By Kara Rota

New York, NY – I’ve been looking forward to relaying off of Valerie’s Boiled Beef Sandwich this week. I agree strongly that good-quality beef should be savored sparingly, and I adore any opportunity to make my own bread. I began to brainstorm a local, handmade version of a romantic Valentine’s Day steakhouse dinner.

So, VALENTINE’S DAY, you guys, amirite? Terrible repressed memories of not getting enough cards in your doily-covered Kleenex box! Awkward high school double dates! Hanging out at the mall food court and driving donuts in an empty parking lot with your girlfriends this one time junior year! (No lies, that was awesome.) When, two years ago, February 14 fell awkwardly soon after I’d begun dating someone new, we coped by eating General Tso’s tofu and lo mein at China Fun. He gave (then-vegan) me a copy of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals; I wore an ironic pink dress. A year later, we sat in the same booth as newly minted roommates, trying less hard to play it cool and suddenly thrilled that we’d found a way, with this tsofu tradition, to permanently get around the horror that is negotiating Valentine’s Day at a trendy restaurant in New York. Which is, of course, an excellent reason to stay home.

CLICK HERE for the full post and recipe.

I’ve congratulated myself as much as the next girl for laying a batiked bedspread on the floor with two couch cushions, unmatched wine glasses, only-slightly-burned chicken parm and enough tea lights to reconstruct Madame Tussaud’s Justin Bieber. Breakfast in bed is another viable option (at least for anyone who isn’t too Type A not to jump out of bed at the first smell of coffee and completely take over the egg scrambling).

At one point last year, I made a dinner for the two of us that completely upended all my ideas about a romantic meal in. After reading Mark Schatzker’s Steak, we shelled out for a pair of rib-eyes from Alderspring Ranch in Idaho. Caryl and Glenn Elzinga are incredibly sweet, wonderful people who take immense pride in what they do, from the handwritten note on your receipt to the recycling process for their packaging. To eat their steak is an experience akin to the first time you ride a horse or a roller coaster or, I don’t know, swim with a dolphin. It is transcendent and visceral and, if you are a meat-eating person, something unmissable and well worth the investment.

Good steak is not cheap, for good farmers, good butchers or the consumers who support them. Raising good steak is an entirely different process than
how the majority of meat eaten in this country is produced. I have been vegetarian and vegan in the past, and even now, my meat consumption is probably under four days a week – my boyfriend’s possibly even less. When I eat steak, I want it to be wonderful. I also would rather invest in the best ingredients I can afford than go out for dinner. So in preparation for a pre-Valentine’s Day romantic weekend meal, I headed to that bastion of ambivalence: Whole Foods.

I prefer to buy directly from farmers and small local businesses. I can’t feel as positive about going through a corporation to source my ingredients. But Alderspring is decidedly not local for me, and I shopped for this recipe around 8:00 p.m. on a Friday, on my way home from Tribeca to the Upper West Side. The convenience of stopping at the Union Square Whole Foods was significant. And the large ‘LOCAL’ sticker that appears on items throughout the stores makes it easy for consumers who might not normally prioritize locality or seasonality in their shopping to do so. I found a beautiful bone-in ribeye from Simply Grazin’ Organic Farms in New Jersey (we usually buy a pound or so of steak to share – a reasonable amount of meat for two people). I also bought garlic bread making ingredients: King Arthur Flour – (located in Norwich, Vermont they are fans of RecipeRelay – bonus points!), Kate’s Homemade butter from Maine (this butter is so delicious you want to eat it straight with fresh bread, like very good cheese), and on a whim, minced garlic in soybean oil from New Jersey. The citric acid used to maintain the freshness of the garlic added a slightly tangy, vinegary note to our garlic bread that I could’ve done without – next time I think I’ll be less lazy and mince fresh garlic myself! But the bread was fluffy and buttery and the steak was tender and recognizably grassy. We paired it with a bottle of Brooklyn Local 1 Ale and ate in our pajamas.

Bone-in Ribeye & Garlic Bread

Prep time: 3 hours 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 3 hours 45 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

For the garlic bread:

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• half a stick of salted butter
• 1/4 cup pre-minced garlic in water or oil, or freshly minced garlic

For the steak:

• Bone-in ribeye, approximately 1 to 1 1/2 pounds
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large glass or ceramic bowl
  
• Ceramic loaf pan
• Aluminum foil
• Good nonstick or cast-iron pan

Cooking Directions

For the bread:

1. Measure one cup of warm water, about 110 degrees F. Not too hot or you’ll kill the yeast, so err on the side of room temperature.
2. Pour the water into a mixing bowl and add the yeast, then mix well with a fork or whisk until bubbly. Let it sit for a few minutes.
3. Add 1 cup of flour and mix well until smooth. Let the mixture proof for 5-10 minutes, or until air holes begin to dot the surface, the same way you know when it’s time to flip a pancake.
4. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and salt.
5. Knead well, for about five minutes, until the dough is smooth, soft, elastic and stops sticking to your fingers.
6. Make a ball and place it in a clean, large ceramic or glass bowl.
7. Drizzle the dough with olive oil and turn over to coat.
8. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or clean dishtowel and place it somewhere warm to rise until doubled, about an hour and a half.
9. Once the dough is doubled, knead it again, shape it into an oval and place it in a greased loaf pan. Cover the pan with the same damp cloth and let rise again, somewhere warm, until doubled again.
10. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
11. Once the dough has risen, cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil.
12. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, then remove the aluminum foil and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.
13. Let cool, then remove from pan.
14. With a serrated knife, cut slits approximately every inch in the loaf – about 3/4 of the way through the bread.
15. Into each slit, tuck a small pat of butter and about a teaspoon of minced garlic (Feel free to adjust to suit your tastes. We’re huge garlic fans.)
16. Wrap the loaf in aluminum foil, like a burrito. Reserve until it’s steak time! Then bake at 300 degrees for about half an hour just before you’re ready to eat.

For the steak:

1. Remove the steak from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and set it on a plate to come to room temperature – about half an hour. Patience pays off here, so wait until it really isn’t cold to the touch.
2. With a paper towel, gently blot the steak all over so that it’s dry on the outside.
3. Preheat a clean, dry nonstick or cast-iron pan over high heat. Really high. Get that pan hot. If you live in a small apartment, you might want to open all your windows, turn on the fan, and possibly disable your smoke alarm at this point. Trust me.
4. Just before you are ready to put the meat in the pan, when the pan’s already hot enough, salt both sides of the steak. This is a matter of taste – I prefer less salt than my boyfriend – but several experiments have convinced me that pre-salting at exactly this point in the process is the way to go.
5. Drop that baby in the pan. You’re now in the sprint part of the meal preparation: every move is key. You can’t lose focus now.
6. For medium-rare steak that’s about 1 1/2″ thick, it’ll be about six minutes per side. You want a good sear on the outside and, if you’re me, you want the inside to walk the line between rare and black-and-blue/bloody/still mooing/whatever vegetarian-unfriendly expression you prefer. That means four minutes per side.
7. Plate the steak, let it rest for a minute, and dig in. Forks optional.

Note: They say you can’t put a steak back in the pan once you’ve plated it. This is false. You can do whatever you want, because it’s your kitchen and your meat.  Sometimes I like to take the really really rare bites in the middle of the steak and pan-fry them in the remaining juices in a bastardized shabu-shabu/hibachi fashion.

Kara Rota is director of editorial and partnerships for Cookstr and a freelance food writer.

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By Pete Vasconcellos

New York, NY – Your local fancy-pants cocktail joint’s winter menu could be a grim affair. The idea of cold weather has bartenders piling whiskey on top of amaro on top of single malts and finished with homemade charred woodsmoke tobacco leaf something or other. The bar’s other option is a warm punch or a hot cider and a nap. Is it a contradiction to want something both wintry AND refreshing? Sarah Maine thought not when she shared Sons of Liberty’s Uprising Nor’Easter, a Dark n’ Stormy variant that marries Rhode Island Whiskey and Jamaican ginger beer. The ginger beer holds the key to the cold weather conundrum: in it are the baking spices associated with winter, the heat and zest of ginger, and carbonation that craves a shot of fresh citrus. This week’s Righteous Lion is another take on the long Jamaican-spiced highball. It’s perfectly refreshing and has plenty of booze to keep you warm if this winter ever decides to get cold.

CLICK HERE for the full post and recipe.

The Lion’s Tail – The Righteous Lion’s daddy – is a head-scratcher of a drink itself. For starters, it irreverently combines whiskey and lime juice, when convention says to always use lemon. Second, it calls for a hefty amount of allspice (A.K.A. pimento) dram. Allspice dram is muscular and sweet on its own, and is usually used sparingly. It is made of rich Jamaican pot-still rum steeped in Allspice berries. Putting your nose in it is like being punched in the face by Christmas. I have tried concocting a number of drinks featuring this stuff, and the reviews are always a polite, “I like it … I just wish it wasn’t so Christmas-y,” even when I only use a touch. But something happens in the Lion’s Tail, and the delicate balance I could never strike is struck.

Using this as a base, Tiffany Short, my bar colleague (nay, hero) at the Dutch in Manhattan, has made my favorite new drink in a while. The Righteous Lion replaces the bourbon with Old Overholt Rye, adds Sixpoint Brewery’s Righteous Ale and actually doubles the called-for amount of Allspice Dram. It’s bold bartending and it works. The Righteous lion is boozy, spicy and refreshing. The pepper notes of the Old Overholt are mirrored in both the beer and the Allspice Dram. Meanwhile the lime juice and mint garnish makes the whole thing reminiscent of a great tiki cocktail. There are so many wonderful conflicting signals in this drink. People either say, “It reminds me of Christmas” or “It reminds me of the Carribbean.” They’re both right.

The Righteous Lion

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Yield: 1 serving

Tools: Jigger, Shaker, Strainer, Knife, Collins Glass, Straw

Ingredients

• 2 oz Old Overholt Rye Whiskey
• 1 oz St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz simple syrup
• Sixpoint Brewery Righteous Rye Ale to top
• mint sprig
• slice of apple

Directions

1. Shake Old Overholt Rye, Allspice Dram, lime juice and simple syrup over ice.
2. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice.
3. Top with Sixpoint Righteous Rye Ale
4. Take two or three hearty sprigs of mint and smack them against the back of your hand to release their oils.
5. Garnish with mint sprig and a slice of apple.

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By Valeria Necchio

Cona (Venice), Italy – Greetings from very close to the most romantic city in the world! Need some suggestions for St. Valentines? We’ve got plenty! How about an intimate sandwich lunch for two? Yes? Well then, you’re in luck.

Relaying off Marc’s Vietnamese Spring Rolls was a bit of a challenge for me. The main reason is that most of the ingredients, from cilantro to sprouts, are not easy to find in the everyday Italian markets, let alone in small towns like the one I am currently living in. However, there were some other elements in his recipe that I could utilize: an ingredient (carrots), a technique (shredding), and the idea of enclosing all ingredients in an edible container. After some thinking and some ingredient sourcing, and with all these elements to play with, I decided to create a dish which recalls a traditional Italian winter recipe, bollito con bagnetto verde (aka boiled beef with green sauce). I made a boiled beef sandwich with carrot greens pesto and red cabbage carrot slaw.

My meat consumption is very moderate and restricted to local, grass-fed animals. I usually buy meat directly from a trusted local biodynamic farmer. He is lovely and his meat is great. In winter I generally buy some beef rump, which is lean and good for boiling, braising and long cooking in general. I happened to buy some last week, and then I followed the usual boiling procedure: I put the piece of meat in a big pan filled with cold water, added a carrot and an onion, turned on the heat and boiled it for two hours or so. Once ready I drained the meat, cut it in slices, and saved the stock for a future risotto. I then used the leftovers in various preparations in the following days. My recipe idea for boiled beef sandwich started from here, as I was shredding and storing some meat in the refrigerator.

CLICK HERE to get the full post and recipe!

Boiled beef is traditionally served with a series of sauces and dips including bagnetto verde, a parsley, oil, garlic and anchovy sauce. Unfortunately, this week I didn’t find any parsley at the local organic market stall from which I buy my weekly produce. I found carrots, with their bright green leaves still attached to the root, so I thought to make a carrot greens pesto to go with the shredded boiled beef instead. It is completely different from bagnetto verde, but it is very tasty nonetheless. To finalize my dish, I made a slaw with what remained of the carrots (the root) and some organic red cabbage I purchased from the same stall. I make my own bread using various well trusted recipes I found in books or online. For this recipe, I used some home-made seedy buns, but whatever good rustic bread or good buns you have on hand will work just as well.

Boiled Beef Sandwich with Carrot Greens Pesto and Red Cabbage Carrot Slaw

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

• 4 home-made or store-bought buns or 8 crusty bread slices
• 4 slices of boiled beef, shredded (I used beef rump)

For the carrot greens pesto

• 3 cups carrot leaves
• 3-4 small chunks of parmigiano reggiano (this recipe is pretty forgiving)
• 2 Tablespoons organic lemon juice
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons extra virgin love oil (best if new harvest)
• 1 Tablespoon organic sunflower seeds
• 1/2 garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

For the red cabbage carrot slaw

• 1/2 of a small organic red cabbage
• 1 medium organic carrot
• 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon organic lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly crushed pepper to taste

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By Marc Duquette

Pelham, NH – This week, I am relaying off Brianna in sunny San Diego who, last week, prepared a Cool Curried Kohlrabi Slaw. I am relaying off a number of her ingredients–most notably the kohlrabi, and indirectly, her preparation method–shredding veggies for the slaw. The difference in my recipe is that I am taking the shredded veggies and am placing them in neat little packages. I am making fresh Vietnamese spring rolls with an incredible peanut dipping sauce.

The recipe features organic leaf lettuce and cilantro from my aquaponics system. Also in the spring rolls: shredded carrot and kohlrabi, sprouts, julienned cucumber and green onions, and fine bean thread vermicelli. The dipping sauce is made with an all-natural peanut butter (no oil, no sugar), homemade apple vinegar (easy and fun to make), sesame oil, organic Tamari sauce (fermented soy sauce), and organic red pepper flakes (dried from last summer’s garden). Besides the peanut dipping sauce, I suggest serving Sriracha sauce (a hot pepper sauce) as an alternative to, or in addition to the peanut sauce. A taste of Spring in the dead of Winter!

CLICK HERE for the full article and  recipe.

The sprouts are homegrown clover sprouts—just what I happened to be growing at the time. Most natural food markets today sell growing kits and a variety of seeds for growing your own sprouts. It’s easy to do and creates yet another opportunity to introduce healthy greens into your diet.

In the process of sourcing the ingredients for the recipe I stumbled upon Simply Wholesome, a small, organic and natural foods market in Windham, New Hampshire. Although I’ve driven by the market a thousand times, it was easily missed sitting discreetly in the back of a small shopping plaza. The market has been in operation for two years and does a great job supporting local producers. There, I crossed chunky peanut butter off my list. Unlike Brianna and Sarah who have access to some amazing markets, my choices are quite limited so I do get excited when I find a new local resource.

For the Asian ingredients I shop at the Saigon Asian Market in Manchester, NH. Although, these ingredients are certainly not local, and likely not organic (except for the tamari sauce), I am comforted by the fact that they are “whole” foods or “minimally processed” foods. I’d be interested in hearing your comments and experiences on the sourcing of these types of ingredients in your community.

Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 20 to 30 Spring Rolls

Ingredients

For the Peanut Sauce

• 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tamari (or soy sauce)
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes (to taste)

For the Spring Rolls

• 1 bundle fresh cilantro (parsley or mint are frequently used as substitutes)
• 1 large or 2 small carrots
• 1 kohlrabi, peeled
• 1 ½ cups sprouts
• 3 green onions (scallions)
• 1 small cucumber
• 1 head loose leaf lettuce
• 1 package bean thread noodles
• 1 package rice paper spring roll wrappers

Instructions

1. Prepare the sauce. Combine all ingredients and whisk vigorously until well blended. Set aside to allow for the flavor to develop.
2. Prepare the vegetables. Shred the carrot and kohlrabi in a food processor, on a mandolin food slicer, or by hand. Julienne (cut into long thin strips) the onion and cucumber. Tear the lettuce into decent sized pieces.
3. Prepare the noodles. Cook noodles al dente according to package directions. Bean thread noodles are very fine and cook quickly—a few minutes at most. When done, drain and toss with a little oil to prevent them from sticking together.
4. Assemble the spring rolls. Fill a plate with warm water and place alongside all of your prepared spring roll ingredients. Set a dry plate or cutting board in front of you as your work surface. When ready, place a wrapper in the warm water until just pliable, about 15-20 seconds. Pull it out of the water and let drip for a second or two. Place the wrapper on the working surface and fill with ingredients. Start with a sprig of cilantro and top with remaining ingredients in any order you wish.
5. Roll-away. Rolling a spring roll is much like folding a burrito. Fold one side of the wrapper tightly over ingredients, then fold over the ends, then finish the roll. Set aside on a serving platter.
6. Some tips: 1. If you leave the wrapper in the water too long it will get very soft and difficult to roll. Leave the wrapper in the water just long enough for it to become pliable, without breaking. 2. Overloading the spring roll will also make it difficult to roll. Leave enough wrapper exposed at each end to be able to fold over. 3. Switch it up. Throw some shrimp or pork in the spring rolls. Swap out the veggies—try thinly sliced radish, shredded Chinese cabbage, peppery watercress, basil, mushrooms, etc.
7. If this is your first time making a spring roll, do not be intimidated by the wrapping process and accept the fact that your first few spring rolls may not be perfect. So what? Have fun with it!

Check out Marc’s garden at MarcsGarden.com. The photographs in this week’s post were taken by Catherine Paluzzi, Marc’s stepdaughter.

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By Sarah A. MaineSouth Kingstown, RI – Before Christmas my mother made a fun discovery at the South Kingstown winter farmers’ market which is held indoors at the Peace Dale Mills from November to April.  Like many towns in the American Northeast, Peace Dale was once buzzing with manufacturing activity, the Peace Dale Mills complex is one of a number of relics leftover from this period.  In an effort to revitalize the community, many of the old industrial buildings are being converted into work spaces for small businesses.  An unexpected newcomer to the space is the Sons of Liberty Spirits Company.  On market days, Sons of Liberty opens the doors to their tasting rooms to market shoppers, hence my mother’s part in this story – always curious about new happenings in her town, she happily investigated their operation and reported back to me.  The next time I visited my parents we made a point to stop  by and get the full low down on this new enterprise.

CLICK HERE for the full post and recipe.

The Sons of Liberty Spirits Company has staked out a unique corner for themselves in the whiskey world – they want to start a whiskey revolution from the ground up, starting with the very first part of the distilling process.  A little known fact fuels their quest – all whiskeys start as beer, but most whiskeys are made from a flavorless brew.  Not so with Uprising – the first Sons of Liberty release – which starts its journey as a robust stout derived from a combination of four roasted grains.  A key component of the mix is a floor malted grain, which delivers a biscuity character and the darker flavors that make up the backbone of the whiskey.

Every part of the production process is done on site in Peace Dale, from brewing to bottling and labeling.  In fact I interrupted the labeling line with my visit, but  Mike, Chris and Brian graciously organized an impromptu tasting of the new batch of Uprising.  They also shared the signature Uprising cocktail, a playful twist on the Dark and Stormy that they are calling the Nor’ Easter.

As they prepare to release the second batch of Uprising, the crew at Sons of Liberty are starting to experiment with seasonal whiskeys – keep an eye out for a hopped variety in the spring and a summer style incorporating citrus and spice – marked departures from the conventional realm of American whiskey.

The Nor’ Easter

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 2oz Uprising American Whiskey
• 10 oz. Barritt’s ginger beer
• 1 dash bitters
• A large handful of ice

Directions

1. Fill a tall glass with ice.
2. Add the whiskey, followed by the ginger beer and bitters.
3. Stir and serve!

You can check out the website for information on where to buy Uprising, it’s currently only available in Rhode Island but they hope to expand to Massachusetts soon.

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