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Homemade Egg McMuffin
Grilled Beef Flank Steak “Pastrami” – Backyard Deli
You can’t get the texture and color of a real “pastrami” without the curing step, where the meat is soaked in a brine, before being spiced/smoked, but you can get pretty close to the flavor, using the spice rub seen herein.
I’ve backed down the black pepper and mustard, but as with all spice amounts, that’s really up to you. If you simply put salt and pepper on a flank steak, and grill it properly, you’ll have something delicious to eat, so keep that in mind as you rub your meat.
I ate mine fresh, but if you let it cool, slice it thin, and warm it up in a pan with a little splash of water, and a tiny pinch of sugar, you’ll have something even more pastrami-like. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
SPECIAL NOTE: I let my meat warm to room temp before grilling, so the inside reaches my desired temp a little quicker, and before the outside spice rub gets too black. Conversely, when grilling a steak, and there's nothing to burn on the surface, I generally like the meat cold, so the outside has plenty of time to sear, before the meat inside is done.
SPECIAL NOTE: I let my meat warm to room temp before grilling, so the inside reaches my desired temp a little quicker, and before the outside spice rub gets too black. Conversely, when grilling a steak, and there's nothing to burn on the surface, I generally like the meat cold, so the outside has plenty of time to sear, before the meat inside is done.
Ingredients for 4 large portions:
1 trimmed beef flank steak (usually 1.5 to 1.75 pounds)
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dry mustard
- For best results, cook to a medium. I pulled at about 135 F. internal temp, which will rise to about 140 F. as it rests.
- For best results, cook to a medium. I pulled at about 135 F. internal temp, which will rise to about 140 F. as it rests.
-Serve with slightly sweetened mustard and rye bread
Baby Brezza: Tropical Smoothie
You know those "first kid, second kid" commercials? I think that perhaps I write them in my sleep and submit them to the diaper companies. There is nothing more true than how much your parenting mentality changes from one kid to the next. Our first kid had only age appropriate toys that I sterilized once every few weeks in a bucket of soapy water. Our third kid plays with (and sucks on) my car keys. It's just the way it goes! Similarly, I made ALL of Jack's baby food. All of it. Down to pureed ground lamb, turkey and chicken that I called "meat paste" - oh man, did it look revolting. Second and third baby? Well, I definitely made a few things... but those baby food pouches are just SO convenient (enter major mom guilt!).
However, I always say to new moms: it is SO simple to make homemade baby food. Chop, steam, blend... it's truly that easy. You can even make large batches of food at once and freeze individual portions. Products like the Baby Brezza make the process foolproof. At the touch of a button, you can steam and blend your food at desired intervals, or you can steam only, blend only, etc. The other day, I made a smoothie for London with strawberries, mango, banana and yogurt, and with the leftovers I made frozen push-pops for the big kids. 6 thumbs up from them! I do math!
Tropical Baby Food Smoothie
(Makes 4 small glasses, or 4 frozen push-pops)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen strawberries, roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh or frozen mango, roughly chopped
1/2 banana, sliced
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
Place first 3 ingredients into the Baby Brezza. Choose the 'Steam and Blend Only' feature for 15 minutes. Once the fruit has been blended, add the yogurt, and choose the 'Blend Only' feature until your desired consistency is reached. Pour into glasses and place in fridge to cool. I poured some into push-pop molds and froze for the big kids.
Found my "Cool Cones" at Michael's, but can also be purchased here.
Fresh Fig and Goat Cheese…Tart?
I wanted to make some sort of crostata, or galette-type, free-form tart, which I’ve done successfully in the past (and have the video to prove it), but instead of using standard pie crust dough, I decided to try something a little more rustic, and savory, using spelt flour and olive oil.
I knew this would pair beautifully with the sweet fruit, and tangy cheese, but what I didn’t know, was that it would end up being way too crumbly, and pretty much useless as a tart crust. So, I crumbled it into the bottom of a shallow ramekin, and the rest is history.
As predicted, the combination of flavors really worked extraordinarily well, and the somewhat gritty texture of the “crust,” added to the interest. But, what the heck is this? I don’t think it’s a tart. An upside-down crumble? Sandy tart? I give up, but if you have some time to kill, I’d love to know what you would call this delicious accident. Semantics aside, I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
For the crust (makes enough for about 4 small tarts):
1 cup sprouted spelt flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 or 4 tbsp water, or enough to form a crumbly dough
For one “tart:”
about 1/3 cup “crust” mixture
2 ounces creamy fresh goat cheese
1 black mission fig, sliced
tiny pinch of salt
very tiny pinch of cayenne
1 tbsp white sugar
spring of fresh lemon thyme
Healthy Burger Toppings
We eat a lot of burgers in our house, especially in the summer. Turkey burgers (here & here), chicken burgers (here & here & here), veggie burgers (here & here), fish burgers (here) or your classic and DELICIOUS beef burger. And while I see nothing wrong with topping these burgers with cheese, bacon or onions and mushrooms (sautéed in butter, obviously), I thought I'd change it up a bit and search for healthier and more unique alternatives.
Instead of lettuce, try chopped bok choy sautéed in garlic. Instead of pickles, try lightly sautéed yellow squash or zucchini. It's almost impossible for me to eat a burger without tomatoes and avocado, so I had to include those. But other ideas: roasted red peppers, pickled carrots or crispy kale. And instead of basic ketchup and mustard, I tried out two different greek yogurt toppings: one with a dash of sriracha and the other with lime juice and lime zest. Also, the vessel? One half of a toasted English muffin instead of a bun. Not exactly easy to eat, but delicious nonetheless.
Doesn't that look pretty? All assembled and ready to eat, yes?! Well SECONDS after this photo was shot, this happened...
The glamorous life of a food blogger... always in a rush to photograph your food and then EAT it. Oh, and don't worry, I put it all back on my plate and did just that. Judge away!
Peach Barbecue Sauce Recipe
As a Canbassador, I receive a couple shipments of fresh stone fruit from Washington State to preserve. Over the past few years I have made a lot of things with peaches including Peach Ketchup and Ginger Peach Preserves. While there are some good ideas on the SweetPreservation website, in the comments section of my Can-It-Forward giveaway post I received even more fantastic suggestions for canning peaches including peach preserves, peach butter, peach salsa, peach mostarda, brandied peaches, peach pie filling, and a jam from Piemonte with peaches, amaretti and cocoa powder. That should keep me inspired for years to come!
This year I ended up canning some peaches in a light syrup, and I also made Peach Barbecue Sauce. My recipe was inspired by one I found online, Zesty Peach Barbecue Sauce, but I made some changes and am pleased with the results. Barbecue sauce is a very easy thing to make and easy to can. You can and should taste it before you can it and adjust the seasonings as you see fit. You can make it spicy, smoky, boozy--you are only limited by your own imagination. The color may throw you off, but try a taste with your eyes closed, it definitely has the tang of barbecue sauce. I'd recommend using it on pork, chicken or even ribs.I am a big fan of small batch canning and this recipe made just a little bit over four half pint jars. That's enough for me and enough for me to share. The ability to share something you made from scratch is one of the best things about canning and preserving.
Peach Barbecue Sauce
Make 4 half pint jars (8 ounces)
Ingredients
4 cups finely chopped pitted peeled peaches
1/4 cup finely chopped seeded red bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 pressed or finely chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup honey
6 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1-2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger, start with one teaspoon and add more after tasting
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons gojuchang or other thick chile sauce (not Tabasco)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Heat jars in simmering water in a hot water bath canner or large pot. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens about 20 minutes. Puree using a hand blender or in a blender. Taste for seasonings and add more ginger or other seasonings as you like, and continue cooking until the sauce is the desired consistency.
Dip lids and bands in the water briefly. Carefully ladle the hot sauce into the prepared hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims and center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight. Place the jars back in the boiling water making sure the water covers the jars by an inch and process for 15 minutes (adjust for altitude if necessary). Remove jars and let cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
And ANOTHER Chocolate Chip Cookie
BREAKING NEWS!!!
I baked another chocolate chip cookie.
You've heard me go on and on about chocolate chip cookies on this blog... about how many recipes I've tried and will continue to try if the slightest variation in technique or ingredients exist. You could be like, O-M-G Siri, you've got to try this new cookie... the secret is after you cream the butter and sugar together you take off your clothes and dance naked around your kitchen... no for real, it makes the cookies SO MUCH BETTER. And I would test that out, oh yes, I would.
So when I came across this recipe which has one very small and unusual step, I decided to experiment. What is that step? Browning butter - which I've done plenty of times, not unusual - and whisking in an ice cube at the very end. Wha?!? An ice cube?? Had to try it!! You also add the brown sugar at a separate time than the granulated sugar... HOW DIFFERENT! Do you see why I had to bake a batch? The results were delicious. I don't know if the ice cube did anything other than immediately cool down the butter, but the nutty, toffy-like flavor that browning butter offers was very strong. They also tasted less sugary than a lot of cookies I've tried, which I kind of enjoyed.
Ok, off to dance naked around my kitchen.
Cherry Vanilla Balsamic Shrub Recipe
I’m afraid I didn’t pay as much attention to the recipe for Bourbon Cherries as I should have, and they will need four weeks to “settle" so I will not be trying them for bit longer. I also froze some cherries, which is very easy to do. I just washed and pitted them and put them in the zip top bag, and froze it as flat as I could. The cherries don’t seem to have stuck to together. And I dried a small batch of cherries in my toaster oven, but it took a very long time and I’m not sure I’d do it again.
By the way, if you have a large amount of cherries to pit, I highly recommend this pitter that cleanly and easily pits 6 cherries at a time! It's a bit pricey, but definitely worth it to avoid the mess and hassle when you have lots of cherries to pit.
The other recipe I made was a shrub. As you may recall, shrubs are vinegar based drinks, often made with fruit. Making shrubs is a great way to use fruit that’s not perfect. The riper the fruit the better. Basically you combine fruit with sugar and water, then let it sit for a while then add vinegar. You can also add aromatics. This was my first experiment and it turned out rather well. Once you make a shrub the easiest way to serve it is with bubbly water, but it’s good in cocktails and to flavor hard sparkling cider.
The cherries leftover from making the shrub have a kind of pickled flavor since they were sitting in a vinegar solution for a full week. They are great as an accompaniment to cheese or in green salads. I recently made a salad with hot smoked salmon, red onions and avocado and the shrub cherries added just the right tangy note.
The Sweet Preservation website has some preservation basics as well as recipes for canning stone fruit, if you're looking for more ideas. Also check out the community site, Punk Domestics.
Cherry Vanilla Balsamic Shrub
Ingredients
Ingredients
About 4 cups washed and pitted cherries
2 cups sugar1 cup water
2 cups vinegar--I used a pleasing combination of balsamic and Champagne vinegar
1-2 vanilla beans, sliced open, end to end
Instructions
Place the fruit and sugar in a large wide mouthed glass jar and smash it with a muddler or a wooden spoon. Add the water, stir until the sugar begins to dissolve, then cover and let sit for 24 hours. Add the vinegar and vanilla beans and stir again until the sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for a week. Strain the cherries out of the liquid and filter through a fine mesh strainer. Store in the refrigerator and mix with bubbly water, sparkling cider or use in cocktails.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I received stone fruit as part of my Canbassador role, I was not monetarily compensated for this or any other post on Cooking with Amy. This post includes an affiliate link.
Summer Vegetable Cavatelli with Fresh Corn “Cream” – Corn Not Cows!
I was going to use reduced cream, with fresh, pureed corn stirred in at the end, but then I had a thought. What if skipped the dairy altogether, and made the sauce 100% cob-based? I was also out of cream.
So, I blended the fresh corn with some chicken broth, and ended up with what looked like corn milk. At first, I thought I’d made it too thin, but after a few tests reducing some in a pan, I realized it was thickening up beautifully.
While I was very happy with this, in hindsight, I’d do a few things differently next time. I went with pancetta, but I think the smokiness of bacon would have made this even more delicious. I also think you should probably add the corn cream to the vegetables, and bring it to a simmer before the pasta is added.
Of course, this recipe will work with whatever fresh seasonal vegetables you happen to find at the market, as long as its something that tastes good with sweet corn. In related news, everything tastes good with sweet corn. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 portions:
For the corn “cream” (will make more than needed for the recipe)
2 ears fresh white corn, or other sweet corn
2 cups chicken broth or water
For the pasta:
2 cups cavatelli
1 tbsp olive oil
4 ounces diced bacon or pancetta (sausage would also work nicely)
1/2 cup diced sweet red pepper
1 1/2 cup diced zucchini
pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 2 cups corn “cream,” or as needed
1 cup halved sweet cheery tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
1 tbsp finely sliced basil leaves
grated Parmigiano Reggiano
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