Mini Beef and Turkey Meatballs

I love these mini meatballs. They are great to serve as appetizers or to enjoy with pasta. Best of all, they are easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound of ground sirloin
  • 1/2 pound of ground turkey
  • 2 slices of bread (whatever kind you have to make toast: white, whole wheat, etc)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of chili powder
  • Salt
  • 1 bunch of asparagus (blanched)
Here’s how I prepare the meatballs:

In a big bowl, mix ground sirloin, ground turkey, egg, ginger, garlic, black pepper, chili powder, and salt. Dampen the bread with drinking water and mix them well with the other ingredients. With two hands, massage the mixture together until everything gets incorporated. Preheat oven to 350. Using your hands, shape the meatballs and place on a baking tray. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Serve with the asparagus and pour a little tomato pasta sauce on top of them.

For tomato sauce recipe, please see:

 Sweet Tomatoes!

Harini Riana1 Comment

Super Chocolaty Mini Brownies

Doesn’t Valentine’s Day seem to get bigger each year? I see red and pink flowers, heart-shaped decorations, and of course … chocolate everywhere! Restaurant-review sites rave about best places to celebrate while cooking shows and food blogs suggest special dinner and dessert menus for the holiday. I allow the not-so-subliminal messages to get me into the spirit. I mean, why not? In the midst of this winter’s grey, snow’s blinding white, along with the blustery cold wind, I welcome a nice distraction. To me the holiday gives me an excuse to do something special like having dinner date on a Tuesday night and… making a chocolaty dessert. After seeing chocolate everywhere, on TV ads and cooking shows, at the market, and on food blogs I feel the huge urge to create something with the ingredient.

I found a Chocolate Bouchons (The New Double-Chocolate Brownie) recipe by chef Stephanie Izard (of the Girl and the Goat in Chicago) in my InStyle magazine’s January edition. Every food I have tasted at chef Izard’s restaurant has been incredibly delightful. So I got excited to try one of her recipes.

As usual, I deviate 🙂 Here’s a version adapted from chef Izard’s recipe:

We will need:

  • A 24-mini muffin tray
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup of cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 sticks of butter
  • 1 cup of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips
  • 3 squares of Ghirardelli dark chocolate bar (I happen to have the 72% cocoa. Next time I’ll go with 60%.)
  • 1 tablespoon of pistachios (I happen to have them around)
Steps:
  • Melt the butter
  • Whisk eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl
  • Add flour, cocoa powder, salt, and melted butter. Do it slowly and one by one while keeping the whisking going. Mix well until all ingredients become one thick chocolate mixture.
  • With a food processor, chop the pistachios and the dark chocolate squares
  • With a spatula, gently mix the chocolate chips, chopped dark chocolate, and chopped pistachios into the mixture
  • Scoop the mixture to fill the muffin tray all the way to the top (or use a ziplock bag with one corner cut off )
  • Bake for 20-23 minutes in a preheated 350 degrees F  and let the brownies cool outside for 30-40 minutes. Mmm… imagine the wonderful chocolate aroma in the air. Oh…la…la…
The mini brownies come out very chocolaty. Intense! Each bite represents a combination of dark and milk chocolate and a little pistachios. The chocolate chips melt after being baked inside of the brownies. They give such wonderful texture to the tiny chocolate goodness. For sweet lovers, dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve with a scoop of vanilla or coffee ice cream. Jeff and I like ours without the added sweet just fine.
In the future, I’d like to mix either a raspberry, blackberry, or strawberry preserves into the mix (in lieu of using pistachios). Maybe I’d also melt the dark and milk chocolate. Mmm…many possibilities!

Unfortunately, I did not find chef Izard’s original recipe online so I could not link it here. But I found a similar one (click here) for those who’d like to get to know chocolate bouchons better.

Happy Valentine’s Day, readers!

Harini RianaLeave a comment

Special Braised Short Ribs Dinner – Going Gourmet at Home

I watch Food Network religiously. There, I admit it. Jeff says the TV seems to default to the channel whenever he turns it on. The truth is I get a lot of my cooking inspirations, and learn tons of recipes, from some of the shows. Jeff and I love eating out but we also relish delicious home-cooked meals. Since we cook a lot, I try to add more to our recipes repertoire. So watching cooking shows helps the effort.

Growing up with Indonesian cooking has definitely developed my palate preference. It also has given me the ability to create an extensive menu of the cuisine. However, blessed and cursed with curiosity I tend to want, seek, and learn more. I’ve developed a definite fondness for trying on varieties of tastes and recipes along the way. Thanks to the plethora of recipe sources online and on TV, I’ve also been able to go gourmet without breaking the bank!

My most recent successful gourmet trial came from chef Anne Burrell’s recipe: Braised Short Ribs served with celery root and potato puree and salad (next blog posts). (I followed the short ribs recipe with one tweak: I did not have thyme at the time, so I went without.) Though the recipe calls for a three-hour cooking time I plan to do repeats in the future. Once cooked, the meat becomes so tender and soft that it struggles to stick to the bone. The aroma and taste of celery sticks and carrots mixed with tomato paste and red wine blends perfectly with the beef. A very rich taste—just how I like my food to be.  I recommend the recipe for a special dinner with loved ones. Another great addition to my winter menu collection.

Side dishes:

Celery Root and Potato Puree

Radicchio, Arugula, and Heart of Palm Salad

For complete recipes view the source of my inspiration:

The Secret to Short Ribs : Secret of a Restaurant Chef : Food Network

Harini Riana4 Comments

Braised and Broiled Chicken Thighs

As a big-flavor food enthusiast, I see chicken as a great “blank canvas” in my cooking. The meat has great potential for many delicious dishes. With the right blend of spices and a little patience anyone can create their own far-from-boring signature chicken dish. For me, braised and broiled chicken has been an all-time favorite and specialty.

Inspired by a version (out of many) of traditional Javanese grilled chicken, I learned to cook this meal by trying on different recipes years ago. I tweaked the technique and ingredients many times to get to my own version. We evolved with time, the recipe and I. Now that I have reached my satisfactory level with this dish I feel more confident in sharing the recipe with others. 

Chicken thighs with their succulence and tender texture work best for this particular recipe. The meat doesn’t turn dry even after being cooked twice. In this recipe I braise the chicken to tenderize the meat and infuse it with flavors of my choosing. Then I broil the braised meat to get that crispy golden brown effect on the chicken’s exterior. (During the warmer months I’d brown the braised chicken on a grill outside.)

Here are the must-haves and the steps to cook the chicken:

  • 4-6 bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs. (Worry not about the fat. A lot of it will be cooked out of the meat.)
For the lemon-like aroma, smash:
  • 1 inch of galangal
  • 1 lemongrass
  • 2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)

For the flavor, mix and puree in a food processor:

  • 1 inch of ginger
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 4-5 shallots
  • 5-6 candlenuts
  • 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
  • ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
  • ½ teaspoon of black pepper powder
  • 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper powder
  • Salt (be generous)

Heat up a tablespoon of canola oil in a large pot (over medium heat). Brown the blended spices along with the galangal and the lemongrass. Add the chicken and two or three cups of water (until the chicken is almost, not completely, covered by the liquid). Stir and mix well. Throw in the kaffir lemon leaves. Cover with a lid and let it cook for an hour to an hour and a half until the meat gets tender. Taste before broiling. Add more salt if necessary. (Leaving the chicken in its braising liquid overnight, and broil the next day, would amplify the taste.)

Final step:

Set oven to broil. Place the chicken thighs on an oven rack set over a tray (so that any leftover juice has a place to go). Broil each side for 4-5 minutes until the color turn to golden brown. Be careful, it’s super hot!

Great with steamed white rice, chilies, and a vegetable soup side dish (coming up on the blog soon).

Serve two generously

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Standing Oven Round Roast Beef with Sweet Potatoes

Standing Oven Round Roast Beef by JNHoliday Dinner Menu (Part 3)

Jeff wanted to do a roast beef dinner with sweet potatoes for the holiday dinner. So he created his own recipe and it turned out to be a huge success. Our guests could not get enough of it. The peppery flavor of the steak went well with all of the side dishes: sweet potatoes, roasted butternut squash with Gouda cheese and pine nuts, and the artichoke, heart of palm, and avocado salad. The roast beef definitely earned its position to be one of our favorite dinner party menus.

A few days later I asked Jeff to tell me the ingredients for the roast beef and the steps to prepare it. I typed the recipe quickly and added it to this blog as another entry to our good cooking “database”.

So here is Jeff’s recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 8 lbs of round bottom round roast beef (cut in half)
  • Salt, freshly ground black pepper, chili powder, dried oregano, and salt-free steak seasoning
  • A cup of your favorite bold red wine (we used a cabernet)
  • Dried sage
  • Water

Steps:

  • Create a brine solution (to keep the steak juicy after roasting) in a large zip lock bag by mixing one or two cups of water with salt
  • Brine and soak the meat completely in the zip lock bag
  • Leave in the fridge for three days
  • Take it out of the brining bag and pat dry the day before the dinner party
  • Brush with canola oil
  • Prepare the steak’s dry rub mix in a bowl: freshly ground black pepper, chili powder, oregano, and a little salt-free steak seasoning (we used Trader Joe’s Steak and Chop Grill and Broil)
  • Massage the dry rub well into the meat
  • Place the marinated meat in a new zip lock bag and keep in the fridge overnight

About three hours before the dinner party:

  • Preheat the oven to 225F
  • Place the meat on an oven rack with a tray below it
  •  Put one cup of water on the tray and then cover it all with an aluminum foil
  • Cook until the steak’s temperature reaches 130F (it took us about 2 hours)
  • Take the meat out and crank up the oven temp to 500F and cook the meet for another 10 minutes
  • Take the steak out and cover with aluminum foil until serving

Prepare the steak sauce by collecting the juices from the cooking steak in the tray into a small pot. Mix with half cup of water, a cup of wine, and a pinch of dried sage. Let it simmer and reduce by half. Strain to make sure that there isn’t any dried sage in the sauce and serve.

Make the sweet potato dish:

  • Peel and cube  3-4 sweet potatoes
  • Boil with chicken stock, add a little salt, and cook until it is fork tender
  • Drain the potatoes and let it cool down before serving

Serve  7-9 people

Happy Holidays!

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Seafood and Vegetable Curry

The inspiration came from the Green Curry and the Pad Ped Fish dishes at my favorite Thai restaurant in Chicago, Ben’s Noodle and Rice. This restaurant became like a second kitchen for me when I lived in Andersonville neighborhood.  What I love about Thai curries is the combination of spices and sweetness that come from coconut milk and also the vegetables.

In this dish, my idea is to create a vegetable curry that I’d pour over a crispy and firm baked white fish. I enjoy dishes that involve seafood and vegetables. A mixture of taste, texture, and colors in one dish makes the meal all the more exciting. Another thing I like about Thai curry dishes (in restaurants in the US at least) is the presence of bell peppers and eggplant. The softness of the eggplant and the crunchy bell peppers along with their different colors make the dish far from being boring.

So here’s how I make my curry dish:

(Caveat: I eyeball everything!)

In a food processor, chop and mix the following ingredients:

  • 3 Shallots
  • 5-6 Cloves of garlic
  • 5 Long hot peppers (like cayenne)
  • 1 Red bell pepper
  • ½ Inch of ginger (or 1 teaspoon of ginger powder)

In a medium pot, add:

  • 2-3 cups of water
  • A pinch of turmeric powder and salt
  •  ½ Inch of galangal root
  • 1 Lemon grass
  • 2 Kaffir lime leaves
  • The  chopped and mixed curry ingredients
  • Stay on medium heat until it bubbles
  • Add half a can of light coconut milk (you can do the whole can if you want a thicker and richer broth) and stir to mix

Cut one big eggplant and two bell peppers into small cubes.  Place the eggplants on a plate. Heat them up in a microwave oven for two minutes. This will expedite the cooking process of the eggplant. Want to veg-it-up? Go crazy! Add carrots, broccoli, and tomatoes into the curry.

Add the vegetables into the pot and let it cook for 10-15 minutes. Remove the galangal root, lemon grass, and kaffir lime leaves before serving. Turn the heat off.

Now, let’s talk about the fish:

  • Place two or three fillets of your preferred firm white fish (like red snapper, sea bass, swai, or tilapia) on a plate
  • Drizzle with apple vinegar (or lemon juice) for aroma
  • Brush the surface lightly with vegetable oil (enough to coat the whole surface)
  • Season with ginger powder, hot pepper powder, coriander powder, and salt. Rub evenly on both sides
  • Let them sit and absorb the spices and goodness for about 10 minutes
  • Place the fillets on a baking dish (might want to spray or lightly grease the dish first). Bake in the preheated 400-450 F oven for about 15-20 minutes until the fillets are crisp and firm but flake easily when pierced with a fork. (Broil to brown both sides if necessary)

Top the fish with vegetable curry or serve separately. The dish is perfect to enjoy with …white jasmine rice, of course.

Serve 2-4

Note: This is one of my flexible dishes. I can substitute the fish with other things. Try adding shrimp or chicken fillets into vegetable curry and let them cook together. Have fun and enjoy!

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