High quality fats and a delicious broth are the hallmarks of a nourishing and healing soup. You can choose to make your own or you can use store bought. If you go the store bought route just make sure that it comes from a grass-fed, pastured, and preferably organic source to ensure the most amount of nutrients available. There is an old Yiddish proverb that loosely goes, “Bone broth will raise the dead.” Anyone who has tasted or consumed bone broth during a sickness can attest to its healing prowess, and it really does feel like it lifts you from the grave!
Soups in general are easy things to make, but a really good soup is a delicate balance between the ingredients, the ratio of liquid to solids, and the final texture of the soup. For soups that contain large amounts of starchy root vegetables, I tend to err on the side of a blended and strained soup for just the right texture. The process is fairly straightforward and easy to replicate with any variation you might come up with. Saute aromatics, add root vegetables, stock and simmer, blend, strain, and reduce to desired thickness or texture. With this easy guide you too can make restaurant quality soups with minimal effort and maximum flavor!
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When choosing an eggplant for this dish, make sure you obtain ones with a firm skin and heavy density. The skin should be free from soft spots and the inner flesh should be slightly crisp and heavy with moisture. Once you choose your preferred eggplant, slice into rounds that are about 1.5 to 2 centimeters wide. This is a great width for the eggplant once it has been pressed and fried.
A note on eggplant; eggplant contains a lot of moisture, and cooking eggplant requires that this moisture be removed before cooking. If you skip this step you will have some soggy eggplant, and that is not gonna be tasty! Not to worry though, the salting and pressing is quite easy to do- simply salt your eggplant on both sides and lay flat on a wire rack set into a baking sheet. Leave in the fridge for about 2 hours, if not longer, and flip to remove moisture from the otherside. At most, the eggplant should exude moisture for about 4 to 5 hours. After this time, remove the eggplant from the fridge and press with paper towels to absorb moisture. Make sure that you remove most of the moisture from the slices.
Now onto the hardest part of the process- breading. To make it easier on yourself, you should make 3 bowls: flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs. I made some bread crumbs from some leftover loaf I had, but panko or store bought, all varieties work equally as well. Make sure you add more to the bowl if you run out- there is nothing I, or ghee, can do to save you from an under-breaded egg parm.
Once you have breaded your eggplants, you can now fry them up! You’re looking to get a nice brown color on the slices. Set aside on a paper towel lined baking sheet fitted with a wire rack to drain. You can then create your stacks with the eggplant rounds. I like to alternate the cheeses in between the slices of eggplant, as well as include a basil leaf.
When your stacks have been made and they look sturdy you can now place them on a baking sheet, or in a baking pan. I start with a layer of marinara sauce on the bottom to prevent sticking during baking. After the stacks are transferred, they get a topping of the marinara sauce and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Once the cheese is melted and the eggplants are warmed through you can serve and enjoy!
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I like to serve this meal alongside some vegetables. I prefer to keep it in the same culture so a charred broccolini or arugula salad typically goes great. If you really want to splurge you can make a side of pasta, but since the eggplant parm has a lot of richness already we typically balance it out with veggies. Your dish- your call!
]]>There are definitely more than a few options when it comes to choosing a steak, and everyone seems to have their preference. Personally, I prefer rib-eye because there is a decent amount of marbling and I personally enjoy the richness of that cut. New York and Filet Mignon are more lean, and don’t typically have a lot of marbling. For this recipe, I found a great Porterhouse from my friends from 3 Sons Farm. In the last couple years they have branched out from chickens and are now grass-feeding and pasture raising a few cows. This recipe will give you amazing results for any cut you choose. Pick out your cut and follow our guide to steak heaven. Cooking times will vary among the different cuts because of a few factors- thickness, and fat content. Thinner and fattier meats tend to cook quickly, whereas the thicker and leaner cuts will take a little more time, so please adjust accordingly.
There are a few really good pieces of advice I’ve learned along the way when it comes to cooking steak. The most important of the three of these is to dry your steak very well! Using paper towels blot the steak, or wrap the steak in the paper towels and remove as much of the moisture as you can. Too much moisture on the steak will cause the steak to steam and you lose the ability to get a nice sear/char/crust on the outside. The second piece of advice is to season your steak at least 45 minutes prior to cooking. Seasoning your steak and letting it rest will allow the salt and flavorings to penetrate the meat more effectively. When you season right before cooking most of that comes off in the cooking process leaving you with practically unseasoned meat!
The third piece of advice is to use ghee! Ghee is a high heat cooking oil that tastes great and will not produce any off flavors when it is heated to a high temperature. Unlike other high heat oils like avocado and grapeseed, ghee has a higher concentration of saturated fats that are more resilient to heat. The more resilient your oil, the more the pan can maintain a higher cooking temperature giving your steak the crust/sear it really needs.
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There are a number of fish that you can buy with the skin on- and should buy with the skin on! Black cod, salmon, arctic char, trout, sea bass (branzino), Chilean sea bass, and sometimes grouper are just a few fishes that I prefer to buy with the skin on. Sometimes the skin is there to protect the delicate filets, oftentimes it’s there simply because removing it can be difficult. In any case, if it’s on there why not cook it up? Ultimately, as someone who loves to cook I really love the texture change that crisping the skin affords. Hate it, love it, but seriously give it a shot if you’re looking to impress someone!
Also, when it comes to fish- I would say develop a relationship with a solid fishmonger. Seriously, you probably read it all the time, but if you develop a relationship with your food purveyor, you will always get the best stuff- and sometimes even a really sweet deal. I’ve known my fishmonger for close to 10 years if not more. He knows I’m serious, and it cuts out the B.S.- he’s not going to sell me something sub-par, or lead me the wrong way.
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I’ve served crispy skin fish along with many things like purees and sauces so feel free to choose what works best for you. I think the salmon alone is the star, but serve it alongside something that magnifies its greatness.
]]>You can find lamb steaks at any well stocked meat market, but if you are near a Whole Foods or a Lazy Acres/Bristol Farms you can totally find some at the meat counter. Now, there are a few different cuts that are the most common when it comes to lamb. You have your traditional lamb chop, and rib chops. These are fairly tiny, so having a couple per serving is not a bad option. I opted for the shoulder chop. This cut comes from, well, the shoulder! It does have an oddly shaped bone in it so watch out.
All in all, lamb is a great alternative to beef. It’s still red meat, but more often than not, the animals are grass fed, especially if you are getting them from a supplier in New Zealand or Iceland. The taste is gamier than beef, but it has a wonderful richness to it that adds something novel to your meal.
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I love serving steak, of any variety, with potatoes! I think the carbs in potatoes go super well with the richness of a steak. I’m also partial to always having a vegetable in a meal. Love vegetables- asparagus, broccolini, cabbage, Chinese greens, anything fibrous and able to be quickly sauteed and enjoyed.
]]>All the veggies in this recipe are summer/late summer vegetables, and if you live in the Northern Hemisphere should be fairly easy to find at a local market or well stocked local farm centered grocer.
Since these squash are a little dense they do well with a slight par-cooking. I cut the squash about a couple centimeters below the stem, and used the portion of edible squash for the stuffing. The other vegetables I found were corn, bell peppers, onion, garlic, and sage for the fall feel. It’s important to remember that cutting the vegetables to approximately the same size allows everything to cook evenly together. Since I wanted to make this a little more Mediterranean in flavor I opted for some de-cased Italian sausage and I used the Mediterranean Herbed Ghee as my cooking oil choice.
For my sauce, I had some cherry tomatoes that were past their prime, so I broiled them with a couple cloves of garlic and mashed them into a sauce. If you don’t have the will or the time to go down that path, just use your favorite tomato sauce- canned, homemade, store bought, your call!
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Serve as a main course, or make just a few and serve as a warm appetizer. This dish is heart enough to be eaten alone, but also light enough for it to be eaten alongside a bigger meal.
]]>You’ve probably seen this preparation before, and I really enjoy it because of the texture of the crag-like edges. They get a particularly striking crispiness that is pleasantly delicious. This recipe is kind of a hybrid between a french fry and a boiled potato, and the results are easy to obtain, and will be a welcome preparation at your table.
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The only trick/suggestion I offer from this recipe is to get the pan nice and hot with the ghee. If your pan is too low those potatoes will not crisp properly and will take a little longer than expected.
]]>One of the most comforting and warming dishes for rice is in a simple porridge. Depending on how you view it, Congee is either a really soupy risotto or overly liquid boiled rice. However you choose to view it, congee is definitely a cold weather food that is nourishing, highly digestible, and open to the addition of many flavors. The most beautiful thing about this rice porridge is that you can use whatever topping you desire- meats, vegetables, eggs, tofu, tempeh, or any combination of them. I like a good mixture of textures and flavors in my congee so I typically mix and match so I can make a really spectacular looking dish that is both hearty and healthy.
Congee can take several hours to cook, but who has that on hand these days? The best advice I can give to cut down on the cooking time is to wash, soak, and freeze (yes, I did say freeze!) your rice before you cook it. These steps, if done ahead of time, will yield amazing results in addition to cutting out 75% of your cooking time! The other trick to consider is soaking and freezing a large amount of the rice at one time. This way, you can keep a bag of frozen rice in your freezer so that you always have the ability to make a congee when the mood, or cold weather strikes!
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Ladle your congee into a bowl. If you’re just eating the congee as-is you can opt for a run of the mill soup bowl. I like adding toppings to the congee so I typically use a wide and shallow bowl for this purpose. Use anything and everything for congee toppings- it is remarkably receptive to anything you want to include. I love that this dish makes rice turn into something entirely unlike we formerly know it as. Great for the cooler weather, and easy to digest make this dish a welcome companion in the winter months.
]]>Octopus is rather slippery and seemingly delicate when it is raw, but it can become chewy and lose that tenderness when it cooks. If you search on the internet, “how to tenderize octopus,” chances are you will come up with several old wives tales about wine corks in the water, or beating the octopus into next week. I’ve tried all of them, and I will say the secret is even easier than these methods. The secret is simmering your octopus in moderately salted water before letting it marinate and before you grill it on the pan. This light cooking process allows the proteins in the octopus to delicately cook and loosen up, maintaining its tender and soft texture. The goal is to never boil the octopus as this will tighten and overcook the octopus. Rather, the goal is to maintain a light simmer for the duration of the par-cooking time. In my experience, simmering for 30-45 minutes is sufficient to tenderize and cook the octopus.
After the octopus is cooked, it’s important for the octopus to cool down before marinating or seasoning it. I place it in a bowl or plate and refrigerate it for at least a couple hours. Once it has cooled I make a light Spanish inspired marinade with lemon juice, smoked paprika, coriander, salt and pepper. If the marinade is too dry, add a touch of olive oil which should make the marinade easier to grip the octopus. You should make a small amount as you are looking to really just coat the octopus not drown it. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes again.
The last step in cooking your octopus is to pan fry it quickly to get some char and texture on the octopus. Since the octopus is already cooked, you don’t need to worry about monitoring the internal temperature to achieve doneness. This step is purely to get the beautifully charred outside and to quickly warm it up before serving. A perfectly cooked octopus will give you kitchen kudos from all your guests- this presentation is a knock-out and will impress everyone.
My favorite pairing with this dish is a simple salad and some grilled or sauteed vegetables. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious you can use this in your tapas spread, or as an appetizer for a full Spanish meal complete with paella.
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