green beans, and a zucchini just screaming for use, the dish came together in the crockpot quickly and allowed me to stare at the snow for the afternoon.  I've always got at least one or two cans of coconut milk and various jars of curry paste or bean paste around to make a quick basic coconut curry.  With all of the vegetables, it really is a one dish meal, but a green salad could lend some crunch and freshness to the meal if you so desire.  Feel free to experiment with the vegetables as well - the onions are really the only must here because they really add a lot of nice flavor. 

Red Curry Beef Stew

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 2.5 lbs cubed sirloin tips (or any stew meat)
• 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1 lb. red creamer potatoes, cut into chunks or left whole if small enough
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 2-4 tbsp. red curry paste (I like 4, but 2 gives good flavor without too much kick)
• 2 hot chilis, sliced (optional, remove seeds for lighter spice and omit entirely if desired)
• 3 tbps fish sauce
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 1-2 cups green beans, fresh or frozen (no need to defrost if frozen)
• 1 zucchini, cut into half moon slices

1. Heat olive oil in saute pan.  Add beef cubes and brown on at least two sides. 
2. Layer onions, beef, chilis and potatoes in crockpot (mine is about 3 quarts).
3. Mix coconut milk, curry paste, sugar and fish sauce well in a bowl.  Pour mixture over crockpot ingredients.
4. Turn on low for 7-8 hours.
5. Add beans and zucchini in last 30 minutes of cooking.
6. Serve with rice or noodles.

I've been doing a lot of indulgent cooking, but I have strayed from my commitment to indulgently healthy cooking.  I don't think those two have to be mutually exclusive.  I also generally disagree with the movement to use food-like substances to recreate indulgent favorites as lower calorie meals.  Enter Clean Eating.  I love this magazine.  I love what they stand for.  I have committed myself to turn to it more often this year for specific recipes and to reinforce the Clean Eating philosophy whenever I cook.

This week, I made the Shepherd's Pie from the Comfort Food issue.  I made it somewhat less healthy by using 85/15 organic grass-fed beef instead of ground turkey, but I've been craving beef recently so I went with it.  I also substituted butternut squash for the carrots because I had some extra squash to use up. Finally, I upped the garlic because rarely does a recipe meet my hands without some extra garlic thrown in to the mix.

In general, I really liked this recipe.  It was filling and comforting and still tasted clean.  My husband made his usual critique - it would taste better with curry powder or Asian spices of some kind.  It is not spicy, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have nice flavor.  I may try an Asian-inspired version to complement my meat loaf one of these days, but for now, this recipe will do.

 Clean Eating Shepherd's Pie  with Buttermilk-Chive Mashed Potato Crust (adapted from Clean Eating Magazine)

• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, whole, plus 1 clove garlic minced, divided
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil, to taste
• 1 lb organic grass-fed ground beef (or lean ground turkey breast)
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 butternut squash, chopped (or 3 medium carrots, halved and sliced into half moons)
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3/4 cup frozen peas

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Bring potatoes and whole garlic cloves to boil in a pot of water set over high heat. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well.  Mash potatoes and garlic with a potato masher (or your favorite mashing device) until smooth.  Add buttermilk and chives and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Set aside.
3. While water is boiling, heat 1 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add beef or turkey and cook, stirring often and breaking meat into small pieces with wooden spoon.  Cook until just done, about 8 minutes. Drain and discard fat, set aside.
4. Heat 2 tsp oil in same skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, squash, celery and rosemary and cook until soft, stirring occasionally.  Add reserved meat, broth and tomato paste and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas.
5. Transfer mixgture to a shallow 2-quart baking dish and cover with mashed potatoes in an even layer.  Run a fork over top of mashed potatoes in both directions or swirl with the back of a spoon.  Brush top with remaining 1 tsp oilve oil.
6. Bake in oven until filling is bubbling and top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

 

In lieu of resolutions, I've made a list of things I'd like to get done over a longer period of time than just 2010.  It allows me to dream a little bit bigger and think a bit outside of the box.  Two such goals, however, stick pretty close to come.  I'd like to keep trying new recipes to work through the mountain that I amass througout the year and to use the crockpot more since a busy schedule can sometimes thwart the original goal.

Over the New Years weekend, I got a good start on both.  Over at The Smitten Kitchen, I found a recipe for a Southwestern Pulled Beef Brisket which was the perfect creation for a lazy sunday.  I braved the harsh cold on the coldest day of the winter so far to procure 3.5lbs of beef brisket from Trader Joe's.  I'll spare the discourse on where meat comes from, but needless to say, I'm putting mroe faith in TJ's than I normally would for the sake of convenience once again. 

My wise auntie MJ told me that crockpot recipes actually fare best when more prep is done before the meal.  I completely agree.  The fix-it-and-forget-it part of the crockpot really just allows you to timeshift the work, and as with any good meal, a little advance prep can go a long way.  This recipe isn't terribly prep heavy, but the little things that are required make a big difference.

First, I seared the meat for about 5 minutes per side in just a bit of good olive oil.  Then, to the drippings, I added 6 smashed garlic cloves and one onion, sliced thin.  Once this got fragrant, I added a good dose of chili powder, ground coriander and cumin.  The fragrance just gets better! Next, I added the apple cider vinegar.  Smitten Kitchen warns to keep your nose out of the vinegar, but I have this weird vinegar love and so, for me alone, this again took everything a step up.  A little water added makes this concoction ready for pouring over the beef which is nestled in its little pot.

To this, I added about 6 ounces worth of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  Note this amount.  The recipe recommends 1-2 cans of chipotle peppers.  I found in my local grocery store that there are the 12 ounce cans which I buy and then some smaller value.  I believe the estimate in this recipe is thinking about the smaller cans.  6 ounces gave the recipe a lot of kick.  Not too hot and very enjoyable, but not for the faint of heart. We like spice here in Brooklyn.

The recipe also calls for whole tomatoes with which I substituted crushed tomatoes in puree. I don't think it made a significant difference and that's what I had lying around the pantry.  Finally, a bit of molasses is thrown in the pot as well.  I don't think it needs to be mixed because the heat and the bubbling make the sauce for you, but I did mix things up a bit just to make sure all of the great flavors got near the beef.

After 9 hours on low heat, the brisket fell apart at the touch of a fork.  The heat was gorgeous with a hint of sweetness and a bit of spice.  I served the sandwiches on whole wheat buns with a side of broccoli slaw (yes, TJ's came through once again with a pre-cut slaw mix jazzed up by me - recipe below).  Delicious and a great way to heat up a very cold night!

Broccoli Slaw

• 2 cups shredded broccoli slaw mix (found at Trader Joe's - made with stems and carrots)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped scallions, white and green parts
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Combine.  Toss.  Taste (the measurements are inexact since I dashed a bit of everything). Adjust. Serve. 

Can something really be Thai and meat loaf at the same time? I might have argued against this proposition at an earlier time, but with a little creativity and a Tim Gunn "make it work" attitude, anything can be done!

The inspiration for this little adventure came from my husband's response to 75% of the American or Northern European dishes that I make - this is good...but I bet it would be better with Asian flavors. While I don't always agree (just as good maybe...but different), I thought I would indulge him this time around which also gave me a chance to play with food. Always fun.

I combined my traditional turkey meat loaf recipe from the Barefoot Contessa with one I found for mini meat loaves on Cooking Light (check reference). From there, I went wild. Rather than Ina Garten's onions with worcestershire and thyme, I sauteed garlic and onions in olive oil with a dash of fish sauce, oyster sauce and lemongrass.

The next step was how to handle the ketchup. It can't be meat loaf without the ketchup, but how Asian is that? Herein lies the genius of my recipe. I replaced a small portion of the ketchup with Thai red curry paste. Some of the ketchup mixture gets combined with the meat and some is spread on top as in a traditional meatloaf.  I combined the onion mixture, the ketchup mixture and panko breadcrumbs to keep with the theme.  I separated the meatloaf into four mini loaves and baked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

At the end of the day, this was a great experiment.  The flavors were fabulous and it was a great twist on an old classic.  The downside is that the flavors did overpower the really great grass fed organic beef which we've started using.  I know meat loaf was practically designed to make less lovely ground beef more lovely, but that's something to work with along the way.  I might temper the curry flavors a bit the next time around and would definitely keep the flavor levels for a ground turkey version, but here's the basic recipe:

 

Thai-inspired Red Curry Mini Meat Loaves

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste
• 1 pound ground sirloin (preferably grass-fed, organic, local)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup sliced leeks (white and light green parts)
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon lemongrass
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 large egg lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onions and leeks until soft and fragrant.  Add lemongrass, oyster sauce and fish sauce and continue to saute for another 3-5 minutes. 
3. Combine ketchup and curry paste, stirring well with a whisk.  Reserve 2 1/2 tablespoons ketchup mixture.
4. Combine remaining ketchup mixture with beef, onion mixture, salt and pepper, bread crumbs and egg. 
5. Divide beef mixture into 4 equal portions.  Shape each portion into a 4x2 1/2-inch loaf.  Place loaves on a jelly roll pan lighly coated with cooking spray. 
6. Spread reserved ketchup mixture evenly over each loaf.  Bake for 25 minutes or until done.
7. Enjoy!