Pure Beef: Tamarind Beef Satay

The email subject read, “As far from fake beef as one can get.”

That was enough to spark my curiosity.

When I opened the email I wasn't aware of the cookbook that awaited me, of the story that would later have me nodding my head, or the fact that it would be so educational that my husband would hijack it for a day and read the first 70 pages.

Pure Beef: An Essential Guide to Artisan Meat with Recipes for Every Cut

The title says a lot, but it does not say it all. I've found this cookbook to serve as a novel as I have read through Lynne Curry's story. Lynne is a former vegetarian who now finds herself in Oregon's Wallowa Valley enjoying what I can only imagine is one of the most beautiful places on earth with some of the best food.

I live in central Kentucky and it's pretty beautiful here, too. As I write this I just happen to have a chorus of cows singing from the farm behind our house, but I've been to Oregon and I love it. This can be considered – how I related to this book #1.

Number 2, is the story of how a vegetarian came to enjoy the flavor of grassfed beef culturally, nutritionally, and ethically. To paraphrase roughly, the moment was during her international travels in Guatemala when she was graciously offered grassfed beef as a gesture of hospitality.

While I have never been a vegetarian, I fully believe that culture and respect for the people of that culture should override what we will and will not eat. I've tried many things, and maybe one day I will be put in a position where I just can't stomach it, but as of now this is my view. It was a view that I felt I shared with the author as I read, making this book even more meaningful.

I was never all that crazy about beef until I enjoyed the local grassfed beef of the Bluegrass. This opportunity occurred only about 2 years ago when we returned to the States. Now it is the only beef I will buy. There are many reasons for this, and I will let you read through these when you get your copy of Pure Beef. Considering my background, nutrition is one reason.

As I moved past the why of the book, I got to the how. How to cut beef, how to buy it, how to cook it. I still have a lot more to read, but this is as much a resource for my library as a cookbook.

Then you get to the recipes. There truly is a recipe for every cut, and an endless amount of tips on how to cook it all. Coffee Bean-Chile Rubbed Sirloin Roast, Boneless Oxtail and Buckwehat Crepe Purses, and Baked Argentinian Empanadas to name a few.

There are side dishes and condiments galore as well, with and without beef, such as Roasted Corn Salsa, Butternut Squash Bread Pudding, and Lemony Chard Bundles. There are also variations on recipes such as the gluten-free meat loaf.

There were too many great recipes to choose from, so I had to use a bit of a spin-the-bottle approach to select one. I landed on Tamarind Beef Satay.

 

We picked up a tri tip from our local grassfed beef source, Marksbury Farm Market. It worked beautifully and all the credit has to go to my husband. One tip he picked up from the book was to freeze the meat for about 20 minutes before slicing it thinly for the satay. He sliced, I mixed the marinade.

This recipe is simple and the satay cooked up on the grill quickly. The sweet and tart flavors of the tamarind, honey and fish sauce go so well together. Next time I'll probably add just a little more chile sauce because we are spicy food fans. We served up the satay with grilled corn and a green salad. Easy and delicious!

Tamarind Beef Satay

Recipe reprinted with permission from Pure Beef © 2012 by Lynne Curry, Running

Press, a member of the Perseus Book Group.

From the book:

Tamarind is an intoxicating sour and sweet fruit from Indonesia where satay is the go-to snack on a stick. It is incredible with beef, so I created a tamarind marinade that lacquers thin beef strips to grill or broil. Satay makes a wonderful appetizer; to fill it out for a main dish, I accompany it with another Indonesian favorite, a fruit salad called Rujak, which has as many renditions as pasta salad does in this country. My version is a beautiful chopped salad of cucumbers, jicama, pineapple, and mango that’s crunchy, juicy, sweet, and tart. Served along with Sticky Rice or steamed rice, it turns satay into a tantalizing meal, just the thing to wake up your taste buds in the middle of winter. 
 

Makes 4 servings as a main dish; 8 as an appetizer

3 tablespoons tamarind paste*

3 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon chile sauce, such as sambal oelek

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts

1 to 11/2 pounds top sirloin steak, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick strips

Mix the tamarind paste, honey, fish sauce, chile sauce, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Pound the peanuts in a mortar and pestle or in a heavy-duty plastic bag with a rolling pin to the texture of fine breadcrumbs and stir into the tamarind sauce. Put the beef strips in the bowl, toss to coat, and marinate for about 15 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat a charcoal or gas grill for high heat (425°F to 475°F), scraping the grate clean and oiling it lightly, or preheat the broiler. Thread the slices onto wooden or metal skewers, stitching the beef on and then stretching it along the skewer so that it looks like a miniature banner. Thread any short strips onto the same skewer.

Grill or broil the skewers for 11/2 to 2 minutes per side and serve the satay warm or at room temperature. 

*Note: Tamarind is available from Asian grocery markets in several different forms. Tamarind paste is the easiest form that can be used straight from the jar. If your tamarind is labeled concentrate, use only 1 tablespoon and mix it with 2 tablespoons water. If you have a block of tamarind, chop about 1/2 cup of it, use a fork to mash it with 6 tablespoons of boiling water, and let it soften for about 5 minutes. Use a fine-meshed strainer to extract 3 tablespoons of pulp, pressing on the mixture firmly with a spoon.

This weekend Fake Food Free celebrates its 4^th birthday!

In celebration of this milestone, I can think of no better item to give away than a copy of Pure Beef. It represents so much of what inspired me to start the blog in the first place.

We are going to keep it simple.

Head over and visit Lynne Curry's website to gather more about the story of Pure Beef, and come back to leave a comment here telling me why you'd enjoy having your own copy.

Do this before Friday, June 1, 2012 at 11:59 pm EST to enter. The book will be sent to the winner directly from the publisher, and this giveaway is open to US residents only.

P.S. I have comment moderation on to control spam so your comment will post as soon as I have the chance to approve it.

Good luck! Believe me, you want this cookbook!

Disclosure: A copy of this cookbook was sent to me for review purposes. I was not required to post about it and received no compensation for doing so. 

Borekitas: Hazan Family Favorites

When I received my copy of the Hazan Family Favorites cookbook I will admit I had to do some research. There is no doubt that this speaks to my lack of knowledge of Italian cuisine.  It made me think about how it is possible to feel affection for a cuisine without really knowing it at all.

There is no question that I love homemade pasta and marinara sauces, or that I believe they are 100% worth the time and effort it takes to make them. I enjoy bean soups and simple meat cutlets, and the other elegant offerings that come from an Italian kitchen.

What I think I have often overlooked is the simplicity. 

In case you have some more to learn about Italian cooking like I did, the book was written by Guiliano Hazan. He is the son of Marcella Hazan whose cookbooks are credited with introducing the United States to traditions and techniques of Italian cooking. 

The book is a collection of recipes rescued from a fifty-six year-old notebook. As you flip through it and see the pictures you can feel the history and importance of its pages.

What you also see when you read the recipes is simplicity. Most of the recipes use only a handful of fresh ingredients to create a stunning end product. It’s impressive, educating, hunger-inducing, and it makes you think – okay, I’m ready to begin mastering the art of Italian cooking. 

Or if you are like me, it may also make you think – okay, let’s book the trip to Italy!

Amid the Fettuccine with Orange, Fried Parmesan Cheese-Battered Lamb Chops, and the Peach-and-Strawberry Semifreddo, the Borekitas caught my attention. What’s not to love about spinach, feta and ricotta stuffed into a bite-size pastry? Absolutely nothing. These are delicious. 

Borekitas

From Hazan Family Recipes, reprinted with permission from Abram Books 

 

Time from start to finish: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Makes about 20 borekitas 

From the cookbook:

My parents and I went to my grandparents’ almost every Friday for Shabbat dinner. I can still

taste and smell the wonderful little pies my Nonna Giulia made, which she called borekitas.

She made them either with a dough shell or a phyllo shell. The fillings were spinach or cheese.

In attempting to replicate them, I used Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food as a guide.

Both the cheese and spinach fillings below are just like what I remember, and the dough shell,

my favorite of the two, is just as good as the one Nonna Giulia used to make.

FOR the dough

4 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

FOR the spinach filling (I made the spinach)

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces fresh spinach, washed

1 ounce feta cheese

2 tablespoons whole-milk ricotta cheese

Cut the butter into small pieces and allow to come to room temperature.

Put all the ingredients in a food processor with 1/4 cup water and run it until a smooth, homogeneous dough forms. If it crumbles when pinched, mix in a little more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is soft and smooth when pinched.

Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for about 20 minutes before using.

Spinach filling

In a pot large enough to cook the spinach, put about 2 inches of water, and place over high heat. When the water is boiling, add the salt and spinach. Cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes, then drain.

Once the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze the excess water out and coarsely

chop. Place the spinach in a bowl. Crumble the feta and add it along with the ricotta. Mix thoroughly.

Assembling the borekitas

Preheat the oven to 350°F on the bake setting.

Take about a walnut-size ball of dough, place it on a counter, and press it with your fingers into a disk 2 inches in diameter. Put about 1 tablespoon of either cheese or spinach filling on the disk. Fold the disk over the filling to form a half-moon shape, making sure to pinch the open sides together to seal them, and place on a baking sheet, either oiled or lined with a nonstick baking mat.

When all the borekitas are assembled, bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Disclosure: A copy of this cookbook was sent to me for review purposes. I was not required to post about it and received no compensation for doing so. 

Strawberry Recipes

You don’t know how dependent you are on something until it breaks down. For most people this is associated with a car or a washing machine, but for the past week and half, for me, it’s been my camera. I didn’t realize that it was possible to miss a camera, but I do now. I can’t count how many times I've seen something I want to photograph and then feel cranky when I remember I can't do so.

Oh, and did I mention I have also realized how much of a photo snob I am now? I could, of course, use the point and shoot, but then I think – nah, it won’t give me the right depth of field or color. Yeah, it’s that bad.

The camera drama started a little over two weeks ago when my Canon Rebel Xsi body died. I made the decision to upgrade to the 60D so quickly, and the trade in went so smoothly that there was barely a hiccup in my posting. Then I started having problems with the autofocus with the new camera. I called Canon for tech help, and back went the camera for an exchange.

Now it’s been a week, and I’m still waiting…

Instead of keeping these pages blank for too long I thought I would recap some of my favorite recipes from the archives. Our strawberry season is coming to a close, but I know for many it is just starting. So here are a few ways we've used strawberries around the Fake Food Free kitchen.

Strawberry Pecan Pancakes

Whole Grain Rhubarb Waffles with Strawberry Butter

Strawberry Rhubarb Bread

Spring Garden Cobb Salad 

Easy Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry Rosemary Shortbread

I’ll be back to regular posts soon, along with some great cookbook reviews! And in case you second guessed yourself, you are still in the right place. It was time for a blog facelift, and just in time for my 4 year blog birthday. More on that to come...

Strawberry-Lime Salsa with Homemade Flour Tortillas

It's strawberry season! For the second year in a row we've been blessed with plants that keep on giving. For the past two weeks we've been getting one or more boxes of berries like this almost everyday.

While I may get overwhelmed with herbs and peppers throughout the summer, that never happens with strawberries. Any that aren't going in my mouth are going in the freezer!

It's difficult to eat them any way but straight out of the box, but I've managed to create a few things that aren't berries in a bowl or berries in oatmeal. One is this salsa.

I've always liked a little fruit in my salsa, but I was introduced to strawberry salsa last year through a recipe program with the Kentucky Proud local food project we have here and Cooperative Extension.

I wasn't sure how I'd like strawberries and tomatoes together, but one bite and I was sold. It's so good.

This is my take on strawberry salsa. I decided to serve it up with some mini flour tortillas. I have been hooked on these tortillas from the Homesick Texan. I've made corn tortillas, but I just made these flour tortillas for the first time a couple weeks ago and I've made them two more times since! This time I made them much smaller to create an appetizer-sized serving plate for the salsa.

Strawberry-Lime Salsa with Flour Tortillas

4 Roma tomatoes, de-seeded and chopped

1 cup diced strawberries

3 green onions, whites and greens sliced

¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Juice and zest of one lime

½ to 1 tsp sea salt

Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream for serving (optional)

Combine the tomatoes, strawberries and onions in a bowl. Add the cilantro, lime juice and lime zest. Stir to combine all ingredients. Stir in the salt to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

You can find the flour tortilla recipe at the Homesick Texan. When you are ready to cut the dough, cut it into 24 small pieces and follow the instructions provided. Be sure to roll it very thin. It will puff up on you during cooking.

To serve, top each tortilla with a tablespoon of salsa. Garnish each with a ½ teaspoon of yogurt or sour cream, if using. Serve immediately. Makes 24.