Thai Beef Salad

I'm not normally a big salad eater, but when I do have one, there has to be some protein in the mix.  D wanted something light, so I improvised this dish based on ingredients that were in the fridge.  First, I seared a New York Strip steak seasoned with S&P and then sliced it into strips.  The veg consisted of red leaf lettuce, red bell pepper and tomatoes.  The Thai-inspired dressing, which was made from soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and lime juice, had that classic Thai flavor profile of salty, sweet and sour (I could have added some heat with a dash of sambal, but I left it out this time).  I was planning to garnish it with some sesame seeds, but I forgot them...darn it!   

Roasted Salmon with Orange Miso Glaze

A salmon filet is one of those ingredients that is really hard to mess up, and it can make an amateur cook look like a pro.  Just rub it with some olive oil, salt and pepper and put it on the oven for 12 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of the filet.  I wanted to go in an Asian direction with this dish, so I made a sauce/glaze by reducing orange juice, miso paste and mirin, and I finished it by plating the salmon on a bed of julienned roasted red bell peppers.  Simple but super flavorful.    

Southwest Roast Chicken

Roast chicken on Sundays is a classic family meal and a great way to close out the weekend.  I wanted to go with Southwestern flavors this time, so I made a dry rub with paprika and ground fennel seed, then trussed my chicken (for even cooking) and roasted it at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.  Keeping true to my Southwest inspiration, I made a sauce with dried California and Arbol chiles reconstituted in hot water and then pureed with roasted garlic clove, toasted cumin seed and red wine vinegar.  I then reduced the sauce and finished it off with agave nectar and fresh lime juice to balance out the heat from the chiles.  The sauce was the highlight of the dish, and I owe it to one of the fundamentals of cooking: taste and adjust as you go.

Croque Monsieur

I’ve never met a sandwich I didn’t like, and the Croque Monsieur is one of the best, in my book.  After all, who doesn’t like the idea of a grilled cheese sandwich with ham?  For this version, I toasted white bread in a cast-iron skillet with butter and added slices of ham and Fontina cheese.  I then made a Mornay sauce with flour, butter, milk and more Fontina.  I finished it off by ladling the sauce on top of the assembled sandwich and putting it under the broiler for a few minutes until the sauce was browned and bubbling.  It was cheesy, salty, creamy and decadent.  The only thing better is a Croque Madame, which is the same as a Monsieur except with a fried egg on top.  

 

Braised Oxtail

I'm no expert when it comes to Korean food, but I'm pretty sure oxtail was first used in peasant dishes because it was cheap and accessible.  Now that nose to tail eating is trendy, this formerly worthless cut costs $6.99 a pound.  Same thing happened to short ribs once they went mainstream.  Anyway, I bit the bullet and picked some up the Ktown Galleria and broke out the pressure cooker.  This time I went with an Asian-style braising liquid made of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, Sambal, white onion, scallion, garlic and pear.  After about an hour in the pressure cooker (I browned them first), I strained and reduced the liquid for a nice sauce/glaze and served everything on top of a bed of mashed potatoes garnished with some more scallion for color and crunch.  The meat was falling off the bone like ox jelly out of a jar!  What does everyone think of this one?

Chicken Cutlet and Tomato Salad

The breaded, fried chicken cutlet can be found in many cuisines (Katsu, Milanese, Schnitzel, etc.), but the common theme is a crispy crust.  To achieve maximum crisp factor, I went with the double-dip method using panko breadcrumbs mixed with black pepper, dried oregano and Parmesan cheese, then pan fried it in a cast-iron skillet.  On the side, I served a tomato salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice (plus salt, always salt everything, especially tomatoes).  The acidity of the tomatoes and lemon juice was a perfect complement to the chicken, which came out super crispy and well seasoned.  (Note: Depending on how big your chicken breast is, it helps to pound it to a thin, uniform thickness before breading using a mallet or bottom of a frying pan and some plastic wrap to protect the meat from tearing.)    

Polpette

For part 2 of my European Soccer spread I made some polpette, which are Italian meatballs.  Meatballs are like bbq; everyone has an opinion on how it's done.  This version is pretty straightforward: 2-1 ratio of ground beef to ground pork, eggs, chopped flat-leaf parsley, minced garlic, dried oregano, Worcestershire sauce, salt/pepper, bread crumbs and milk (more on this coming up).  I usually add Parmesan cheese, but I forgot it this time.  Any meatball is judged by how light and tender it is.  Nobody likes a dense, heavy meatball, unless you're a fan of the Olive Garden.  The key ingredient to achieving this (in addition to not over-mixing) is a panade, which is bread soaked in milk.  The Italians soak whole slices of bread in the milk and tear it into the mix by hand, but I used Panko bread crumbs instead.  When I'm feeding a group, I like to bake them on a cookie sheet rather than pan fry them to save time, and I paired these with a simple Marinara sauce.  

Tortilla Espanola

The finals of the European Soccer Championships, which is right up there with the World Cup in terms of importance in the soccer world, took place this past weekend, so I paid tribute by making a dish inspired by the cuisines of the teams in the finals: Spain and Italy.  When you think of Spanish food, paella and gazpacho immediately come to mind, but the Tortilla Espanola is the true staple of everyday eating.  Somewhere between an omelet and a fritatta, the Spanish tortilla is nothing like the Mexican version that we all know so well.  Simple yet so versatile, all it takes is eggs, potatoes, onions and good olive oil.  The most important thing is slicing the potatoes and onions thinly and uniformly, so I would highly recommend using a mandoline.  Next, fry the veg in plenty of olive oil until soft (but not crispy) and then drain and combine with the beaten eggs and return to the pan.  Halfway through, flip the tortilla (by inverting the pan onto a dish) and finish off the other side.  You can eat it hot or cold, and the Spaniards often have the leftovers in a sandwich with some crusty bread the next day.  The game was a dud (4-0 Spain), but this dish was a winner.  Stay tuned for my tribute to Italia.