Beef Rendang

I am a big fan of Southeast Asian cuisine.  I particularly like how there is a subtle combination of flavors that hits all of your taste buds; sour, sweet, salty, and bitter.  I also really like spicy food.  There has only been one occasion in my life where food was so spicy that I literally could not eat it.  Otherwise, bring it on.

I recently subscribed to Cooking Light, as I felt that I should pay them for supplying me with content for this blog.  As I was flipping through my first issue, March 2010, I came across this recipe for Beef Rendang.  The write-up says it is a Malaysian dish that has rich flavors of spice and lemongrass.  I noted that some of my favorite flavors were in this dish – coconut milk, ginger, lime.  Sold.

In addition to purchasing a Cooking Light subscription, I also recently purchased a Magic Bullet.  I used this as my food processor for this recipe.  While this option worked well for the spices and peppers, it was not the best choice for mixing the coconut milk and flakes.  The bullet spins too fast and the mixture just goes up the sides of the container.  Stick with a conventional food processor for this step.

As this dish was cooking, I learned again that this was not a small-apartment-friendly aroma.  While the curry smell is delicious and tantalizing, it also permeates anything made of fabric.  And it stays there for a while.  Be warned that simmering this for 90 minutes will definitely fill your entire house with the scent.

Unfortunately, I made an error in calculating the time for this to cook, so I had to wait a day.  I was eagerly anticipating this dinner the whole day, and I was excited to come home and heat this up.  I made some jasmine rice instead of the basmati called for in the recipe, and I was off.

Sweet leaping Jesus this dish has spice to it.  Serious spice.  The aroma of the dish in its plate is deceptively sweet, and in no way does it hint at the fiery bite contained within.  As I have said, I like spicy food.  I think there was too much spice and not enough of the other delicious flavors.  Don’t use two Serranos.  Don’t use a full Serrano.  Three-quarters of a Serrano would be the maximum I would use next time.  Maybe if they were roasted or de-seeded it may have been a different story.

Aside from the intense heat, the flavors in this dish are great.  Don’t be scared off by some semi-foreign ingredients like chili garlic sauce.  This dish is great, and I can see the sauce working well with chicken or pork as well.

Shiitake & Sweet Pea Risotto

Risotto.  That word brings two things to my mind: Gordon Ramsay and fat.  Both of these words and their connotations have led me to believe that this blog would never see a risotto recipe.  Ramsay because of the difficulty associated with making risotto.  Fat because of the butter, cream, and cheese that are the foundation of the dish.

I just received the latest issue of Cooking Light and almost fell off my couch when I saw a risotto recipe.  I was immediately skeptical of how it would turn out, but noticed that the recipe still retained a small amount of both butter and parmesan.  Awesome.

Because of my skepticism, I wanted to follow this recipe to the letter.  No substitutions, no shortcuts.  I wanted to make sure that I would be giving fair and objective feedback on this recipe exactly as it is printed.  Due to a slight oversight on my part, however, the only alteration I had to make was using dried thyme instead of fresh.  Remember to use less dried herbs than fresh.  I used about half of what was called for in this recipe.

I've made risotto before, and this one was definitely a little different.  When you add the broth to the pot you are supposed to stir the mixture until the liquid is gone.  Keep in mind that this doesn't mean gone completely.  Instead, the mixture should be thick and creamy, almost resembling instant oatmeal.  That is the point that you add another portion of broth.  While making this recipe, however, the liquid didn't entirely dissipate.  After adding the last portion of broth and stirring for several minutes, it didn't appear to that it was being absorbed.  I stirred for a few more minutes.  Nothing.  I threw my hands up and moved on.

Strangely enough, adding in the rest of the ingredients was the binding agent that the dish needed.  Everything thickened up and it looked beautiful.  It tasted beautiful too.  I would never know that this dish came from Cooking Light.  I don't even think I have anything I would change (aside from the fresh thyme). Make this dish.  Now.

Sun Dried Tomato and Lentil Soup

Most of the recipes I have posted on this site were found through browsing some websites and picking out what sounds tasty.  The recipe for Sun Dried Tomato and Lentil soup found me, however.

There was a wintry sunday afternoon just after a blizzard.  I found myself in Harrah's Atlantic City because they have a domed pool that is kept at 82 degrees.  Another thing that they have is the Waterfront Buffet.  I am a sucker for a buffet almost as much as I am a sucker for gambling.  While making the rounds at the buffet, I found a sun dried tomato and lentil soup.  It was A-MA-ZING.  Obviously, upon returning home, my first mission was to find a recipe and re-create the dish.

Strangely, there were not too many recipes that even sounded like they would come close.  I finally stumbled upon a food blog by Emily called "A Year on the French Diet."  Thank you Emily.  With only two small modifications needed, you really nailed it.

It will come as no surprise when I say that Emily's version of the recipe was too watery.  In addition, the version I was aiming for was more of a puree so I had to try and get to that point.  I used a stick blender to puree the soup into a thicker version.  The only other modification needed is to add more sun dried tomatoes.  I think the lentil taste was stronger than the tomatoes, and I would prefer it the other way around.  If you don't like the taste of sun dried tomatoes as much, adjust to your tastes.

Needless to say, this recipe is going to be heavily inserted into the rotation for as long as I can bear to eat soup.

Lentils with Garlic & Rosemary

More lentils.  I wanted something that was less soupy and more stewy.  I also really like garlic.  I figured that this Lentils with Garlic and Rosemary recipe from Cooking Light was worth a shot.

The end result is almost exactly what I was looking for.  As it turns out, it was a whole lot of what I was looking for.  As much as I hated to do it, and as much as I heard my mother's voice chiding me about starving kids in Africa, I actually had so much of this dish leftover that I had to throw it away before I was able to eat it all.  For a family of 4 this recipe would be good for two meals each.  For a single person, even cutting this recipe in half would be a lot of food.

Another very strange thing about this recipe is the amount of onions it calls for.  When I was throwing all the ingredients into the crock pot, I had to go back and check to see that it wasn't called "Lentils with Onions and Onions." Don't worry, though, this actually turns out fine and doesn't have an overbearing onion flavor.