Quinoa...  

Posted by The Spotted Horse Owl

I think this was in the salad that DD and I had at the MoMA.

Here is a Quinoa and Avacado Salad recipe from Fine Cooking.

This Southwestern one sounds good too.

This simple one with garden veggies is worth a second look.

Indian Food  

Posted by The Spotted Horse Owl

Show Me the Curry

Palak Paneer  

Posted by The Spotted Horse Owl

Here.

And another Parasol's style  

Posted by The Spotted Horse Owl

 as shared by NOLA Cuisine again:  (This one word work to have the RB in the oven in the gravy (or maybe in the crockpot) and ready to go!)  The video is helpful too.


Parasol’s Style Roast Beef Po Boy Recipe
For the Beef:
2 lbs Beef Round, I used a bottom round Roast
Water, enough to cover by one inch in a dutch oven
For the Gravy:
1/2 Cup Flour
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder (must be powder, not granulated)
1 tsp Black Pepper
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/4 Cup Oil
1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet
3 Cups Broth, reserved from the boiled beef (maybe more if your gravy gets too thick)
Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add the beef roast, when the pot comes back to a boil, reduce the heat to medium to medium high, you should have a heavy simmer. Cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the liquid and refrigerate until cold. Reserve about five cups of the broth, you won’t need all of it, but keep some to thin the gravy out if necessary.
While the beef is cooling make the gravy.
Bring 3 cups of the reserved cooking liquid to a boil in a small saucepan.
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, then the oil and kitchen bouquet, when thoroughly blended, whisk the mixture into the boiling broth, whisk together well, and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. If necessary add a little of the reserved broth if the gravy is too thick. It should be. not too thick, not too thin. Let the gravy simmer for 20-30 minutes adjust for seasonings, it should have a good amount of salt as the beef has none.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
When the beef is cold, slice it as thin as possible and lay the slices in a 9X9 baking pan. The thicker your slices are, the longer it will take in the oven, so slice thin. or your hungry ass will be waiting. :-)
Cover the beef with 2-3 cups of the gravy. Place into the oven 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the beef is fall apart tender.
For the Po Boy:
2 ten inch French Loaves, see article above
Mayonnaise
2 Tomatoes, sliced
2 Cups shredded Iceburg Lettuce
1 Dill Pickle, sliced
The Roast Beef from the above recipe
Slice the bread in half lengthwise and lay both halves side by side. Slather a bunch of mayonnaise on both sides (I’ll be the cholesterol devil on your shoulder: Come on, your doctor’s not lookin’, don’t be stingy!).
On the top half, add pickle slices, tomato slices, and 1 Cup of the lettuce. On the bottom half, add 1/2 of the beef and gravy mixture (please note, I super-sized the amount of beef in this recipe). Fold the top over the side with the beef and put on a sheet pan. Repeat with the second sandwich. Place the sheet pan in the oven for 2-3 minutes to crisp and warm the bread.
Cut each sandwich in half and serve on paper plates for authenticity. Serve with your favorite cold beer, Barq’s in a bottle, Zapp’s chips, and a big ole’ pile of napkins. Enjoy!
Serves 2 hungry eating machines, or 4 light weights.

Another RB Po' Boy  

Posted by The Spotted Horse Owl

option from gumbopages.

  • 1 beef chuck roast or shoulder roast, about 5-6 pounds
  • 1/4 pound piece of salt pork, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 cups minced onion
  • 1 tablespooon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning blend
  • 1/4 cup lard, bacon drippings or solid shortening (e.g., Crisco)
  • 6 carrots, diced
  • 6 ribs celery, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon minced parsley
  • 2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 bottle good red wine
  • 2 beef marrow bones
  • 2 quarts beef stock or water, hot (but don't use water ... if you're going to go to all this trouble, MAKE THE STOCK!)
Cut a pattern of incisions across the top of the roast every couple of inches, each long and deep enough to hold a slice of salt pork. Combine half the garlic, 1 cup of the onion (mince this finely), 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the black pepper, and push this mixture into the slits you've made for the salt pork. Press salt pork into the beef and tie it securely, trying to make the shape of the roast as even as possible for even cooking. In a pot broad and deep enough to hold the roast with room to spare for all the braising liquid, melt the lard over medium heat. Brown the roast well all around, keeping the salt pork inside. Add all remaining seasonings, carrots, celery, parsley and thyme to the pot, cooking until the onions are limp. Add wine and enough hot beef stock or water to nearly cover beef. Add bones. Cover pot and simmer 4 hours, until beef is very tender.
Remove beef from pot to another dish that will hold dripping juices. Raise heat under liquid and boil hard, uncovered, 45 minutes. While boiling down the gravy, baste the roast so it doesn't dry out.
Remove salt pork strips from beef and slice it as best you can (it will fall into chunks and shreds; the smaller you shred it, the more it'll be like the legendary "debris" from Mother's), putting the pieces into a separate serving or storage dish. Strain the gravy, season it to taste with salt, freshly ground pepper and optionally a small pinch or two of cayenne and pour it over the beef. There should be about a quart of gravy. The resulting mixture should be sloppy, luscious and profoundly beefy.
Serve on fresh, crisp crusted New Orleans-style French bread -- average po-boy size is at least nine inches. Make sure the French bread (a good baguette will do) is not chewy. The bread must be crispy on the outside and light on the inside. Serve your roast beef po-boys dressed (with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc.) or with nuttin' on it, but "mynez" (mayonnaise, that is) really is a must. I like mixing plenty of horseradish into my mayonnaise, by the way. Optionally, you could serve this as a plate lunch or dinner with vegetables and potatoes as well.
YIELD: enough roast beef debris for about 10-12 good-sized poor boys.

I need to find some recipes for NO food for the Super Bowl  

Posted by The Spotted Horse Owl

Roast Beef Po' Boys from NOLA Cuisine looks pretty good.... but I need to find the bread.... hmmm.


There is nothing quite as soul satisfying (or messy) than a good old Roast Beef Po’ Boy in New Orleans. The best way to judge a good one is by the number of napkins you used to keep your chin semi-dry (Seriously, make sure you are stocked up on napkins.) My favorite place in New Orleans for a Roast Beef Po’ Boy is Parasol’s in the Irish Channel.
Like all other Po’ Boys, the most important ingredient isn’t the filling (although that is important as well, don’t get me wrong), but the bread. New Orleans Po’ Boy Bread, or Long Bread is light in the center with a wonderful flaky crust. It is almost impossible to find outside of New Orleans, which is why I’m working on a recipe for it, the one in the photo is my 3rd draft, it turned out very, very good, it just needs to be tweaked.
For my Creole Roast Beef I use an inexpensive, well marbled Chuck Roast, which is from the shoulder. Very tough, but extremely flavorful. I’ve found that braising works best for this cut, nice and slow. I did 4 hours, the object is for the meat to just fall apart…not by breathing on it, that would still be too tough, but by just looking at it. About a 10 second stare should do the trick.
I’ve found that I like a mixture of Beef Stock, Chicken Stock, and water for my braising liquid. The reason I don’t use straight Beef Stock is that I make an extremely rich one, and I reduce my gravy instead of using a thickening agent. When all is said and done, the gravy was just too much of a good thing, too intense. This way comes out just right. Extremely Beefy and delicious!
Here is the recipe:

Roast Beef Po’ Boy with Debris Gravy Recipe
For the Roast:
1 Beef Chuck Roast (this one was 2 ½ pounds)
2 Garlic Cloves thinly sliced
Kosher Salt & Black Pepper
Cayenne
3 Tbsp Lard or Vegetable Oil
1 Small Onion, Diced
1 Small Carrot, Diced
1 Cup Beef Stock
1 Cup Chicken Stock
Water if necessary
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp Hot Sauce
2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 Fresh Bay Leaf
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Cut small slits into the roast, about every 3 inches, try not to pierce all the way to the bottom. Stuff the sliced garlic into the slits.
Season the Roast very liberally on all sides with the Salt & Black Pepper, season with Cayenne to your taste, I don’t use much.
Heat the fat in a heavy bottomed Dutch Oven over high heat, when the oil starts to smoke, wait a few more seconds, then carefully add the Roast cut side down. Brown very well on all sides, without burning it. Remove to a plate.
Drain off all but 1 Tbsp of the fat in the pan, add the onions and carrots, cook until the onions just start to brown, place the roast back in the pan, then add the stocks. Finish, if necessary, with enough water to bring the cooking liquid 3/4 of the way up the roast. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then back down to a simmer. Simmer covered for 3-4 hours or until the meat falls apart by staring at it.
For the Debris Gravy:
Carve the meat into very thin slices, it will be hard to do and will fall apart, that is good. All of the bits and pieces, that fall off are your Debris (pronounced DAY-bree.) Add all of the bits and chunks to you cooking liquid after skimming off the fat from the surface, keep the carved meat with a little liquid on a warm plate, covered tightly with plastic wrap. Bring the gravy to a full boil and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
For the Po’ Boy:
New Orleans Style French Bread (Po’ Boys are generally about 9-10 inches long per sandwich. As you can see I made mine a bit smaller, shame on me.) Cut the bread 3/4 of the way through leaving a hinge (as seen in the background of the pic.) I find the hinge makes for slightly, easier eating.
Shredded Lettuce (or Cabbage a la Mothers)
Mayonnaise
Roast Beef (see above)
Debris Gravy
Slather the bread with a very generous portion of Mayonnaise on the inside of the upper and lower halves. Place about a cup of Shredded Lettuce on the bottom half. Cover the lettuce with a generous portion of the “sliced” Beef. Drown the beef with Debris Gravy.
Grab a stack of napkins, a cold beer and enjoy!
**Note – To make this a Ferdi Special a la Mother’s, add Good quality sliced ham underneath the Beef!
This Roast will make about 4 very generous Po’ Boys.

Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies  

Posted by The Spotted Horse Owl

These look very good.