Roasted Red Pepper & Onion Salad: Take 2

Ensalada de Pimientos Asados con Cebolla

Very refreshing little salad/ vegetable thing.

I'm rewriting a prior post with a structured recipe style.

Ingredients:

• Roast beef (not pictured)
  
• 1 kg (2¼ lb) rolled roast
• thyme
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• Red Pepper & Onion Salad
• 5 red peppers
• 2 onions; quartered
• 2 tomatoes
  
• olive oil
• 1 T Modena vinegar
  

Instructions:

1. Oven at 180C (375F)
2. Place on a baking pan
3. Oil red peppers

1. Rub beef with thyme, salt & pepper
2. Place on oiled baking pan
3. Drizzle oil over it

1. Racks go into the preheated oven
2. The beef takes about an hour
3. after 30 minutes
1. place quartered onions around beef
• pointy part up
  
2. drizzle with oil
3. Turn the peppers
   
4. Eventually the beef should reach 55C (130f) internal temp (1hr or, in my case, 1 hour 10)
5. Remove meat
6. Transfer onions to the pepper's tray
7. Crank the heat to 240C (450f)
8. Blacken (roast) the peppers to death (another 10 minutes maybe)
   
9. Remove everything on place peppers in a closed bag (paper, plastic, whatever) to cool
10. When cooled enough to handle peel the skin off;
    
• deseed
  

1. cut peppers into narrow strips (½cm).
2. cut onions into julienne too (narrow strips)
3. mix together
4. I added 2 tomates; cored, deseeded and julienned too.
5. Then add a Tablespoon of Modena Vinegar.
   
6. Add salt Maldon (taste it)
   
7. Mix together
   

Done

Notes:

1. If your oven has top & bottom elements only the bottom should be on
2. The meat must "rest" for 15 minutes to finish cooking and settle before it can be cut. Cutting too soon will cause it too lose tons of juices.
3. Putting the peppers into a bag to cool makes them easier to peel
4. The inside of the peppers might still be steamy hot when the skin has cooled
   

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The other stuff in the picture is a curry chicken (recipe not included here).

A Lite Lunch: Turkey & Pineapple

This
Pineapple Slicer

does this

It's really cool. Works well to boot.

And since lunch around here has been reduced to

1. turkey breast filets (fried on a non-stick grill; no oil) plus
2. pineapple

it's become more interesting to cut pineapple than anything else; so I bought myself this kitchen toy.

Dinner will be

1. egg white omelet (although 1 yolk is allowed) plus
   
2. pineapple

It's not my diet; I just go along with whatever the household needs.

Roasted Red Pepper & Onion Salad

Ensalada de Pimientos Asados con Cebolla

Very refreshing little salad/ vegetable thing.

It's still warm out (35-40c area [100f]) so the menu adapts accordingly.

I was up early, before it got hot, to do some roasting in the oven. Simultaneously I roasted meat, onions and red peppers.

Everything works at 180C (375f).

The 2¼ lb rolled roast I rubbed with thyme, salt, pepper and that's all. It went in in an oiled roasting pan, I poured oil over it and closed the door. It takes about one hour - turn it over half way through - and should reach 55C (130f) internal temp by then.

I put in 5 red peppers too (oiled a little as well); on a different rack.

At the half way mark I put in a couple of onions; quartered - pointy part upward; on the tray with the meat.

The onions and meat came out after an 1 hour 10 (medium); the peppers stayed in. Then I cranked the temp to 240C (450f) and really roasted those peppers; until the skins were actually blackening quite well.

The meat must "rest" for 15 minutes to finish cooking and settle before it can be cut. Cutting too soon will cause it too lose tons of juices.

Then they come out and go into a sealed bag for 15 minutes (to make them easire to peel). After, when cooled enough, peel the skin off; remove the seeds and cut into narrow strips (½cm).

Cut the onions into julienne too (narrow strips) and mix with the roasted red pepper.

I added 2 tomates, cored, deseeded and julienned too.

Then add a Tablespoon of Modena Vinegar. Add salt Maldon.

Mix together.

Done

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The other stuff in the picture is a curry chicken.

The roast meat was for a cold dinner later on so it's not featured in the photo. Two birds with one stone and all that.

Note: I wrote this as a narrative recipe; I plan to repeat this in "regular" form later - for comparison.

Gazpacho

It's hot in Madrid these days (100F or so) and I wanted something simple, fast, and refreshing. In the fridge was some tomatoes I wasn't consuming fast enough (being not much of a salad person) so I decided to make a simple simple gazpacho (basically, messed up tomato juice).

Gazpacho

Makes: 2 glasses

Ingredients:

• 5 tomatoes (medium)
• 3 T olive oil (the good stuff)
• 1 clove garlic (smashed, minced, whatever)
  
• 1/2 t salt

Procedure:

1. Remove the tomato stem end (the hard unflavorful bit)
   
2. Quarter the tomatoes and toss them in the blender (I use something called a Thermomix)
3. Blend well (and more than well) (for a full 2 minutes) You now have tomato juice
   
4. Add oil (traditional recipes would use twice as much; we'll call this one gazpacho-lite)
5. Add salt (it balances the acidity of the tomato)
   
6. Add garlic (it make the tomato taste seem sweeter)
   
7. Blend a long time (another 3 minutes) You now have Gazpacho
   
• Check the salt. You might want more
  
8. If you have a Thermomix set it for 70 degrees C (to cook the juices a little)
• If you're drinking it right away skip this heating step
9. Chill for a couple of hours
   

Done

Notes:

1. Check the salt
   
2. A Thermomix is a blender with a built in heater to allow you to cook things in it
   
3. Gazpacho is best enjoyed cold
4. The oil is to give the tomato (juice) something to emulsify with; so the gazpacho should not separate.
   
5. Many recipes have a lot more ingredients; such as green peppers and/or celery, wine vinegar (yes! excellent!), cucumber (blah¡). This one doesn't.
   
6. Can be diluted with a little water if it thickens up too much when chilled.

Oh look! I have a picture in this one. It's from the PDA-camera. I still need practice. I think 1) more light (to get a better shutter speed) and 2) not so close (it doesn't have a macro setting).

Flying Solo

Since the youngun is off skiing on a glacier in France and the partner's away on business in New York there's no real cooking going on around here at all. I'm defrosting stuff I've made and stored previously. So that's working out pretty well.

Yesterday's dinner was Pasta with Pesto; warmed in a frying pan; into which I crumbled a little feta cheese. Delish.

Today's lunch will be beans (really big fabes) in pisto (not Pesto - - Pisto); that's a sort of rattattoui. As it happens, that was yesterday's lunch too.

True, when home alone I really do not eat fancy at all. Possibly I should turn the opportunity into a few days of hypercreativity. Hmm - I believe I shall go peruse some cookbooks.

ISI - Gourmet Whip

I spoiled myself by buying an
ISI Gourmet Whip; loads of fun.

I mixed:
1 pint whipping cream (35%)
1 pint Philly Cream Cheese
1 pint Maple Syrup

and used it to top (cold) little waffles that came from Belgium. Delicious - - according to the memebers of the book club who tried them.



Oh look, I'm an Amazon Associate too. Just for the fun of it; it's not a if it will actually earn me any money.

Mero, Gallo, Rosado

These are the Spanish names for Bream, Dory, and Kingklip (or Ling). All are types of fish and that's what's been on the menu for the last few days. That, and asparagus; green, white, fresh, tinned, whatever. The fish has been variously fried (non-stick pan), pressure cooked (boy is that ever fast), and baked.

Someone around here (not I) is on something of a diet and the cooking's been, shall we say, modest in its aspirations.

Only plain white fish. No added oil or fat; no salt, spices... maybe. - - Someone help me out here; what in the world can one do with it?

The pressure cooked asparagus and fish is blindingly fast. I used a steamer basket, put a 1/2 cup of fisk stock in the bottom (hoping for a little infusion of flavor or something), closed it up; set it on 2 (medium pressure) and once the pressure built up I turned of the heat and let it go for 2 minutes.
Done.
How simple can it get?

Stewing Meat: Morcillo

I needed to make a simple dish (easy [lazy]) and had some parameters that limited what I could use for ingredients (low carb, fat, salt etc). And besides, it's hot out and I don't want to spent much time in the kitchen (35 C [95 degrees F] in the garden today).

Simple Beef Stew

Ingredients:

• 1 kg beef; stewing meat; trimmed and cut into small cubes
• 2 red onions (julienne)
  
• 1 white onion (julienne)
  
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
  
• 3 carrots (halved, the long way)
  
• 2 T dry sherry
• 2 T sweet sherry
• 1/2 c veal stock (beef broth)
  
• 1 Boldo leaf (or laurel)
• 1 T sage
  
• water
  
• pepper
• salt (very little)
  

Procedure:

1. Start with a whole piece of stewing beef (not pre-cut at the store) and trim off the fat, grissle and silvery parts. This can remove up to 25% of the weight of the beast - but gives you a lean result (very healthy) that's got no nasty bits in the final dish.
2. Oven to 190C (375 F) (you need it later)
   
3. Oil in an ovenproof pan; just to barely coat the bottom (less if you're using non-stick; although stainless steel gives the best result)
   
4. On top of the stove, brown the meat; the pieces should be just barely touching in the (hot) pan. Do it in a couple of batches if you have to. Brown it until the meat's well colored and the liquids that the process produces are more or less cooked away.
• This is an important step that professionals do better than typical home cooks. Be patient; it takes time to brown the meat well.
  
• Set browned meat aside
5. Saute the onions (I mixed red and white/yellow - I don't know why)
• Until starting to get soft (this too takes some time [10 minutes maybe])
6. The onions will start taking up the residual stuff left over from browning the meat
   
7. Add garlic and cook that a little too
8. Push the onions to the edges , add dry sherry to the center and flamé a little (mine failed to burn properly; I should have prewarmed the sherry instead of just pouring it into the pan). This step is to help clean residues from the bottom of the pan (deglaze).
   
9. Add sweet sherry (this is for flavor) (no flames here)
   
10. Add carrots (no particular cooking needed) [these are for flavor more than anything else)
    
11. Add back the meat
12. Pepper generously
13. Add veal stock (for flavour)
14. Plus boldo leaf (if you can find it [a great alternative to laurel])
15. Plus sage
16. Water to almost cover the meat
17. Set heat to high and bring the liquids just barely to a bubble (don't boil; it makes the meat tough)
18. Into the oven for 3 hours - check/stir every hour or so (I left it uncovered)
• I let it get fairly thick, but not dry

Done

Notes:

1. It comes down to this being a recipe of Meat, Onions, Garlic, Carrots and some flavoring
• Cube meat; brown; sauté onions & garlic; add carrots, liquids and spices; cook
  
2. Probably the flambé-ing step should be after the meat is browned. Then reduce that to almost dry before sauté-ing the onions.
   
3. Check for salt / seasoning 1/2 way through the cooking; once the liquid's reduced somewhat
   
4. Boldo leafs are stronger than Laurel - use a 1/2 to 1/3 as much
   

= End =

Bottom Round; Tapilla & Lemon

Well, getting away from the depressing news on the job front…

I made a great dinner with a "B"cut meat. This was not bottom round steaks but the entire triangular piece. I started witha sort of a roast.

Tapilla (Bottom Round) with Lemon

Ingredients

• 1 kg beef; bottom round (Tapilla)(2 lb)
• 1 lemon; juice
  
• 3 T olive oil
• 1/4 c white wine
  
• 1 T pepper
  

  ---

• salt & pepper
  

  ---

• 1/4 c white wine
• 1/2 c beef stock (or bullion)(I used powdered veal stock)
  

Procedure

1. Mix lemon juice, olive oil, white wine, pepper
2. Slice meat into fillets (not so very thick steaks)
   
3. Marinate beef for 1 or 2 hours hours; turning a couple or three times
4. Remove from marinade and sprinkle with salt and pepper
• Rest for 15 minutes (you and the meat, both)
  
5. Put meat & marinade into a baking pan (to prevent sticking)
   
6. Bake in 180C oven for 30 minutes (350F)
   
7. Remove meat (set aside & cover with alu foil)
   
8. Skim fats & oils off of cooking liquid
   
9. Pour off liquid except for 1/2 c (to prevent a too too lemony a flavour)
   
10. Place roasting pan on oven-top, boil away any liquid; until pan is practially dry
    
11. Deglaze pan with white wine (to get the residual meat flavor)
12. Add beef stock; and juices from the meat that been "resting"
    
13. Reduce until it's a sauce (the old "coats the back of a spoon" trick)

Done

Notes

1. Pour your sauce around the meat when serving (or next to it); don't smother the meat in sauce
   
2. The slight lemon flavor is excellent with many cuts of meat
   
3. This is really low fat
   
4. The pieces curl up somewhat, that's normal
5. This reheats really well: cut them into narrow strips (like for fajitas) and quickly fry, with a splash of oil, in a very hot non-stick frying pan

Someday I'll get the camera situation worked out and get back to doing pictures

Low Fat, Carb Cooking

The next series of home cooking I'll be doing is appparently going to be very low fat and low/no carbohydrates. This will be something of a challenge. I am, after all, a classically trained Fench style chef and our motto is "there's no such thing as too much butter".