Tag: recipes

Serve this sangria alongside some fresh cheese, like a soft goat cheese drizzled with local honey or a fresh mozzarella topped with really good extra-virgin olive oil, and voila — all you have to do is invite a few friends over to make this a perfect happy hour.

1/2 cup light honey
1/2 cup water
3/4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 large strip of lemon peel, no pith
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced cucumber
1/2 cup brandy
1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed and discarded
1 750-millileter bottle Prosecco, chilled

Combine the honey, water, ginger, and lemon peel in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to a low simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cool, and then strain.

In a pitcher, combine the cucumber, ginger, syrup, and brandy. Add the lemon slices and stir. If you have time, let this sangria base chill in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to serve, top the pitcher off with the chilled Prosecco. Serve immediately over ice, being sure to scoop some cucumber and lemon slices into each glass.

Ingredients

1 (5 to 6-pound) beef brisket, point cut
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup ketchup
2/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard powder
3 tablespoons whisky, plus more for seasoning
10 potato rolls, for serving

Directions

1. Adjust the oven racks to fit a large Dutch oven. preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Rub the brisket with the paprika, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the brisket and sear well on all sides, about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the ketchup, vinegar, molasses, sugar, mustard powder, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 cup water. Pour the sauce over the brisket.

3. Cover the Dutch oven; transfer to the oven and cook, undisturbed, until the meat is tender, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Transfer the brisket to a large bowl. Meanwhile, skim excess fat from the sauce in the Dutch oven and bring to a boil over medium heat on the stovetop. Boil until the sauce is thickened (you should have about 2 cups sauce), about 10 minutes. Season with more vinegar, whisky, and salt, if desired.

4. Pull the meat apart into large chunks and stir into about two-thirds of the sauce. Sandwich the meat on the potato rolls. Serve with extra sauce on the side.

The trick to perfect oven-roasted buffalo wings is to steam them first to render out a lot of the fat. Then you cool them to tighten the skin, then you roast them in the oven. Yes, there’s a bit of labor involved, and yes … it’s worth it.

12 whole chicken wings
85g unsalted butter
1/4 cup hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Load a large saucepan with a steamer basket and 1 inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

2. Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and refrigerate for one hour.

3. Heat the oven to 425F/220C.

4. Replace the paper towels (under the cooling rack) with parchment paper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

5. While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

6. Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.

ingredients

8 cups 1-inch cubes of seedless watermelon (from about a 4 1/2 pound watermelon)
1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (roughly 8 lemons)
3 1/2 cups water
1 cup granulated white sugar

for serving: ice cubes or frozen watermelon cubes
lemon wedges/watermelon wedges for garnish

directions

working in 2 batches, blend watermelon and lemon juice in food processor or blender until smooth. pass through a wire sieve to remove any thick pulp/seeds. transfer to pitcher.

bring 3 1/2 cups water and sugar to boil in medium saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. add hot syrup to pitcher with watermelon-lemon juice. refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.

fill glasses with ice (or frozen watermelon cubes). pour watermelon lemonade over and garnish glasses with lemon wedges.

Ingredients

1 pound stemmed fresh chiles (such as jalapeño, serrano, Fresno, or habanero; use one variety or mix and match)
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar

Preparation

Pulse chiles and kosher salt in a food processor until a coarse purée forms. Transfer to a 1-qt. glass jar, loosely screw on lid, and let stand at room temperature for 12 hours to ferment slightly.

Stir in vinegar and loosely screw on lid. Let chile mixture stand at room temperature for at least 1 day and up to 7 days. (Taste it daily; the longer it sits, the deeper the flavor becomes.)

Purée mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Place a fine-mesh sieve inside a funnel. Strain mixture through sieve into a clean glass bottle. (Hot sauce will become thinner and may separate after you strain it; shake vigorously before each use.)

Notes

1. Chiles
This is perhaps the most important part: What kind of chiles do you like? Buy a bunch and try them. Nibble the tip, see how powerful they are and where the spice hits you (the tip of your tongue? the back of your throat?), and what other flavors they have. Then, once you know what you like, use those chiles.

Of course, it gets more complicated than that. You can roast or smoke chiles to alter their flavors or soften thick skins, which is particularly good for green chiles, since they tend to turn brown after being puréed. Cooking chiles mellows their heat, too; conversely, leaving them raw and including the ribs and seeds (but not the tough, bitter stems) gives you the full brunt of their power.

2. Acid
An acid is going to help draw out flavor, preserve the ingredients, and turn it into something you could truly call a sauce. The standard is 5% white vinegar. If you’re not concerned with creating a shelf-stable product, there are tons of other vinegars out there to play with. (I’m a big fan of the sweetness that apple cider vinegar brings.) Beyond vinegars, there are also citrus juices to add – but you shouldn’t cook them. Either add them at the end to complement a vinegar or use them in a raw sauce.

3. Aromatics
For some, aromatics such as carrots, onions, garlic, and ginger may be optional, but they contribute that garden-fresh flavor they’re after. They also tend to require some cooking, both to bring out their sweetness and temper either their texture or their raw power.

Ingredients:

175 g light muscovado sugar
150 ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs, beaten
160 g (fine to medium) grated carrot
Grated zest of 1 large orange
100 g wholemeal self-raising flour
75 g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (freshly ground cinnamon is best)

For the Orange Glaze:

Juice of 1 large orange
2 tablespoons of caster sugar

For the Frosting:

200 g cream cheese (low fat is better)
Icing sugar to taste (I have left the quantity for you to decide, some like it sweet, some prefer, like me, not so sweet)

Directions:

Heat oven to 160 C (Fan).

Put sugar, oil and beaten eggs into a large bowl, and thoroughly combine with a spoon, beating lightly. Stir in carrots and orange zest.

Mix flours, bicarbonate of soda, and cinnamon together, then sift into bowl and lightly mix.

Pour mixture into prepared tin (18 cm square loose bottomed, greased and lined with baking parchment)

Bake for 45 mins, and a wooden skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tin, but remove before decorating.

Squeeze the juice of the orange into a pan (sieve to remove all that isn’t juice), and add sugar, and heat slowly until sugar has dissolved. As soon as cake is out of oven, brush the glaze all over the top of the cake and allow to soak in. Leave cake to cool completely, then remove from tin.

Mix together the cream cheese and icing sugar. Add more icing sugar if you prefer it sweeter.

Spread the frosting all over the top of the cake, and swirl it a knife.

Easy! Beef brisket roast, slathered in a mixture of BBQ sauce and soy sauce, wrapped in foil, and baked until falling apart tender. Simple and delicious.

3 to 4 lbs of a brisket cut of beef
3/4 cup barbeque sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup of water

Preheat oven to 300F/150C.

In a bowl, mix together the barbeque sauce, soy sauce, and water.

Place the brisket roast on a large piece of aluminum foil. Spread the BBQ sauce mixture generously over meat. Wrap the brisket in aluminum foil and place it in a roasting pan. Bake for 1 hour for every 1 pound of meat.

Remove from oven and let rest in the foil for 30 minutes before serving. The easiest way to serve the roast is to first cut it in half along the grain of the meat (poke the meat with the tip of a knife or tines of a fork to see which way the grain or lines of the muscles are going if you can’t see it from the surface). Then make 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thick cuts across the grain to serve. (Cutting the meat across the grain will make it much easier to eat, as the cuts break up the muscle tissue.)

8 5–6” English-style bone-in beef short ribs (about 3kg)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus 1 chile, for serving
4 sprigs oregano
4 wide strips orange zest, plus some thin strips for serving
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 limes, halved
1/2 cup fresh corianderleaves with tender stems

Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and chill, uncovered, at least 2 hours (ribs are even better if you can do this a day ahead).

Preheat oven to 160C. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium. Working in batches, cook short ribs until evenly browned, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a platter; pour off pan drippings between batches.

Wipe out any burned bits from pot, but leave the golden-brown pieces (doing this will keep the finished sauce from tasting bitter). Place onions, celery, carrots, tomato paste, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and red pepper flakes in pot; season with salt and pepper and stir to coat. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are softened, tomato paste is slightly darkened in color, and spices are fragrant, 10–12 minutes.

Add oregano, wide strips of orange zest, 1 cup orange juice, and 6 cups water to pot, scraping up any browned bits; season with salt and pepper. Add ribs with any juices accumulated on the platter, making sure they’re completely submerged. Cover pot and braise ribs in the oven until meat is tender and falling off the bone, 4–5 hours.

Carefully transfer ribs to a platter. Strain braising liquid into a large bowl, then return to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half (it will be thickened but still saucy). Return short ribs to pot and turn to coat.

To serve, drizzle short ribs with remaining 2 tablespoons orange juice and squeeze limes and crush remaining chile over. Top with coriander and thin strips of orange zest.