Thursday, August 27, 2009

Spicy Leg of Lamb



Take boneless leg of lamb, rub with coarse sea salt and pepper. Mince and smash (Author's aside: is that a technical cooking term?) 5 cloves of garlic. In a mortar and pestle, combine rosemary, cayenne pepper, salt and peper and make, smash. Add garlic and olive oil so that it makes a coarse gritty paste. Rub liberally over the leg of lamb, really reach in there and get the inside part too. Place in bag/pan and squeeze juice of one lemon into the bag, add a cup of merlot. Let marinade for hours and hours. Roast, fat side up, directly on middle rack (place another pan on the rack below it) at 425F for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 300 and roast for 11 minutes a pound.
Note: since you are not drinking the wine and the alcohol cooks off, this is a full paleo dish.

Two Manatees can't be better than One



Jordan and I both went to the store, both bought lots of what was on sale, and this was the result: Cornucopia.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Arrabiata Sauce

There really is nothing to this wonderful sauce that I used to put on pasta and rice, but used on eggplant and mushrooms last night. It would be good on eggs, zucchini, meat, and on and on. It can be canned and stored for a while too.
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 10 garlic cloves, minced
  • Tbsp crushed red pepper
  • 1 pound of peeled tomatoes
  • Salt and pepper to taste (TT)

Saute garlic and peppers until garlic is soft, add remaining ingredients and simmer. Blend smooth with a hand blender. If it weren't Paleo challenge month I would add some hard italian cheeses, vodka and cream, salami or bacon (which the italians call pancetta), or a million other things (basil, parsley, carrots, onions, etc.).

This is a foundational recipe, like the tea post.

Basil Chicken

Take large amount of minced basil, six minced garlic cloves, canola and olive oil (why both? EVOO is a very robust flavor) and combine with salt and pepper and blend. Season dismembered chickens and baste with basil mixture. Roast for 40 minutes at 400F. Remove from oven, drain fat, and re-baste with basil. Cook a further 5-10 minutes. You can garnish with strips of fresh basil too.
Jordan said this was his favorite chicken yet, I could hardly stop eating it myself.

Dismembering Chickens For Time

Being good at breaking a chicken down quickly can save you a ton of money. For example, cut up birds are $1.29/ lbs, whereas whole ones can be as cheap as $0.99 per pound. At $0.30 cents per pound savings, you need to be pretty quick to to really save money (with savings at $1.50 per bird, you need to be under 3:36 to make it worth your time if you make $25/hour: the more you make the faster you have to be), so since we eat so much chicken I decided to make cooking into a mini challenge:

2 RFT, Rest as needed
Dismember a whole chicken into 9 pieces, skin and remove fat

1:47 (PR), 1:37 (PR) ()

The process is (with one knife only) cut off both wings, cut whole legs off, cut back off, pull off breast skin, split breasts, divide legs, pull off skin, cut extra skin off legs. Anyone want to try to beat those times? I bet a minute isnt out of the question (1 minute dismemberment = $90/hour wage). If I was a butcher, you would be paying me $55/hour to cut up chickens.

Save yourself some money and become good with a knife!

Proper Lifting Technique

Farmer Fresh to You!

  • 2 Broccoli crowns
  • 3 massive yellow nectarines
  • 4 medium white nectarines
  • 5 gala apples
  • 2 onions
  • A basket of Figs
  • a bag of spinach
  • 2 baby bok choy heads
  • 2 bunches of asparagus
  • A large bunch of Basil
  • 10 Roma tomatoes
  • White mushrooms
  • Green Beans
  • Lemon
  • Garlic

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

Saute 3/4 of an onion in olive oil until carmelized. Add lots of water and bring to a boil. Add 4 cubed sweet potatoes. Boil for 15 minutes. Strain and let dry. Saute chipolte peppers in oil until tender. Return potatoes to the pot and remove from heat. Using a potato masher, mash potatoes (!) until smooth. Season and add oil to taste.

Ribs, Baked with BBQ Sauce

Take 9 pounds of spare ribs, and trim all excess fat. Create rub with salt, cumin, oregano, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and crushed red pepper; place all ingredients into mortar and grind smooth. Add a small amount of apple cider vinegar to mortar to turn spices into paste. Rub all over ribs. Roast at 250-270 F for three hours covered. Uncover, remove excess fat, and baste in BBQ Sauce (see previous post for recipe). Roast another hour uncovered. Re-baste and serve.

BBQ Sauce

Saute a quarter of an onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil, with a quarter teaspoon of each of the following: chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, pepper, and one teaspoon of mustard. Add three teaspoons of chipotle peppers and sauce, 2 ounces of tomato sauce, and 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Simmer and add a cup of dark purple grapes. Simmer until grapes burst (or use skinned grapes and simmer until soft. Take a hand blender and smooth out. Remove skins if you can. Reduce.
This was unbelievable on ribs, I can't wait to see what else it is good on.

CrossFit at Ventura Beach

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Balsamic Basics

This is a very simple balsamic dressing recipe using a technique called emulsification (look it up for now, I'll have to post on it later). This is from my culinary text book and it is restaurant quality:

2 Tbsp Balsamic Vineager
2 tsp dijion mustard
2 tsp minced shallots
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 Tbsp Canola Oil
Season to taste (I should really post on seasoning too)

The beauty of this recipe is that you dont need to know anything about cooking to change to make it unique and personal: try adding citrus to it, ot crushed rasberries. Try making it hot, or any other million of varients. This is so easy and so much better than buying non-paleo (i.e. chemical and sugar filled) store bought crap.

Sweet Potatoes and Leeks

Saute divided and sliced leeks and crushed red pepper in olive oil. Add diced sweet potatoes and black pepper and season. Cook till tender, around 15 minutes.
Great recovery side dish.

Spicy Rosemary Chicken

Dismember chicken, remove excess fat and skin. In a mortar combine rosemary, black pepper, Cayenne pepper, red pepper, and salt and grind till smooth. Rub chicken with mixture of spices. Spread chicken in pan and roast at 400 F for 50 minutes, uncovered.
Ridiculous.

Beet Salad

Saute freshly sliced beets in olive oil with salt and pepper until soft. Cool in room temperature air. Cut into strips. Toss with mixed greens, freshly minced garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and minced Thai chilies. Squeeze lemon over salad and serve.
Unbelievably good. I normally hate beets but this was other worldly good.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Stir Fry: Thai Style Beef

Saute minced garlic, minced ginger, and large slices of onions in olive and sesame oil. Add small strips of lean beef and cook. Add shredded red cabbage, sliced carrots, cubed eggplant, and cremini mushrooms, saute until carrots are tender (they are the limiting vegetable), add bean sprouts and let them wilt a little. Season to taste. Plating this dish is key: place portion on dish, add cilantro and freshly cut, thinly sliced Thai chilies. Serve with lime.
This is a winner, but you really must season well (i.e. not too much not too little) to pull it off. I could lose the mushrooms too if you don't need the protein.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Eggplant Ragu

Saute diced onion and minced garlic in spicy olive oil, add ground organic grass-fed beef and brown lightly. Season to taste. Throw in cubed eggplant and cut up oyster mushrooms, saute until soft. Add two types of tomatoes, grape tomatoes and diced early girl tomatoes, along with a small amount of unadulterated tomato sauce (make your own or buy the regular kind with salt in it). Saute until grape tomatoes are easily burst with a spoon, but not too easily.
This is taken from a pasta sauce, but modified into a main dish by reducing tomato sauce and increasing the veggies. Holy shit, it was just about as good as I could have hoped for.

CSA: Farmer Fresh To You


I am a member of a Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) group and receive a delivery every Wednesday directly to my office. A CSA is designed to keep your local farmer in business and ensure that you are eating the freshest locally grown fruits and veggies available. I like it because you are forced into using diverse foods that are often unknown and this makes me learn about them, and consequently makes me a better cook. I absolutely love it.
If you pay close attention to my recipes you will see how these ingredients get consumed each week! This weeks box included:


  • Thomcord grapes (quite possibly the best grapes I have ever had)

  • Six Valencia oranges

  • An sweet cantaloupe

  • Leeks

  • Oyster mushrooms (I've never had these before, and they are filled with buttery awesomeness)

  • Eggplants (three baby EPs)

  • A bag of mixed baby greens

  • Seven Early girl tomatoes

  • Beets with greens

  • Poblano and Anaheim chilies

  • A lemon

  • Garlic

  • Fresh Italian parsley
I paid $32 for all of that, and it was worth it! If you are interested in learning more, here is the contact information for my people at Farmer Fresh to You:

Lisette and Carol
Farmer Fresh To You
805.469.7604
http://www.farmerfreshtoyou.net/

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tea: Iced Peach

Steep three tea bags (this works with even the cheapest tea, think 2 cents per bag cheap) until brewed to your liking. Meanwhile, fill a 3/4 gallon pitcher half way with ice, add half of an apple cut into four pieces and half a peach cut into four pieces. Pour still hot tea over ice/fruit mixutre. Fill pitcher rest of the way with cold water and chill.

This is a foundational recipe: the peach is what you taste, the apple does all the dirty work. You can make lemon tea, mint tea, and basically any other type of tea, but the base will always be to start with half of an apple cut up. I think this takes some of the harshness away from the tea and adds a touch of sweetness.

Cinnamon Apples

This recipe comes by way of Pamela, I was skeptical at first, but it was a very delicious, satisfying dessert.

Take red delicious apples, core but keep skin on, and cut into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle very lightly with ground cinnamon. Top with crushed walnuts (or pecans).

This tastes like apple pie!

Mayo

Paleo mayo is essentially just real mayo. Here are the guidelines/ baseline ratios:

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Canola Oil (or Flax seed Oil if you wanna max Omega-3s)
1-2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Blend or whip by hand to familiar consistency. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature when you start, this is similar to softening butter before making cookies (in pre-paloe days).

This is a baseline recipe for mayo, people add vinegars and other things to flavor it. I could imagine adding chili oil, garlic oil, or other homemade oils to make it interesting.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Soup: Calamari Habanero


Slice calamari into rings and saute with minced garlic, ginger, black pepper, olive oil, and sesame oil. Add diced portobello mushrooms and zucchini, saute. Season accordingly. Add water (or chicken broth, but watch out for MSG), thinly sliced scallions and red cabbage. Simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot with fresh raw bean sprouts and cilantro garnish. Squeeze lime juice on top just before eating.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Potatoes: Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

In a cast iron pan, saute cubed fingerling potatoes in olive oil with garlic until slightly chard on the outside (15 minutes), season along the way. Add fresh or dried ground rosemary and transfer to roasting pan. Roast at around 400 for about 40 minutes. Add finely sliced green onions five minutes before finishing. You might also add olive oil and salt to taste when serving.

Burger: Portobello and Zucchini

Take Grassfed Organic Ground Beef from Lassens and combine with black pepper, sauteed garlic and red onion, half of a beaten egg, and fresh minced cilantro. Form into patties, season. Cook to your liking. Meanwhile, saute portobello mushrooms and zucchini slices in oil with crushed red peppers. Place burger and hot veggies on a few pieces of red leaf lettuce. Top with tomatoes, onion, pickle (questionable), and homemade Paleo mayo.
Extra lean grass fed beef is hard to keep together for the flip of the burger, hence the added egg. Add bread crumbs for a non-paleo easier flip.