We recently had a beer and sake tasting party – where everyone brought their favorite to be sampled. I thought that beer cheese soup would be the perfect food to go with the beer.
I started by melting butter in my soup pot (yeah, this is not a healthy soup).
Next I added diced onion, celery, and carrot.
I wanted the soup to be smooth – with no chunks of vegetables. So after the vegetables were soft, I pureed them with a stick blender.
Next I added flour to make a roux, and cooked the rawness out.
Then I added the stock, beer, half and half, salt, dry mustard, and Worcestershire.
Finally, I added the cheese – a combo of cheddar and swiss.
The result was a smooth, decadent soup with a bit of a tang.
Beer Cheese Soup adapted from Food Network Serves 8-10
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 1 chopped medium sized yellow onion 3/4 cup chopped carrot 3/4 cup chopped celery 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 cups chicken broth 1 (12-ounce) beer of choice (I used Sam Adams) 7 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, shredded 7 oz processed Swiss cheese, shredded 2 cups half-and-half 1 tsp salt 1 tsp dry mustard 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat. Add chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Saute until softened. Puree with a stick blender.
Add flour. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add chicken broth and beer. Heat until it comes to a boil. Add half-and-half, salt, dry mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.
Slowly add cheese while stirring until just boiling and smooth. Reduce heat to low and cook until soup has thickened.
I still have beets in the fridge from back when they were coming all the time in the CSA. I really needed to use them quickly and I decided to make a risotto because it is one of Jasper’s favorite dishes. The first time he ever had risotto was the first time I ever made it. It was in the early part of our relationship, when we were living on opposite coasts. I came out to visit him in his little apartment in Ballston, and I wanted to make a nice dinner for him. He couldn’t get enough of that lemon risotto. Ever since then, he has ordered risotto constantly at restaurants, and black truffle risotto has replaced my lemon version as the favorite. It had been awhile since I had made risotto at home, so I decided it was time to treat him.
The first step is to roast the beets – it develops a deeper, richer flavor than boiling.
Cut the beets into matchsticks and saute with an onion in butter and olive oil.
Add some garlic, then add the rice and stir constantly for a minute to coat the grains in oil. (more…)
I literally dreamed about making this right after we got back from Vegas. I woke up and decided I had better make it for dinner since my subconscious was telling me to.
Simple. Easy. Tasty.
Cook some cheese tortellini according to the package. Toss with a combination of pesto and a little cream and Parmesan or prepared Alfredo sauce.
Bake some breaded chicken. This brand is seriously the best chicken ever (I use it in our favorite weeknight dinner all the time, available at Whole Foods). Cut into strips.
The pasta is creamy and rich with a freshness from the pesto, and the chicken is juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside – perfect. All you need is a salad and voila – a 30 minute dinner.
It’s a short post this week, because we got the crate a day before we left for Las Vegas for a week (oh yes, there will be posts about that). So I only had one day to make, eat, and store what I could. That is also the reason that we will skip from week 11 to week 13 – I had a friend take our share while we were out of town.
In the crate this week:
Watermelon
Korean Melons
Peaches
Plums
Large and small tomatoes
Corn
Green Beans
Bell Peppers (more…)
Flank steak is an under-appreciated cut of beef – probably because it is very tough if you don’t cook it the right way. It comes from the abdominal muscles of the cow and is long and flat, with a strong grain. I like it because it is cheap, flavorful, and the toughness is not a problem if you cut across the grain. One of the most common uses for flank steak is stir fry – in fact, when you buy “stir fry” beef at the grocery, it is probably sliced flank steak. I will demonstrate how to do a stir fry in my update on week 11 of the CSA. For now, I will give a couple of other examples of ways to use flank steak.
A spinach salad with bacon, potatoes, steak, and blue cheese dressing is delicious and filling, and perfect for summer. This dish makes me laugh, though, because I originally bought the steak to please my husband, who was getting tired of all the veg from the CSA. And what did I do with it? Put it in a salad! Poor Jasper, oh well.
Start by frying chopped bacon, then fry some baby potatoes in the bacon fat.
Meanwhile, cook your flank steak to medium-rare in a skillet or on the grill. You can see the heavy grain I was talking about in this picture. Once the meat has had a chance to rest, slice it thinly against the grain.
Pile everything on top of some baby spinach, and top with a blue cheese and buttermilk dressing.
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My second dish is Asian inspired: hoisin glazed flank steak with scallion rice.
Start by preparing your steak (again, you can see the striated grain in this picture): brush the steak with hoisin sauce (add Sriracha if you are a spicy fan), and grill 2-3 minutes per side (I used a panini grill). Rest, and slice thinly.
Meanwhile, make the rice. Slice a few scallions (green and white parts) thinly. Cook jasmine rice according to directions, adding the scallion whites at the beginning. Stir in the scallion greens when the rice is finished cooking.
Serve the steak with the rice and some quick pickles.
8 oz Yukon gold or fingerling potatoes, cut into 1/2-in pieces
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 lbs flank steak
3 oz blue cheese, crumbled (3/4 cup)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 scallion, chopped
8 cups baby spinach, washed and drained
In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Add the potatoes to the bacon drippings, season with 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper, and increase heat to medium-high. Cook, tossing occasionally, until browned and tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burning. Transfer to the paper towel-lined plate.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a second large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the steak with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook 5 to 7 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing. Slice thinly against the grain.
In a small bowl, mix together the blue cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, vinegar, scallion, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Divide the spinach among plates, top with the steak, bacon, and potatoes, and drizzle with the dressing.
2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp Sriracha or Asian chili-garlic sauce (optional)
1 1/2 pounds flank steak, cut into 4 pieces
For an Asian quick pickle:
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup salted, roasted peanuts, chopped (optional)
Cook the rice according to the package directions, adding the scallion whites to the rice at the beginning, and the scallion greens at the end.
Meanwhile, heat grill to medium-high and brush with canola oil. In a small bowl, stir together the hoisin and Sriracha, if using. Brush the steak with half of the hoisin mixture and grill, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Brush again with the remaining hoisin mixture. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Slice thinly against the grain.
In a medium bowl, toss the cucumber with the vinegar, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Serve with the steak and rice and sprinkle with the peanuts, if using.
In the crate this week:
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
2 Korean Melons
Chinese Melon
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Corn
Large tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Peaches
Plums (more…)
This is one of my husband’s favorite entrees – which is great because it is actually healthy! Ground turkey is mixed with sauteed onions and spinach to make meatloaves that are super moist and flavorful.
The first step is to pulse a slice of wheat bread into crumbs in a food processor, then soak with lowfat milk.
Next, saute a diced onion and wilt baby spinach.
Add the spinach and onions to the breadcrumbs, along with ground turkey, Parmesan cheese, and egg, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. (more…)
