Onions and Peppers

Difficulty: Easy

Prep time: Depends on how much you make but for 2 lbs of peppers and an onion figure 10 minutes

Cooking time: 7 - 10  minutes

Cost per serving: cheap

Useful leftovers: Oh yes

This sounds too simple to be good. I almost always have a tub of this in my fridge and I use it all the time.

Onions
Sweet red peppers
Olive oil
Salt

This would be so drab without it!

It couldn't be much simpler. Go to a market where you can get inexpensive red bell peppers. There are some Asian markets near here where I sometimes get them for less than a dollar. 

Number two peppers are fine for this. Those are the ones that are too twisted or have a scar or blemish and can't be sold as a number 1. As long as they are not cracked open or disgusting or old they are fine. Look for crisp ones that have a relatively smooth skin.

I don't care about the skins on the peppers but if you do go ahead and peel them. 

Wash and dry the peppers. Cut the flesh into strips. I don't cook for customers or teachers so I don't care if they are all the same size. Makes no difference here.

Cut an onion into chunks.

Put the vegetables into a dry, heavy bottomed pan. You cannot make this in a thin pan. You'll burn everything. Turn the heat onto medium and when they are just starting to brown add 1/4 cup of good olive oil. Not a fancy olive oil, just not a bitter cheesy one.

Turn the heat way down and stir like mad.  At this point you want to cook the stuff very slowly for at least 1/2 hr.  We don't want a lot of browning but we want everything to be fully cooked and soft. Don't let a molecule of raw onion remain but be careful nothing burns. If you can cook it for 45 minutes without burning it so much the better.

Put the peppers and onions into a bowl and scrape the stuff from the bottom of the pan into the bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and another tablespoon of olive oil. When it is cooled to room temperature put it in the fridge.

Here are some ways that I use this:

As a bruschetta topping, sometimes with smoked herring and lemon or with cucumbers
As a pasta sauce base
As a meat sauce base
As a salad dressing base
Over a rare steak or piece of lamb or sausage
As a salad ingredient
As a filling in a stuffed chicken breast of pork chop
As a flavoring oil'
As a dip

You can vary this many ways. I sometimes add serrano chiles or chunks of potato. I like to sprinkle Cholula hot sauce on it. You can use it to top chile or enchiladas. It's great with sour cream.

These peppers go well with bits of salty things like ham but also with very savory things like grilled meat, sausage, or meaty fish like mackerel.

The best thing in this recipe is the oil! It tastes great. Just sprinkle a little on a grilled Italian sausage, or grilled eggplant or tomatoes. Just great.

Hartman House Spice Rub

You get a whole lotta yum with a few spices

Difficulty: Easy

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: None

Cost per serving: Maybe a quarter

Useful leftovers: Keep it dry and cool

I use this mixture a lot! I use it as a general seasoning and a spice rub when I barbeque or smoke meat. It's good on vegetables. You can add other spices or herbs to adjust it for individual recipes.

Notice there is NO salt in this. I mix salt into it when I use it so I can control the amount. There is nothing in here to keep it from hardening. So sometimes, especially if you live in a humid climate, you'll have to scrape or hit it with a spoon. Better than loading it with chemicals to keep it flowing.

Since I never measure anything and you can alter this as you wish the amounts are very approximate.

10 parts Sweet Paprika
2 parts Smoked Paprika
1 part Chipotle powder
2 parts Garlic powder
2 parts freshly ground Cumin seeds
1 part Celery seeds, ground between your fingers
1 part Dried Thyme
1 part freshly ground black pepper

Mix it in a bowl. Make sure there are no lumps. Put it in a container and keep tightly closed.

Lamb Flank Steaks

Difficulty: Medium

Prep time: A minute. Plus a couple of minutes to heat the pan

Cooking time: A minute or less on each side

Cost per serving: $3.00 to $5.00

How to use leftovers: Sliced thin on crackers with mustard and lemon juice, or added to salads, perfect for sandwiches. Best eaten cold as a leftover as these are thin and can dry out.

A pretty nice lunch featuring Lamb Flank Steaks

I love these! Inexpensive (for lamb), easy easy easy to cook and very tasty.

You have to use a hot, heavy-bottomed pan for these. They need to brown fast without overcooking the thin interior.

Lamb flank steaks - figure 2 per person. They are about 2 oz. each, or you can serve one as an elegant appetizer
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Salt the lamb. Put a teaspoon of oil in the pan for each steak. When it starts to smoke add the flank steaks. Don't crowd the pan or they will boil in their own moisture rather than brown. You want them to brown in less than a minute.

When they are browned turn them over and brown the other side. They will brown more if you wipe them around the bottom of the pan to scrape up the brown bits.  As soon as they are browned take them out of the pan and keep them warm on a plate for a minute.  Grind pepper over them.

Hints on using leftovers

In a restaurant we don't want to eat leftovers but at home we treasure them! Leftover steak! Leftover potatoes! Sauces, pasta, soups all make great leftovers if you follow some principles and don't have a bad attitude about them.

1) When you cook think about what you might do with the leftovers when you make the original recipe. Making pizza? How sad to have some leftover slice tomatoes, garlic in olive oil, shredded cheese!

Good dishes make good leftovers, crappy dishes make crappy leftovers.

2) We are judicious seasoners and don't tend to use a lot of salt but leftovers frequently need a kick. You need to add salt, pepper, hot sauce, fresh herbs, something - to kick the flavor up.

Leftover rice and smoked ham? Aww.

3) Always think soup if you can. Make a simple brunoise or duxelle and add your leftovers, some wine (white or red, Marsala, Madiera, Sherry, etc) and you are there.

4) I never order manicotti or stuffed shells in a restaurant because you have no idea what's in there. But at home I do know and can use many dishes by adding a bit of tomatoes or sauce, olives, etc, to the chopped leftovers and make stuff pasta.

5) If you have a nice piece of beef or lamb or pork, eat it cold! Let it come to room temperature for a few minutes and serve with a vinaigrette with lots of Dijon mustard or fresh herbs in it.

Home made pizza!

 For us pizza is a summer food made with ingredients from the garden: tomatoes, garlic, basil, sweet or hot peppers. We keep it simple. For dinner parties we like to line pie tins with dough and let people make their own.

We chop the garlic and put it in some olive oil and wipe the oil on the edge of the pizza.

We peel great fresh tomatoes and slice them. For me a great treat is to drink the tomato water left at the bottom of the bowl! Fantastic!

We shred or cut mozzarella (not from Wisconsin, of course) and sprinkle on basil and some of the garlic. This is the way I like it, simple and delicious.

Here is one that has some browned, crumbled sausage and slice green olives added.

In case you are wondering, YES it does taste as good as it looks. So easy, so delicious!

Confession time: I do make the dough sometimes but frequently we use Bridgeford's frozen bread dough.

Lamb chops or steaks

A Fernand Point style recipe:

Make sure your chops or steak is at least an inch thick for best results.

Let them come to room temperature. Salt them but do not pepper them.

Heat a heavy bottomed sauce pan and add a thin layer of olive oil. Put the chops in the pan and cook them uncovered and undisturbed for 4 minutes. They should be nice and browned. Turn them and brown the other side. If they are not done you can turn them again or put them in a hot oven and cook them until they are just past rare. Take them out of the pan and put them on a plate.

Drain the fat out of the pan but don't wipe it out. Put it back on the heat and add half and onion chopped fine, a pinch of salt and some celery seeds, thyme or rosemary. Cook the onion quickly and add some lemon juice, a tablespoon of water and some salt and pepper and boil down until there is just a trickle of sauce. Serve it over the lamb chops.

Truffled Mushroom Sauce

I don't make a lot of sauces. I can make several dozen but we eat pretty cleanly here.

But on special occasions this kicks butt. Don't believe the snobby wisdom that canned or jarred truffles aren't worth eating. They are not the same as fresh truffles but for a sauce like this they are fantastic. I buy mine from Pistol River Mushrooms. Right now a small jar of truffle peelings (perfectly good for this) are less than $7 and whole truffles are less than $8.


1 half of a black truffle or the same amount of chopped truffles
1 onion, diced very finely
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2 oz dried mushrooms, any kind
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 tablespoon Madeira or Marsala
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter

If you make the steaks in a frying pan you can take them out and make this sauce in the pan while the meat is resting.

Soak the dried mushrooms in a cup of hot water for at least 15 minutes. I start them before I cook the steaks.

Saute the onion and fresh mushrooms in the butter until the onions are just translucent and not browned. Add the truffle, tomato paste and the garlic and cook, stirring constantly for a minute.

Add the liquid from the dried mushrooms and if they are tender enough, chop and add them. Off the heat add the Madeira or Marsala then cook for another minute (being careful as it might flame up).

Add the cream and reduce everything over high heat for a minute until it thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve in a sauceboat and it won't be long until the groans of pleasure begin!