Fragrant Beef Salad

It's been awhile since I've put forth an entry for the Mother's Kitchen Spice Rack Challenge, but her entertaining post and my love for cumin were inspiration to get me moving.  This past winter I was trying to think up new ideas to use the ground beef from the steer share we purchased.  I remembered the spiced beef from a Middle Eastern bakery near one of our previous homes in Sterling Heights, MI.  This bakery served spicy beef on top of brick-oven fired pizza dough with slices of fresh tomato.  (They have to-die-for cheese breads as well but those are now merely daydreams from my previous life as a dairy eater.)  I used my memory to try and recreate the flavor of the meat and it became a favorite dish this past winter.   The main spice is cumin so this is a perfect dish for this month's challenge.

Fragrant Beef Salad
Inspired by the meat flat breads from Maatouk Bakery.  This is my taco salad use for the spiced meat, of course you could use the beef on top of pizza dough like they do or like taco meat in tortillas.
Makes 2-4 servings depending on your hunger

1 pound ground beef, ground lamb is also wonderful
1 large onion, chopped
~6 cups greens (spinach, arugula and kale all work well)
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin seed
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
good extra-virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper (or a pinch of cayenne)
salt

-Brown the meat, preferably in a cast iron skillet.
-When browned and mostly cooked add the onion, spices, salt and pepper.  Add a little olive oil if needed to lubricate the onions so they will cook well.   Stir and cook over medium high heat until the onion is soft and browned a little.  Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper and spice as desired.
-Wash, chop and dry your greens.  Top the greens with the beef mixture and then top with the tomatoes.
-Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle over olive oil to dress the greens.  Enjoy!

Even though I miss the ocean there are some pretty great consolation prizes here at home- the tomatoes, kale and onions in this salad are all fresh from my garden.

An older cumin recipe to share, Black Bean "Tacos" with Smoked Paprika Shiitake Mushrooms

Five Spice and Michigan Plum Short Ribs

This week I attempted to connect a few food loving spirits in the area by hosting a food blogger soiree.  For my contribution, I chose to make a batch of short ribs with meat from my quarter steer from Gallagher's Centennial Farm braised with plums from Greenrock Farm and seasoned with Chinese five spice powder.

I had hoped to serve the short ribs as little sliders but the kids found my mini challah buns irresistible and the super muggy weather wilted the formerly crispy fried shallots.  The ribs were still good picked at with fingers and the raucous children seemed to need the carbs.  

Five Spice and Plum Braised Short Ribs
Thanks to Tom Colicchio for his Braised Short Rib recipe which I have used several times and served as inspiration.
Serves 4-6

~3-4 pounds bone-in, flanken cut beef short ribs
2 heaping teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
1 cup diced sweet onion, 1/2 large
2 cups pitted, quartered red plums, ~9 plums
1 teaspoon finely diced fresh ginger root
2 cups rosé wine, because this was in my fridge
salt and pepper

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
-Liberally salt and pepper the ribs and then pat on the five spice powder, set aside.
-Heat an enameled cast iron Dutch oven over medium high until hot.  Brown the ribs on all sides and then remove from the pot to a rimmed plate or bowl.
-Pour off all but 1 teaspoon of the rendered fat and add the diced onion.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onion is translucent.
-Add in the wine, plums and ginger.  Scape the pot to deglaze with the wine and plum juices.
-Add the ribs back to the pot along with any leaked juices.  Add enough water (or chicken stock) to almost cover the ribs.  Bring to a boil.
-Cover and cook in the lower third of the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours.
-Remove the cover and cook for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning the ribs at once or twice.  The braising liquid should be reduced by half and the ribs should be tender but not falling apart.
-Remove the ribs from the pot and separate them from their bones.  Trim away any large pieces of fat and then set the trimmed ribs in a shallow non reactive dish, like a glass brownie pan.
-Skim as much fat as possible from the reduced liquid and then pour the skimmed sauce over the ribs.  Cover with a glass lid, waxed paper or plastic wrap, not alluminum foil, it will react with the acid in the food!  Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.  Keep in the fridge AT LEAST overnight, ideally for a day or two.
-When you are ready to serve, scrape off any large amounts of solidified fat from the sauce and remove the ribs.  Slice the ribs into 1/2 inch thick slices and lay out on a boiler pan.  Spread a little sauce on each slice and then broil until hot and glazed. Serve hot.
-Resist the urge to lick the pan until your guests have left.

And as for the other food...

Shayne of fruitcake or nuts brought red pepper dip and 

boiled potatoes topped with radishes, sour cream, herbs and pickled herring

Local Stone House bread, fromage blanc from Leelanau Cheese with her own herbed strawberry balsamic jam and strawberry syrup for sodas came from Angela of Notes from a Country Girl Living in the City

Feta and bean dips made by Laura of Laura's Recipe Collection

More Links:
-The buns were made with King Arthur Flour Classic Challah dough
-I also made 101 Cookbooks' Grilled Fava Beans with local favas.  They were ok but maybe overcooked or maybe too mature favas.  The insides were mushier than I expected.

I love that Michigan plum season has started!

Spiced Braised Red Cabbage and Glazed Corned Beef

Despite my denial (and complaining) winter is not yet over in Michigan. I could hear the snowflakes mocking me as they fell yesterday. Well I just had to make some wintery food and prove that I can take it no matter how long it lasts, even though I'm bluffing. In honor of St Patty's Day I had a corned beef brisket in the fridge. I was excited to try a glazed corned beef recipe that Kevin posted recently on his blog Closet Cooking. I could have made traditional boiled cabbage but all I had was red cabbage. Boiled red cabbage just doesn't really work.

So I made a new twist on standard braised red cabbage. I added star anise and cloves because they go so well together. Apple, onion, and bay leaf I left in from my typical red cabbage recipe but I swapped most of the red wine vinegar for ume plum vinegar. Ume plum vinegar is a wonderful condiment. It's made from umeboshi plums and shiso (a Japanese herb) fermented with sea salt. The result is a tangy, salty condiment that gives a nice punch of umami flavor to dishes. Beware the salt in the ume plum vinegar though, I removed all the other salt in the recipe because the vinegar itself is quite salty.

I liked the star anise, clove, cabbage combination a lot and was really happy with the added flavor from the ume plum vinegar. I can't say enough good things about Kevin's glazed corned beef. It's a great idea that combines sweet and salty with a little spice. It reminded me of Easter ham and my husband and son both loved it. The only addition I would make to his recipe would be to remind people to trim down the fat from the brisket before baking it with the glaze.

Links:
-Here's the recipe for Corned Beef Glazed in Honey and Mustard Dinner with Cabbage from Closet Cooking
-I recommend Eden Food's Ume Plum Vinegar, they're a Michigan-based company
-For the beef-free folks, how about serving the cabbage with my Honey Mustard Glazed Tofu

Spiced Braised Red Cabbage
Serves 4 generously, would easily serve 6 as a side dish

1 onion, diced
2 tablespoons neutral oil
1 small head of red cabbage, cored and shredded
1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
1 whole star anise
3-4 whole cloves
1 dried bay leaf
3 tablespoons ume plum vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup water

-Cook the onion in the oil in a large soup pot until soft and translucent, allowing the onion to caramelize a little is good but not necessary.
-Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and stir together.
-Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. The cabbage will be tender and the flavors will have melded together.
-Pick through to remove the star anise, cloves and bay leaf or warn your guests that these whole spices are not meant to be eaten.
-Serve hot. Additional ume plum vinegar can be served on the side to adjust the seasoning to individual tastes. Remind your guests that this vinegar is salty and should be used in place of additional table salt.



I'm adding this to Bookmarked Recipes, an event started by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen's Experiments. Visit the new Bookmarked Recipes site on Monday for the roundup of other bookmarked and tested recipes. This week’s round up will be hosted by Patsy of Family, Friends & Food.

Get out and vote!

I'm stressed out and ready for this election to be over but Mr. Ribeye will ease my cares away. Juicy and tender and cooked to perfection (if I may say so myself) Mr. Ribeye was worth my selling my vote to the Grass-fed Party. No frou frou sauce for him, just salt and pepper and care taken to see that he had a nice crust and didn't get overcooked.

Get out and vote people!
Things will hopefully be settled by tomorrow morning and
Mr. Ribeye will hold you (well me anyway) til then.

Wanna win some La Cense grass-fed beef for yourself? Comment here by midnight November 8th.

Think you are ready for Mr. Ribeye? You can receive 1lb. of free Ground Steak Burger on any purchase over $75 by visiting this link to La Cense Beef and using the code “GFP75”.

La Cense Petit Sirloin with Beurre Blanc and a giveaway

There have been a couple of offers for free foodstuffs that I've passed up since I started my foodblog but the offer of free grass-fed beef was beyond my breaking point. What intrigues me tremendously is the better heath of the animals as well as a better product that is potentially better for you. I've searched for good local grass-fed but haven't really been thrilled with what I've found in the Detroit area. Then I was contacted by the Grass-fed Party site with an offer to try their beef.

Last week I received my package. I was on my way out of town and the still solidly frozen meat transferred easily to my freezer to await my return. My trail package contained 4 burgers, 2 petit sirloins and a rib eye. This week I decided to defrost and try the whole steaks first. I knew they would be ready to go today so I made an extra special purchase at Whole Foods yesterday...REAL BUTTER. I know, this is supposed to be a dairy-free site but I just had to!

When it came time to eat I reduced the wine, shallot and a splash of champagne vinegar until syrupy and then pan seared the two sirloins. For the sauce, I followed the proportions in The Professional Chef but they are the same as the Alton Brown recipe that I'll link to at the end. The petite sirloins were both a perfect deck of card sized portion of meat which was great for me. While the steaks rested I added the butter to finish the sauce (no cream, that's cheating). The steaks were flavorful and fairly lean. John, who is the pickiest steak eater, liked his a lot. We're probably going to fight over the rib eye for a steak and egg breakfast.

Follow these links to learn more:
Alton Brown's Raymond Beurre Blanc
Join the Grass-fed Party
La Cense Beef

The Giveaway!
If you'd like to try a sample of La Cense grass-fed beef leave a comment between now and midnight Saturday November 8th with the line Where's the beef? (My grandmother Margaret loved to say that back in the day.) To be eligible you must live in the US. You'll receive: 2 burger patties and 1 petit sirloin

Update: La Cense is offering 1lb. of free Ground Steak Burger for any purchase over $75. The only way to get this offer is by visiting this link to La Cense Beef and using the code “GFP75”.

Kitchen cleanout chili

I made an unexpectedly good version of veggie chili today while cleaning out my fridge and cabinets. I had a bison steak that I added but with all the veggies I'm sure it would have been just as great without the meat. Do try and add the crushed corn chips. They're my favorite trick to give a corn flavor and better consistency to quickly cooked chili.

Bison Veggie Chili w/ a Vegan Option
Serves 8
10 minutes prep time, 50 minutes cooking time
Ingredients
~14 oz bison steak, trimmed and cubed*
1 red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
spray oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon pimenton, smoked Spanish paprika
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder, more to taste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 (14.5 oz) can of diced fire roasted tomatoes with green chili**
1 (15 oz) can of black beans
2 cups washed chopped collard greens, or other dark leafy green
1/4 cup crumbled corn tortilla chips, optional
2 cups frozen peeled edamame (green soybeans)
2 tablespoons corn starch mixed with 1/3 cup cool water
*substitute 1 tablespoon oil for vegan version
**any diced tomatoes would work as well
Directions
1. Heat a large heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat until nice and hot. Quickly brown the cubed steak in batches and remove to a bowl on the side.
2. Spray the pot bottom with oil or for the vegan version add your tablespoon of oil to the hot pot. Add in onion and pepper and cook til softened.
3. Add garlic and spices and heat until you can smell their fragrance, toasting the spices slightly.
4. Add the browned bison, tomatoes, tomato paste, black beans, collard greens, and corn chips. Add just enough water to submerge all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer and simmer uncovered for ~45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add edamame and corn starch with water (slurry) and bring up to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
6. Serve hot.

http://www.grouprecipes.com/41371/bison-chili-w-vegan-option.html