Kofte

Serve with pita, spicy olive oil, roasted tomatoes and homemade chips.

Ingredients

Ground beef

Flat-leaf parsley

Salt

Pepper

Grated red onion

Garlic

Instructions

This is pretty simple. Mix ingredients in a bowl. Season as if you are preparing hamburgers, and then add a couple tablespoons of parsley, red onion, and maybe a tablespoon of chopped garlic.

Lightly shape meat around a skewer until it forms what looks like a hot dog. Don't press meat too hard or it will get tough. Now just grill over high heat until done to your likeness.

"Low Fat" Beef "Short Ribs"

This recipe is only relatively low in fat. And the meat is actually chuck steak, which is basically the same cut of beef as short ribs, but without the bone. Excluding the bone doesn't result in a regrettable loss of flavor, but does cut down on the fat. But don't fool yourself into thinking this is healthy. Try serving with polenta.

Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs chuck steak, trimmed of fat (see figure below)

Sea salt and ground pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large onions, peeled and sliced thin

1 tablespoon tomato paste

6 garlic cloves, peeled

2 cups red wine

1 cup beef broth

4 large carrots, peeled and cut crossswise into 2-inch pieces

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 teaspoon powdered gelatin (a substitute for bone marrow, which helps thicken the sauce)

Instructions

Remove excess fat from the meat. There should be plenty of fat marbled in already, so don't worry about losing flavor. Pat beef dry with a paper towel. Season beef with salt and pepper up to a day in advance.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300 degrees fahrenheit. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until nearly smoking. Add some of the beef without overcrowding the pan and cook, without turning, 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a bowl and continue browning beef in batches. Properly browning the meat is critical to obtaining a rich flavor.

Reduce heat to medium, add onions, and cook, stirring occasionally, 12-15 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until it browns on sides and bottom of pan, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Increase heat to medium-high, add wine and simmer, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, until reduced by half, 8-10 minutes. Add broth , carrots, thyme, and bay leaf. Add beef and any accumulated juices to pot; cover and bring to simmer. Transfer pot to oven and cook, using tongs to turn meat twice during cooking, until fork slips easily in and out of meat, a little over 2 hours. Remove carrots (they should be too soft at this point, but will have added some flavor to the sauce). Add new carrots if you like. Cook meat and carrots for another 20-30 minutes until carrots are a nice texture.

Place water in small bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top; let stand at least 5 minutes. Using tongs, transfer meat and carrots to a bowl and tent with foil. Strain cooking liquid through fine-mesh strainer into fat separator or bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Restaurants make short ribs a day in advance, refrigerate the sauce, and remove the fat the next day. Consider doing this, because there is really no way to get the fat to congeal quickly enough to spoon it off any time soon. Return cooking liquid to Dutch oven and cook over medium heat until reduced to 1 cup, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin mixture; season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over meat.

Bolognese Sauce

No joking around with this post. Bolognese is serious stuff. The dish originates in the northern Italian city of Bologna, also known as "the fat city." It is not just a meat sauce; the "true" ingredients are hotly debated. Thank God that the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina voted that an authentic rendition only contains beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, broth, red wine, and milk or cream. And the rules don't stop here. The width and thickness of the tagliatelle (fresh egg noodles) with which this sauce is traditionally served are noted by a golden noodle on a plaque in the Bologna city hall.

DONT SCREW UP!

Below are the Ingredients and Instructions, mixed, as you will find them in Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food.

Ingredients and Instructions

Heat in a large heavy-bottomed pot:

1 tablespoon olive oil

Add:

2 ounces pancetta (or bacon), diced fine

Cook over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add:

1 small onion, diced fine

1 celery stalk, diced fine

1 carrot, diced fine

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

5 sage leaves

2 thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 12 minutes.

While the vegetables are cooking, heat in a large heavy-bottomed pan, preferably cast iron:

1 tablespoon olive oil

Add and brown over medium-high heat, in two batches:

1 pound skirt steak, cut into 1/8-inch cubes

4 ounces pork shoulder, coarsely ground

Cook until the meat is a nice chestnut color. Once all the meat browned, pour in:

1 cup dry white wine

Reduce the wine by half, scraping the brown bits off the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the browned meat and the deglazing juices to the tender vegetables with:

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Salt

Measure and stir together:

2 cups beef or chicken broth

1.5 cups milk

Pour enough of this liquid into the pot to bring it to the level of the meat and vegetables. Simmer gently until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours. As the liquid reduces, keep topping it up with the rest of the broth and milk, and skimming the fat that rises to the surface. Near the end, add a couple tablespoons of heavy cream. This helps tie the sauce together. When the meat is tender, remove the sauce from the heat and season to taste with more salt, if needed, add:

Fresh-ground black pepper

Chez Panisse Beef Stew

This is just one of many ways to make stew. And when you live in a frozen tundra, almost any variety is a winner. But the key to making exceptional stew is browning the meat properly and using good stock.

Below are the Ingredients and Instructions, mixed, as you will find them in Alice Waters' The Art Of Simple Food.

Ingredients and Instructions (cut quantities in half if you don't want to eat this for a week)
Season generously, a day ahead if possible:

3 lbs beef chuck, cut into half inch cubes

with

Salt and fresh-ground black pepper

Heat, in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat:

2 tablespoons oil

Add:

3 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Cook until rendered and lightly brown but not crisp. Remove the bacon and add the meat, browning well on all sides, in as many batches as necessary. Put the browned meat into a heavy pot or braising dish. Pour off most of the fat, lower the heat, and add:

2 onions, peeled and cut into quarters

2 cloves (stick them into onion quarters)

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks

2 sprigs each of thyme, savory, and parsley

1 bay leaf

A few peppercorns

Cook until slightly browned and add to the beef in the pot. Return the pan to the stove and raise the heat. Pour in:

3 Tablespoons brandy (optional)

This may flame up, so be careful. Then add:

1.75 cups red wine

Cook until reduced by two thirds, scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour this over the beef and vegetables. Add:

3 diced tomatoes, fresh or canned

1 small head of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled, and coarsely chopped

1 thin strip orange zest

2 cups beef stock (or chicken broth)

Check the level of the liquid; it should be at least three-quarters of the way up the cubes of beef. Add more if needed. Cover the pot tightly and cook at a bare simmer on the stovetop, or in a 325 degree fahrenheit oven, for 2 to 3 hours. Check the stew occasionally to be sure that it is not boiling and that there is enough liquid. When the meat is tender, turn off the heat, and let the stew settle for a few minutes. Skim off all the fat. Discard the bay leaf, cloves, and peppercorns. Taste for salt and adjust as needed.

Serve sprinkled with a mixture of:

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped fine

Grilled Hamburgers

Do we even need a recipe for hamburgers? Yeah, we do. It isn't hard to make an average burger, but the perfect one is elusive. Like any recipe, some aspects of burger preparation are arbitrary. But there are a few rules. Follow them, pick the toppings of your choice, and you'll never order a burger at a restaurant again.

So what is most important to grilling a good hamburger?
1) Use ground chuck. You won't regret it. If you can, grind your own chuck at home in a food processor.
2) Sear both sides of the meat over high heat, then finish them off slowly away from the flames.
3) Poke a dimple into the middle of each patty before cooking. This prevents the burgers from poofing into balls.



Ingredients
1 lb ground chuck
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
Buns
Red onions

Instructions
Mix the meat, salt, and pepper just until they come together. Don't ever do it. Carefully form 1/3 of the meat into a patty. Only compact the meat to the point where it won't fall apart. Use a finger to make a quarter-sized indentation into the center of each patty, about half and inch deep. Keep in mind that the meat will shrink a bit on the grill. Slice some red onion and cover lightly with a tiny bit of olive oil. Just enough to coat the slices.

Prepare a two-zone fire on your grill (basically, all the coals on one side). You will know that the fire is hot when you can only hold your hand above the grate without pain for about 2 seconds. Sear the burgers over the coals for 90 seconds per side, then move to the edge of the coals to finish. 3 minutes per side away from the coals should produce medium doneness, but this is different on every grill. You'll have to experiment on you own. After you move the meat away from the high heat, place the onions directly over the flames for a couple of minutes per side. Then move away from the heat until they are soft enough for you.

Variations
1) Add a slice of cheese on the top of each burger during the last minute or so of cooking.
2) Freeze slices or 1/2 inch cubes of blue cheese for 20 minutes prior to cooking. Insert the frozen slices inside each patty as you form them. The cheese will unfreeze, but won't melt while on the grill. This is called the "Andrew Sweeny Deluxe."
3) Mix in some ancho chili powder with the meat and top the finished burgers with some avocado slices.

PS - Learn how to use hardwood lump charcoal

Cincinnati Chili

There are no Skyline Chili restaurants in Chicago, but there should be. Some might say that Chicago is a hot dog town, and there isn't room for any more meat. We disagree.



Ingredients
1 t salt, plus more to taste
1.5 lbs ground beef chuck
2 T vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T chili powder
2 t dried oregano
2 t cocoa
1.5 t ground cinnamon
.5 t cayenne pepper
.5 t allspice
.25 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 C chicken broth
2 C water
2 T cider vinegar
2 t brown sugar
2 C plain tomato sauce

Accompaniments:
Macaroni
Cheddar cheese
Kidney Beans, drained, rinsed, and warmed
White onion, chopped fine
oyster crackers

Instructions
Set a pan over medium heat and add the oil. When it is hot, add the onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic for another minute. Add the meat and cook over low heat until no longer pink.

Some recipes call for the meat to be boiled before cooking the onions. But I don't see the point of this extra step, as long as you cook the meat slowly, making sure not to brown it too much.

Add the chili powder, oregano, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, allspice, black pepper, and salt. Mix with the meat for about 30 seconds over medium heat. Stir in the broth, water, vinegar, sugar, and tomato sauce while scraping the bottom of the pan. Increase heat to high. When the liquid boils, reduce to a simmer, about an hour.

Serve over boiled macaroni and top with accompaniments.



Learn about the origins of Cincinnati Chili.

Tuscan Beef and Pepper Stew

This recipe is from Simply Tuscan, by Pino Luongo. Also known as Peposo (from the large amount of black pepper), this stew is worth the effort.

Ingredients

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds beef stewing meat

2/3 cup finely chopped carrot

2/3 cup finely chopped onion

2/3 cup finely chopped celery

salt to taste

2 cups red wine

3 cups chicken stock

1/3 cup tomato sauce

1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 cups)

2 T crushed black peppercorns

Instructions

In a heavy casserole over high heat, warm half of the oil. Add the beef and sear it on all sides until dark brown. Keep some spacing between the cubes to prevent them from steaming. You won't be able to sear all the beef at once, so do it in batches. Set the beef aside when done.

Reduce the heat to low and add the remaining oil to the casserole. Add the carrot, onion, and celery, and some salt. Mix the seared beef with the vegetables and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the red wine and scrape the browned beef from the bottom of the pan. This is critical for developing the flavor. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until some of the liquid appears to have evaporated. Add the stock and the tomato sauce and cook for 15 minutes more. Add half of the squash and all the peppercorns. The original recipe calls for 4 T peppercorns, which seemed overpowering. You may even want to use less than 2 T. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for at least an hour. Keep the lid slightly open if you want some of the water to evaporate. When the meat is tender, add the rest of the squash and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Add salt if you wish.

This stew is excellent served over creamy polenta!

The Big Z's special ribs

I would post this recipe, but I don't want to be buried under the apple tree.

Grilled Red-Chile Steak with Plantains, Red Onion, and Chipotle Salsa

Save this one for Valentine's Day. Still spicy even if you have a cold.


Ingredients
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/3 C ancho chile powder
4 t brown sugar
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t ground cumin
4 t black pepper
5 t salt

1.5 lb flank steak
2 black plantains
1 red onion, 1.4 inch slices
1 C chipotle salsa

Directions
Heat a very hot charcoal fire. Mix the first 7 ingredients. Now you have enough chile powder for a month. Spread some over the steak. Cut the ends off the plantains and split lengthwise. Oil the cut surfaces of the plantains and onions. Cook the plantains and onions 2-3 minutes per side over hot coals. Add 3 T of salsa and season with salt.

Grill your steak. Don't be a wimp. Stand directly over the fire and let the smoke season your skin. Now you are a man.

(the spice rub is excellent with chicken too)

Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

The sauce is so good that you'll want to drink it.

Ingredients
1 cup roughly chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 (10-12 oz) flat iron steaks

Directions
Combine the cilantro, garlic, 1/2 cup of the oil, lemon juice, cumin, chili powder and salt in a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set sauce aside.

Sprinkle steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add steaks and cook to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare or 4 to 5 minutes for medium.

Transfer steaks to a cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for 5 minutes before thinly slicing. Serve with sauce on the side.