Spicy Thai Filet Mignon Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing

Now that I am focusing on where my meat comes from, I have the pleasure of really great building blocks for meals.  Grass-fed beef is good. In the past, when I've been lucky enough to have a special piece of meat, I've done as little to it as possible to highlight and honor the amazing natural flavor.

With that philosophy, however, I start to miss out on all of the other flavors that have been used for centuries to make some of my favorite meat dishes.For this meal, I abandoned all reverence and marinated a beautiful piece of grass-fed filet mignon in lime juice, soy sauce and chili paste. Rather than mask the flavor, this marinade elevated the whole meal and made the experience better.

The main use for this meat was in a salad, a bit of a twist on a Thai beef salad with great mixed greens and tomatoes from Vermont and basil and chili peppers from our own garden. The meat also made delicious sandwiches over the rest of the week. This recipe will definitely go into the rotation as both a show-stopper on its own and a good staple for lunches.

Now that I am focusing on where my meat comes from, I have the pleasure of really great building blocks for meals.  Grass-fed beef is good. In the past, when I've been lucky enough to have a special piece of meat, I've done as little to it as possible to highlight and honor the amazing natural flavor.
With that philosophy, however, I start to miss out on all of the other flavors that have been used for centuries to make some of my favorite meat dishes.For this meal, I abandoned all reverence and marinated a beautiful piece of grass-fed filet mignon in lime juice, soy sauce and chili paste. Rather than mask the flavor, this marinade elevated the whole meal and made the experience better.

The main use for this meat was in a salad, a bit of a twist on a Thai beef salad with great mixed greens and tomatoes from Vermont and basil and chili peppers from our own garden. The meat also made delicious sandwiches over the rest of the week. This recipe will definitely go into the rotation as both a show-stopper on its own and a good staple for lunches.

Spicy Thai Filet Mignon Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing (adapted from Bobby Flay)

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chili paste with garlic (I used sambal olek)
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 2 (12-ounce) filet mignons, sliced thinly
• Freshly ground pepper

Ingredients for Salad

• 1 head Bibb lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
• 3 cups mizuna leaves, torn into bite-size pieces
• 1/4 cup chiffonade Thai basil or regular basil, optional
• 1/2 English cucumber, halved and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 2 carrots, julienned
• 5 radishes, thinly sliced
• 8 each yellow and red cherry tomatoes, halved
• Salt and ground black pepper

Ingredients for Dressing

• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon finely diced shallot
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Whisk soy sauce, lime juice, chile paste, and peanut oil together in a small dish. Add the steaks, turn to coat, cover, and marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. 
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Saute meat until desired temperature (about 3-5 minutes for medium rare). Remove from heat and let rest. 
3. Whisk ingredients from lime juice to salt & pepper together in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Let sit 10 minutes before using.
4. While steak is resting, combine all salad ingredients(lettuce through salt and pepper) in a large bowl. Toss with half of the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a platter, top with the steak, and drizzle the remaining dressing over the top.

Late Summer BLT Salad

No, I didn't miss the freezing wind and rain outside.  But in my radio silence, I hopped up to Vermont this weekend and came back laden with heirloom tomatoes fresh from the garden, mass quantities of mixed greens and great sourdough and whole wheat rolls from Amy's Bakery in Brattleboro.  

 In my travels through online recipes and cooking magazines galore, I know I have come across more than one BLT Salad or BLT Panzanella.  I had to actually stop collecting them after awhile because the variations are few and the storage space is scarce.  Still, when I wanted to find one of these recipes, I couldn't quite find the ones I was looking for.  

I took a page from Alton Brown's book, but, as usual, did it my way. I don't subscribe to the "only one way" theory of cooking, so I usually avoid Mr. Brown on principle.  His croutons, however, swayed me to at least start with him.  He dries bread overnight and tosses them in bacon drippings.  What's wrong with that? Well, time, of course.  I wanted bacon posthaste. 

To speed up the crouton process, I cubed my fresh rolls and toasted them lightly (about medium on my toaster oven setting) to simulate day-old bread.  A crime for such lovely rolls? Maybe, but also great croutons come at a great price.  

And I have to give to my buddy Alton, the rest of the recipe pretty much made it through unscathed.  Starting with garden fresh tomatoes and greens and throwing in organic sunday bacon means that very little variation is needed.  

Late Summer BLT Salad (adapted from Alton Brown)

• 2 cups cubed bread (whole wheat, sourdough or a mix would be great)
• 6 slices uncured organic bacon, crumbled, drippings reserved
• 2 large heirloom tomatoes (try to mix your colors for maximum eye appeal)
• 4 cups organic mixed greens
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• two handfuls roughly chopped garden herbs, basil and mint

1. Place bread in toaster and toast lightly on medium until dry.
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon until crispy.  Reserve 1-2 tablespoons drippings. 
3. Chop tomatoes and set aside. 
4. When drippings are ready, toss bread in warm drippings until lightly coated (a little goes a long way and of course, is way better for you). 
5. Mix together last four ingredients.  
6. In a bowl, combine greens, tomatoes, bacon and croutons.  Drizzle with herb dressing.  Enjoy!

Changing Seasons: Rainbow Chard and Bacon Risotto

There is a chill in the air as we move towards autumn.  Even though I will quickly remind you that summer is not yet over, I will also admit that the time is coming for cooler weather foods.  I'm still getting plenty of greens at the farmers' market and they lend themselves nicely to in-between weather comfort dishes.  

I also, as you may have noticed, have been spending some time hanging around the Amish farm stand at our greenmarket.  There are plenty of local dairy options at the bigger farmers' markets in the city (and of course Ronnybrook is readily available from Fresh Direct or Brooklyn Fare or any number of other conscientious markets), but, of course, my approach is that the local-est is best and I'm happy to support a community who brings us single ingredient items.  You want butter? It's made with cream.  Period.  Yum.  

Over time, we've expanded our take from the Amish stand to include eggs, a variety of cheeses and now, bacon.  And really, isn't that all we need in life? I recently bought a pound of sliced bacon and began dreaming up ways change our world.  Mix in those late summer greens and I had a plan.  My first adventure with this bacon was to make my collard greens, which, in retrospect, was a very good plan.  

By making something I could make in my sleep, I became quickly familiar with how the Amish bacon was different from others that I've used before.  Amish bacon (at least from this particular stand) was subtler, less salty and almost lighter, if bacon can be such a thing.  For collard greens, it was almost too subtle.  And so, rainbow chard and bacon risotto was born.  

To bring out the bacon's strengths, I crisped the bacon and rendered the fat in the pot I'd use for the rice.  Then, I cooked garlic and onions in the bacon fat and added the arborio rice to get it saturated in the bacon fat and other flavors.  The bacon was still subtle, but it was able to come through in a creamy, simple rice dish.  The rainbow chard added earthiness which complemented the bacon without overwhelming it.  Finally, against my husband's protests, I used a simple red wine to bring it all home.  

Now that I've learned about my product, I'm looking forward to new ways to make it work for us.  And, when I need that stronger bacon-y element, there's always Niman Ranch. 

Rainbow Chard and Bacon Risotto

• 5 cups organic chicken broth
• 4 slices bacon (nice and streaky, local if you can find it), cut into about 1 inch pieces 
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice (LINK)
• 4 cups rainbow chard, trimmed and chopped (about 1 bunch)
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• freshly grated Pecorino Romano

1. Heat chicken broth in a pot over medium heat.  Lower if it starts to boil. 
2. In a separate pot, cook bacon pieces until fat is rendered and bacon reaches desired crispness.  (I like it nice and crispy to add texture later.)
3. Add onions and garlic to bacon fat and cook until translucent. Add rice and chard.  Cook about 3 minutes until rice is well coated and greens have wilted. 
4. Add wine to rice mixture, stirring constantly, and cook until dry. Add broth in 1/2 cup intervals, cooking until dry. 
5. Mix in grated cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add bacon and give it one last stir to combine.  Enjoy! 

Summer Weeknight Supper: Zucchini, Tomato and Ricotta Tart

Friends, Labor Day may have come and gone, but summer is still around for a couple more weeks! If that whole solstice thing doesn't convince you, there's always the continued presence of summer squash and fat red tomatoes in the farmers' market. Faced with an overflow of both and a shortage of time, I decided to throw these two together into a quick and easy tart that is suitable for brunch, lunch or a quick weeknight dinner. 

There are a number of zucchini tarts out there, not to mention tomato ones, but I found a limited number of recipes that combined them and none that wowed me.  I started with a smitten kitchen recipe, as I often do, and let creativity (and laziness) lead me from there. I'll have to admit that the main thing I did was include tomatoes in an otherwise perfect recipe, but I also took a shortcut and used pie crust.  On some other night I will whip up homemade dough and make the rustic galette as Deb describes. 

 I also changed this up a bit from my usual ricotta routine. When there is ricotta to be eaten, I almost always hit up my old favorite, the Valley Shepherd Creamery.  This time, I was planning to cook before I could get to the Valley Shepherd stand.  I took a leap and tried the Amish ricotta cheese available at a grocery and specialty foods store near my office.  There's no messing around with this ricotta.  It's not the part skim that you're used to.  It was rich and creamy and really made the tart.  If you have it in a store near you, I recommend giving it a try. I used more than the original recipe called for because, well, I'm an addict.  

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta

On a cool rainy morning, it is hard to believe it is summer.  I'm sure many of you out there are grumbling and a bit blue, but, aside from the fact that I generally love cool rainy mornings most of all, I'm particularly satisfied because I'm stuck at home for a little while and I don't feel like I'm missing out on quite so much outdoor fun when it's gloomy. 

The other upside is that I have a chance to explore some summer comfort food.  Even on cool days like this, summer comfort food can't be too heavy or thick.  I crave warmth and a smooth texture, but still some lightness.  What could satisfy that call better than polenta? 

I used to buy the pre-prepared tube of polenta from Trader Joe's to keep on hand for these sorts of meals.  After buying a box of polenta, I realized how silly I was.  The biggest pain is that you have to keep stirring the polenta to discourage clumps, but otherwise there is no finesse and hardly any time involved in making a nice base for all manner of soothing meals. 

For this one, I took advantage of the beautiful rainbow swiss chard that we picked up from Phillips Farms at the farmers' market and turned to my friend Mark Bittman for inspiration.  I'd like to say that I tinkered and played with his recipe and improved on his perfection.  It's generally not possible since Bittman has a nice healthy simple (Minimalist, if you will) approach and his recipes generally do not go wrong.  I did use anchovy paste instead of anchovy fillets, cranberries instead of raisins and the polenta was all me.  His recipe was also for greens generally and I, of course, used the chard.  

I was drawn to this recipe because of the anchovies.  As gross as I always believed them to be, I can no longer deny that they are good for you.  Even my husband asked me to somehow slip more of them into our food after reading Real Food by Nina Planck (I haven't even read it yet and I'm eternally grateful for its effect on my household).  I use the anchovy paste to sneak some into pasta dishes and have come to like it.  This recipe was my attempt to go more full throttle into the world of anchovies.  Expect more to come.  

The most exciting addition was 1/2 of a Hot Portugal chili pepper straight from our garden.  I only used half because I had never worked with a Hot Portugal before, but they are on the light side, so I would use at least a whole one in the future.  If you don't have fresh chilis on hand, you can substitute about 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes or as much or as little as you prefer. 

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta (adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks Dinner)

• At least 2 servings prepared polenta (find your favorite slow version, it's worth it)
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp anchovy paste or up to 8 anchovy fillets to taste (or more if you're really a fan)
• 1/2 fresh small red chili pepper, sliced (optional)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 4 cups trimmed rainbow swiss chard or other greens, washed, dried and chopped
• sea salt
• freshly cracked black pepper

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, chili slices and anchovies.  When garlic is pungent and anchovies dissolve into oil, turn heat to low. 
2. Stir in cranberries and pine nuts.  Cook for one minute. 
3. Add greens and 1/2 cup water.  Cover and cook until chard is tender (about 10-12 minutes). 
4. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. 
5. Serve greens over polenta in a bowl with greater proportion of greens than in the picture above.  Pour broth generously over each bowl. Enjoy!