Beef Skewers

I know that (much like the 6 minute egg), you guys probably don't need a recipe for beef skewers.  But I like how the marinade tasted, and I want to ensure that the next time I make this, it's just as delicious!

Ingredients:
1 tbs Montreal Steak Seasoning (we have reduced sodium)
2 tsp soy sauce
2 1/2 tbs olive oil
cubed beef (I used pre-cut meat, but you can always cut your own or have a butcher cut some)
vegetables (I used grape tomatoes and peppers)

• Start by making the marinade.  Combine steak seasoning, soy sauce, and olive oil in a zip top bag.  Add the meat and mush things around a bit.  Allow meat to marinate for 30 minutes.

•  While the meat is marinating, soak skewers in water.  You don't want them to burn!

• Prepare the vegetables

• Once the meat is finished marinating, assemble your skewers.  Note that I put all of the tomatoes on one skewer- they won't take as long to cook so I wanted to keep them separated. ("gotta keep 'em separated!")

• Cook the skewers using your preferred method. We don't have a grill, so we cooked these on a grill pan in a 475 degree oven for about 10 minutes, flipping the meat half way through.  (the tomatoes were finished in about 5 minutes)

They were cooked to a lovely and delicious medium, and we served them with some sourdough bread (topped with Kerrygold Irish butter, of course!

Ingredients:
1 tbs Montreal Steak Seasoning (we have reduced sodium)
2 tsp soy sauce
2 1/2 tbs olive oil
cubed beef (I used pre-cut meat, but you can always cut your own or have a butcher cut some)
vegetables (I used grape tomatoes and peppers)

Directions:

1. Start by making the marinade. Combine steak seasoning, soy sauce, and olive oil in a zip top bag. Add the meat and mush things around a bit. Allow meat to marinate for 30 minutes. 
2. While the meat is marinating, soak skewers in water. You don't want them to burn!
3. Prepare/chop the vegetables
4. Once the meat is finished marinating, assemble your skewers. Note that I put all of the tomatoes on one skewer- they won't take as long to cook so I wanted to keep them separated.
5. Cook the skewers using your preferred method. We don't have a grill, so we cooked these on a grill pan in a 475 degree oven for about 10 minutes, flipping the meat half way through. (the tomatoes were finished in about 5 minutes)

Enjoy!

6 Minute Egg

Yeah, "recipe" is in quotes because this is not much of a recipe at all...more of a technique.  I LOVE eggs when they are poached, or cooked over medium...anything that will get my my coveted "egg goo."  It's sometimes tough to get the eggs perfect, since I need the whites to be fully cooked.

Enter the 6 minute egg.

I watch a lot of chef and cooking shows, and I have heard about this egg.  The resulting yolks always have the magical egg goo consistency!!  Of course I had to give it a try.

• Start with room temperature eggs.  These sat out on the counter for about 40 minutes.

• Boil up some water in a pot.  If you are bored while you wait for your water to boil, watch Project Runway :)

• When the water reaches a rolling boil, carefully place eggs into the pot.  

• Set your timer for 6 minutes

• After 6 minutes, promptly remove eggs and place in a water bath to cool.

That's it!

Ohhh...gotta love the egg goo.  I didn't have any bread in the apartment to make toast, so I put the egg on top of a toasted Eggo waffle.  Amazing meal!

Charred Corn Crepes

Dave had purchased some corn on the cob, and we decided to use it for this recipe!  Scroll down a bit, and you'll also find a video :)  Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:

2 ears of corn on the cob

4 tbs melted butter

1 cup flour

2 cups milk (I used almond milk, because that's what we had)

4 eggs

1 tsp salt

butter for the pan

for serving:

queso fresco (or other salty cheese)

sour cream

tomatoes

chili powder (optional)

lime

Directions:

• Husk your corn, and allow it to char over an open flame

• Use tongs to rotate the corn until cooked and blackened.

The corn will pop as it is cooking!  I filmed a video so you could see what I mean:

(watch video below, or in HD on YouTube)

• Use a knife to cut off the kernels from both ears of corn.

• Transfer corn to a food processor, and pour melted butter on top.  I had to do this in 2 stages because we have a small food processor.  Allow it to cool a bit, then blend.

It should look like this- still a bit chunky!

• Add flour, milk, eggs, and salt, and mix well.   I eventually transferred the mixture to a large bowl to make mixing easier.

This picture was a tough one to take.  One hand was holding the measuring cup, one hand was holding the chopstick, and one hand was holding the camera....?  Ahh- the magic of cooking!

Not necessary, but fun to have: a crepe ladle!

• Heat a skillet over medium heat, and coat with butter.  I put some in the middle and then spread it around with a paper towel.

• Pour some batter into the center of the skillet, and tilt it until you have a circle (or, a rustic circle like mine!)  Cook until the edges start to brown slightly, then flip and cook the other side for another 20 or 30 seconds.

• Transfer your cooked crepes to a plate lined with paper towel.

• To serve, alternate crepes, sour cream, and cheese until you have a lovely stack.  Throw on some chopped tomatoes, and squeeze on a bit of lime juice.

We ate this like a pie as you can see in the photo above, but when we ate it the next night (there was leftover crepe batter), we rolled them like burritos.  That was a lot easier! :)

Ingredients: 

2 ears of corn on the cob 

4 tbs melted butter 

1 cup flour 

2 cups milk

4 eggs 

1 tsp salt 

butter for the pan 

for serving: 

queso fresco (or other salty cheese) 

sour cream 

tomatoes 

chili powder (optional) 

lime 

Directions: 

1. Husk your corn, and allow it to char over an open flame Use tongs to rotate the corn until cooked and blackened. 
2. Use a knife to cut off the kernels from both ears of corn. 
3. Transfer corn to a food processor, and pour melted butter on top.  Allow it to cool a bit, then blend. 
4. Add flour, milk, eggs, and salt, and mix well. 
5. Heat a skillet over medium heat, and coat with a thin layer of butter. 
6. Pour some batter into the center of the skillet, and tilt it until you have a circle 
7. Cook until the edges start to brown slightly, then flip and cook the other side for another 20 or 30 seconds. Transfer your cooked crepes to a plate lined with paper towel. 
8. To serve, alternate crepes, sour cream, and cheese until you have a lovely stack. Add chopped tomatoes, and squeeze a bit of lime juice on top.

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Horchata

Woah, it's been almost 2 months since my last post- sorry! 

Have you ever had horchata?  I had always heard about how awesome it was, but never tried it...until about 2 months ago.  Dave and I were having some lunch at a Mexican place outside of the city, and I saw it on the menu-so of course I had to try it!

It tasted kind of like liquid rice pudding- and I loved it!  It has been on my recipe to-do list ever since, and I think I finally found a winner!

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water
3 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%, but whole is probably best)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
approx 1/4 cup white sugar (add this to taste...I used just over 1/4 c)

Directions:

• Pour the rice and water into a blender.  I had to do this in batches because we have a lame Magic Bullet rip-off.  (if anyone feels like spending hundreds of dollars, please buy us a Vitamix!)
• Blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1-2 minutes.

 blend, baby, blend!

• Transfer to a sealable container, add cinnamon sticks, and let mixture stand at room temperature for 3 hours.

• Refrigerate overnight (this is optional, but helps infuse more flavor!)
• Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice and cinnamon stick.

• Stir the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the rice water until all of the sugar has dissolved.

 We poured the horchata into this cool pitcher we got at Whole Foods.

 Of course, Dave wanted to see how high he could pour the liquid without spilling.  He got about 5 inches higher than shown below :)

• Serve over ice

Directions:

1. Pour the rice and water into a blender. 
2. Blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1-2 minutes. 
3. Transfer to a sealable container, add cinnamon sticks, and let mixture stand at room temperature for 3 hours.
4. Refrigerate overnight (this is optional, but helps infuse more flavor!)
5. Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice and cinnamon stick. 
6. Stir the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the rice water until all of the sugar has dissolved.
7. Serve over ice

recipe adapted from allrecipes

Chocolate and Cinnamon Babka

In the "Dinner Party" episode of Seinfeld, Jerry and Elaine missed out on the last chocolate babka, and were forced to purchase one that had cinnamon- a "lesser babka," if you will.  Well, what if we combined the two?  This chocolate AND cinnamon babka was a bit time consuming to make, but it was well worth the effort!  Dave and I can't stop eating it....

Ingredients:
for the dough
9.5 ounces bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (I used just over this amount of active dry yeast- more on that later)
1.5 ounces granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces unsalted butter, softened

for the filling
1 egg, beaten
about 1 ounce cocoa powder (I used less)
about 2.5 ounces sugar
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)
cinnamon

for the topping
3 ounces all-purpose flour
3 ounces powdered sugar (I didn't have any, so I used light brown sugar)
2 ounces softened butter

Directions:
for the dough

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer and mix on low speed to combine.
2. Combine the wet ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk them together. NOTE:  I used active dry yeast, so I first microwaved half of the milk to about 110 degrees, and proofed the yeast before adding it to the other wet ingredients
3. With the machine running on low, pour the wet ingredients into the dry. When everything is moistened switch to the dough hook and turn the machine up to medium. 
4. Knead until a dough comes together, then add the butter and continue kneading until it’s incorporated and the dough is smooth and sticky, about 5 minutes. (it was VERY sticky)
5. Remove the dough to a lightly greased bowl and allow it to rise for 1-2 hours until it has about doubled in size. 

 

 I know - I didn't whisk the wet ingredients together first. It was okay anyway...promise!!
 

 the tiny, sticky dough ball

Oooh...nice and fluffy! A note on why it's in the oven- as I assemble/mix the dough, I turn the oven to its lowest setting. 200F I believe.  Then when it is time to rise, I turn the oven off, throw it in, and shut the door.  It works perfectly every time!! 

Shaping

1. When the dough has doubled in size, roll it out into a square, about 1/8 inch thick. 
2. Brush with egg wash on three of the edges. 
3. Sift on the cocoa powder and sprinkle sugar everywhere, except for the egg-painted sides. 
4. Distribute the chocolate evenly, then dust the whole thing lightly with cinnamon. (I may have done a bit more than "lightly"...ha!)
5. Roll the dough sheet up starting from the edge that has no egg wash. Twist, then fold the roll in half
6. Give it two or three twists and lay it gently into a well-greased 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan 
7. Brush with egg wash and let it rise in a warm place (I did the same as I described above) until the dough comes up to the lip of the loaf pan, about another hour. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I went ahead and lined my pan with some parchment paper

 

 

 

 

 Do you know how hard it was to manipulate this dough AND take the pics at the same time?!  Tough, I tell ya.

 Don't make the same mistake I did. I ended up with a bulbous side (see above).  Fold the two ends towards the center, THEN twist.  The filling will be more evenly distributed, and you won't end up with a bursting tumor on one end.

 

 

Topping and Baking

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, then prepare the topping: mix the ingredients and work together by hand until crumbly.
2. Brush the dough once again with egg wash and sprinkle it all over with streusel.  (I had leftover topping. I'd be lying if I told you I didn't eat it straight from the bowl...)
3. Bake about an hour until it’s brown and springs back when tapped. 
4. Remove the pan from the oven, and place on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes.
5. Lift parchment to remove babka and allow to cool completely (at least an hour)

DO NOT cut into it early.  Well, you can (I did), but it's going to be super melty and make your bread collapse a bit.  It will have more structural integrity once it has fully cooled! Enjoy!

Adapted from Joe Pastry