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What Are Your Foodie New Year’s Resolutions?

Photo (c) Flickr user nImAdestiny.
I gave up on New Year’s resolutions a long time ago. Let’s face it, if you haven’t learned French by now, it’s not happening. Sure, that new elliptical machine would be a great way to get in shape, but what's more likely is you becoming the proud owner of a $1,200 coat rack that can read your pulse rate. The only people that actually keep New Year’s resolutions are the ones that don’t need to make them.

However, I do like to set a few food related goals for the upcoming year. I’m not sure when, but I will do a quinoa recipe in 2012. I’m going to make Italian sausage. I’m planning on filming a “how to turn corned beef into pastrami” video, which I’ve done for About.com, but not on Food Wishes. I want to show you how to make perfect hash brown potatoes.

Anyway, those are a few of my New Year’s foodie resolutions – what about you? Do you have any culinary accomplishments you want to achieve in 2012? If so, please share, and we can all have a toast tonight to every one of them coming true. Enjoy!
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New Year’s Day Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing – Good Luck with That!

This spinach salad with black-eyed peas is a twist on one of my favorite American culinary traditions; the custom of serving beans and greens on New Year's Day. Supposedly eating "poor" on New Year’s Day brings much wealth and good luck throughout the year.

The greens, usually braised with ham or sausage, represents paper money, and the beans, usually black-eyed peas, symbolize coins. Here, we’re presenting those ingredients in salad form, which is a great delivery system for our hot bacon dressing– the true star in this video.

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is, “Eat more bacon,” then here’s another delicious way to work it into your diet. This peppery, sweet and tangy sauce is fast to make, and shines on other things besides wealth-generating spinach salads.

Wouldn’t this be great in a warm potato and mushroom salad, as well as a sauce for a grilled chicken breast or pork chop? What about spooned over poached eggs, or slathered on sweet potato fries? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

If making and eating this salad on January 1st doesn’t really bring you prosperity in 2012, it will certainly bring you some tasty memories, and other pleasures money can’t buy. Happy New Year, and enjoy!


Hot Bacon Dressing Ingredients: (makes about 1 1/3 cup – or 6 servings)
1/2 pound bacon, sliced and cooked in 1/4 cup vegetable oil (reserve bacon pieces and bacon fat drippings)
1/2 cup minced onions
2 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup of the bacon fat drippings
1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp cold water
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne to taste
For 6 Spinach Salads:
1 pound baby spinach, washed and dried
12 white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
1 (15-oz) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
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Roast Tenderloin of Beef with Porcini-Shallot-Tarragon Pan Sauce – It’s the Heat and the Humidity!

This New Year’s Eve splurge special is dedicated to all of you who’ve used the cost as the excuse for not doing a beef tenderloin, when the real reason is the intense fear of screwing up such an expensive cut of meat.

The thought of paying all that money for such a luxury item, only to have it end up a dry, overcooked platter of corn-fed humiliation, is just too much to take. Well, I have some very good news. Using these very simple techniques, anyone can achieve a perfectly pink and juicy roast.

One secret is the slow oven, which allows for a gentle roasting, and produces an even, rosy hue throughout the muscle. The other trick is roasting the beef on top of the pan sauce, which not only flavors the meat, but also humidifies the oven for a moist, aromatic cooking environment. 

Of course, both of those are dependent on you being able to give this a serious sear before it goes in the oven, but I have complete confidence in you.

This particular cut of beef is extremely tender, but very lean, and so cooking it beyond medium-rare is not recommended. If you like your beef medium-well and beyond, you are completely wasting your money on one of these beauties. I’m usually not that militant about having to eat steaks medium-rare, but this time I really must insist.

Anyway, if you follow these pretty basic steps, and are in possession of a quality, digital meat thermometer, there is no reason why you can’t get the same results you see here. By the way, the roughly 15 minutes per pound roasting time is just a ballpark, so be sure to start checking the temp early, so you can catch it at the perfect doneness. I hope you give it a try. Enjoy!


Ingredients (serves 6):
2 1/2 to 3 lb beef tenderloin roast
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup sliced shallots
1/4 cup tarragon white wine vinegar, or plain white wine vinegar
1 cup veal stock or chicken broth
1/4 cup cream
1/3 cup dried porcini mushrooms, soaked and diced
1/2 cup liquid from porcini mushrooms, more if needed
1 tbsp minced fresh tarragon
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Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas!

(c) 1956 Francis P. Johnson
Michele and I are heading to Windsor, CA, for Christmas with the family, and before we do, we want to wish all of you who celebrate, a very Merry Christmas! May you be surrounded by lots of loved ones, and plate after plate of great food.

I'll be taking a little holiday break from the blog until Tuesday, when we’ll be back with a brand new video recipe, so stay tuned for that. Have fun, play nice, travel safe, and as always, enjoy!!
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No-Knead Beer Bread – My Second Favorite Use for Belgian Ale

The hardest thing about this ultra-simple, no-knead bread recipe is somehow managing not to drink that last bottle of beer. In fact, if this recipe goes viral, you may actually see a “7-Pack” introduced into the market.

My beer drinking experience far exceeds my beer bread baking experience, so I’m not entirely sure exactly what the beer does here, but anecdotal evidence suggests it does delicious and beneficial things. Besides, it just feels right. When I stirred that bubbly brew into the foamy sponge, I swear I could hear the yeast moaning.

This is adapted from a recipe that my Uncle Bill adapted from our famous no-knead ciabatta bread recipe. That dough only uses a pinch of yeast, and takes about 18 hours to rise, but my Godfather proved that you could get similar results in just a few hours with this short-cut method.

So, if you were using the rising time as an excuse for not making homemade bread, well then, now what are you going to use? This really is an easy, fun, and fast recipe, and you’ll be amazed at how great the results are, even for the most inexperienced bread maker. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
For the sponge:
1 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup warm water (about 100 degrees)
Then:
12 oz bottled beer
18 ounces AP flour (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
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Crispy Crusty Potato Pancakes! (Symbolic Oil Sold Separately)

There's nothing like freshly fried potato pancakes, and thanks to Hanukkah, you can't visit a food blog right now without seeing a gorgeous-looking potato latke recipe.

I'm quite proud of my version, so I decided to repost this video from last year. We garnished this with smoked salmon, but truth be told, my favorite way to enjoy them is topped with applesauce and sour cream. I hope you enjoy seeing this potato pancake recipe again, and if you’re watching this for the first time, I really hope you give it a try. A happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating, and as always, enjoy!

Potato Pancakes – Squeeze and Be Squeezed



Click here for the original post and ingredient amounts.
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Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Glaze – A Not-So-Secret Christmas Tradition

Unlike some families, we don’t have a set-in-stone Christmas dinner menu. It really varies year to year. We’ve tried just about every holiday roast imaginable, and I don’t think we’ve even had the exact same side dishes twice, but when it comes to dessert, that’s a whole other story.

The meal must end with this gingerbread cake and it’s glistening lemon glaze. My wife Michele makes this every year, and uses a recipe she adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook, which despite being very simple, always gets rave reviews.

Of course, she adds a few secret, extra-exotic ingredients (I can’t confirm or deny that one is cardamom), which I didn’t use here, but I’ve always believed married couples should have there own unique gingerbread cake recipes, and mine features a little dash of Chinese five-spice instead.

Was it as good as Michele’s annual Christmas offering? Of course not (see why I’ve stayed happily married for 22 holidays?), but it was very delicious, and I’m sure you’d thoroughly enjoy it. So, if you’re looking for a new addition to your holiday dessert table, I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!


Gingerbread ingredients for one 8 or 9-in square cake:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (8-oz by weight)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 rounded teaspoons ground ginger (3 if you like it spicier)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup boiling water
*Bake at 350ºF or about 35 minutes.
For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
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It’s Crème Fraiche Season

Crème Fraiche is one of those extra special ingredients that seem to pop up in recipes this time of year. While sour cream may be fine the rest of the time, holiday menus demand something a little more luxurious. Well, instead of splurging at the grocery store, why not make your own? Follow this link to see how simple and easy homemade crème fraiche is, but don’t wait too long, as the process takes a couple days. Enjoy!


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A Quick and Easy Cassoulet Recipe – Pork & Beans with Benefits

Of course you can’t make a real cassoulet in an hour, but you can make this very acceptable cheater version, and as long as you manage expectations, you’re in for a great, cold-weather meal.

Real cassoulet is an involved process, with several days of prep just to make the various meats served in this rustic bean casserole. Once everything is prepared, the dish bakes for hours, during which time the ritualistic crust forming and re-forming occurs.

Buttery breadcrumbs are scatted over the top, and when they form a crusty, golden brown layer, they’re pushed down into the bubbling mixture, and new crumbs applied. This is done several times, creating the dish’s signature texture. A creamy, aromatic, not-too-wet-or-too-dry bean mixture into which is suspended the chunks of succulent meat.

Here, we’re taking lots of short cuts. Chicken thighs replace the classic, and time-consuming, duck confit; canned beans replace dried; and bacon serves as a convenient substitute for other, more involved smoked pork options.

While it will be tempting to dig right into this as soon as the final “gratin” is formed, please follow the advice in the video, and let your cassoulet rest in the hot oven for 15 minutes. This will allow the beans and buttery crumbs to absorb the last of the excess liquid, and make for a better texture.

By the way, please adjust your seasoning depending on the sausage used. Mine was plenty garlicky, so I didn’t add any additional cloves. You’ll also have to taste and alter the salt, depending on whether your bacon and sausage shared enough with the rest of the ingredients. I hope you give this hearty, cold-weather classic a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 4 large portions:
4 oz bacon, sliced
8 oz spicy, garlicky, smoked pork sausage, sliced
12 oz boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed
1 onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken broth, or as needed
2 (15-oz) can white beans, drained, rinsed
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme
cayenne to taste
4 tbsp melted butter
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
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