David Chang is an incredibly innovative chef and his line of Momo Fuku restaurants are not to be missed.  

Recently Shells found that Chang had started to bottle and sell his Ssam Sauce online.  Ssam sauce, at its core, is a mix of fermented bean paste and spicy chile paste.  For this dinner I found a nice meaty rack of ribs at Whole Foods and had them cut longwise into three strips.  I slow roasted the ribs at 325F for 3 hours covered and then added sauce and cooked them, uncovered for another hour.

I served the ribs with roasted wedges and salad.  The savory and spicy Korean flavor of the sauce adding a unique spice (no pun intended) to an otherwise very American dinner.  I highly recommend either making your own (recipe here) or buying some (much easier option) and trying this out.  Give it a try and enjoy!

Steamed clams and brown butter ... yup!

Having some fun out on the patio during the weekend is one of our favorite pastimes, and for those that haven't figured it out yet ... having fun = food.

For this snack I steamed up a batch of clams, but it was the accompaniment I served them with that stole the show.  Browned butter is a great flavor enhancer, and perfect for serving with steamed shellfish (or for basting a steak).

Browned butter is incredibly simple to make, and leaves a world of opportunities in terms of flavor you can add to it.  For this dish I pulled some fresh sage from the garden, but really any fresh herb will do.

Sage Browned Butter w/ Clams

12 Little neck clams

3 tbsp butter (I prefer a nice European butter like Plugra, but any butter will do)

1 large fresh sage leaf

Use an in pot steamer to steam the clams until they all open ... a larger pot ensure the clams have space to open.  If you use a smaller pot you may need to adjust the clams once some open to ensure the others aren't prevented from doing so.  

Melt the butter in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat.  While the butter is melting, cut the sage into strips.  Once the butter begins to foam, stir often with a whisk until the foam dissipates.  Add the sage and continue to cook for another couple of minutes (actual time will depend on the size of the sauce pan and how much of the butter is in contact with the bottom of the pan).  Once the butter has turned a nice caramel color, remove from heat and strain (this will remove the pieces of sage, not a required step) into a small ramekin to serve.  Enjoy!

Harissa and Coffee ... on a steak? Why not?

For this dinner I decided to have some fun and do a coffee crusted steak topped with a Harissa butter sauce.  For those who aren't familiar with it, Harissa is a spice mix that is a staple of Tunisian cuisine.  The spice combines (mainly) sweet and spicy peppers along with onion, garlic, coriander, caraway and cumin.

For this dinner I started with a blended corse ground coffee beans with salt and garlic pepper and then coated both sides of the steak with it.

To make the Harissa sauce, I first browned about 2 tbsp of butter.  To brown butter you cook it over medium-high heat until it foams (about 5 minutes) and then cook another two to three minutes, stirring frequently until it browns.  Remove from heat and then stir in 1 spoonful of dried Harissa powder (I used the Whole Foods version for this meal).

I grilled the steak, and finished it with my SearzAll (of course), topping it with Harissa butter and then served it over mashed sweet potatoes with sautéed squash.

Super Easy Tzatziki!

I was really stumped on something fun and different to do with pork chops this past week so I looked for inspiration outside of my comfort zone.  I randomly was driving by a greek place and thought, "yeah, that sounds good!"

I used a Greek seasoning blend with some olive oil as a "marinade" for the chops and then tossed them onto the grill.  While they were grilling, I mixed up a batch of tzatziki sauce and wrapped two lightly oiled pitas in foil and set them off to the side of the grill that didn't have direct heat.

I plated with the pita first, followed by tzatziki and then topped with the grilled pork chop.

Super Easy Tzatziki
1 14.5oz plain Greek yoghurt
1/2 peeled cucumber, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
1 Tbsp freshly chopped dill
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, enjoy!

Mexican(ish) steak night

I wasn't really sure what to make for dinner one night two weeks ago but I had a batch of "taco shop guac" in the fridge so I figured I would work from that.  To go with the guac, I grabbed some rice, beans, avocado and a piece of skirt steak.  I don't know why, but I was really craving an egg too so I grabbed two of those and set up a poaching pan as well.

As you can see from the picture, this dinner was nothing too fancy ... just some grilled steak topped with a poached egg and guac, served with fresh avocado and rice & beans.  It's the guac that made this dish what it is though.

Taco Shop Guac
~10 medium tomatillos
2 small/medium avocados
4 cloves of garlic (or 6 if you like garlic as much as we do)
1 jalapeno pepper (seeded or not based on your heat preference)
Juice of 1/2 lime
cilantro (to taste, if you like it)
salt & pepper (to taste)

Husk and wash the tomatillos and also wash the pepper and cilantro (if you're using it).  Peel the garlic and avocados.  Cut the tomatillos into quarters and roughly chop up the jalapeno.

I use my vitamix for this next part, but any blender/food processor will likely work.  First in are the tomatillos, followed by the peppers, garlic, avocado (if you're using cilantro add that here as well) & lime juice.  Start on a low setting and use your built in muddler to begin mixing all of the ingredients.  As the tomatillos liquify, add the salt & pepper and gradually turn up the speed until the liquid is completely smooth.  *If you don't have a built in muddler, stop the blades every so often and use a spoon to push the solid pieces downwards. **If you don't have a Vitamix then the mixture may never be perfectly smooth.

This will keep in the fridge for about 5 days, but if you're like me ... you'll never have a container last that long.  Try and enjoy!

Veal ... the other, other white meat!

I know that veal can be a divisive food, but it is so TASTY that I just don't care.  I went to Whole Foods with my heart set on a steak, but when I saw these beautiful veal rib chops I just had to get them instead.  Veal in hand I went back and grabbed some asparagus and figured I would serve it with some polenta, but it just felt like maybe I needed something more!

Mushroom sauce, that's what I was going to need!  Back to the veggie aisle I went and grabbed a large handful of Shiitake mushrooms and a box of Kitchen Basics veal stock (you know, because why not?).

Mushroom Veal Sauce

1 container Kitchen Basics veal stock

1/2 lb Shiitake mushrooms

Salt & Pepper to taste (you don't need much salt as the stock has a good bit in it)

For this sauce I put about 2 cups of stock into a saute pan and then tossed in all but 1 large mushroom (washed and stems removed of course).  I put the pan on low heat and went to watch TV for about an hour.  Ok, I did check the pan occasionally to ensure the liquid wasn't boiling off.  After the hour was up I transferred the contents to the Vitamix, added the salt and pepper, and blended until smooth.  Back to the pan the sauce went and I returned it to a burner with a "warm" setting to keep it warm while everything else finished cooking.  Take the reserve mushroom and slice thinly, and using either a saute pan or a broiler cook until lightly crispy and then serve on top of the veal to accompany the sauce, eat and enjoy!

More Morel Mushrooms Makes My Meal Magnificent!

Yes, I apologize for the alliteration but once I had written "more morel mushrooms" I just had to see if I could complete the entire title using only words starting with M!

I did one of our old favorites for this dinner: broiled dry-aged NY Strip steak, rice and sauteed greens and so in an attempt to jazz it up, I decided to do a Morel mushroom au jus to top it off.  Morel mushrooms are a great, flavorful, mushroom that has a fun shape for stuffing (as I have posted about before) as well as a great texture.  Beware though of two things (which do kinda off-set each other): Morel mushrooms are almost always sold dry, and are quite pricey (although you will be surprised how much you get for a little money) and they can give you a bit of a tummy ache if you eat too many.  I buy them at the bulk section at Whole Foods and can usually get 10 - 12 of them for about 5 bucks.

Morel Au-jus
6-8 large dried Morel mushrooms
1 cup beef stock (Veggie stock can be used here too!)
Little bit of butter

Put the mushrooms and stock in a 2 cup measuring cup and then weight them down with something like a smaller measuring cup or bowl so that the mushrooms are as submerged as possible in the stock.  Allow the mushrooms to re-constitute in the stock for about an hour.

Once the mushrooms have softened, remove them from the stock being careful to allow excess liquid to drain back into the measuring cup.  Begin heating a small saute, or sauce, pan over medium high heat. Put the mushrooms on a cutting board and chop them shortways, so that they make rings.

Put the butter in the pan and allow it to melt around the pan (you should use just enough butter that spreads around the base of the pan). Put the mushroom rings into the pan and saute for about 2 minutes, using a wooden spoon to keep moving them and making sure they don't stick.

Add the stock that you have retained and allow it to cook down to about half of what it was before turning the heat to the lowest setting (or melt setting if you have that one).

(Optional Step) If have allowed your steak to rest on a cutting board and some juices have leaked out (and if you had an juices in the pan from the broiler) ... you should definitely add these juices to the stock and mushroom mix and stir well before serving.

Your Au-jus is now ready to go on top of your meal, try it and enjoy!