Basil, Melon, and Prosciutto (or Bacon!) Salad with Cayenne

There are a zillion variations on this recipe on the Interwebs, and since I remembered the three main ingredients from when my mom made this several years ago, I don't feel obligated to cite any particular source. Plus, I might have added the cayenne pepper part myself - not sure.

As long as you have enough melon (and it can be canteloupe, honeydew, whatever - I happen to like honeydew better) to serve the number of people you want to serve, the amount of basil and prosciutto/bacon is totally flexible. If you need to use up a strip of bacon from breakfast, use that. You can use as little as one or two large leaves of basil for a few people, and it would still be fine. Or, if you love basil, you can use much, much more.

I tossed the ingredients in a little lime because I had a leftover wedge, but it's not necessary.

Half of a small honeydew melon, combined with the other ingredients (which don't add much volume) yielded us two 6-oz mugs full of salad. Scroll down to the very last picture to see what I consider a "serving."

Hooray honeydew! I was so excited that New Seasons had delicious-looking (and tasting), ripe honeydew halves on sale by the pound, and that I only had to buy half of a teeny one. I know myself, and I know that there is no way I would properly preserve and then use the other half before it went bad. Below is the honeydew shredded up with my new melonballer (I started out trying to make actual melon balls, then decided scraping was the way to go). In the picture, it looks kind of like celery, doesn't it? Weird...

Okay, so the recipe. Like I said, any way you make it, it will taste good. But as a guideline, you will need:

Ingredients

- 1/2 canteloupe or honeydew melon, cut into balls or ribbons with a melonballer, or chopped into 1/2 inch-ish pieces

-1/8 cup chopped prosciutto, or 1/8 cup cooked bacon (cooked/broiled with brown sugar for extra pizazz!)

- 4 or 5 medium fresh basil leaves, ripped into small pieces

-Squeeze of lime juice

-dash of cayenne pepper

-2 shakes of salt

-1/2 teaspoon sugar or 1/2 brown sugar (unless you used bacon with brown sugar already)

Instructions

1. Combine prosciutto or bacon with basil in a bowl or in the melon shell.

2. Combine lime juice, cayenne, salt, and sugar (omit sugar if using bacon cooked with brown sugar) in small bowl. Stir to combine. Toss prosciutto-basil mixture with lime mixture.

3. Add melon pieces and toss to combine.

4. Serve immediately or let sit for awhile if the rest of the meal isn't ready yet. If you're not serving the salad until much later, wait until closer to mealtime to rip up the basil and add it.

Here's the prosciutto. I bought two little slices from the deli counter - it was prosciutto di parma and cost $23.99 a pound, and I paid 57 cents, so... not very much. It looks like it came to about 1/8th of a cup, chopped up.

Note: When my mom made this, she used bacon, and she says that it was broiled with brown sugar on top. If you have bacon at home, you should TOTALLY do that instead. The deli prosciutto was tasty, but the kind in the bag at Safeway (which I used the second time around) can't hold a candle to good ol' bacon.

This next picture is completely irrelevant to the recipe, except that I ended up mixing the salad up in the hollowed-out honeydew, and the shell looked kind of cool in the sunlight. It reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West's crystal ball!

Here's the salad. We had it with lentil soup. Disclaimer: Unlike his pad kee mao-obsessed wife, Mike is not a fan of the sweet-salty-sour flavor profile. And true to form, he wasn't crazy about this dish. Soooo... not everyone will like it. Only those with good taste. BURN!

Last note: I think the salt drew out a little more honeydew liquid from the honeydew shell - so if your melon is on the not-so-ripe side, you might want to consider lightly salting the melon shell, letting it sit for a while, and then harvesting any juice that gathers up.

Corned Beef, continued

Well, life has been busy and it's been forever since I've posted something. I left off with homemade corned beef. A corned beef posting on April eighth isn't actually quite as outdated as it seems, because we didn't have it until several days after St. Patrick's Day. But still... it's been awhile.

This was my third try making my own corned beef. I wouldn't make it all the time, because it creates a lot of leftovers that we have trouble using up (especially since we don't have a microwave). But when I do make it... oh, man. Corned beef is addictive, isn't it? And the broth makes the best danged vegetables you've ever tasted.

You'll need a beef brisket for this. The recipe I use (citation below) asks for a 4-6 pound brisket, "preferably point cut, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed and patted dry." The author adds:

"If you prefer a leaner piece of meat, feel free to use the flat cut. In fact, we found more flat cut than point cut briskets in supermarket meat cases, so you’ll probably have to ask the meat department attendant or butcher to bring you a point cut. Leave a bit of fat attached for better texture and flavor."

Sure enough, I've always just used a flat cut, and I can't imagine the result being much more flavorful than it is (and I'm not bragging - it's all about the goodness of beef that has been covered in salt and spices for seven days). The flat cut seems to have plenty of fat on its own.

I use a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. Here's the recipe for the stuff that gets rubbed into the brisket to allow it to cure (originally published March 1997):

Ingredients for salt mixture:
-1/2 cup kosher salt
-1 tablespoon black peppercorns, cracked
-3/4 tablespoon ground allspice [Carrina's note: I was running low on ground allspice but, surprisingly, had some whole allspice berries, so I went halvsies on the ground allspice and cracked some whole berries as well. Seemed to work out fine]
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
-1/2 tablespoon paprika
-2 bay leaves , crumbled

Here are the instructions on preparing the brisket. Note that this all happens 5-7 days before you serve it.

1. Mix salt and seasonings in small bowl.
2. Spear brisket about thirty times per side with meat fork or metal skewer [Carrina's note: don't forgot the spearing step - but if you do, just spear the brisket before you throw it in the pot to cook it, and it will be fine. I speak from experience]. Rub each side evenly with salt mixture; place in 2-gallon-size zipper-lock bag, forcing out as much air as possible. Place in pan large enough to hold it (a jelly roll pan works well), cover with second, similar-size pan, and weight with two bricks or heavy cans of similar weight [Carrina's note: yeah, we live a 700sqft apartment and we DON'T have bricks. Just pile a bunch of heavy stuff on top of the second pan, and you'll be fine]. Refrigerate 5 to 7 days, turning once a day.

Here's the brisket on day 2 or 3:

And here's the brisket on the morning of day 7... or maybe day 8. Even though I only had a half-brisket (3 lbs) to begin with, I still had to cut it in half to make it fit in the pot I used. I love pictures of cross-sections!

Okay, when the brisket has reached at least day 5 and you're ready to cook it, here are the instructions. Of course, if you're just cooking the meat by itself (no vegetables or cabbage), you can just rinse it off, through it in a pot of water that completely covers it, and simmer it for 2.5 hours or so. But if you want to cook it with cabbage and/or other vegetables, Cooks Illustrated comes up with this deceptively complicated set of instructions that basically boils down to these steps: 1) Cook meat in water. 2) When meat cooked in water is done (nice and loose but not totally mushy), keep it warm somewhere and cook vegetables in the meat water. Put root vegetables and other tough vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions) in 10 minutes or so before more delicate vegetables (cabbage, brussels sprouts).

Here are the instructions for cooking the meat and veggies. I'll include the list of vegetables that CI includes, since they refer to "Category 1" and "Category 2" vegetables. The recipe calls for 7-8 pounds of vegetables total.

Category 1 Vegetables
carrots, peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise
rutabagas (small), peeled and halved crosswise; each half cut into six chunks
white turnips (medium), peeled and quartered
new potatoes (small), scrubbed and left whole
boiling onions, peeled and left whole

Category 2 Vegetables
green cabbage (small head), uncored, blemished leaves removed, cut into six to eight wedges
parsnips , peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise
Brussels sprouts, blemished leaves removed and left whole

Instructions
3. Choose 7-8 pounds of vegetables of your choice from categories 1 and 2, prepared as described in the ingredient listing.
4. Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. Bring the brisket to boil with water to cover by 1/2 to 1 inch in large soup kettle or stockpot (at least 8 quarts), skimming any scum that rises to surface. Cover and simmer until skewer inserted in thickest part of brisket slides out with ease, 2 to 3 hours.

5. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Transfer meat to large platter, ladling about 1 cup cooking liquid over it to keep it moist. Cover with foil and set in oven.
6. Add vegetables from category 1 to kettle and bring to boil; cover and simmer until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add vegetables from category 2 and bring to boil; cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

7. Meanwhile, remove meat from oven and cut across the grain into 1/4-inch slices.
8. Transfer vegetables to meat platter, moisten with additional broth, and serve.
9. Serve this dish with horseradish, either plain or mixed with whipped or sour cream, or with grainy mustard.

We had our corned beef and vegetables with soda bread. I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe for this, too! I'm not a fan of baking, but this bread was super easy, once I decided to ignore the instructions telling me to knead the dough (maybe it's because I used all regular flour insted of part regular, part cake flour, but the dough was so RIDICULOUSLY sticky that half of it was stuck to my knuckles after a single kneading motion). This bread also froze really, really well. A couple of minor words of wisdom: I vaguely remember using this same recipe a couple of years ago. The bread came out like an injurious rock. So, don't do these things: 1) substitute milk for buttermilk, 2) over-stir or -knead the dough, or 3) leave it in the oven until the top looks toasted. Just be gentle with it and it'll be fine.

Here's the recipe (originally published March 1997):

Yields 1 loaf.

Ingredients
-3 cups bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
-1 cup cake flour
-2 tablespoons granulated sugar
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
-1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
-3 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 tablespoons softened + 1 tablespoon melted)
-1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in large bowl. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingertips until texture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough begins to come together. Turn out onto flour-coated work surface; knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy, 12 to 14 turns. (Do not knead until dough is smooth, or bread will be tough.)
3. Pat dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high; place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet or in cast-iron pot, if using. Place the loaf on a cookie sheet and cut a cross shape into the top.
4. Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of loaf comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 180 degrees, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter; cool to room temperature, 30 to 40 minutes.

sneak peek at the McNerneys' St. Patrick's Day late bloomer...

Here's what we're having for dinner tomorrow!

Actually, that's kind of a trick photograph. The pile-o-broth has been weighting down some brisket that has been corning (is that the verb?) for 6 days now. It'll finally be ready tomorrow, and I'm PUMPED! I picked up the cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, new potatoes, and pearl onions (fancy!) today. Our dinners (and my work lunches) for next week are set!

More tomorrow!

Best. Brussels Sprouts. Ever.

When I was little, brussels sprouts made me literally gag, in the same way that I now gag when I take a deep whiff of milk that is weeks past its prime (this happens too often in our apartment). Sometime in the last couple of years, I started sauteeing them instead, and liked what I tasted. When I was starting out, I would chop off the base and then take them apart leaf by leaf. This is a quick and fun way to go, since sauteeing the leaves in olive oil with salt and pepper takes only a couple of minutes, and leaves you with tasty, crispy morsels that look nothing like brussels sprouts. It's a little bit oilier of a method, though, which is why I do things a little differently these days.

For two people, I use:
-10 brussels sprouts
-1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
-about 1/2 cup chicken broth
-extra credit, but not necessary for yumminess: toasted pine nuts!
-salt and pepper (sea salt's yummy, but any will work)

1. First, chop just a little off the base of each sprout. Then, cut each sprout in half from base to top.
2. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a little over medium in a skillet (non-non-stick is nice because it allows the sprouts to get a little more caramelized), and throw the sprouts in once the oil is nice and hot. It should be hot enough that the sprouts sizzle. Let them sit there for a couple of minutes, stirring if they are clearly on their way to burning.
3. Turn each piece over after a while, so that they get browned on both sides.
4. Once most pieces are nice and browned, turn the heat down to low, move the skillet off heat, and add the garlic to an area of the skillet that still has enough oil to keep the garlic from burning, adding more oil if there is no such area. The garlic only needs twenty seconds or so; as soon as it is on its way to smelling good,
5. move the skillet back to heat, turn the burner down to medium-low, add the chicken broth, stir, and cover. Let simmer, covered, for four minutes or so. If you end up needing extra time for whatever else you are cooking to finish up (for us it was spaghetti with lentils from Monday), the sprouts will keep very patiently, covered, in the pan for quite a while. If you're using the toasted pine nuts, just scatter them on each person's plate, or stir them into the communal vegetable bowl right before serving (not that anything will go wrong if you add them earlier: they just won't be as toasty-crunchy).

We had extra fun with this dish last night by sprinkling the sprouts with red alder smoked salt from The Meadow. I've been trying forever (well, since I bought the salt) to find something that isn't overwhelmed by this salt, and I have a winner!

So there you go. Brussels sprouts that melt in your mouth in the deliciousness sense, but still stand up to your mouth in drawing a hard line against mushiness.

Chicken with Lime Juice and Coca-Cola(!), plus Red Quinoa and Baby Bok Choy with Sesame-Soy Glaze

First, the recipe for the chicken: I got it from a friend who now lives in Peru.

Chicken with Lime Juice and Coca-Cola (thanks, Laura!)
-4 medium boned, skinless chicken breasts
-5 cloves garlic, minced
-Juice of 5 limes
-1 can Coca Cola
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Olive oil to coat bottom of skillet

Heat olive oil and place chicken breasts in skillet. Brown on medium heat turning as needed. As soon as chicken is brown add garlic and saute 1 minute. Pour Coca Cola and lime juice over chicken and simmer uncovered on low heat, approximately 20 minutes. Serve over rice along with your favorite vegetable.


It was so easy, and so good! My only regret is that I did not brown the chicken enough. I thought I had, but really it just had kind of a temporary dark glaze from the oil. It looked a little pasty when all was said and done. Next time I'll give the breasts several minutes on each side.

And now, the baby bok choy! This recipe was a lot of fun: the oil spatters quite a bit though, so watch your glasses and make sure the fan is on. Oh, and use your best judgment with whether you really want to go adding garlic to a pan as hot as this one gets. I found myself holding the pan off of heat for at least a minute, throwing the garlic in after the green onions (scallions) so that the moisture from the onions could act as a buffer to keep the garlic from burning.

This recipe is from Cooks Illustrated and was originally published on May 1st, 2001.

Sesame-Soy-Glazed Baby Bok Choy

Serves 4 as a side dish.
"This recipe works best with baby bok choy weighing no more than 4 ounces each. If your market sells larger baby bok choy, remove a layer or two of the large outer leaves."
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-2 tablespoons chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
-1 tablespoon rice vinegar
-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
-1 teaspoon granulated sugar
-3 tablespoons peanut oil
-4 baby bok choy (about 4 ounces each), each head halved lengthwise
-3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
-1 inch piece fresh ginger , minced (about 1 tablespoon)
-2 medium scallions , sliced thin
-1 tablespoon sesame seeds , toasted in a small dry skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and fragrant, about 4 minutes

1. Combine soy sauce, stock, vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar in small bowl.

2. Heat large nonstick skillet over high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons peanut oil, swirl to coat pan bottom. Place bok choy in skillet, cut-side down, in single layer. Cook, without moving, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Turn bok choy and cook until lightly browned on second side, about 1 minute longer; transfer to large, warm platter.

3. Add garlic, ginger, and scallions to now-empty pan and drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon peanut oil. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture and simmer until reduced and thickened, about 20 seconds. Return bok choy to pan and cook, turning once, until glazed with sauce, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

I love baby bok choy! Love it! It's so cute and wrinkly, and invidual-serving-size-ready!

It looks kind of burned, but I think it has to in order to get that caramelized flavor.

And here's how everything came together! I didn't write any instructions for the red quinoa because it basically made itself. I gave it a quick rinse (turns out that the kind I buy in bulk is pre-rinsed to get rid of quinoa's naturally bitter coating) and threw it in the rice cooker with 1 part quinoa to 2 parts chicken broth. So easy!

Note: I've tagged this recipe as "gluten-free" because the main dish is. The baby bok choy, however, contains soy sauce, which has wheat. So, the menu is not gluten-free. But it could be with a few adjustments.

Refried Beans With Cinnamon and Clove (wait - beans don't COME refried?!?)

I tried this recipe a week and a half ago and am just now reporting back on it - but that's the way it goes. First things first: this dish was very economical to make. As in, $4.25 for four servings, INCLUDING the twelve (small) tortillas and organic produce. As the queen of cheap (sounds like a tarted-up Mary Engelbreit character) (except when it comes to my morning espresso), I will be coming back to this recipe again and again, especially now that I no longer get a free lunch at my workplace. Oh, and did I mention that the beans hold up extremely well? I took three-day-old leftovers on a train trip, and they were very forgiving. The notes in the cookbook even say that they'll keep for five days! Ultimate econo-food, this.

I got the recipe from The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper.

-Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil

-1 large onion, chopped into 1/4-inch dice

-Salt and fresh-ground black pepper

-4 garlic cloves, fine chopped

-1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and fine chopped

-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

-1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

-One 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained

-Two 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained [Carrina's note: SURPRISE! The red kidney beans are (or will become) the refried beans. I can't even imagine what a cinch this recipe would be if you just threw everything into a can of ready-made refried beans. Hmmmm...]

-1 1/2 cups water

-2 tablespoons butter

1. Generously film the bottom of a 10-inch skillet with olive oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions with salt and pepper to taste until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. You want to hear a sizzle as they cook.

2. Add the garlic, jalapeño, cinnamon, and cloves, and cook the mix until it is fragrant, about 1 minute, taking care not to burn the spices. Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan. [Carrina's note: "...as they go into the pan"? Meh, what a pain. Wish I'd just stuck a spoon and the can and crushed them right then and there.] Sauté for another minute.

3. Stir in the beans and water.

Bring to a fast simmer, crushing the beans with a potato masher (or the back of a large spoon) as they cook,

and scraping the bottom of the pan as the beans begin to thicken.

Simmer until the beans are thick, about 10 minutes. Blend in the butter, and taste for seasoning just before serving [Carrina's note: pursuant to this blog's subtitle - I did it! I did taste for seasoning just before serving!]

Speaking of cinnamon and clove, go to Better With Garlic for recent recipes for Red Chile and Cinnamon Clove honeys! (two different types of honey - although the combination sounds delicious as well).

*I've tagged this recipe as gluten-free. This does not take into account the flour tortillas that I used.

My Hands Smell Like Burning

"And there's nothin' cold as ashes/after the fire is gone."
- Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, from "After the Fire Is Gone" (L.E. White)

THE REASON

My new slow cooker is a bit more powerful than my old one, apparently. I threw together a simple stew in the slow cooker before heading off to work this morning. It (the recipe) is an old standby and has never, ever failed me. It's called Merlot Beef Ragout, is from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes For Two," and is exactly what it sounds like: hunks of stew meat, some onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, and a bunch of red wine. I brown everything beforehand just so I don't feel too guilty about how easy it is. I've had it over rice, noodles, and spaetzle, and it's always delicious.

THE RUIN

Well, I've never called home halfway through the day and told my husband he should help himself to some of the slow cooker food for lunch. That's what we did today, and I guess the small quantity of food remaining in the pot, combined with my unfamiliarity with the strength of the new slow cooker, were what made my dinner the way it was tonight. I came home and the Wednesday D&D group was already in full swing (yes, I know I mentioned a D&D game going on in my Monday post as well - it's been an odd week). The living room window was wide open. I walked to the slow cooker. The first thing I noticed was that there was no liquid in the pot. The second thing I noticed was that about 50% of the food was tinged with black. The third thing I noticed was the presence of charcoal (formerly beans and meat) around the edges, and the strong smell of smoke. I asked, "Did you open the window to get rid of the burning smell?" Someone muttered some excuse about it being hot.

THE RESCUE

I was able to add some beef broth and reconstitute most of it, leaving the ring of briquettes around the edge. I put it over some pasta and topped it with some leftover mizithra and green onions, and it wasn't bad. I'm still going to get some pizza action when the mages and... what are the other ones called? clerics? dwarves? ... behind me have dinner in a while, though. And my hands really do smell like burning. Still.

THE REBOUND

So for now, I'm going to daydream about dinner tomorrow! I guess it's just a bean kind of week (tried to think of a pun involving the word "legume" - couldn't), because I'm thinking I'll try one of the bean recipes in The Splendid Table's "How To Eat Supper": Refried Beans with Cinnamon and Clove. YUM! I've never even thought of combining those things. And it looks like they throw in some kidney beans, too.

Here's the recipe for the Merlot Beef Ragout (that "u" is supposed to have a pointy hat on it), since this carcino-charcoal experience I had tonight was a total aberration and it's normally sweet-tastic.

Serves 2 with leftovers

Setting and cook time: Low for 7 to 8 hours; optional to cook on high for last 45 minutes (Carrina's note: ... or whatever amount of time you want to cook it until the meat is tender. Sometimes I cook it 3 or 4 hours on high instead).

1 3/4 pounds lean, boneless beef stew meat, chuck or bottom round, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium-size onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
One 14.5-ounce can diced peeled tomatoes, drained (Carrina's note: or just chop up canned whole tomatoes; they're less salty and more, you know, "rustic")
1 cup dry red wine, such as Merlot (Carrina's note: or such as the awesome boxed red wines they are putting out these days, since then you can spend around $5/bottle for a decent wine, AND keep it around for weeks)



1. Sprinkle the cubes of beef with salt and pepper. In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil until very hot (Carrina's note: take off glasses now). Add half of the beef and brown on all sides, 3-4 minutes. Transfer to the slow cooker. Repeat the browning with the remaining beef.

2. Add the onions to the skillet and brown slightly over medium-high heat; add the garlic and cook just for 15 seconds or so, then add the onions and garlic to the crock.

3. Pour the tomatoes and wine into the saute pan and raise the heat to high. Stir constantly while bringing to a boil, scraping up the browned bits accumulated on the bottom of the pan. Pour into the crock. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, until the meat is tender.

4. During the last 45 minutes of cooking, check the consistency. If the juices are too thin for you, increase the heat to high and leave the cover off (Carrina's note: now that I have a non-digital slow cooker that doesn't short-circuit every time I take the lid off, I can actually follow this step! Huzzah!), letting some moisture evaporate. Serve hot.

From Beth Hensperger's "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes For Two"