Tag Archives: food

Culinary goals for the summer months

*Picture above: completely random. Relevance of that image to this post: zero. But aren’t my Dad and sister looking especially adorable?

During the summer I tend to fall off the cooking wagon. A combination of travel plans, weird summer schedule type things, and the anti-stove sentiments that one experiences on a hot day all merge together, and somehow when September rolls around I realize in amazement that I don’t remember having cooked a single dang thing. This is already starting to happen, as the only meal I’ve cooked in the past ten days has been that Beef Stroganoff I shared with y’all yesterday.

This summer, things shall be different. So I have set some culinary goals for myself that are designed to:

a) Make me stay on track

b) Make you make me stay on track

c) Provide clear guidelines for the guilt trip I will engage in when, in fact, I achieve none of the stated objectives

d) Provide clear guidelines for the invectives/reprimands/diatribes you will heap upon me when, in fact, I achieve none of the stated objectives

So help me help you help me, folks. Here we go:

1. Make a birthday cake for my husband. Yes, his birthday was back in March, but somehow this delusional man is under the impression that I owe him two Barefoot Contessa glazed lemon cakes. I was pretty sure I had done something awesome that reduced my debt to only one of these cakes, so we need to hash that out amongst the two of us. But I’ve really got to hunker down and get a cake plan going, because if not, the age of 105 will find us side by side on a couch masticating our dentures and arguing at the top of our feeble old lungs: “But you owe me twooooo cakes! Twooooo cakes I tell ya!” *swat* “But diddn’ I do sumthin’ and now I just owe ya ooooone? I think it’s just oooooone!” *spank* “Whaaaaat? Whadja say old woman?” *spank*

2. Get around to making Biltong. It’s not that hard, children, I tell myself. And then I go sit on the couch instead.

3. Months ago, I created a page that divides my recipes into categories. Two of those categories have remained conspicuously empty: Pizza and Sandwiches. I find this very ironic, since my husband’s favorite food is pizza. And his favorite ‘on the go’ food is Potbelly’s Classic Italian sandwich. However, since I rule the stove, I gravitate towards my favorites–Asian food. Stir fries. Things with mushrooms. Mine, mine, mine! I can’t help associating sandwiches with the oh-so-boring lunch my paternal grandparents had every single day. They were wonderful people–but perhaps lacked a certain culinary inclination? I need to overcome my sandwich hangups, because there really are some great creations out there I could replicate, to the ooohs and aaahs of the man in my life. Sigh.

Thus endeth the list–and now, please participate in a campaign of constant nagging until I get this stuff done.

Love,

The Hopefully Soon-to-be Birthday Cake-Making Machine

Beef Stroganoff

This lovely Beef Stroganoff with brandy and mushrooms and onions was another America’s Test Kitchen success from their “Best International Recipe” cookbook that I bought used after succumbing to the delights of their Thai Chili Beef and Szechwan Green Beans. Beef Stroganoff was a comfort food during my childhood which I had (oddly) never attempted to make myself. All of that changes today. And I’m dragging you along on the journey. Aren’t you glad?!?*

*Please only answer the above question using a) “yes,” b) “you betcha!” c) “can’t wait, girlfriend!” or d) “All of the above.” Thank you and goodnight.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 1/2 lbs flap meat sirloin steak tips
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 oz white mushrooms, sliced thin
1 onion, minced
2 TBS flour
1 tsp tomato paste
2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup brandy
1 1/2 tsp dark brown sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice
1 TBS minced parsley leaves

Pound the beef to 1/2 inch thickness:

I like to cover meat with parchment paper to avoid bits of flying bacteria. I used to pound the meat naked in our little kitchen in the dorms during college. If anyone got some kind of food poisoning as a result, I sincerely apologize. I was extremely unconcerned about culinary hygiene in those days. After all, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

Unless, of course, it makes you weaker.

Anyway! Slice the pounded beef into strips 2 inches wide, and then slice each strip crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide pieces. Confused? Here’s a visual:

All chunked up! Great. The worst part is over.

Pat the beef dry with paper towels (seriously, this will help it brown waaay better) . . .

. . . and season it with salt and pepper.

Can I just point out how the focus in that picture is on the little falling grains of salt? Yep. Awesome. And a total accident, by the way. Lest you should think my photographic skills are greater than they are and start expecting pictures with grains of salt in focus all the dang time. That would just be . . . too much pressure.

Heat 1 TBS of the oil over medium high heat in a 12 inch skillet. When quite hot, toss in half the beef chunks.

Let ’em sit for a couple minutes before moving them around. Brown the beef on both sides (about 6 minutes).

When the beef is done (= browned, since it will finish cooking through later), remove it to a bowl:

Heat another 1 TBS of oil and cook the second batch of beef in the same way, removing it to the same bowl when it’s done. Trust me–do it in two batches even if your efficient soul is trying to rebel against the words I am speaking to you. It guarantees a nice sear on the meat (which guarantees flavor) instead of a floppy steam (which breeds despair, hysteria, and angry taste buds). As a recovering Efficiency Addict, I can state with confidence that sometimes the ‘best flavor’ and the more ‘efficient way’ have to duke it out–and only one can win.

While the meat is cooking, other prep work can occur: mincing the onion, for one.

Slicing the mushrooms if you didn’t buy the pre-sliced kind like me. Chopping the parsley.

Juicing the lemon.

You only need 2 tsp of the lemon juice, but you can always use the rest to make a Hot Honey ‘n’ Lemon if it’s raining, or a chilled glass of lemonade if it’s hot and sunny.

Add the rest of the oil to the skillet, and when it’s nice and hot add the mushrooms and onion . . .

. . . along with 1/2 tsp of salt.

Immediately the veggies and fungi will start absorbing the meat particles from the skillet. It will smell like paradise.

Cook for about 8 minutes, until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated.

Stir in the flour . . .

. . . and tomato paste . . .

. . . and cook for 30 seconds.

You should stir constantly at this point to avoid burnination of the ingredients.

Yes, ‘burnination’ is a technical term. Haven’t you heard of Trogdor?

Now whisk in the broth little by little.

Add the brown sugar . . .

. . . brandy . . .

. . . and beef (with juices).

Stir it all around, bring it to a simmer and turn down the heat to low.

Cook uncovered for 30-35 minutes–the beef will cook through and the sauce will thicken during this time. I also used this interval to cook up some egg noodles.

Once the 30 minutes are up, take the skillet off the heat. Stir a couple spoonfuls of hot sauce into the sour cream to temper it (so that it doesn’t curdle when it hits the hot dish).

Add the tempered sour cream to the skillet . . .

. . . along with the lemon juice . . .

. . . and parsley.

Season to taste, and you’re done!

Serve over rice or pasta–I thought that egg noodles were perfect.

The sauce is flavorful without being overly rich.

The creaminess is perfectly offset by the acidity of the sour cream and lemon juice.

The mushrooms . . . don’t get me started. I love them under any guise.

Me and the fungi–we’re best buds.

This is nothing like the quasi-hamburger helper versions of beef stroganoff out there. There’s a place for those . . . but the chunks of meat in this one have me converted. Give ‘er a whirl!

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