Chef J. Looney

Thanks to everyone that joined us, we had a great time of food, wine and fun! As promised here are the recipes from class:

Grilled steak fries

Ingredients
6 russett potatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350. coat each potato in a few drops of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and wrap firmly in aluminum foil. Bake potatoes for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and unwrap. While the potatoes are still hot, carefully cut them into wedges, drizzle with a bit more olive oil, and then place directly on grill over high heat. Cook until crispy and golden, about 5-10 more minutes, rotating as necessary. Serve immediately.

Roasted vegetable salad

Ingredients
6-8 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 large tomato, cut into thick slices
1 small  red onion, cut into 2-3 thick slices
1 tablespoon butter, softened
olive oil
salt
pepper

coat the corn and peppers with olive oil, and place directly on the grill over medium-high heat. Roast the peppers until blackened, then remove. Roast the corn until golden and slightly charred on all sides, rotating as necessary. Place the onion and tomato slices directly on the grill, cook just until they have deep grill marks, turning once to char both sides.

Cut the corn from the ear into a large bowl. Dice the peppers, discarding the seeds and stem. Dice the tomato and onion. Toss with the corn, adding a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, and the softened butter. Serve warm.

Salmon with garlic and lime butter sauce

Ingredients
4 salmon filets
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2-3 cloves garlic
1 stick butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle the filets with salt and pepper, and place skin-side down on a medium to hot grill. While the salmon is grilling, place garlic and lime juice into a blender. Blend on high, while slowly drizzling in the butter. Blend just until emulsified, add salt and pepper to taste.

Turn the salmon when cooked about 2/3 the way through. Once salmon flesh is firm but tender to the touch, remove from grill, top with sauce and serve immediately.

Grilled roasted chicken leg

Ingredients
4 chicken legs, bone in, skin on
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

preheat oven to 400. Mix all spices together, and sprinkle generously on both sides of chicken leg. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour. Place on grill over high heat, cooking 5 minutes each side. Remove from grill and place in an oven-safe pan. Place in the oven for another 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160. Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve.

Seared flat iron steaks

4 flat iron steaks
salt and pepper to taste

remove steaks from refrigerator 1 hour prior to cooking. Salt and pepper both sides of meat and leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Place steaks on grill over high heat, cooking 2-3 minutes each side, and turning once.

Remove the steaks from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes. Cut the steak into thin strips across the grain and serve immediately.
Grilled d’Anjou pear with bourbon whipped cream

Ingredients
2 d’Anjou pears (red or yellow) sliced in half lengthwise
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup bourbon
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt

Sprinkle pear halves with salt and lime juice, and set aside.

Place bourbon in a shallow pan over medium heat and reduce by 1/2. Remove from heat and let cool.

Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Do not over-whip! Gently fold in sugar and reduced bourbon.

Place pear halves, cut-side down, onto grill over high heat. Grill until well-caramelized, then turn over. grill skin side for 1-2 minutes and remove from heat. top with a generous portion of whipped cream and serve hot.

The Jamaican patty is an iconic street food that can be commonly found on the dinner table as well. They’re filled with chicken, beef, vegetables, lobster, seafood, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. The bright yellow color comes from the curry or turmeric used to season the dough, and when done correctly, the dough is light and flaky.

For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 dash salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup water

combine all dry ingredients. Incorporate the shortening until the mixture has the consistency and appearance of soft bread crumbs. Add the water slowly and mix thoroughly. Let the dough rest while you prepare the filling.

Beef filling:
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400. Add the butter or oil to a pan over medium-high heat. add the onion, and cook until translucent. Add the beef and spices, and cook until completely browned. Add the stock and breadcrumbs, and continue to cook over medium heat until all liquid is absorbed. Add the egg, and stir just until incorporated. Remove from heat.

To assemble:
Roll out the dough into 6″ circles roughly 1/8″ thick. Place filling in center of disc, wet the edges of the circle with water, then fold over and seal with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 min, or until golden brown.

Irish stew is a wonderful and delicious thing. In fact, if you can make a decent Irish stew, you can make pretty much any stew, as the concepts are fairly universal – sear and brown the protein, add the liquid, finish with the vegetables, etc. and let it all simmer for awhile.

The recipe below is for the most authentic (and certainly very basic) Irish stew.  Feel free to add different vegetables, herbs, seasonings, etc. Me? I’d add a pint of Guinness and some thyme. Make it your own, or enjoy it as the simple palate-pleasing creation that it is.

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb mutton or lamb cutlets (bone removed) cut into 2″ chunks
2lb potatoes, peeled and cut into large dice
1 cup leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, roughly chopped
3 cups dark beef stock
Salt and Pepper

Method
In a large (6-8 qt) sauce pan heat half oil to almost smoking. Add the lamb pieces and brown all over. Add the stock, and simmer over medium low for 1-1½ hours.  Add the potatoes, leeks and carrots, and simmer for another hour, stirring occasionally. Check from time to time to make sure the stock isn’t reducing too much, if it is add a little hot water. The meat and vegetables should always be covered by liquid.  Season with salt and pepper.

So Ethiopia, like Morroco, is pretty much a cross-roads of the world-wide spice trade, and has been for centuries. Consequently, they use a TON of different spices to flavor their dishes. Doro Wot is no exception. In fact, it’s really not much more than onions, chicken and spices served atop the traditional Ethiopian flat bread, injera, which is just as simple – teff flour and water, fermented for a day or so and pan grilled. Oh, and just a note, Ethiopians like their food spicy. I don’t mean spicy, as in, it has a lot of different spices (although it does). No, I mean SPICY, as in, it packs a whole lot of heat.

Doro Wot

Ingredients
5-8 pounds of chicken drumsticks and thighs skinned and cleaned
8 large onions fine chopped
2 tablepsoons of olive oil
5 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons fine minced ginger
1/2 cup of Ethiopian Berbere (recipe follows)
1/4 cup of Paprika
2 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoon Wot Kimem (recipe follows)
2 teaspoon salt
1-3 cup of water

Berbere
2 teaspoons ground cumin
¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
½ teaspoon ground coriander
8 -10 small dried red chilies
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1?8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1?8 teaspoon ground cloves

Wot Kimem
3 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tbsp ground cardamom

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for an hour or so, stirring frequently and adding liquid as necessary until onions are caramelized and brown. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the chicken, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for another hour or so, or until chicken is very tender. Serve without utensils on injera (recipe below).

Injera

1 cup Teff Flour
1 cup All-Purpose flour
3 cups water

Mix all ingredients well, cover with a damp towel and let stand at room temperature overnight or up to three days, until surface begins to foam and bubble.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 cup of the batter, which should resemble a very thin pancake batter. Cook until bubbles form and the top is dry. Do not flip, injera is cooked on only one side. Serve with doro wot.

Just about every culture on earth (and dating back to our earliest ancestors) have some sort of flatbread in their cuisine. Indian naan bread has got to be one of my favorites. Here’s a recipe for the bread, which is pretty simple, really. Once you’ve got the bread down, you can add all sorts of tasty stuff to make it your own.

Naan bread

Ingredients:
2 cups of AP flour
1 packet (.25 oz) active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 500° with a pizza stone inside. Let the oven stand at 500° for at least 30 minutes to give the stone a chance to heat through.

Melt the butter over low heat and set aside.

Mix the sugar, water and yeast in a small bowl that has been warmed. The goal is to keep the liquid at around 100°, as this is the point at which the yeast will begin to feed on the sugar. Let sit for 15 minutes, or until the surface starts to get frothy. mix remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the remaining wet ingredients to the yeast mixture and stir until completely incorporated. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, and knead until it becomes a soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6-8 equal portions. Roll each portion on a floured surface until roughly 8″ in diameter. Switch the oven to broil, and add the naan, one or two pieces at a time, to the baking stone. Let bake for 2-3 minutes, or until golden on top. Let the oven stand for a few minutes between batches to allow the stone to heat back up.

Brush with melted butter, and serve hot or cold.

Peshwari Naan filling

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pistachios, shelled
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt

Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until it becomes a pulp. After rolling out the naan bread, spread a thin layer of the pulp on half of the circle, leaving about 1/2″ around the edge. Wet the edge with a bit of cold water, fold the nann in half, and seal the edges by pressing lightly. Gently roll the naan a bit more until it’s about 14″ thick. Bake as instructed above.