Pam Anderson's Blog, page 77

Sear-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Fresh-Grated Horseradish

Serves 8

Serve rich, creamy potato gratin with this simple roast beef and lively piquant topping.

1 4-pound beef tenderloin roast tied with butcher twine every 1 1/2 inches

Vegetable oil

Salt  and ground black pepper

1 fresh horseradish root, peeled and grated to yield 2 cups

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat a heavy-duty roasting pan large enough to accommodate the roast over two burners turned to medium-high heat for 5 minutes. While pan is heating, rub roast with oil to coat and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. When pan is very hot, add roast and sear until well browned, about 2 1/2 minutes per side for a total of 10 minutes. Remove roast from pan. Set a wire rack in the roasting pan and place roast on rack. (Can be left at room temperature up to 2 hours before roasting.)

Roast tenderloin until a meat thermometer registers 125 degrees for medium-rare and 130 for medium, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove roast from oven and let rest for 15 minutes.

While tenderloin roasts, mix horseradish, parsley, lemon juice and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper in a medium bowl; set aside.  When ready to serve, cut tenderloin into 1/2-inch thick slices, top with horseradish mixture, drizzle with pan juices, and serve immediately.

In Defense of Entertaining

One of our main philosophies, learned from mother dear, is that if you take the stress and performance out of entertaining and just "have people over," you have more fun. We always keep it casual at our place. One dish in the oven, people gathered around the kitchen island, enjoying a few simple appetizers, a bowl of nuts and a glass of decent white wine. This is how we roll and we don't often deviate to anything fancier than that. But recently I was reminded that there's something to be said for old-fashioned entertaining too.

After a Friday night in Pennsylvania, Andy and I were about to head back to the city when Mom said "We're going to Art and Terrie's for dinner tonight." Art and Terrie are our friends cum family that live in Connecticut and so of course there is an open invite for Andy and me too.

Hours later the four of us arrive at Art and Terrie's house and I'm glad we dressed up. Art is in a crisp, pink plaid shirt and slacks. Terrie looks stunning in a grey dress with gold jewelry, hair perfectly coiffed. We are offered anything from the bar or pink champagne (who says no to champagne?). We enjoy light hors d'oeuvres, including a four-cheese pate that has been molded and topped with toasted walnuts. It's so gorgeous, Dad thinks it's dessert.

In the kitchen I can see that everything is made or ready to put in the oven. No frantic, last minute preparations. We are not roped into setting the table. That was done hours ago. Most tables are set. Terrie's table has been laid – it's gorgeous. China, silver, beautiful water and wine glasses and a winter floral centerpiece fashioned by the hostess. To say nothing of the rest of the house, which looks like it has been holiday decorated by Martha herself.

We enjoy Oyster Bisque (so rich and delicious the table was noticeably quiet for five minutes), followed by a salad with cranberries, avocado and red onion. Art and Terrie are the kind of hosts who make sure your glass is never empty and who don't want you to lift a finger when you come to their house. They clear the dishes and plate up the main course: succulent beef tenderloin and dauphinoise potatoes. After dinner we sit by the roaring fire and exchange gifts while we enjoy that last glass of a Spanish red wine. We don't even have to go back to the table. Dessert–French Silk Pie–is delivered to me on the couch.

I love the casualness of "having people over," and losing the stress and performance means that we can do it more often. But Saturday night I was reminded that, once in a while (and especially for the holidays), it's nice to be entertained. Terrie is obviously a natural—didn't break a sweat. And Art is a great sidekick. I was in awe of this duo who made even old-fashioned entertaining look effortless.  It's not of course, but that's the gift. In all they do, great entertainers say essentially this: "Come in. Everything is ready for you. We've worked and worked and cleaned up all the messes, showered at the last minute, lit the fire and put on the music. All so you can relax and share our hospitality. Sure, it was a lot of work. But you're worth it, and together tonight, what we share is worth it."  That's the gift we received from Art and Terrie this Christmas.

They also gave us these awesome Three Many Cooks chef's jackets.

 

 

Here for the Eating

Living in New York, Andy and I have a lot of visitors. Each visitor is here for a different experience – some for shopping (my girlfriends), some for sight-seeing (Andy's guy friends), and some for one-on-one time with us (Andy's parents). So I was excited when my food blogging friend, Amanda Simpson, said she was coming to town because I knew she was here for the eating. Amanda is the cook and photographer behind What We're Eating and the popular site (and now book), Food Porn Daily, which is basically just one drool-inducing, porny food photo after another. Check it out.

We started our Saturday with brunch at Café D'Alsace, our regular weekend brunch spot just around the corner. Andy and I split French Onion Soup (I can hardly go there without ordering it) and German Berry Pancakes. Amanda has a frisée salad with a (perfectly) poached egg and lardons. One thing about Amanda: the girl loves bacon or anything that comes from a pig (so much so that she has an old butcher's diagram of a pig tattooed on her side).

Next stop, Greenwich Village where we hit up Murray's Cheese Shop. The selection is extensive and the knowledgeable and friendly cheesemongers will give you a taste of anything and all the information you ever wanted to know about it too. We sample all manner of cured meats and cheeses and leave with a bag full of booty (my favorite, the speck). Andy is sad that they do not have jerky. So is Amanda.

We head for Chinatown which is right next to Little Italy (we now refer to this area as Chitaly). We have every intention of only wandering around Chinatown, but as we turn the corner I see a beautiful sign, "Ferrara's." Suddenly I remember a man at Blogher Food telling me that the best Cannolis in all of New York are from Ferrara's. Andy nor Amanda are big on sweets, but how could we resist the best of anything? We wait in a long queue and order one Cannoli. We each have a bite. The best indeed. Pastry with a good crunch, filled with sweet, creamy filling.

Not about to give up on the jerky, Andy manages to locate an Asian jerky shop around the corner. This isn't jerky as you know it – it's better. Andy and Amanda each order a bag, a 1/2 pound each. They can hardly wait until we leave the shop before ripping open the bag and tearing into the sheets of warm, spicy meat.

Last stop. (I'm sure you're wondering how we have room for more at this point. Our secret? Little and often.) We pass The Paris Sandwich Bakery Café, known for its Bánh mì, Vietnamese sandwiches, combining the French baguette with the flavors of the East. Crusty, crunchy white baguette filled with pork meatballs, cilantro, shredded carrots and cucumber and some seriously delicious sauce. We order one and split it.

I text Sharon and let her know about our food antics and she asks if we're having a "food international identity crisis." I Reply, "Yes, and loving it."

Lucky for me and Andy, we don't have to eat dinner, but Amanda's off for a tasting menu dinner with her sister and friends. She sleeps sitting up that night. We eat light the next day.

Bánh mì

Serves 4

1/4 sweet white onion, thinly sliced

1 cup thin-sliced radishes, thinly sliced

2 small or 1 large carrot, shredded or julienned

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Sriracha, divided (Thai hot sauce)

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

12 ounces thin-sliced cooked pork, cut into strips

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 large or 2 small baguettes, cut into four sandwich size portions and split

1/2 cucumber, cut into 3- by 1/2-inch strips

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced (optional)

Handful of cilantro leaves

Place onion, radishes and carrots into a medium bowl, then add 1/4 cup water, rice wine vinegar and sugar; let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix mayonnaise and 1 tablespoons of the Sriracha in a small bowl. Heat oil and garlic in a medium frying pan. Once garlic sizzles, add the pork, followed by the fish sauce, soy sauce and remaining tablespoon of Sriracha. Cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.

When ready to assemble, drain vegetables. Spread each baguette with a portion of the mayonnaise mixture and top with a portion of marinated vegetables, cucumbers, jalapeno, cilantro leaves and finally the pork. Cap with baguette top and enjoy!

Lucky New Year

Here's a Deep South shocker: the Southern tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day originated with the Jews. (I guess the salt pork floating atop the pot threw me off.)

Wikipedia says Jews have been eating black-eyed peas for good luck at Rosh Hashana since 500 CE, and Sephardic and Israeli Jews still do today. How come none of my Jewish friends bothered to share this with me?

Apparently the Southern black-eyed pea tradition originated with Sephardic Jews who settled in Georgia back in the 1730's. The pork addition doesn't need much explanation. We Southerners can't cook anything without throwing in a hunk of the stuff.

Although I love the way pork flavors black-eyed peas, I don't especially like a hunk the size of an old shoe swimming in the middle. This year I decided to change that. Thick slice the salt pork, then cut it into pieces a person might actually want to eat. Next, fry up those little bite-size nuggets. Not only is golden brown a better look than gray boiled, there are also renderings for sautéing onions and peppers to flavor the beans.

Now it's time to add the beans and liquid. I've always used water, but this year I switched to more flavorful chicken broth. Bring all this to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer. Keep cooking the beans until they start to break down and turn the pot juices from translucent to opaque. Otherwise you'll end up with watery, wan beans. Salt the beans only after they have fully softened. (Salt too soon and they never will.)

Now they're ready to eat. You'll need cornbread. Vinegar's nice too, and if you like heat, vinegar-soaked peppers (aka pepper sauce) is even better. A little crunch in the form of minced red onion is a nice foil to the soft pork and beans.

And the final Southern touch: drop a coin into the pot for good luck. This year for the first time ever (battling the Great Recession), I'm dropping in more than one.

New Year's Black-Eyed Peas, Slightly Updated

Serve 12 to 16 as a side dish

3/4 pound slab salt pork, sliced thick and then into 2-inch pieces

1 large onion, cut into medium dice

1 large bell pepper, cut into medium dice

2 lbs black eyed beans, soaked in 12 cups of water overnight and drained (see notes for quicker method)

2 quarts chicken broth, plus 1 to 2 cups water as needed

1 coin

Salt and ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 medium red onion, minced

Red wine vinegar (or pepper sauce) as desired

Heat a large soup kettle over medium-high heat. Add salt pork; fry until golden brown and fat has rendered, 4 to 5 minutes. Add onions and pepper; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add peas, chicken broth, and coin; return salt pork to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until peas are fully tender and cooking liquid turns from translucent to opaque, adding water as necessary to keep peas moist but not soupy, about 1 hour. When peas have fully softened, season generously with salt and pepper and stir in thyme. Continue to simmer to blend flavors, a couple of minutes longer. Serve with a dish of red onion and vinegar or pepper sauce alongside.

Lentil Soup with Smoked Paprika and Pancetta

Serves 6

You can use regular paprika, but the smoked paprika is superb. The soup is plenty flavorful on its own, but a dollop of Greek yogurt or light sour cream and a little chopped fresh cilantro doesn't hurt one bit.

3 ounces pancetta, cut into small dice

1 large onion, cut into medium dice

2 medium carrots, cut into medium dice

1 celery stalk, cut into medium dice

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoon paprika (preferably smoked)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup white wine

2 quart chicken broth

1 pound lentils

Salt and ground black pepper

Cook pancetta in a large soup kettle over medium-high heat until fat renders and it starts to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onions, carrots and celery; sauté until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, and cayenne; sauté until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add wine, continue to cook another minute or so. Add broth and lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until lentils are just tender, about 30 minutes, adding water as necessary for a thick but not gloppy soup, Pour about half the soup in a blender; puree until smooth. Return soup to pot; simmer over low heat, stirring frequently and adjusting seasonings, including salt and pepper to taste, until heated though. Serve.

Resume Your Legumes

It's that time of the year again. The kitchen counter is strewn with half-full tins of cookies, the fridge is packed with delicious leftovers, and just a few rooms away we are frantically searching our closets for something to wear on New Year's Eve (and hoping it's going to zip over our slightly distended bellies).

Even on years when I've been relatively "good" at the holidays—skipping seconds, making sure to exercise, and limiting my cookie intake—it's a fact of life that food is richer and more plentiful in December than any other month of the year. We simply eat more. And no matter how much will power I apply, the week between Christmas and New Year's always feels like a battle of the bulge. Somehow, our culture does a full 180 shift from warm, cozy, and sweater-clad on Christmas to sleek, slinky, and sexy on New Year's Eve. How is that supposed to work?

Don't get excited, because I have no idea.

But I find that it's always about time to resume my legumes. Switching straight to salads after weeks of rich, warm food is downright depressing, and so I look to beans and lentils to fill out my meals. These little guys are low in fat, high in potassium and iron and loaded with fiber. They're a great substitute for meat—which I've usually had enough of by now—and are incredibly versatile.

I make hearty bean soups, warm lentil salads, bean and vegetable tacos, and my absolute favorite—Tony's spicy lentil soup. I used to turn up my nose at legumes, particularly lentils, but nothing fills my (slightly enlarged) stomach this time of year and keeps me full longer.

Trying to skip warm, savory dishes and confine myself to crudités and seltzer water has me sneaking into the kitchen and snagging a cookie in no time. But making healthy, filling, and comforting meals gets the buttons closed on my jeans faster than I expect, every time.

Happy (almost) New Year!

Waffles

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Are you snowed in? We are! We've got a fire going, dad's outside shoveling, I've been reading a book by the Christmas Tree and we're planning on making these waffles that I featured on Tasty Kitchen last week. They are the perfect post-holiday breakfast when we've got all morning  to cook and nowhere to be. As I said in my post on Tasty Kitchen, we are P.K.'s (preacher's kids) so our Christmas morning is never normal and we never have a special breakfast (this year we had coffee cake). So here is our belated Christmas morning breakfast.

Makes 8 waffles



Here's what you need to make them:
2 whole eggs (separated)
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cups canola oil
For a step-by-step tutorial and more photographs of these delicious waffles, check out my post on the Tasty Kitchen blog.



Recipe by SweetPea Nancy on Tasty Kitchen:



Beat egg whites until stiff. In a separate large bowl, put remaining ingredients and beat on low with a hand mixer until moistened. Increase speed to medium and mix until smooth. By hand, gently fold in beaten egg whites. Pour 1/2 cup of batter onto hot waffle iron. Cook until lightly browned. Serve with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!

Traditional Almond Biscotti

This recipe is adapted from Mario Batali's traditional biscotti recipe.

3-½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

4 large eggs

2 egg yolks plus one egg white, reserved

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 Tbs anisette or amaretto

1 Tbs anise seed

4 cups coarsely chopped whole almonds

1 tablespoon granulated sugar for glaze

Heat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease two heavy cookie sheets, or line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, anisette or amaretto, and anise seed. Beat in the dry ingredients, then the chopped nuts. The dough should be sticky but workable, add a little more flour if necessary.

Divide the dough into four portions. On a lightly floured board, shape each portion into a flat log, just about the length the cookie sheet. Place two logs on each cookie sheet.

In a small bowl, beat the egg white until frothy. With a pastry brush, glaze each log with some egg white and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown, firm to the touch, and just beginning to crack slightly.

Allow the logs to cool on the cookie sheet until cool to the touch, about 40 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°. With a serrated knife, slice the logs diagonally and slightly on the bias to create the most surface area on each cookie. Each biscotto should be about ½-inch thick. Lay the slices on the cookie sheets in single layer; Return the biscotti to the oven and bake for 20 more minutes, or until the biscotti are toasted and crisp.

Store the biscotti in an airtight container. They will keep up to about 2 weeks.