Author: admin (Page 13 of 51)

Mashed Potatoes

A couple of days ago I made mashed potatoes to go with the short ribs I was serving for dinners (you have to have mashed potatoes if you serve short ribs!). Usually, I follow a very good recipe for buttermilk mashed potatoes from the The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. This time, however, I didn’t have either buttermilk or cream, so I had to use regular 1% milk and butter. No matter, the mashed potatoes were phenomenal. The kids couldn’t eat them fast enough. And really, given how much fat they had, no wonder! Still, if what you want are really good mashed potatoes, this is the way to do it. Now, don’t forget to warm up the milk and butter!

  • 2 or 3 large russet potatoes
  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 4 Tbsp. semi-melted butter
  • more salt

Put salted water to boil.  Wash and peel the potatoes.  Cut them into large chunks.  Drop into boiling water and cook until very soft.  Drain and put in a large bowl.  Mash with a potato masher. Add milk, butter and salt to taste (taste first!).  Whip on the lowest setting of an electric mixer until they’re as fluffy as you like them, be careful to not overmix.  Taste again and serve.
Marga’s Best Recipes

Frozen Banana Leaves

Yesterday I made a dish that required cooking in banana leaves, so I looked up exactly how to do it.  It was fairly easy.

You can buy frozen banana leaves at Asian and Latin markets in the US.  They are usually in the same area where they have other wrappings (eggroll skins, empanada shells, etc.).  Each package seems to have one leaf, but these are huge so you probably won’t need more than one.  They cost about $1-$1.50.  After you buy it, keep the banana leaf frozen until ready to use.

When you’re ready for it, boil water in a wide saute pan or similar.  Take the banana leaf out of the package and put it in the pan – if it doesn’t fit (and it won’t, unless you have a HUGE pan, just put one side of it, and keep moving it until the whole thing defrosts.  Alternatively, if you have a large enough pan to fit the banana leaf, just pour boiling water on it and keep it there until it defrosts.  You want the banana leaf to be flexible.

Cut off the center rib of the leaf with a knife and discard.

Then tear the leaf into sections large enough to roll your packet in.  Make it be about 5-6 times as large as the food you put inside it.  Then roll it like you would a burrito: roll it once, fold in the top and bottom corners and continue rolling it.  Secure it with kitchen string.

Fish cooked in Banana Leaves

Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Pureed Vegetables

This epicurious.com recipe is quite good and simple to make.  Most importantly, I had all the ingredients to prepare them at home, the only thing I had to buy were the short ribs (on sale at Lucky’s for $3 lb).  I’d made the recipe before and liked it quite a bit then.  It was very good this time too, though I would have liked to cook the short ribs for another hour (alas, I didn’t have the time).  No matter, the kids didn’t eat any so I have enough leftovers for another dinner – I’ll just add some wine & chicken broth to the sauce and give them that extra cooking hour before we eat them next time.  To give yourself plenty of time to make this, start it 4 hours before you want to serve it.

I followed this recipe quite closely, though I used considerably less liquid as my pot was full.  I still ended up with way too much sauce.

I served this with mashed potatoes and it was very, very yummy.

Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Pureed Vegetables

  • 5 black peppercorns
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 Tbsp. coarse salt
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary leaves
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh sage leaves
  • 4 – 5 lbs beef short ribs
  • 1/2 cup cooking oil
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1 bottle red wine

Instructions

Put the peppercorns, bay leaf, salt, rosemary and sage in a food grinder, and grind until well combined.  Rub the mixture all over the short ribs, set aside.

Heat the oil in a wide, large pot over medium-high heat.  Working in batches, brown the short ribs on both sides. Remove short ribs and set aside.  Pour off the oil and discard.  Put the pot back on medium heat and deglace with the chicken broth, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom.  Turn off heat, pour broth into a bowl and reserve.

Add the olive oil to the pot and heat over medium-low heat.  Add the onions, carrots and celery and saute until browned, about 12 minutes.  Add the tomato paste and sauté 2 minutes.  Add the reserved chicken broth and bring to a simmer.  Return the short ribs and any accumulated juices to the pot.  Add the wine and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 to 3 hours.

Remove short ribs from pot and set aside.  Working in batches, pour the sauce into a blender and puree until smooth.  Return sauce to the pot and boil until it has a thick consistency.  Return the short ribs to the sauce and cook over medium heat until the short ribs have heated through.

Marga’s beef recipes

African products @ 88 Supermarket in San Leandro

I just stopped by the 88 Supermarket to buy some frozen banana leaves ($1.20), and while I waited for Mike to finish the purchase, I did some quick browsing.  I was happy to find one aisle with a bunch of African items. They had manioc, cassava, semolina and plantain flours, some manioc couscous, flour for fufu, egusi, groundnut butter (peanut butter but African), lots and lots of palm oil (starting at $4 for a small jar).  You can see some of the other products they carry on the picture below. I originally thought they didn’t have maggi cubes, but clearly this picture shows that they do.

88 Supermarket
14405 E 14th St
San Leandro, CA
(510) 351-8200

Buying a Catfish @ 88 Super Market

Angelina’s Pastries – San Leandro

Update: The bakery is closed, a hair salon has opened in its place.

Angelina’s Pastries opened a few weeks ago in the space previously occupied by Marita’s Sweet Potato Pie. I’m sad to see Marita’s go, but red velvet cake lovers need notdespair, Angelina’s has it too. Alas, the cakes are more expensive and smaller than those sold by Marita’s, and I haven’t yet tried them.

I did stop by Angelina’s the other day to take a look at their goodies. They mostly serve European-style pastries, the owner specializes in cakes and chocolate work. The do have some Mexican pastries and they also do cakes-to-order.

Camila and I shared a dessert that consisted of a white cake with vanilla pudding and chocolate fondant. The portion was large enough, and appropriately priced at $2.50. I thought it lacked umph, but Camila liked it. I am looking forward to trying more of their pastries, however.

Angelina’s Pastries
600 Dutton Ave, Ste C
San Leandro, CA
(510) 636-9470
Facebook page

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Beef Back Ribs

Beef back ribs are often on sale at Safeway. I’ve never gotten them before because they are sold “previously frozen” (though not actually defrosted), and I tend to stay away from frozen beef, as freezing interferes with texture.  But I finally decided to give them a try.  I  cooked them by separating them into chunks of 2-3 ribs, rubbing them with a mixture of garlic & onion powder, salt and pepper and baking them, covered with foil, in a 375F oven for 2 hours.  I then uncovered them, basted them with BBQ sauce, and meant to cook them for another hour.  Well, the BBQ sauce was already burning after I checked on them 1/2 hour into the cooking so I took them out.

The ribs tested fine (despite the BBQ sauce burning), and they were tender enough (not overly so), but there was too little meat and too much fat in the huge bones. Even at $1.70 lb, it wasn’t probably a great deal given how much actual food you got out of them.  I don’t think I’d buy them again.

Cape Cod Fish & Chip Restaurant Review – Sacramento

SO & I were in Sacramento a couple of weeks ago for the California Democratic Convention and, on our first night there, we wanted something quick, easy and cheap for dinner. SO LOVES fish & chips, so when he came across positive reviews for Cape Cod Fish & Chip, we knew that’s where we were headed. It was a good call.
Cape Cod Fish & Chip is a very modest restaurant located in a strip mall. It has an open kitchen, a couple of seats at a counter and a few tables. It is not going to win any prizes for ambiance. The menu is quite straight forward: fried fish & seafood, assorted fried things, teriyaki bowls and burgers. Prices are reasonable, I think we paid about $7-8 for a plate with 3 fried fish fillet & fries.

The fish was quite good. Not terribly flavorful (but the tartar sauce helped here), but very crispy and non-oily. I enjoyed it. The fries were average. Service was prompt. We’d definitely eat there again if we were back in Sacramento..

Cape Cod Fish & Chips
5113 Folsom Boulevard
Sacramento, CA
(916) 456-4404

Marga’s Restaurant Reviews

Impra Organic Black Tea – Review

I got a box of Impra Organic Black Tea bags at Grocery Outlet ($1.50 for 25) and I was quite pleased with it. This Ceylon tea has a medium flavor, it stands well to milk and sugar. It was quite tasty, and given the great price I’ll probably buy a few more boxes.

Petite sirloin steak @ Safeway

Safeway had value packs of “petite sirloin steak” for sale this week at $3lb (a dollar less than top sirloin), so I figured I’d buy some. I wasn’t too sure what “petite sirloin steak” was, but a google search showed that this cut is also known as “sirloin tips”, “round tips”, “flap steak” or “flap meat”. It’s the part of the round that’s right next to the sirloin. The pieces at Safeway consisted of small, thick steaks, with a layer of fat on one edge.
I used them to make Beef Stroganoff. This required me to cut the petite sirloins into thin strips and then pan fry them on some oil. I was surprised at how tender the results were: perhaps not as tender as a tenderloin, but definitely more tender than a sirloin or similar steak. For this purpose, this was an ideal cut. Flavor-wise I wasn’t too thrilled with it, it wasn’t as gamy as I’d like it, but you don’t need much flavor when you have a sauce like Stroganoff. I’ll definitely buy this cut again when it’s on sale to use in dishes where I want tenderness for cheap.

Jazz Kitchen Express @ Downtown Disney – Review

jazzkitchenexpress.jpgI planned my day at Disneyland quite well, including where to go for lunch, but I neglected to make dinner plans. Truth be told I thought the kids would be too tired to eat and would grab something quick somewhere. I forgot about me. So, when we found ourselves hungry outside of Disneyland near 8 PM, facing a one-to-two hours drive home, we knew we had to get some food, we just didn’t know where. So I walked down Downtown Disney trying to find something that wouldn’t be too expensive and had a hope to be good. The Jazz Kitchen Express seemed like our best bet, but the food was poor and expensive for the quantities, next time I’ll do my homework.
The Jazz Kitchen Express is basically a food counter attached to the full Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen restaurant in downtown Disney serving Southern/Creole sandwiches and dishes. Sitting is outside, by the street. It was cold on a May evening and they didn’t have heat lamps.
I ordered the catfish & fries for myself (~$8) and was amazed that the catfish portion consisted of two microscopic pieces of fish. I’d say that in all I probably got 2 oz of fish. It was fairly tasty, if a bit cold, but come on! The portion of fries was more abundant, the fries were not particularly tasty and a bid dry, but edible. Mika and Nikki were unhappy that the cheese in their plain cheeseburgers ($6) wasn’t melted, using cold cheese and not melting it also made the whole burgers sort of cold. SO probably fared best with his pulled pork Po Boy sandwich ($8) but only by default. The meat wasn’t very abundant and it wasn’t particularly tasty.
I finished my meal with a large piece of bread pudding ($5.50). It was decent. The hot chocolate ($3), however, was not. It was made with water rather than milk and it was steaming hot. Even with some ice it took over half an hour and a couple of burnt tongues to cool down.
In all, it was a disappointing meal, the sort of meal you have when you have no other choices.
Jazz Kitchen Express
Downtown Disney District
Anaheim, Ca
714-776-5200
http://www.rbjazzkitchen.com/jazzexpress.php
Venue Restaurant Reviews
Restaurant Reviews

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 Marga's Food Blog

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

RSS
Follow by Email
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
WhatsApp
FbMessenger