West Coast Oriental Beef Soup

Ingredients:

3 strips bacon
1 pound beef (I used chuck steak)

Fry the bacon in the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven.
Add 1-1/2" of the white end of a leek, thinly sliced.
Preheat a large cast iron fry pan while this is cooking.

Remove the bacon when it's crispy. Pat dry and set aside.
Pour some of the bacon grease into the fry pan.
Add water to the leeks in the dutch oven, to 3" or 4" depth.
Add 2 tsp concentrated chicken stock (not beef stock).
Bring the stock to a boil; turn back to medium.

Slice the beef thinly (1/8") across the grain, and then into 1-1/2" lengths.
Season generously with freshly ground pepper.
Brown the beef strips quickly on both sides in the bacon grease, a few at a time.
As soon as they're brown on the sides, transfer to the boiling chicken stock.

Add vegetables, all cut to very thin 1-1/2" lengths:
3/4 cup carrots.
The rest of the white portion of the large leek.
1 entire leek leaf.
2 large stalks of celery.
1/2 of a jalapeño pepper.

Optional:
A handful of fresh brown mushrooms, thinly sliced.
A few cloves of garlic, peeled and either sliced or smashed.

Season aggressively with:
celery seed
freshly ground pepper

And season gently with:
ground cinnamon.

Chop up a portion of Chinese cabbage into the now familiar 1-1/2" lengths. Fill a large soup bowl 1/3 full with the chopped cabbage. Ladle boiling soup over the top and let it rest for five minutes. The boiling soup will cook the cabbage, and the cabbage will cool the soup to a temperature that can be eaten.

I like this soup with fresh milk and white bread or a roll that will handle dipping.

Subjective evaluation: this is one of the best things that I've ever cooked. The flavors have elements of both boldness and subtlety, the vegetables include the gently crisp cabbage with the gentler carrots and the tender beef. The chicken broth gentles the boldness of the beef wonderfully, but I think it's the cinnamon that brings it all together. This is better fresh than day-old.

Chili Chicken Sandwich

Layer it up:

1 slice whole wheat bread, toasted & buttered.
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese.
⅓ can of prepared chili con carne, heated.
½ hard boiled egg, sliced.
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese.
Season to taste.

Broil it in a toaster oven until the cheese melts.

Chow down and enjoy.

Serious Meat Rolls

Into the bread machine, in this order:

1½ tsp active dry yeast

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups white flour

2 TBSP white sugar

2 TBSP dry milk powder

2 TBSP butter

1¼ tsp salt

1⅓ cups water, lukewarm.

Set the bread machine on “dough” setting. When it's done, cut it in half, and roll each half out on a flowered surface, until it's less than 1/4" thick. Coat with:

Sliced steak (season and grille a 12 oz steak; refrigerate, slice thinly; half for each roll)
one chicken breast, seasoned and grilled, refrigerated and sliced.
3 oz thinly sliced pepperoni
4 slices of bacon, soft cooked
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup frozen veggies (I like French cut beans)
4 ounces (1/4 pound) of crumbled cooked pork sausage.
Season with a fair bit of freshly ground pepper (the bacon provides enough salt).

Roll up the dough like a cinnamon roll, resulting in a roll that's 12" x maybe 4" diameter. Let it raise for 20 minutes, then bake at 350 for 35 or 40 minutes until the inside is completely cooked. Cool on a cooling rack. Serve warm, sliced thick as a main dish (I like it with fresh corn on the cob), or slice it into appropriate size pieces and freeze separately for re-heating later.