25 November, 2009

TJ's Yummy Salad!

Courtesy, Chef TJ McLain


(3 servings)

Ingredients:

Mixed salad greens (lettuce stuff) several large handfuls
Beef steak strips from premiere selections (it's at Costco but its just yummy spiced beef thin strips): a big handful
Smashed up dry ramen (very fun!) one package, no flavoring
Bacon, 6 strips (2 each)
Feta cheese, small handful
Chopped almonds, a handful
Cranberries, just a sprinkling
Green onions 4 or 5 of the stock or heads or whatever you call them.
And one apple, chopped up into chunks. Fairly small.

I put it in a pot with the lid and shook everything all up, so all the flavors get mixed up together.

Toppings:
Dribble with extra virgin olive oil, and some balsamic vinegar.
Or put with pepper
Or leave it alone
(all three are good.)

IDEAS!

So we thought maybe replace the beef with smoked salmon.
Or replace the apples with Satsumas or oranges.
Ooh ooh! Pears would be good too!

01 November, 2009

Hearty Beef & Parmesian Bread

Bread dough: load into the bread machine:
tsp yeast
4 cups bread flour
2 TBSP sugar
1 1/3 TBSP gluten
2 tsp salt
2 TBSP butter, in pieces
1 1/3 cups whole milk (adjust to make sure the dough is not too solid)

Load it all into the bread machine, set it on “dough” and fire it off.

While the dough is mixing, get out a large frying pan and fry until tender:
2 TBSP butter
5 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup sweet onion, chopped
with salt & pepper to taste.

While that’s frying, prepare and mix together in a large bowl:
1 pound red meat. I used stew beef; any better cut is obviously acceptable. Cut it into 1” cubes and drain well.
1 pinch salt just to open the beef up for the rest of the seasonings:
½ TBSP Italian seasoning
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ tsp dried minced red peppers (“pizza peppers”)

Work quickly: the meat mixture must be done and cooled to room temperature by the time the bread machine beeps at you.

When the onions & garlic are nicely transparent, add the spiced meat mixture. (You must pause to enjoy the sizzle!) Brown the meat thoroughly on all sides.

While the meat is browning is a good time to prepare the bread pans. This bread won’t rise very high, so I use pie pans, which I grease well, and flour with rye flour.

When the meat is well browned (it will be nearly done), add:
1 tsp beef bouillon paste
¾ cup boiling water

Bring quickly to a boil. Leave uncovered and let it boil, stirring regularly. When it’s tender and the liquid is reduced by about ¾, remove the meat, leaving the liquid with the garlic & onions in the frying pan over a medium-to-low flame to reduce even further, until it’s like thickish gravy.

Chop or shred the meat into small pieces, much larger than “ground beef”; use a food processor if you like to make quick work of it. Place in a large bowl. Mix the hot meat, the hot liquid from cooking the meat with:

¾ cup frozen, shredded parmesan cheese

to cool the mixture, which should be room temperature or a tiny bit warmer when you’re done.

When the machine is almost done with mixing the ingredients, it will beep, signaling that it’s time to add the final ingredients: add the meat mixture at this point. The bread machine may need help mixing in this many ingredients into the bread dough.

Let the machine finish mixing the dough, and let it raise once in the bread machine. Turn it onto a well-floured cutting board, divide into portions (I made one large piece and several smaller ones). Add topping. Let them raise again until they’ve doubled, typically about 40 minutes.

Topping:
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
½ tsp Italian seasoning

Toss lightly together, spread generously over the loaves before baking.

Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375°. Bake 15 or 20 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot with lots of butter. Works well as “Shred Bread”, or bread which is not sliced, but everyone at the dinner table tears off a chunk for themselves.