On my real food journey, my eyes have been opened to the individual ingredient and everything it has to offer. You have to because it does not come in a box with instructions...so it forces you to get to know it!
Take short ribs for example. I have never really thought about what could come of these little guys until recently. I found out that you can't just grill them and that you really need to cook them slowly and purposefully. Once cooked it's a virtual canvas as to what you smother and cover them in.
I had some French Dijon mustard in the refrigerator and some fresh fennel so I decided to make a quick honey Dijon sauce and crispy fennel to finish these off. The sea salt that completes the dish is my go to favorite with honey and mustard - Vanilla Bean sea salt!
Ingredients:
1) 2 lbs of short ribs
2) 4 tablespoons of French Dijon mustard
3) 1 tablespoon of raw organic honey (or to taste)
4) 1 tablespoon of raw organic apple cider vinegar
5) 1 large fennel bulb
6) 1 tablespoon of olive oil or coconut oil
Directions:
First broil your short ribs in a hot oven (425 degrees) for about 15 minutes to brown and sear the ribs. Transfer the ribs to a stock pot and fill with filtered water to cover the ribs about 2 inches above the meat. Cook in a low oven (270 degrees) for 3 hours to slowly cook the meat. At this point the ribs are fully cooked and very tender. Now it's time to add your sauce and broil one more time to sear in the sauce. Arrange your short ribs on a pan and add the sauce.
Sauce: Whisk together the Dijon mustard, honey, vinegar and olive oil and spread on top of the short ribs, reserve some for plating. Place under the broil until the sauce begins to bubble, but does not burn.
While your preparing your short ribs slice a fennel bulb into thin strips and cook on top of the stove until browned and a bit crispy. Top your short ribs with the cooked fennel, a bit of the reserved Dijon sauce and finish the entire dish with a sprinkle of Vanilla Bean sea salt!
Who doesn't like a perfectly seasoned and grilled steak? The way I achieve it is to start with a really good piece of meat. I tend to like bone in rib eyes because they are so flavorful!
I usually cook them on the grill after resting to room temperature from the refrigerator. I salt them about 10 minutes prior, this will help develop the crust on the steak. Then I sear and cook until medium rare. I then apply some finishing sea salt and devour it!
There are times when I want a more exotic tasting meat and this is when I turn to making home made rubs! Here is one we use with our Espresso Brava sea salt blend!
Ingredients:
1) 1/2 cup chile powder
2) 2 Tablespoons of Espresso Brava sea salt
3) 4 Tablespoons Hot Smoked Spanish Paprika
4) 3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
5) 1 Tablespoon Dry Yellow Mustard Powder
6) 2 Tablespoons freshly ground Black Pepper
7) 1 Tablespoon Powdered Ginger
Directions: Mix all ingredients together and store in a jar.
Note: You may want to adjust the above ingredients to your taste.
Helpful Hints:
Keep for use on grilling steaks and other meats. Apply liberally to one side only, put this side down first. You can grill on an open fire or grill indoors. If using 1" steaks, about 4-5 minutes on each side will give you a medium rare steak.
Note: You may want to put a dollop of a good herb butter on top of the steak when serving, and a good suggestion is to mix a few tablespoons of this rub into about a 1/2 stick of butter.
I love to try new things and radiccio was on the list! I had seen a plate one time with grilled radiccio and orange wedges and it looked and sounded fantastic.
I am the kind of cook that sees something and goes with the idea and not necessarily the recipe or same list of ingredients. I had a couple of ingredients in the pantry that I thought would work well with this grilled leaf vegetable and orange.
Here we go!
Ingredients:
1) 1 whole radiccio
2) 1 large navel orange
3) 1 tablespoon of raw organic honey
4) 2 tablespoons of blood orange olive oil (or plain)
5) 1 tablespoon of braggs raw apple cider vinegar
6) Vanilla Bean sea salt
Directions:
Wash and section your whole radicchio into wedges. Try to keep them intact with the base of the stem. Lightly coat your sectioned radicchio with olive oil and a small dusting of salt. Peel your navel orange and divide into two sections for easy grilling.
Get your grill up to high temp and place your radicchio and blood orange down on the hot grill. Close the lid for about 4-5 to get the slight char on the ingredients and to heat them through. Turn and repeat until the radicchio is soft and slightly charred. The orange will char slightly and the juices will begin to flow.
Pull off all ingredients and plate the radicchio in sections and cover with the grilled orange sections.
I make a quick dressing: Whisk 1 tablespoon of raw organic honey, 2 tablespoons of blood orange olive oil and 1 tablespoon of braggs apple cider vinegar.
Pour this dressing over the plated salad, garnish with flat Italian parsley and sprinkle the entire dish with Vanilla Bean sea salt!
Radicchio has a bitter and spicy taste, which mellows when it is grilled or roasted. It amazingly transforms when grilled and combined with the sweetness of the grilled orange and dressing. The salad is completely taken over the edge when you add the Vanilla Bean sea salt to finish the dish off! The Vanilla in the salt combines so well with all the ingredients and adds another dimension to an already fabulous concoction.
There is something so satisfying about taking a spiny, hard artichoke and breaking it down to it's finer parts!
It can be a challenging ingredient and most people might walk away or opt for the jarred or canned artichokes.
Well if you take the leap and purchase yourself you will not be disappointed! You can assure the best freshness and cook and flavor it to your liking!
Ingredients:
1) 2 large whole artichokes
2) Extra virgin olive oil
3) Grass fed butter
4) Lemon
5) Spanish Rosemary sea salt
6) Olives (optional)
Directions:
Wash each artichoke and cut off the stem close to the bulb and cut about 1/2 inch off the tip of the globe. In a pressure cooker add your artichoke and 1 cup of water. Follow cooking directions on your machine. I heat to boil and allow to cook on high for 5 minutes and then turn to low for another 10 minutes. You can choose to steam to soften.
Once cooked, peel off and discard tougher outer leaves. Take tender and inner leaves and arrange on a baking tray. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, grass fed butter, a squeeze of lemon and broil to blend and heat all ingredients.
Plate and finish with Spanish Rosemary sea salt!
Shepard's pie is an amazingly rich and hearty meat pie with cooked carrots, peas, onions and smothered in mashed potatoes.
I made a slight variation and used roasted yellow and red bell peppers, roasted poblano peppers and substituted the mashed potatoes for mashed cauliflower.
It was the same satisfaction of a rich Shepard's pie, but gluten free.
Ingredients:
1) 2 lbs ground beef
2) 4-5 cloves of garlic
3) 2 tablespoons of olive oil
4) Salt and pepper to taste
5) 1 medium onion
6) 2 roasted poblano peppers
7) 2-3 roasted bell peppers
8) 1 large head of cauliflower
9) 1 stick of grass fed butter
10)1/2 cup of cream
11)Smoked Serrano Finishing sea salt
Directions:
Season ground beef with minced garlic and medium onion. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the meat mixture along with salt and pepper to taste.
Roast your peppers on a baking tray drizzled with olive oil at 425 degrees until soft and slightly charred. Remove peppers, dice and set aside. Bake the meat pie in the oven at 425 degrees uncovered until cooked through.
The cauliflower will be chopped into florets and boil on top of the stove until fork tender. Drain and blend in 1 stick of grass fed butter and 1/2 cup of cream.
Add mashed cauliflower to meat pie and top with peppers. Cook for an additional 5 minutes to heat all ingredients.
Remove, serve and sprinkle with Smoked Serrano sea salt.
I do love roasting tray fulls of poblano peppers to have on hand throughout the week. So I had these in the fridge and I had a frozen puree of fresh mango in the freezer.
Well...I thought what a perfect combination with a little smokey heat sea salt to tie them all together!
Now the protein....I had just recently purchased 4 gorgeous fresh fillets of tilapia from The Fresh Market so I was going with a fish dinner tonight.
Here it goes...
Ingredients:
1) 4 large fillets of tilipia or your fish of choice.
2) Blood orange olive oil or your favorite olive oil and a squeeze of one whole blood orange.
3) 1 teaspoon of smoked serrano sea salt.
4) 3 tablespoons of grass fed butter.
5) One whole lemon sliced.
6) 2 whole mango's pureed.
7) 2 roasted poblano peppers.
Directions:
Arrange your fish fillets in a large baking tray and drizzle all the pieces with your blood orange olive oil or your own mixture. Sprinkle all fillets with the Smoked Serrano sea salt and arrange the lemon slices over the fish. Cover and bake in an oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Uncover and add the butter to the top of fillets and cook for an additional 5 minutes to melt butter.
The puree is made from scooping two whole ripe mangos into a blender along with two roasted poblano peppers seasoned with smoked serrano sea salt and two tablespoons of blood orange olive oil.
The puree is added to the fish when plated along with a sprinkling of Ghost Pepper sea salt for an additional heat factor!
This is fabulous served on top of basmati rice!
Enjoy!
I love roasting tray fulls of Poblano Peppers and using them throughout the week in various dishes. I love the heat and smokey flavor they add to dishes.
I also cook a whole chicken each week to eat and more importantly to make several quarts of homemade chicken stock. Chicken stock is full of healthy minerals and does wonders for the digestive tract. There is a lot of truth to the old wives tale of chicken soup to get you through a cold.
So what I did this week was to combine my two favorite items - chicken and poblano!
First thing I did was to roast the poblano peppers.
Ingredients:
1) 5-6 Poblano Peppers
2) Olive Oil
3) Smoked Serrano sea salt
Directions:
Wash and place whole Poblano Peppers on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and heat in 425 degree oven until tender and slightly charred. Turn midway and finish with Smoked Serrano sea salt. Once finished, chop in pieces and store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for several days (if they last that long).
The chicken I cook each week is a whole organic roaster chicken. Take this lovely bird and place into a large stock pot and cover with fresh filtered water. I usually add about 6 inches over the whole chicken.
Bring to a boil and remove any foam that arises. Once boiling reduce heat to low and cook for 2 hours. Pull out the chicken and debone. Reserve all chicken meat and add bones back to the stock pot, minus the skin.
Simmer the bones in this stock for about 24 hours on low. Once simmered, use a strainer to obtain the chicken stock from the bones. I use a large metal mesh strainer over a two quart pouring vessel and then add this to quart jars.
These keep about a week in the refrigerator and can be frozen for longer periods. I use them in soups, rice, vegetables and drink a cup of hot broth each day.
Ok, back to my chicken and poblano dish!
The chicken cooked this way is extremely tender and juicy. I use this reserved chicken and add sauteed onions and roasted poblano peppers with a quick stir fry on the stove top for a fantastic combination!
Add your favorite Old City Salt to elevate this dish. We used Ghost Pepper sea salt in this dish. Also to make a complete meal add rice, pasta or toasted bruschetta!
