Beef Tacos

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I hope you all have a fun and safe day, but if you wanted to stay home... make some tacos... I've got a recipe for you.

Today's beef taco's recipe comes courtesy of Cooks Illustrated.  I probably saved it from one of the various weekly ATK emails I receive - sign up for them, some GREAT recipes are emailed to you, all seasonal and holiday appropriate!

This recipe is very simple, you should have most of the items on hand, and takes just minutes.  As for the toppings, top it with whatever floats your taco boat - tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, avocado, onion, salsa, or ATK's suggestion of lettuce.  I think lettuce in tacos are gross... unless it's a delicious fish taco and you're adding a delicious slaw.  But I digress.

I also always recommend corn tortillas with tacos.  Flour tastes better, but corn tastes more authentic.

I went with just sour cream, tomatoes, and cheese.  We want tacos...

By the way, I ate this over the course of three days, and the flavor was still intense after three days.  Of course, eat it as soon as possible.  The flavor seemed to intensify a bit - it felt a bit bland when I first tried it, but that was after I realized... oops I used two teaspoons of chili powder instead of two tablespoons.  

Beef Tacos from Cooks Illustrated, March 2002

Ingredients - Beef Filling:

• 2 teaspoons vegetable or corn oil
• 1 small onion, chopped small (about 2/3 cup)
• 3 medium cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used just a dash)
• Salt
• 1 pound 90% lean ground beef (I used 80/20)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce (sold in 8 ounce cans)
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth (I did not have this, I used water instead)
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vinegar (preferably cider, I used white)
• Ground black pepper
• 8 taco shells or white corn tortillas

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until hot and shimmering but not smoking, about 2 minutes.  Add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes.

2.  Add garlic, spices, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add ground beef and cook, breaking up meat and scraping pan bottom to avoid scorching, until beef is no longer pink, about five minutes.  

3.  Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar, and vinegar; bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently and breaking up any remaining chunks, until liquid has reduced and thickened (mixture should not be completely dry), about 10 minutes.  Taste, and add salt and pepper to your liking. 

4.  Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon.  Serve with your desired toppings.

Rolled up delicious goodness.

Pasta Primavera

It's SPRING!  The sun is shining (here at least), we had temps in the upper 70's and 80's last week, and the first trickle of vegetables on sale at the grocery store has finally begun.

This week I noticed:
Asparagus - $0.97/pound
Green beans - $0.99/pound
Zucchini - $1.00/pound

I even lucked out with the peas - I was scouring the frozen food aisle, and I was about to reach for the Green Giant peas for $2.00 a box, when I noticed the Safeway brand organic peas were also $2.00.  I have noticed I will go for the organic anything now when it's a good deal, so, for me, this was a great find!

These three, beautiful green vegetables are big parts of a pasta dish I found from Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen recently - pasta primavera!  (If you do not subscribe to ATK's Notes from the Test Kitchen, I highly recommend it!)

I didn't have any problems making this recipe - I just found it takes a lot of time.  I tried to do a lot of things at once - boiling water, prepping vegetables, boiling pasta, but I couldn't time everything together well.  I only made two major changes - I halved the recipe, and instead of heavy cream, I used half and half.  The flavor mavens may be angry at me, but it was what I had in the fridge, and I wanted to lighten the recipe a smidge.

The taste?  Loved it.  I love all the vegetables used in this dish (except maybe the peas, I bet I could have cut the amount of peas in half again) and I managed to season it perfectly during the salt additions.  Mr. Unoriginal Chef saw me plating the dish to photograph and he demanded it for his dinner.

Of course, he only ate it after I picked out all the icky green stuff he didn't like - meaning the peas, the green beans, and the asparagus.  Men.  I deliberately left some peas and green beans in there to make him eat something healthy.

Make this once you start getting your CSA boxes this summer!  Or when you find a great sale at the grocery store like me!

Pasta Primavera from Cook's Illustrated, August 2004

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces green beans, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 12 medium asparagus spears, tough ends snapped off (just bend the asparagus, it will break where it needs to be broken), halved lengthwise and cut diagonally into 3/4 inch pieces
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced thin
• 4 large plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), peeled, cored and chopped medium
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional) (I did not add this)
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound dried egg fettucine (I used whole wheat linguini)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup shredded basil leaves (whoops, I forgot this)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used a whole lemon and squeezed until the proper taste)
• Grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

1.  Boil water for pasta in large pot.  In a second pot, bring water to boil for green vegetables; add 1 tablespoon salt.  

2.  Fill a large bowl with ice water, set aside.

3.  Add green beans to boiling water in smaller pot, cook for 1 1/2 minutes.  Add asparagus, cook for 30 seconds.  Add zucchini, cook for 30 seconds.  Add peas, cook for 30 seconds.  Drain vegetables and dunk into ice water.  Let sit until chilled, about 3 minutes, and drain.  Set aside.

4.  Heat 3 tablespoons butter over medium high heat until foamy in the same pot you used to boil the vegetables.  Add mushrooms, and saute until brown, about 8-10 minutes.  Add tomatoes and red pepper flakes, if using.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer until tomatoes begin to lose their shape, about 7 minutes. Add cream and stir until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes.  Cover to keep warm and set aside.

5.  Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the pasta water and cook pasta until al dente.

6.  While the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan or skillet.  Heat until foamy.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly colored, about 1 minute.  Add blanched vegetables and cook until heated through and infused with garlic flavor, about 2 minutes.  Season with salt to taste, set aside.

7.  Bring mushroom/tomato sauce back to medium heat.

8.  Drain pasta and return to large pot.  (I didn't do this, since I had cooked my pasta way in advance.  I actually put the pasta into the large skillet with my vegetables.  It worked, just a lot of stirring.)  Add mushroom/tomato sauce, and stir to combine over low heat.  Squeeze lemon juice over pasta, and season with salt to taste.

Serve immediately with grated cheese on top.

Up close and personal with the vegetables!  Eat your veggies!  It should be easy with this dish!

Quick Tomato Sauce

We have meatballs.

We have pasta, cooked and ready to go.

Now we need a sauce.

We could use the pomodoro sauce I've made in the past, but I wanted to try out a recipe I had saved from America's Test Kitchen.

At first glance, it looks complicated, but it really is extremely simple.  The hardest part is grating the onion - more so for me because I don't own a box grater (something I need to rectify ASAP.)  I was using a microplane zester.  YES, a zester.  This was the smallest grate ever.  If you don't have a grater, just cut in slices, and then cut the slices smaller.  It's almost the same effect.

My main substitution, as usual, were the tomatoes.  I had one can of petite diced tomatoes, and one can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings.  This was perfectly acceptable - use what you have on hand.  I will concede it might not be the exact same flavor, but when the can of diced tomatoes are $0.49 and the Muir Glen whole tomatoes are 3.99... you have to make a choice.  I erred on the side of affordability.

Cooking time was short and sweet.  I added the meatballs and let them simmer even longer in the sauce at a lower temperature.  I still think a smaller size for the meatballs would have been beneficial, and that's my fault. Oh well.  Next time.

Flavor wise, I can't choose between the sauces!  I love them both!  I might lean a bit more towards ATK, but Lucinda... AHHH.  So hard to choose.

Mmmm.

Quick Tomato Sauce from America's Test Kitchen, Season 10.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup grated onion, from one medium onion, grated on the large holes of a box grater
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• Table salt
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes (or 2 14 ounce cans)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Ground black pepper

Directions:

1.  Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until melted.  Add onion, oregano, and 0.5 teaspoon salt.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden brown, about five minutes.

2.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3.  Add tomatoes and sugar.  Increase heat to high and bring to a simmer.

4.  Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

5.  Off heat, stir in the basil and oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Mashed Potatoes

To complete this week's recipes, on the side of my chicken and biscuits were mashed potatoes.

I love potatoes.

Very much.

Mashed potatoes, french fries, home fries, hash browns... I'm starting to sound like Samwise Gamgee.

Mashed potatoes from scratch are very easy.  Sure, nothing is as easy as the instant potatoes, but with just a little time, you can have mashed potatoes from scratch, and none of the weird additives.  And way less salt - those packets are loaded with sodium.

I once again went to the America's Test Kitchen well for my recipe, but my main problem is that I do not own a ricer.  I had to mash these by hand with... a whisk.  Yes, I don't own a potato masher either.  It's not really an issue, you adapt, but there were definitely some lumps.  I tried to flatten every lump I could find with a fork.

I found that I needed to add more butter and salt to the recipe, BUT I used 2% milk instead of half and half or whole milk, as that was all I had on hand, which probably led to the addition of more butter.  Mr. UoC said they were bland, so I added a few more pinches of salt after I added the milk and butter.  Add a little bit of salt, and taste as you go along, as it is really easy to oversalt.

Would I make this again?  Probably, as it is relatively quick and easy.  Mashed potatoes are so easily adaptable though, so I'm sure there are many other recipes out there that can also be used with similar results.  This is a great, basic recipe that is very easy.  You can't mess it up!

Yummy though.  Yay potatoes!  

Mashed Potatoes by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients:

• Two pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed clean (because I'm a dirt freak like that)
• Salt
• 1 cup half and half or whole milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• Pepper

Directions:

1.  Place whole potatoes in salted water in a large pot.  Make sure the water covers the potatoes.  Bring to a boil over high heat and then simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

2.  Drain and peel potatoes.  (You can use your hands - you don't need a peeler.  The skin easily comes off from the potato, but be careful, it's HOT.)  

3.  Put potatoes through a food mill or ricer into a warm, dry saucepan.  

4.  Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan until warm and butter is melted.

5.  Pour milk/butter mixture onto potatoes and mix well.  Season with pepper to taste and serve.  At this point, also test for salt.  If you don't feel it's buttery enough, add a half of a teaspoon at a time until you are happy with the taste.

Biscuit, chicken, and potato.  Mmm a great meal!

Drop Biscuits

Biscuits and I do not get along.

I've made biscuits from Bisquick (in a previous life when I didn't bake from scratch.)
I've made biscuits from the can, with the satisfying "plop" each time I open the can.
I've made biscuits from scratch.

No matter what I do, the darn biscuits do not look like a fluffy, pretty, soft, biscuit.  I suspect I'm overbaking or overmixing, but alas, what can I do.

Well, except make them right, but this is my blog, so we'll overlook that shortcoming.

Then I came across my savior.  Two magic words.

Drop biscuits.

YES.

No fussy biscuit cutter required! (I don't even have one, so that may be part of my problem, although I have a glass that is about 2.25 inches across..)
Simple ingredients!
Buttermilk!

Wait, buttermilk?

I've never cooked with buttermilk in my life.  I usually try to avoid it so that I don't have to buy it.  But there's a quick solution around it - if you don't have buttermilk, put one tablespoon of white vinegar in a cup.  Add enough milk so that the total liquid is a cup.  (If you want to be picky, one tablespoon white vinegar, 15 tablespoons milk.)  Gently mix for a few seconds and let it sit for five minutes.

Ok, now that I'm over the buttermilk hurdle, this recipe also gets over the biscuit cutter hurdle - you use a 1/4 cup measure to make the biscuits!  Yes!  They're supposed to be lumpy, oddly shapen, and possibly kind of flat.  (I'm not perfect.)

The ingredients are so simple, the directions so easy, you need to go make these now.  My one caution:  baking at 475F.  This is a really high temperature and caused my smoke alarm to go off twice, and I had to reduce the heat to 400F immediately.  The biscuits still overcooked a bit, so I'd actually recommend cooking at 400 for about 12 minutes.  But the overall flavor was deliciously buttery, and Mr. UoC LOVED them.  He couldn't stop eating them, especially when they're warm.

Also, a note:  I completely goofed in the last few steps of this recipe.  I somehow read the recipe to say to brush the biscuits with butter BEFORE baking, not after.  Did it make a difference?  Probably not.  Although that is probably what set off my smoke alarm.

At least I don't bake in the middle of the night, right?

Drop Biscuits by America's Test Kitchen.  Makes 12 biscuits.

Puff up for me, baby.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, cold.
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (about five minutes) plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits

Instructions:

1.  Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475F degrees. (I recommend 400F.)  

2.  Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl.  Set aside.

3.  Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in a medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.  This takes a few minutes, and do not skip this step!

4.  Add buttermilk mixture to wet ingredients and combine until just incorporated and batter pulls away from side of the bowl.  

5.  Using a greased 1/4 cup scoop (or I just divided the batter into pieces and shaped them) drop batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  

6.  Bake until tops are golden and crisp, 12-14 minutes.  Brush biscuit tops with butter, and transfer to a wire rack to cool, at least five minutes, before serving.

Serve with butter.  Also really delicious with peanut butter.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a confession to make.

I'm not a big fan of chocolate chip cookies.  Actually, chocolate in general.  Most of the time, it's too sweet and I can only handle so much sweet at a time.  Ideally I like my sweet to be balanced with something else, which may be why I like Reese's Pieces so much.  Or I'm just weird.

I do love baking any kind of cookie out there though, and I do have a go-to chocolate chip recipe - Martha Stewart's Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from her Cookie book.  A deliciously simple recipe that stayed soft and perfect for days after.  I didn't think any recipe could top that one.

Well America's Test Kitchen just had to go and up the ante, didn't they.  Last season they featured an improved chocolate chip cookie recipe that took the flavor up a notch from their previous cookie recipe - browned butter.

Browned butter cookies, cooling on a rack.

Browning butter infuses more flavor into the cookie, giving it a nutty, almost toffee like flavor.  Mmm flavor.  But the first time I browned the butter, I kept it on the stove too long, trying to get the butter as deep brown as possible, and I burned the butter.  Woe is me.  The second time around, I was extremely vigilant about the browning, and took it off the stove earlier.  Also, please use a 10 inch skillet.  I couldn't find a 10 inch skillet (or I was too lazy to clean one) in my stainless steel pan collection, so I used an 8 inch skillet.  It took longer to brown the butter.

You must use a stainless steel or other light colored pan to brown the butter.  Nonstick pans tend to be dark, so you won't see the butter browning, but you definitely will smell it... when it's burned.

Also, do NOT skip the rest/whisk part of the recipe!  It really thickens up the butter/sugar/egg mixture, and it is so unique compared to any other cookie recipe I've ever baked.

Gorgeous cookies.

The verdict?  Mr. Unoriginal Chef liked the different taste, but he couldn't give me an answer as to which one was better.  My testers at work couldn't give me a definitive answer other than "OMNOMNOM COOKIE." I liked the flavor, liked how the cookie remained soft the next day, and liked that I worked with melted butter instead of creaming butter (one less appliance to clean!)  It's really a toss up between which recipe I would use as my go-to recipe, but this one is definitely a contender.

Find out for yourself.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies from America's Test Kitchen, Season 10.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (10 ounces in a 12 ounce bag, roughly)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted. (optional) 

Directions:
1.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Make sure the rack is in the middle.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.

2.  Whisk together baking soda and flour, set aside.

3.  Heat 10 tablespoons of butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat until melted, about 2 minutes.  Continue cooking, swirling the pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, about 1 to 3 minutes.  It will burn VERY quickly, so watch closely!

4.  Remove skillet from heat and transfer butter to a heatproof bowl.  (My Pyrex bowl worked fine.)  Stir the remaining four tablespoons of butter into the hot butter and stir until melted.

5.  Add brown and granulated sugar, salt and vanilla to the butter.  (I highly advise measuring out the sugar before hand if possible.)  Whisk until fully incorporated.

6.  Add egg and egg yolk to the mixture.  Whisk mixture until smooth and no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds.  Let the mixture stand for three minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds.  Repeat the stand and whisk procedure twice.  The mixture will be thick, smooth, and shiny.

7.  Add the flour to the mixture and stir to combine, about one minute.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using and stir to incorporate and make sure there are no flour pockets (check the bottom!)

8.  ATK recommends making 3 tablespoon sized cookies, or use a #24 cookie scoop.  I used a tablespoon to scoop and formed it with my fingers.

9.  Bake cookies one tray at a time for 9-10 minutes (smaller cookies) or 10 to 14 minutes (larger cookies.)  Halfway through, rotate the cookie sheet.  Cookies are done when they are golden brown and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft.

10.  Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack to cool, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.  (I had to do this, I needed the baking sheet to make another batch!)

Cookies cooling on the sheet... reflecting on their existence in another pot.

ATK's recipe says to cool completely before serving, but I love warm, out of the oven cookies.  I may have yoinked a cookie off this sheet after it cooled to the touch.