Category Archives: Meat

Lia’s Best Barbecue Ribs Recipe

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A pressure cooker makes this sublimely tender, shot-through-with-flavor-to-the-bone barbecue ribs recipe possible in under an hour using the same technique as our Last-Minute Corned Beef From Scratch. Given their quick and easy nature, and the proliferation of really good bottled barbecue sauces out there, I opted not to take the extra step of making a sauce from scratch. When choosing your sauce, look for as few ingredients as possible (ideally all “real” words) with real sugar or honey or molasses or maple syrup as a sweetener, rather than high fructose corn syrup.

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Slow-Roasted Mechoui (Moroccan-Spiced Leg of Lamb)

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I was lucky enough to nab a leg of organic, sustainably-raised lamb from Montana’s Willow Spring Ranch at Shelton’s Market for this and was rewarded with succulent, juicy meat spiked through with Moroccan spice. To find a source for grass-fed lamb (and other meats) near you for your Easter meal, check out Eat Wild. Serve this with quinoa, mixed greens, sliced black olives, thick slices of orange, thinly sliced fennel and red onion tossed with the dressing from this salad here.

Slow Roasted Mechoui Lamb

5 garlic cloves
1/2 medium onion
1 small lemon, trimmed of top and bottom, quartered and seeded
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup pomegranate syrup (or 1/2 orange juice and 1/2 honey)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
5-6 pound boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat

Puree garlic through olive oil in a blender or food processor. Stir in salt. Lay lamb in a shallow dish or roasting pan and carefully pierce deeply all over with a paring knife. Slather on the marinade, pushing into the holes, then coat all over with any remaining marinade. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 325. Transfer lamb to a Dutch oven, cover and roast for 3-1/2 to 4 hours, until lamb is fork tender. Let rest for 20 minutes, then pull apart into large chunks to serve.

Serves 8

 

Beef and Barley Stew with Kohlrabi and Carrots

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If you rifled through the Campbell’s soup labels I collected as a kid, you’d notice a heavy concentration of Beef and Barley Stew labels. It was my favorite soup. By far. Now, though, I’ve moved so far away from processed foods that it (sadly) just tastes salty and gummy to me. I’ve been meaning to concoct a homemade replacement for years, but somehow have never gotten around to it. Early in the new year, though, I had a pot of beef stock leftover from the holidays, some stew meat and carrots from my CSA, and an expanding enthusiasm for kohlrabi. It was time. If you can’t find kohlrabi, substitute potatoes, or another root vegetable like turnips or rutabaga.

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Last-Minute From-Scratch Corned Beef

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Yes, you can have from homemade corned beef the same day the light bulb goes off that it’s Saint Paddy’s Day … TONIGHT. Just pull out your pressure cooker and this from-scratch corned beef. It’s better than any store-bought version you’ve tasted, and blissfully free of all those preservatives they’re soaked in. You can get this on the stove in under ten minutes and on the table in less than three hours. Serve with creamy horseradish sauce (I like to mix a couple tablespoons raw horseradish with 1/4 cup sour cream) and Warm Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Bacon and Juniper Berries.

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Pork and Squash Enchilada Bake

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Think of this recipe as a template for whatever leftovers you have in your fridge … sauteed greens, squash or root veggies, beans, pork or chicken. They all adapt beautifully to this dish. Enjoy a small slice for breakfast topped with a fried egg, or for lunch or dinner with a dab of sour cream and salsa and a dribble of hot sauce. It’s a GREAT gathering dish!

2 cups roasted squash, mashed to a puree (you could also use canned pumpkin)
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups prepared red enchilada sauce
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
3 cups shredded chicken or pork
1 recipe Sauteed Swiss Chard (or other leftover greens)
5 ounces monterey jack cheese, (1 cup, shredded)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix squash with canola oil, garlic and cumin.

Spread 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with 4 tortillas, tearing as needed to fill in any gaps. Top with 1 cup squash, half the pork and chard, 3/4 cup sauce and 1/3 cup cheese. Top with 4 more tortillas, remaining 1 cup squash, remaining pork, 1/2 cup sauce and 1/3 cup cheese. Top with remaining 4 tortillas, sauce and cheese.

Cover and bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until hot and tortillas are golden brown around the edges. Let stand 5-10 minutes before slicing.

Serve with sour cream and salsa, if you like.

Serves 6-8

Kitchen Sink Fried Rice

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You’ll see this fried rice recipe come up every few months in Nourish Weekly Menus, always in a different guise. Sometimes with cabbage, sometimes with bok choy, sometimes with shredded pork, sometimes with spicy shrimp … you get the picture. Feel free to use add basic recipe to your rotation with anything calling from your fridge. It’s a great way to use up leftover rice, veggies — whatever you have on hand.

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Improv Cassoulet

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There are so many things I love about cassoulet … one of them being its versatility. Be creative with your leftovers–beans, roasted meat, stale bread–and see what it becomes.

improv-cassoulet

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 thick slices bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 links italian sausage, cut diagonally into 4 pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced, divided
¼ cup dry white wine
2 cups low-sodium chicken, vegetable or turkey stock
1 (14-ounce) can tomato puree
4 cups leftover cooked turkey, duck or dark-meat chicken, shredded
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, drained
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
2 cups course bread crumbs
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, and saute bacon and onion for 12-15 minutes, until bacon is semi-crisp and onion is browned. Add sausages and 1/2 of the garlic, and saute for 4 minutes, until slightly browned.

Add wine and scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add stock, tomato puree, turkey, beans, bay leaf and thyme. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly. Bake in the oven uncovered for 30 minutes, adding additional stock  if necessary to keep moist.

Mix bread crumbs with remaining garlic, minced parsley, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Toss with melted butter until moistened evenly and sprinkle on top of cassoulet. Bake for another 20 minutes. Push down breadcrumbs so they are slightly moistened and bake another 20 minutes, until top crisps.

Serves 8

Smoky-Sweet Tri Tip

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True barbecue involves indirect heat and smoke, and dedicated barbecue aficionados invest in a smoker. But you can set up a standard charcoal or gas grill for smoking, which works fine for tender cuts like tri tip, seafood or poultry. Tri tip (also called triangle roast) is a lean, quick-cooking cut of beef sirloin that’s an ideal introduction to smoking. It’s the cut used in Santa Maria-style barbecue in California’s Central Coast. I’ve added a touch of brown sugar to the spice rub for a little flavor of the Deep South. The result is smoky, spicy, subtly sweet, incredibly tender and, as my husband says, very “more-ish.” Serve this with our Santa Maria-Style Beans, corn or flour tortillas and your favorite salsa. Sometimes I’ll serve it with our Roasted Red Pepper Romesco Sauce (only I’ll put the veggies on the grill to smoke with the meat). Leftovers make divine sandwiches for lunch!

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Asian Chicken-Beef Noodle Soup

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This spin on classic chicken noodle soup is somewhat of an imagined amalgamation of my favorite Asian soups: the star anise-laced Hanoi beef noodle soup and Chinese wonton soup. The flavors bring both comfort and cold-fighting compounds to bring serious “ahhhh” to flu season. To serve, you’ll put paper-thin slices in bowls and top with the flavorful broth. The piping-hot broth will cook the chicken by the time it reaches the table.

asian-beef-chicken-noodle-soup2 unpeeled onions, halved and studded with 3 cloves apiece
5 large cloves garlic, unpeeled
7 pounds beef bones
3 pounds chicken carcasses
6 quarts cold water
2 carrots, chopped into 3 pieces each
8 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 (1-inch) pieces of ginger, bruised with the heel of your knife
5 dried Asian red chiles
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup fish sauce
6 ounces rice vermicelli, cooked 3 minutes in boiling water and drained
2 chicken breast halves, cut into paper thin slices across the grain (freeze for 20 minutes to make slicing easier)
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 cup green onion, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges

Char the onions and garlic in a large stockpot over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes, until well-colored but not burnt. Add the beef bones, chicken carcasses and water, and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam, gray crud and fat as they rise to the surface. Boil for 45 minutes to an hour, or until there isn’t much foam being produced any longer.

Add carrots, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, chiles and salt. Lower heat so the broth gurgles a few times each second. Let the broth cook at this low heat overnight or for an least 8 hours.

Skim broth one more time and strain through a fine mesh strainer (a Chinois or “China cap”) or a colander lined with cheesecloth. Stir in fish sauce. Rinse out the pot, return the broth to the pot, and bring back to a boil before serving.

To serve, divide vermicelli, chicken breast, cilantro and green onion between 8 large bowls. Ladle broth into each and finish with a squeeze of lime.

Serves 8