tangerine beef

It has really been a long time since I posted anything in the cooking section. Sorry to those of you who enjoy that sort of thing. Both of you. Anyway, a few days ago a made my tangerine beef for the first time in over a year.
To make it:

• sear beef strips in olive or sesame oil for a few minutes
• add some chopped green onions and the chopped or shredded peels of 4 or 5 tangerines
• stir fry a few minutes and then add a couple cups of orange/tangerine juice
• season with ginger, sesame seed, salt & chili pepper
• add soy sauce and a little rice vinegar & a spoon of honey

Cook it as long as you can to tenderize the beef and for the last few minutes add bell pepper and/or broccoli. If you want to thicken the sauce you can use corn starch, but I never do.
It turned out really well. Not my best effort at it I must admit. But okay.

 

Tangerine Beef

 

 

baking out a storm

It has really been a long time since I wrote about cooking. So here goes. 
I’ve actually done a little baking lately. First, for Thanksgiving I decided to make a sweet-potato pie. That’s something I hadn’t done in years. Mostly, because you can’t buy ready made crust in Spain and I had never made a crust from scratch. Well now I have. And it was damn good if I do say so myself. And without rolling pin no less. I used a large glass to roll out the dough. Interesting let me tell ya.

And the past weekend, I spent the whole cold, stormy Saturday in my pajamas and decided to bake a cake to 1) help past the time, 2) help heat up my cold flat and 3) satisfy the sweet tooth I’ve developed after the aforementioned sweet-potato pie. And as I do with everything I cook, I invented as I went. It was basically just your plain cake except I had some wild berry flavored yogurt that was quickly approaching it’s drop dead date. So I through that in the batter. (It smelled like blueberry muffins cooking). And to top it off I made a simple little glaze using apricot jam, orange juice, honey, cinnamon and a little plain yogurt to take the edge off the sweetness. It actually turned out quite delicious. (Or else, you’d have never heard about it, right)?

baking bug

Hey guess what! I recently discovered I could bake! Who knew?
I’m generally a good cook but baking has not been my thing other than my much loved (by me that is) sweet potato pie or things made from a box. But I decided to try my hand at a cake from scratch a couple of weeks ago. I have gotten pretty good making cornbread and figured a cake couldn’t be much different. Just use flour instead of cornmeal and add more sugar, right? How hard could that be. So I attempted an orange cake without any recipe or prior knowledge, and it turned out all right. Actually, I made way too much batter so I wound up with two cakes. One I glazed with a mixture of sugar and orange juice. (Why not it was an orange cake)? The other I frosted with a mixture of jams and jellies (peach, raspberry and plum). They were both okay. Not great mind you, but edible.
So a few days later, I decided I would try something I may like a bit more: carrot cake, one of my favorites. This too without a recipe just following intuition. Let me tell you, it was one hell of a cake!
So next up, I will attempt a red velvet. Straight to the mountaintop.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday weekend and ate too much. I did. No, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Madrid, but we did our best to make up for that.
As Thursday was a day filled with classes and work, we decided to observe the holiday on Friday. We did this by inviting 10 friends over to our place and making a big southern meal. This included roasting a chicken (don’t care much for turkey and don’t have an oven large enough to cook one anyway), cornbread dressin’, gravy, candied yams, fried corn, macarroni & cheese, cabbage and of course black-eyed peas. I was dying to have some turnip greens, but I haven’t found a place in Spain to get them. Strange, because the Spanish eat a lot of turnips. They evidently feed the greens to the hogs, or something. But Spaniards think the whole idea of eating the greens is disgusting. Fools!
Oddly enough, the hit of the meal seemed to be the homemade pepper sauce I wipped up just before people arrived as I only realized at that moment I had forgotten to buy Tabasco for the peas and collards. Who knew?! And I learned that doing a Thanksgiving meal without a proper oven is quite stressful and just too damn much work.
Also, D wants me to share that he made the desert: biscocho (basically Spanish pound cake) with an apple cinnamon topping. From scratch, no less. I can verify that I saw him peeling the apples and all. And it was quite delish.
I think a good time was had by all. I hope so anyway.

Hoppin’ John

On Friday I was invited to my friend Ignacio’s potluck b-day party and decided to treat the guest to one of our South Carolina specialties: Hoppin’ John. My version is not completely traditional — what about me is? — as I include one of my favorite spices, coriander. Oh, well, I like it.

Hoppin’ John, for you non-Carolinians, is basically black-eyed-peas and rice. I generally throw in onion, garlic, bell peppers and ham or bacon. For seasonings, you all know that I use whatever appeals at the moment but usually include cayenne & black pepper, salt, the aforementioned coriander, and rosemary. This time I think I also used a bit of ginger powder and rosemary.

And of course it was a big hit. And went well with the mix of Spanish and Filipino foods brought by the others. But of course, I prefer just a big bowl of the HJ with absolutely nothing else. Yummmm!

Spanish omelet

About a week ago, I made what had to be my best tortilla española (Spanish omelet) to date. It was definitely the best looking one. Although they seem simple, they really aren’t and I’ve had — and made — several disappointing ones. But they are terrific when done right.

So how do you do one right? First fry up about 2 kilos (4lbs) of diced potatoes with a chopped onion. I also included bacon, red bell pepper and a carrot this time around. (Spaniards will sometimes add sausage or tuna). After they have cooled, combined them with 5 or 6 well-beaten eggs and salt and pepper to taste. I like to add a bit of cayenne pepper and basil as well, though this is extremely un-Spanish.

Place the mixture in a slightly oiled large frying pan on very low heat. About half way through flip the tortilla onto a plate, platter or similar and slide it back into the pan to cook the other side. The length of time depends on how well done you like your eggs but should be cooked enough so that it will maintain its form when flipped out of the pan.

Slice it like a pie and serve with sliced baguette.

Leg of lamb with shrimp & vegetables

This is way after the fact, but I forgot to tell you all about my wonderful Christmas meal. The boys and I cooked a leg of lamb with veggies. It turned out beautifully. I marinaded it for several hours in a mixture of olive oil and apple vinegar, the natural unpasteurized kind that has much more flavor. I also cut a few small slits into it that I stuffed with garlic cloves, onions and peppers. And the only seasonings I used at that point was a bit of rosemary.

As my oven doesn’t work, I had to cook it on the stovetop. I used an oval clay baking dish that would fit across two burners. I poured the original marinade over it and added more seasonings: sage, more rosemary, oregano, fresh peppercorns and bay laurel. I also threw in some vegetables: onions, garlic, a variety of peppers and carrots. And because the tradition in Spain for Christmas is lamb and seafood, I included a few shrimp.

I covered the dish with foil and let it cook for about 2.5 or 3 hours, I think. Don’t quite remember. About every thirty minutes I poured on a bit of red wine. I flipped the leg about half way through.

The finished product was very tender, moist and tasty. Just like I like ‘em.

Beef with ginger & broccoli

Here’s one of my little creations from a couple of days ago. Maybe it’s not so unique but I liked it. The ingredients were some things I picked up at my neighborhood market. It was a bit cold and I was pressed somewhat for time so I didn’t feel like stopping by the Chinese grocery down the street.

The ingredients (And remember I don’t measure or use exact amounts. Put as much as you like or add something else. You have to eat it not me):

• 1 kilo (2 lbs. more or less) of beef cut into cubes. The Spanish butchers never cut it small enough for my liking no matter how much I try to describe how I want it, so I end up cut it more once I get home.
• a bit of oil. Not too much just enough to cover the bottom of the pan or wok. I used olive because I didn’t have peanut or sesame.
• 1 onion or so
• 1 bell pepper. A red one is best for some color.
• Fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• Broccoli. Generally one large head works well.
• Soy sauce
• Sesame seeds
• Chinese chili or pepper sauce if you want a bit of a kick

Prep:
Brown the beef in the oil.
Add enough water to cover beef.
Cover and simmer for at least an hour. Longer is better as the beef will be more tender. Stir occasionally and adding more water if necessary.
Add the sliced ginger, onion and chili pepper sauce. Cook for a few minutes.
Add the bell pepper, broccoli and sesame seeds.
When the broccoli is cooked to your preferred level (for me this means completely soft), add soy sauce to taste and turn off stove.
Serve with or over rice.
Eat with chop sticks not fork. It’s Chinese damn it!

Hope you’ll try it and like it. Let me know what improvements/innovations you come up with. I think I’ve done it before with pineapple instead of broccoli and with orange or lime peel.

Some Cooking Tips

Here are some things I’ve discovered to improve some old standards. Maybe, these things are common and widely know. If so, you all forgot to inform me. I had to learn by trial and error. And as I love all kinds of herbs and spices I think you should just have fun with them. Approach them like you do sex, with a desire for something different and complete abandon. And as with sex, you may find yourself disappointed much too often, but sometimes it will just blow you away. Here’s nothing:

-While cooking in orange juice my add a nice sweet tang to carrots it doesn’t do a damn thing positive for broccoli or cauliflower.

-For the best black-eyed-peas you will ever taste, add some tomato juice or tomato paste and a good bit of coriander.

-Alfredo sauce is even better with a bit of curry or turmeric. And pasta with a yellow sauce is just so damn fun and different.

-Fried fish goes great with grits. Cook the grits in chicken or veggie broth instead of water and add some basil. Or whatever seasonings floats your boat.

-There really is nothing that you can’t put into a salad or in salad dressing. Same for soup.

-Scrambled eggs are better cooked with tomato juice than with milk. With Mexican salsa they’re even better.

Next time a real recipe. Kenneth style. Which means that nothing is exact and it is never the same dish twice. How rich is life!