Oxtail Stew

For oxtail stew, you definitely need beef oxtails (shown above). This one is just over 2 lbs.

They were seared on all sides before being placed in the slow cooker.

Then we browned 1 1/2 medium sized white onions.

While the onions browned, we added 8 cups of water, 10 beef bouillon cubes (tsps), 2 cups of cheapo red wine and 3 bay leaves into the slow cooker.

Once the onions were browned, we added 6 oz tomato paste and a splash of red wine

Once the onions were caramelized, we added it to the slow cooker as well.

We cooked it for about four hours on high and then let it cool. Then placed it in the fridge to cool it down and let the fat harden to scoop out the next day.

Then we cooked it on low all day and when we were ready to serve, we also added hot pot meat and about 4 oz halved cherry tomatoes! 

Super yumsters oxtail stew! :D

Green Beans with Bacon, Tomato, and Parmesan Cheese

The hubster found this recipe a long time ago, back in Aug 13, 2012 to be specific, and emailed it to me. I've had it earmarked since then, but I guess we never bought green beans until recently. And even when I did buy the green beans, it still took me another week or so to actually cook this dish... Well, here it is:

before cheese

with grated Parm cheese

The actual recipe can be found here: Michiana Eats since we just eyeballed the amount of ingredients used... It still came out delicious! (Also, we subbed minced shallot with minced onion and subbed the butter with bacon fat) Om nom nom.

Now I want to make a casserole version and mix in LOTs of grated Parmesan cheese. So delicious!

Meatloaf

I've been meaning to make meatloaf for pops since he asked for it awhile ago. And since we have a lot of leftover meats, I figured I ought to just make it. We had leftover ground beef and old costco meatballs (though I'm sure it'd never go bad while it's in the freezer... heh) and a new ground turkey package that's been sitting in the freezer for a while now and I just bought bacon..... so here's what I used for my meatloaf:

9 oz ground beef, 10 oz costco meatballs (or 16 meatballs), 15 oz ground turkey, 2 celery stalks, minced, 1/2 large white onion, minced, 1/2 oz sun dried tomatoes, minced, 4 oz bread crumbs, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp chili powder, 3 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/4 tsp curry powder and 1 egg. I forgot about the bacon :(

Sauce: 1 3/4 cup ketchup, 1 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbs sugar

Pretty much just mix them all in a mixer and then add the egg last. Then place it in a meatloaf pan that's been sprayed with PAM. Then flip it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven of 350°F for 1 hr and 15 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 155°F.

The sauce mixture is applied to the meatloaf once it's been baking for 15 minutes. I use about half the sauce mixture and save the rest for when it's served. It's super delicious!

Pork Curry

We still had cubed pork pieces left and decided to make curry with them!

We seared the huge piece of pork shoulder as much as we could around as many sides as possible. Then placed it in our slow cooker.

We also seared the remaining 1/3 of the cubed pork from earlier post (Pork Bourguignon) and placed it in the slow cooker.

We then chopped up a bag of carrots (1-lb) and 1-1/2 medium sized onion and also placed it in the slow cooker. (No celery bc the hubster doesn't like them)

I pre-mixed chicken broth with 4 cups water and 4 tbs chicken bouillon and 4 tbs curry powder. But ended up adding about another 2 cups of water and 2 tbs of curry bc I wanted the liquid to cover the meats and veggies. 

We also added 1/2 cup of red wine to use it up, hence the reddish color.

After it cooked on high for about 6 hours, we did a taste by trial and ended up adding even more curry powder

Mm-mmmm! The pork pieces and veggies were all deliciously tender and the curry had a little bit of a spice kick to it. 

**The tofu was cut into pieces and placed into individual serving bowls so it wouldn't get squished in the slow cooker and become indiscernible.

**Both the broccoli and shrimps were either cooked separately or placed in the slow cooker about 5 minutes before serving so it wouldn't over cook.

Simple Pork Bourguignon

Hubster wanted to make beef bourguignon, but we didn't have any beef on hand. So, he ended up making a version of pork bourguignon. Here's what he used:

pork shoulder, apple cider vinegar, 1 tomato, chopped, 1/2 onion, chopped, 2 cups water, 8 tsp chicken bouillon, 1 cup red wine, 1 tbs beef roast seasoning, kosher salt

pork shoulder

pork shoulder, skin removed

pork shoulder, cubed - apple cider vinegar and kosher salt added

1/3 of the cubed pork is seared in cast iron skillet

chopped onion and tomato is added to the seared pork

water, chicken bouillon and wine added then placed in 250°F oven 

baked for 2.5 hours 

And voila, savory tender juicy pork!

Fruit Salad and Banana Chips

I wanted to make a fruit salad for our bbq today and had been thinking of flavors that would go well together. I thought about white peaches, nectarines and blueberries. Then I found this Blueberry Peach Fruit Salad recipe, which uses the exact fruits I had in mind! Unfortunately, I didn't have fresh thyme on hand and didn't think dried thyme would work that well so I didn't make it. Instead, I added kiwis for an extra tart flavor and hoped that the peaches and nectarines would balance it out with their sweetness. The fruit salad was quite appetizing. I used 2 white peaches, 3 nectarines, 2 cups of blueberries, 1 kiwi and 3 tbs lemon juice. It sat in the fridge for 2+ hours before it was served.

For the banana chips, it's just bananas and lemon juice. The lemon juice keeps it from browning. Pretty much all you do is slice up a banana or two, dip it in lemon juice and bake it in the oven at 200°F or as low as your oven can go for lots of hours until it's chip-like and crunchy. I did mine for 3 hours and some still weren't crunchy.... I would say it was almost like banana jerky, though it was sweet and pretty hard to put down! PS: Do NOT bake on parchment paper. It was difficult removing the slices and I assume harder for the moisture to evaporate -_- Next time, I'd spray PAM on the cookie sheet. If you have a dehydrator, even better! I wish I had a finished picture but I ended up eating them all before I remembered :(

New York Cheesecake

I have been making cheesecakes a lot these days but none of them are what I really want... which is a big slice of hearty new york cheesecake. And I think I found just the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. However, since I don't have a very tall cheesecake pan, I ended up reducing the amount for a 9 inch pie pan.

Crumb crust:

8 graham crackers or approx 5 oz

5 tbs butter, melted

a pinch of kosher salt

Blend the crackers and salt in a food processor until the crackers are fine/ granulated. Then mix in the melted butter. Press onto bottom and sides of pie pan. Then set aside in the freezer.

Cheesecake filling:
24 oz cream cheese
1 cup + 1 tbs granulated sugar
3 tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp orange extract
3 large eggs
1.5 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 550°F. In a standing mixer, beat together cream cheese, sugar, flour, zest and orange extract until smooth. Add vanilla, then eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated. Scrape bowl down between additions to ensure everything is mixed. Pour filling into crust (pan will be completely full.)

Bake in the middle of the oven for 12 minutes or until puffed. Please watch your cake because some ovens will top-brown very quickly and if yours does too fast, turn the oven down as soon as you catch it. Sadly, I didn't catch mine.... (I checked at 10 minutes, which was still white and then again at 15 minutes, which was too late).

Then, reduce the temperature to 200°F and continue baking until cake is mostly firm (center will still be slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken), about 50-60 minutes more.

Since my cheesecake looked pretty bad on top with no room to spare for a topping to cover the awful cracks and dark tan, I trimmed the top so it was even and then flipped it into another pan:

I ended up making a blueberry compote (step 8) to top my upside down cheesecake. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of it since it was such a beauty. It definitely looked more appetizing. But regardless of its looks, its taste and texture was just what I wanted. Thick and crumbly but with a light and airy flavor. 

Blueberry compote:

1.5 cups blueberries, 2 tbs granulated sugar, 3 tbs water and 1 tbs lemon juice

Boil 1 cup of blueberries with the sugar, water and lemon juice until blueberries burst and syrup thickens. Take it off the heat and add the remaining blueberries. Set aside to cool. Pour on top of cheesecake before serving.

Note: Next time, I'll stick to a water bath and a constant temp of 200°F

Update 7/8/2013: Here's a picture of the ravaged cheesecake a day after our Saturday bbq.

Update 7/19/2013: Made another one but it baked in a water bath at a constant temp of 200°F.

Turned out to be much more moist and creamy if you prefer that version... Personally, I like the drier one. Also, this crust was made with 5.5 oz gingersnap cookies and 5 tbs butter and was a bit too much butter. I guess I'll stick with the original bake heat and timeframe. But I do like that gingersnap crust! Yum!!

French Meringues

I'm not very fond of meringue cookies from the very few times I've had them and the one other time I've made them. However, it's just one of those things that if you like to bake, you have to try to make them right at least once. Upon further research, I stumbled upon this Authentic French Meringue recipe. It's so simple it only calls for two ingredients: egg whites and confectioners' sugar. I had to give it another try.

3 egg whites (or 1/2 cup egg whites) and 1-2/3 cup confectioners' sugar.

Preheat the oven to 200°F.

In a glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy using an electric mixer. Sprinkle in sugar a spoonful at a time, while continuing to whip at medium speed. When the mixture becomes stiff and shiny like satin (at least 15 minutes), stop mixing.

Transfer the mixture to a large pastry bag. Ziploc baggies work too. Just snip off one of the bottom corners.

Pipe the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet using a large round tip or star tip. My meringues were about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry, and can easily be removed. Allow cookies to cool in oven for 1 hour. Completely cool before storing in an airtight container at room temperature.

These french meringues were completely dry on the inside and very crunchy and very sweet. Perfect for anybody who has a sweet tooth. =)

I've also read that meringues are supposed to be marshmallow-y on the inside so I thought a s'mores version would be interesting. FYI: If you want your meringues to be marshmallow-y on the inside, your meringues need to be bigger than bite size.

Graham crackers and butter for crust.

Add the meringue mixture.

Drizzle on some melted chocolate.

3 hours later. Looks tasty, eh?

These are to be saved for this Saturday's mini backyard bbq, but who knows, I might just snag one before hand.

Here are other meringue cookies that I was considering:
Meringue Cookies ("Forgotten Kisses") by Emeril Lagasse
Meringue Smooches by Sandra Lee
Mint Chocolate Chip Meringues by Gale Gand

FYI: I'm still not a meringue lover, but at least I made this one right. The previous ones I made were slightly browned and had a gritty texture due to the use of granulated sugar...