Tea Spiced Flank Steak

We really enjoy drinking tea in the Falk household, and I have been buying all sorts of loose leaf tea for a while.  I've been itching to start incorporating tea into my cooking for a while now.  While we were in Half Moon Bay (for the beach) with Ashley, we found this Ming Tsai's cookbook, Simply Ming, at a local used book store and had to bring it home.  The first recipe we have made from it has given me the opportunity to start cooking with tea  - here it is mixed into a spice rub and then rubbed onto a piece of red meat before grilling.  We used Keemun Concerto from Adagio Teas - a smoky black tea, and we all agreed it added a nice smokiness and extra depth to the meat.  If anything should be changed form Ming Tsai's recipe, I think that for many of my friends and family this spice rub is too spicy - I will include the amounts suggested as well as possible reductions for the more sensitive palate.
In terms of the meat, we have been buying red meat from Open Space Meats which is a ranch located a few hours from us and provides very tasty grass fed beef at quite reasonable prices.  For those of you not in California, Oregon, and Nevada, they will not ship to you, but you may be able to find your own locally ranched meats.  Eat Wild provides a search engine to find places by you.

Tea Spiced Flank Steak


Spicy Tea Rub

The original recipe calls for enough ingredients to make 6 cups of rub.  On the flank steak shown, we used nearly 1/2 cup.  The ingredients listed are scaled down to make ~ 2 cups of rub.  This can be stored for several weeks.

1 cup black tea leaves (Keemun Concerto worked well, but so will many others)
2 T kosher salt
2 T red pepper flakes (consider reducing to 2 t.)
2 T chile powder (consider reducing to 2 t.)
2 T garlic powder 
1 T cayenne pepper (consider reducing to 1 t.)
1 T dried chives or dried onions
1 T five spice powder


1.  Mix all ingredients together.  We found that we like the texture better after grinding with a mortar & pestle.

My sister, Ashley, is grinding up the spice rub :-)

Flank Steak


1 Flank steak
1/2 cup of spicy tea rub (above)
2 T extra virgin olive oil


1.  Trim excess fat from flank steak.  Rub olive oil and spicy tea rub onto the meat.

2.  Let sit for 15 minutes for spices to meld with meat.
3.  Grill over medium high heat.  We like this cooked to medium which takes about 5 minutes per side. (David says: until it looked done...)
4.  Let sit for 5 minutes, then slice at an angle.  My suggestions for sides:  garlic mashed potatoes and grilled veggies such as zucchini & bell peppers.

Challah French Toast

Growing up, it was customary for us to have Friday night Shabbat dinner at home as often as possible.  One of the best parts of Shabbat dinner is getting to eat challah - the traditional Jewish braided egg bread.  One of these days I will bake homemade challah and write about that - it really is wonderful to have the smell of fresh-braked bread permeate your home, and this is a lot of fun to make, but that is not what this post is about.  The next best thing to baking challah is turning the challah leftover into french toast in the morning.  For many years I tried to cook this through in the frying pan on the stove top, but have recently realized that it is much easier to have a perfect brown on the bread and a fully cooked through piece of french toast when you finish it in the oven - no more burnt bread to make sure you aren't eating raw egg.

Challah French Toast


Here are the ingredients to make 4 slices of french toast.  It ought to scale up proportionately to the number of slices that you are going to use.  There were only three of us, so I didn't want to make any more...

4 slices challah, 1/2" thick 
2 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 T sugar
2 T milk (we use 1 %)
1 T butter

0.  Preheat oven to 375 °F.
1.  Mix eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, and milk in a bowl.
2.  Soak bread in egg mixture, turning to coat as necessary.

 3.  Heat butter over medium-high heat in frying pan.  Brown both sides of the eggy challah slices - since we are going to finish the french toast in the oven you do not need to worry about ensuring it is cooked all the way through.

4.  Move browned french toast slices to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  If you are making more slices than your frying pan can accomodate, fry the next batch(es) as well - there is plenty of room on the baking sheet since the slices do not need to be spaced apart from one another.

5.  Bake at 375 °F for 10 minutes.

  
6.  Serve with maple syrup & fruit for a satisfying, sweet breakfast.

Rainbow Trout with Sage & Lemon

We've had my sister visiting for a few weeks and that led to us not posting any new recipes.  But while she was here we were definitely cooking, including some experimenting.  In the next few posts I will share some of what we made together.

On Friday night I really wanted to make fish and went to Whole Foods to see what my options were given that David would rather not eat salmon (unless it's lox or sushi) and that half of the fish options are usually salmon.  I was hoping for arctic char which is pink and meaty and has all of the things I like about salmon without the fishiness that he dislikes so much, but I was out of luck.  Instead I brought home rainbow trout fillets - a favorite of mine since childhood, and one that reminds me of my dad - it is nice to think of the good memories at this time of year.  I've made this several times now and each time find a way to make it a little bit easier and better.  I think it is really best when pan-fried to leave a great crispness on the fish, but it is quite a bit easier to broil when cooking several fillets.  This goes great with string beans and roasted garlicky potatoes.

Rainbow Trout with Sage & Lemon

Rainbow trout fillets - ~ 1 per person
Extra virgin olive oil - ~ 1/2 T per fillet
Fresh sage, chopped - ~ 1 loose t. per fillet
Kosher or sea salt - ~ 1/2 t per fillet
Ground pepper - to taste - I used ~ 1/4 -1/2 t per fillet
Fresh lemons - at least one, consider additional for serving with fish

1.  Clean fillets (I rinse with water and make sure there are no scales on the meaty side of the fish), then pat dry.
2.  Place fillets skin side down on baking tray.  If you are going to broil, make sure to put some parchment paper, no-stick foil, or use a silpat on the baking sheet to prevent the fish from sticking to the pan since you will cook it in place.  If you are going to pan-fry, then this is just a easy way to lay the fish out for adding the seasonings.

3.  Drizzle this fillets with olive oil & rub over meaty side.  Add sage, salt, and pepper.  Squeeze 1/2 of fresh lemon over fillets (I used 1/2 lemon for the three fillets we cooked here). 

4a.  Broil on high for about 6 minutes - the meat should be beginning to crisp up.  If they don't look done, let them cook for a bit more time, but these are thin pieces of fish. 
4b.  If you prefer, pan fry meat side down on medium high heat for 3 minutes.  Turn fillets and finish for 2-3 minutes.

I like to add some fresh squeezed lemon juice after cooking and think lemon slices look nice on the plate with this fish.  Enjoy! 

Chicken & Pesto Pasta

One of my favorite herbs is basil - it has such a sweet & flavorful taste and the smell permeates the car, then kitchen when you bring it home leaving me smiling.  This star of this dish is the pesto - since we don't eat meat and dairy products together, there is no cheese, but with the garlic & balsamic you don't really miss it. Our CSA has been providing us with wonderful fresh garlic - in the early spring it was green garlic (think along the lines of green onions, but garlicky), but has turned into full heads of garlic in the last few weeks.  So, here we get to meld the flavors of basil and garlic into something that tastes great and is fairly easy to make.

Chicken & Pesto Pasta

I think of this as a three component meal: you need to make the pesto, cook the pasta (I use linguine or spaghetti, but you can use whatever you have in the pantry), and cook the chicken.  Then you can throw all three together for dinner.  Sometimes this means using leftover grilled chicken breasts.  You can make the pesto ahead of time, or you can make a lot and freeze it in portions for later use.  I frequently add tomatoes to the dish, and it certainly would be good with other vegetables like bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, etc.

Pesto

6 medium cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch basil (~ 2 cups of leaves)
1 T balsamic
1 T pine nuts (these can be left out or substituted with other nuts such as pecans)
salt & pepper


Combine all ingredients in a small food processor & chop.  Taste your pesto!  If it needs more garlic or olive oil or balsamic, feel free to add more.  Salt & pepper to your personal taste.

Pasta

1.  Cook 1 lb of pasta according to instructions on package.  I like to use spaghetti or linguine, but penne or any other pasta works well too.  Also, try whole wheat - the nuttiness goes well with the pesto. 

2.  Drain pasta, return to pan, and toss with 1-2 T olive oil to keep pasta from sticking.

Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
~ 1/2 T rosemary  (I use chopped fresh rosemary from the yard, but dried works too)
salt & pepper

Pat breasts dry and season with rosemary, salt, and pepper.  You can grill the breasts, or pan fry them.  I suppose you could even bake them.  I've been known to use my panini grill to put a crisp outside on the breasts and have them cooked through in less than 10 minutes.

Putting it all together

1.  Add pesto to pasta and stir to coat.
2.  Add any fresh vegetables such as chopped tomatoes to the pesto pasta.
3.  Slice chicken and mix in.  Alternatively, for a nicer presentation, put pasta on plates or in bowls, and top with sliced chicken.

Enjoy!

Arugula & Strawberry Salad

One thing I love most about living in California is how easy it is to get fresh local produce - the farmer's markets are awesome.  To make it even easier to know where our food comes from, we joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) in which we get a box of produce every other week from Eatwell Farm.  We get great veggies & fruit and are forced to learn how to make some things we haven't made before - beet greens, mustard greens, chard, fava beans, etc., or to learn how to like some things we didn't like very much (spinach, butternut squash).  It also keeps our eating more in touch with the seasons.

This week our box had lots of those greens we have learned to enjoy, but more importantly, it had arugula and strawberries - both ingredients that I have loved for a long time.  The peppery flavor of arugula makes it a really nice addition to any salad, but this time I wanted to let it have center stage.  I used a local balsamic vinegar produced by a winery that we enjoy wines from (Vincent Arroyo) - they make a fruity, sweet, thick balsamic that is perfect for this salad.  This is a nice light summer salad that I made to go with grilled Mediterranean chicken breasts (double the marinade in this recipe and use whole boneless skinless chicken breasts as a quick weeknight variation on this kabob recipe) and roasted potatoes with garlic & rosemary. 

Arugula & Strawberry Salad

1 bunch arugula
10-15 strawberries
3 T good aged balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic
5 T olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

1.  Clean and rip arugula into a salad bowl.
2.  Thinly slice strawberries.  Toss into salad bowl.

3.  Make salad dressing: Combine chopped garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl or small container with lid.  If using a bowl, drizzle in olive oil while whisking to create an emulsion.  I find it easier to add the oil into a tupperware container (8 oz.), put the lid on, and shake, but it should work both ways.
Note:  You should taste your dressing.  If it is not sweet enough, add sugar or honey or orange juice.
4.  Toss salad with dressing & enjoy.

Grilled turkey breast, wild rice pilaf, & iced tea

Tonight we cooked a whole turkey breast on the grill since I was in the mood for turkey and it was too hot inside our home to use the oven.  We ate this with a wild rice pilaf which was sweet and nutty.  This meal was like a light Thanksgiving meal with turkey, rice, cranberries, and mushrooms.   Homemade iced tea was refreshing on this warm early summer evening.

Grilled turkey breast  

For those nights when it is just too hot to turn on the oven, the grill works great - maybe better.  Since we don't have AC and the grill sitting right outside the back door, this happens more frequently than ever these days.  The great thing about a turkey breast is that it is easy to brine and cooks quicker than a full turkey (and is small enough to fit on our portable Weber Q grill).  Since we had some handy thanks to my friend's mom, I included hickory smoked salt in the recipe, but this could easily be left out if unavailable.  The breast was incredibly moist with a slight smokiness.  We turned the leftovers into turkey salad for lunches.

5 lb whole turkey breast
2 T olive oil
1 1/2 t ground pepper
1 1/2 t hickory smoked salt (or kosher salt)
Aluminum pan  or boat made from heavy duty aluminum foil
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock

Brine:
6 cups warm water
1 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 rosemary sprigs
4 garlic cloves
1/2 t  hickory smoked salt
1 t ground pepper

About 3 hours before you want to eat the turkey, prepare the brine.  Our turkey breast was small enough to be brined in a gallon sized ziploc bag, but larger tupperware or appropriately sized bowls work well also.
1)  Dissolve salt & sugar in 4 cups warm water.
2)  Peel garlic closed by crushing with heel of hand or large flat knife blade.
3)  Place breast in brining container.  Add rosemary, garlic, and pepper to container.  Add salt, sugar, water mixture to container.  Add more water as necessary to cover - in our gallon bag that was about 2 more cups of water. 
4)  Seal bag or container and allow to sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

To cook the turkey on the grill, preheat the grill on high until hot.
Note: We use a propane grill so we can easily adjust the temperature.  If you use charcoal, place most of the coals on one side so that is the high heat side, and the other side is the low heat side.

5)  Remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry.  Rub olive oil on the skin and season with salt & pepper.
6)  Place turkey breast on grill and reduce heat to medium and cook for ~ 30 minutes with the grill lid closed.  It is helpful to insert a digital thermometer into the bird that allows you to monitor the temperature of the bird without opening the grill lid and releasing heat.
For charcoal grills you will want to leave the bird on the high heat for 15 minutes then move it to the lower heat side of the grill.
7)  When the temperature of the breast reaches 100 °F move the breast to the aluminum pan.  Add the chicken stock and wine to the pan, and lower heat on grill to low.  Grill until thermometer stuck in breast reads 165 °F (this took about 40 minutes on our grill).  Remove the breast from heat and allow to sit covered for 10 minutes.

Wild rice with cranberries, mushrooms, and walnuts

Here is a side dish which is probably most appropriate as a healthy side at Thanksgiving, but is light enough to enjoy year round.  I have adapted the recipe from Wine Enthusiast Magazine's Wine & Food Pairings Cookbook.  This was great warm and was possibly better at room temperature, so it would be a great dish to bring with to potlucks.

1 cup wild rice blend - I used Rice Select Royal Blend (Texmati white, brown, wild, & red rices)
2 cups mushrooms - I used cremini
1 cup walnuts
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3 T red onion
1 T grapeseed oil
1-2 T good olive oil - I used an Ascolano variety since this is my favorite
salt & pepper

Begin by preparing the individual ingredients:
1)  Cook rice according to instructions on packaging.  Remove from heat when done.
2)  Coarsely chop mushrooms.  Heat grapeseed oil (or other mild oil) in a medium frying pan and saute mushrooms for 5-10 minutes until cooked and slightly browned. Remove from heat.
3)  Coarsely chop walnuts and toast in a hot dry frying pan for ~ 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
4)  Finely chop the red onion.  My onion was very potent, so I soaked this in cold water for 5 minutes to subdue it.
5) Chop cranberries then soak in 1/4 cup warm water for 10 minutes then drain.

6)  Mix the mushrooms, walnuts, cranberries, and red onion together in a medium bowl.  Stir in the cooked rice. Add 1-2 T of good olive oil.   Salt & pepper to taste.  Enjoy!


Homemade iced tea


David and I both enjoy tea - hot or cold.  In March we were in Florida for Melanie & Michael's wedding, and couldn't stop drinking the sweet tea - who knew how good that was?  Anyway, I wanted to try to make some at home since the bottled stuff is just not that good.  This is what I came up with which seems pretty good - smooth, sweet, and all around yummy.

 

6 cups water
3 cups ice
7 black tea bags (we used PG tips tea, but lipton, or other varieties should work too)
1/8 t baking soda
3/4 cup sugar

1)  Boil 6 cups of water.
2)  Place tea bags in a glass pitcher.  Add baking soda and boiling water.  Steep covered for 10 minutes.
3)  Remove tea bags and add sugar.  Stir to dissolve.
4)  Stir in ice.
5)  Chill in fridge and enjoy this sweet drink.

The beginning

I've been thinking that David and I need to start a blog on our cooking and eating (and drinking) experiences for a while now, and have finally taken the plunge!  Perhaps this will only be read by us when we look back for recipes, etc, but hopefully a few of our friends and family will enjoy reading about our culinary endeavors.  We want a place to share some of our favorite recipes as well as new experiments in the kitchen.  We will also try to include information about the foods we use, the places we go, and the wineries we have found out here in California as well.