Slow Cooker Red Curry Beef Pot Roast – Teaching Old Meat New Tricks

When shopping, I like to take a quick peek at the end of the meat case where they sometimes have marked-down cuts that are past their prime. I usually stay away from the smaller, thinner pieces, as they tend to go bad faster, but once in a while I’ll find a big roast, like the one that inspired this delicious red beef curry; and as the old saying goes, the only thing better than a 3-pound chuck roast, is a half-priced, 3-pound chuck roast.

By the way, this “Reduced for Quick Sale” meat is generally fine taste and texture-wise, but the surface of the meat has oxidized, so it doesn’t look very appetizing. Other than that, it’s perfectly fine to use, especially in a slow-braised recipe like this.

I cooked mine on low, for about 7 or 8 hours, until it was fork tender, but if you’re in a hurry, you can do it on a higher setting. Conventional wisdom is that the longer slower method is superior, but in all honesty, I don’t think there's a huge difference, so suit yourself. No matter what setting you use, simply do not stop until the meat is tender.

Some of the most frustrating emails I get, are the ones that say, “I followed your braised-whatever recipe exactly, but the meat came out hard.” Actually, no you didn’t. Every time I give an approximate cooking time for something like this, I’ll always say, “or until fork tender.” So why would anyone stop cooking it while the meat is still hard? I find it as mystifying as I do annoying.

Anyway, assuming you don’t stop, won’t stop, until the meat is succulent, you are in for a real treat. Feel free to add any vegetables you like, and if you want, you can cook them separately and just add to the finished dish. I generally don’t serve this over rice if I use potatoes, but that's just my personal hang up, so don’t feel like you need to deny yourself that particular pleasure. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 giant or 6 regular portions:

2 1/2 or 3 pound beef chuck roast

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 chopped onion

1 or 2 tsp red curry paste, or to taste

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

2 cups chicken broth

1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
1 can (10-oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies (or any diced tomato product)

3 tbsp Asian fish sauce, or to taste

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp tomato paste

4 cloves minced garlic

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced

juice of one lime
2 bay leaves

1 1/2 pound small potatoes, halved

4 or 5 baby bok choy, sliced

1 rounded teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water

To garnish:

chopped roasted peanuts

chopped fresh cilantro leaves

View the complete recipe

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake – You Asked For It!

As promised, here’s the recipe for the chocolate cake that was featured in the orange Crème Anglaise video recipe we did a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, here’s what happened: We uploaded a perfectly fine looking custard sauce video, which no one cared about once they saw this gorgeous looking cake.

Not only did the vast majority of the audience lose all interest in the Crème Anglaise, but they also started requesting the cake be shared in video recipe form. And by “request,” I mean they demanded under threat of grievous bodily harm. Well, it worked.

By the way, you can use any pan for this cake, even a cupcake tin, as long as you’re prepared to adjust your baking time. I’d love to give you specific times, but that will depend on the exact size/type of pan. Best to test early and often with the old bamboo skewer, until it comes out clean.

I joked in the intro that if you messed this up, you should never try to bake anything else again. The funny this is, that’s not a joke. You’ll have to try really hard for this not to come out awesome. In fact, the ganache is probably the trickiest part, and all that entails is pouring boiling cream over chopped chocolate and stirring. I hope you give this ridiculously easy and delicious chocolate cake a try soon. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients for 1 Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake:
Recipe from Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

1/3 cup high-quality cocoa powder (use the best you can find)

1 cup water

1/2 tsp fine salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the ganache:

4 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped or broken into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

*Bring cream to a boil and immediately pour over chocolate. Wait 1 minute and stir until smooth and glossy.

Happy National Margarita Day!

I just heard that today is National Margarita Day (thank you, Twitter), and so I thought I’d repost this ancient video recipe I did for About.com. Please keep in mind that this isn’t a Food Wishes video, so there’s a few things you may not be used to. I had to be under 3 minutes; it couldn’t contain inappropriate humor; and maybe worst of all, I was forced to show my “face for radio.” In fairness, I do get better looking after a few of these. Enjoy! 

Cheese Straws – These Don’t Suck

I took a few things for granted in this cheese straws video. I assumed you could tell how delicious they were as I crunched into them, which is why I never said as much. I also assumed you’d figure out how, where, and when to use them; as I failed to give my usual serving suggestions. I was so taken by the sound and texture of these cheesy sticks, that it just never occurred to me to state such obvious facts.

So, for the record, let’s make this official. These really tasted great, and that’s without any embellishments whatsoever. There are so many things that will work with this technique, including, but not limited to garlic butter, fresh herbs, crushed nuts, and/or literally any dried spice. As far as approved uses, it’d be easier to list things this wouldn’t work with.

Any soup, stew, or bowl of chili would look substantially better with some of these alongside. A few cheese straws will make that sleepy bowl of leftover pasta suddenly seems special again, and substituting them for toast at breakfast is a proven crowd-pleaser. Dipping toasted bread into a runny egg yolk is nice, but dipping with a warm, crispy cheese straw? That goes way beyond nice.

As long as you use some nice, grate-able pungent cheeses, and cook them long enough to get crisp, there’s no way these won’t be great. I hope you give them a try soon, and report back with all your brilliant adaptations. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
frozen puff pastry

about 2 tsp olive oil , or as needed

about 1/2 cup total finely grated aged cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano, or more as needed

salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste

Raw Kale Salad – Mmmm…Tough and Bitter

I realized after watching the finished video for this raw kale salad that I used the words “tough” and “bitter” about a dozen times. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I used those words because kale is tough and bitter, but when properly prepared, those are valuable assets, not liabilities.

If you slice it thin, and toss it with other tasty treats, the kale mellows out, and serves as a perfect foil for other vegetation. The sweet, wet crunch of raw apple counters the bitterness, and the texture of the leaves elevated from opposite directions by juicy orange and crunchy nuts. It’s quite a scene.

I’m going to do a video for the orange cumin vinaigrette, but in the meantime, the ingredients are listed below. Feel free to copy my salad formula, but this is more of an idea video than an actual recipe. You know what you like, so whatever that is, add it to some raw kale, and see what happens. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 2 big or 4 small Raw Kale Salads:

1 head green kale

1 persimmon, sliced

1 apple, sliced thin or matchstick cut

2 seedless oranges, cut into segments aka “supremes” (click here for video)

handful of chopped nuts

For the dressing:

1 rounded teaspoon Dijon mustard           

1 rounded teaspoon orange zest

1 tsp cumin, or to taste

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 tbsp orange juice

1/4 cup rice vinegar (or white wine or sherry vinegar)

1/3 cup olive oil, or to taste

salt and pepper to taste

A Friendly Spaghetti Carbonara Reminder

I was channel surfing this evening, when I ran across a chef in New York making an authentic spaghetti carbonara. I've never wanted anything so badly in my life. Having already eaten dinner, self-control prevailed, and I settled for a pretty decent pear. This primal blend of pork, pasta, pepper, egg and cheese is truly one of life's great pleasures, and soul food of the highest order. Just in case you missed it, here's our version. Enjoy!

If you'd like to read the original post, and get the ingredients, follow this link.

Orange Crème Anglaise – Not a Day Late, but 364 Days Early!

As promised, here is the video recipe for the Orange Crème Anglaise recipe we featured in our Grand Marnier soufflé Valentine’s post. You’ll find it very similar to the written version we published beneath the aforementioned recipe, with a couple minor tweaks.

In that version I said to use medium-low heat, but it’s probably best to go for something a little closer to medium. I was erring on the side of safety, but it does take a while to come up to temperature, so don’t be afraid to crank the heat up a little if you’re feeling impatient. Unless you let this simmer, which you aren’t going to do, you shouldn’t really have a problem with scrambled eggs.

I also remembered I like to stir a teaspoon of Grand Marnier into the finished, cooled sauce for a little extra orange kick. Any time you heat a liqueur, the alcohol will evaporate, which does change the flavor. By adding a bit at the end, we get that wonderful orange cognac flavor in all its undiminished glory. I hope you give this easy, incredibly delicious, and versatile dessert sauce recipe a try soon. Enjoy!

Crème Anglaise Sauce:

(Makes about 1 cup)

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup white sugar

2 large egg yolks

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp Grand Marnier

Once sauce is cooled, add:

1 tsp freshly grated orange zest

1 tsp Grand Marnier, stirred into cold sauce

View the complete recipe