
- 1 frozen pie crust
- Crumbled fresh goat cheese or crumbled gorgonzola (small package)
- 6 or more fresh ripe plums or figs
- Fresh thyme or rosemary
- Splash of olive oil, pinch of salt and sugar if needed
Here's the secret: chili is basically spaghetti sauce with beans. Chili without beans could be easily poured over pasta and be called an italian slow-simmer sauce, especially if you added some oregano, tarragon or basil. So basically, chili is meat sauce with different spices. So the real lesson today is, "how to make a meat sauce". In this case, with chili powder and beans. But think of the base as a completely adjustable canvas that you can paint with lots of different colors.
Back to the cooking-- you know the most important thing to me is to get it done in the shortest amount of time possible, with the least amount of steps, and with the biggest applause at the end. Hmmm.... now that I think of it, that's basically the motto of my whole life. But I digress. The first step here is to brown the things that need to be browned. If you put the meat in first, the natural juice would create water in the pan that makes it harder to brown your onions, so we do onions first.
Throw the onions into a large saucepan with a teaspoon of olive oil, over high heat. Continue to stir and brown for a couple minutes, or until the smell changes to be less spicy and more sweet. Throw in your crushed garlic and a splash of red wine.
To this mixture, add the ground meat. Season with a small amount of salt and a bigger amount of pepper. Continue stirring until you have removed all pink from the meat. Now turn the burner to medium, pour in the sauce and the beans, and continue cooking.
"Her emotions simmered below the surface". What does simmering really mean? Because that's what we need to do now with this sauce. Simmering, first of all, is generally done on low or almost-low heat. To simmer is to have a movement of your sauce, but no bubbles. So you're at a lower heat than boiling, but your sauce isn't sitting still. The traditional cooking method to achieve solid simmering is to bring it up to a boil then turn it down. This creates a universal heat that will continue... yes you guessed it.... below the surface. So get this baby pissed off at you for a good 20 minutes, and up to an hour or more. Your beans will start falling apart if you go too long, so really this is another quick timeline for preparation.
So this is the most simple and basic version of chili that you can possibly create. Feel free to change up the beans (remove them, use other kinds, whatever), throw in some different spices (try fresh hot peppers from the store, but test each before you add), use different meat (ground beef is just a start- people use all kinds of meats in this including steak or the ultra fatty/fabulous rib meat). This is a totally basic recipe, so you're going to want to garnish this to make it appear fabulous to the naked eye. Luckily, chili is one of the best foods to garnish, besides the potato of course. Pull out the shredded cheddar (or other exotic cheese to really entice), the sour cream (cool and tangy), chopped onions (green are pretty), strips of bbq steak (mouth watering), really cold beer (wow). This was the first meal I cooked on my own. I give it to you. You can't screw it up - promise.
Throw the chicken on a hot (med-high) grill. Wait about 5 minutes (good dark grill marks), flip the chicken, and put the asparagus on a low-medium heat. These veges always cook slower than you think- I expect them to be done in two minutes but they take actually probably closer to 5-10 minutes. The chicken may take 15, so that’s why we put it on first.
With the asparagus, we’re aiming to create a nice charred taste, with minimal blackness. If you stick them on higher heat, they’ll become completely black. If you like them a little raw, don’t let them wilt too much, or if you like them fully cooked, wait until they flop when you pick one up.
Here’s what I have learned about grilling meat: don’t ever, ever use a fork or knife– use tongs or a flipper. If you break the outside crust you’ll lose juice the entire rest of the cooking time. And tongs make a great meat thermometer. When you squeeze, does the meat have any give? If it is really firm, it’s way overcooked. If it squeezes and seems jiggly, it’s raw in the middle still. Squeezing your meat isn’t bad for it at all so play with this. Love it. Learn it. Live it. And how will you know when it is done? Basically this is a big learning curve thing. So you pull it off and it’s raw? Well, raw is better than overcooked, because you can’t fix overcooked.Caesar's Goat Salad
1 large head romaine lettuce
5 cloves garlic
3/4 C. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter, unsalted
4 slices french bread, cubed
1 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
3 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
Chop the romaine lettuce into bite sized pieces, place in a large salad bowl and chill. (That means "put it in the fridge", not "hang out".)
Place the garlic cloves in a small, microwave-safe container and pour in 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on low power for three minutes. Remove and chill in the freezer until ready to use.
In a large skillet, melt the butter on medium-high heat. Add cubed french bread, paprika, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper. Stir constantly until bread cubes are toasted and have now become....(drum roll)...croutons! Remove from heat and let cool on a paper towel.
Take your garlic cloves out of the freezer (they shouldn't be frozen, just cool enough to work with) and dump them, and the olive oil, into a food processor. Pulse on high until garlic is chopped/mashed/pulverized. Add the egg yolk and 1 tsp. salt. Pulse again. Add the lemon juice. Pulse again. Add the mustard and vinegar. Pulse again. Add the remaining olive oil in small amounts, pulsing frequently. Add the remaining pepper and pulse. The dressing should be slightly thickened, but not too thick.
Get your bowlful of lettuce out of the fridge and add the croutons. Add half the dressing and toss well. Add half the goat cheese and toss. Sprinkle with the rest of the goat cheese and serve.
Garnish ideas: Thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes (the name alone is fancy and sounds like Grandma's china), or roasted red bell peppers (don't get crazy with roasting them; just slice and cook in a skillet on high heat until the edges start to turn black. Looks muy caliente!).
Grilled Steak
2 New York Strip steaks, about 1 1/2 inches thick
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
1/2 cup red wine
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
2 sprigs of rosemary
Mix olive oil, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic and red wine in a bowl. Pour it into a big zip-top bag and add the steaks, sealing out any excess air. Marinate on the counter-top for about an hour. Yes, I said counter-top, not fridge. You need to get your meat to room temperature, so it cooks evenly. Unless your counter-top location is in the depths of Hades, it shouldn't have any chance to spoil.
Fire up the grill to medium-high heat (we use gas, so if you use charcoal, do whatever it is you have to do to get it to medium-high).
Take the steaks out of the bag, sprinkle with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Throw the steaks on the grill, placing the rosemary sprigs alongside. I know you're wondering, 'what's up with the rosemary?' Here's the thing: it smells super-good when smoked in a grill, and that yummy smoke adds to the flavor complexity of the steaks. And, it makes you look like you know what you're doing.
Grill the steaks six minutes on each side, or until a thermometer stuck in sideways says they're at 123 degrees. This is for medium-rare. If you're kamikaze enough to do the rare thing, take them off at 115. If you like funky brown meat, take them off at 130/135.
Let them rest for about five minutes, tented loosely with foil. Garnish with: Roasted King Trumpet Mushrooms (recipe coming soon), a sprinkling of crushed rosemary, or even some fresh roasted veggies.
***Kitchen Option:
Let's say you don't have a grill, or are just too lazy to fire it up. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Heat a large skillet on the stove to high. Drop in a teaspoon of butter with a teaspoon of olive oil. When it starts sizzling, throw the steaks in the pan. Cook for three minutes on each side, then finish in the oven for seven minutes. Garnish fabulously.