Beef Skewers

I've been trying to eat more protein lately, so on a recent weeknight, we made a beef variation of these lamb skewers that we've made lots of times before.

This is so easy, you hardly need a recipe - just some meat and veggies, as well as a hot oven - but I outlined what we did below just in case.

Beef Skewers
Adapted from Chocolate and Zucchini

1 lb beef
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
½ red onion
2-3 large tomatoes or ~8 campari-sized ones
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F degrees.

2. Prep your vegetables: core the bell peppers, slice the onion, remove the innards of the tomatoes. Your end goal are vegetable pieces that have about 1 square inch of surface area so you can easily thread them on the skewers - though the shape definitely doesn't need to be exactly square (that's easier with the peppers than with the tomatoes or onion).

3. Prep your meat: cut away any extraneous fat, and cut into ~1-inch cubes.

4. Assemble your skewers: thread a slice of each vegetable, followed by a meat cube. Repeat.

5. Place your skewers across a oven-proof dish and salt them.

6. Cook the skewers in the hot oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on the desired doneness, rotating the skewers half way through the cooking process.

Calamari Stew

Apparently it's a Southern Italy tradition to eat seafood on Christmas Eve as part of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. However, I only realized this after I had already decided to make this calamari stew for Christmas Eve this year, so I wasn't really following tradition on purpose. In our case, the reasoning wasn't that we were going to have so many heavy roasts the next day (we actually had fish on Christmas Day as well), but just that this seemed like a tasty dish similar to what we had made once before and enjoyed. There was also the added bonus that calamari is cooked for a long time in this dish, so we wouldn't run into the issue of varying preferred cooking times of meat (I generally prefer my meat cooked medium rare, some other visiting family members prefer theirs very well done).

The original recipe calls for Sambuca, an anise flavored liqueur. Since our family isn't big on anise flavor, I decided to leave it out - though I kept the fennel bulb. I also left out the final touches of parsley and fennel fronds, but that was less intentional. We served this stew over polenta and it was appreciated by all (or at least all the grown-ups).

Calamari Stew
Adapted from Simply Recipes

2 lbs cleaned calamari (squid), tubes sliced into rings and tentacles roughly chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 sliced onion
1 fennel bulb, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup red wine
1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions and fennel. Stir to coat with oil and sauté, stirring occasionally, until it begins to color, about 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle some salt over it. Add the garlic cloves and tomato paste and stir well to combine. Cook this for another 2-3 minutes, stirring once or twice.

2. Add the red wine, stir well, and increase the heat to high. Boil until the liquid is reduced by half.

3. Add the crushed tomatoes. Stir in the calamari and bring the pot to a gentle simmer. Simmer for at least 1 hour. After an hour, taste a piece of calamari; it should be tender. If it’s not, keep simmering. Check for tenderness every 15 minutes afterward.

4. Once the calamari is tender, taste the stew for salt and pepper, adding if needed. Stir well to combine and serve.

Thanksgiving Recap

Yes, it's been 5.5 months since I last posted here. What can I say - the last few months have been pretty busy. We got back from our honeymoon, packed up our Boston apartment, drove cross-country, moved into a new place in the San Francisco Bay Area, and started our new jobs (well, completely new for me, sort of new for Mihai). Since then, we've been occupied with fully settling in, getting accustomed to our new surroundings, traveling back east for multiple weekends in a row for friends' weddings, etc. In between all that, there has been lots of home cooking - we have an amazing farmers' market 5 minutes away from us every Sunday that showcases some of the best that California has to offer (we were particularly excited to discover that tomato season lasts much longer around here than what we are used to). I just couldn't find the time to also write about the delicious dishes we were trying. We'll see if I manage to do better from now on. But for now, the Thanksgiving recap (a lot of these can be done for Christmas too, so this doesn't feel too backwards-looking).

Mihai's parents came out to visit us for the first time since we moved, and this was also our first time hosting Thanksgiving. The pressure was on, but we think it turned out OK.

(Part of) The Mise en Place:

We made butternut squash soup to start, with some cabbage pies on the side:

Since there were only four of us, no one of the four particularly likes turkey, and Mihai's dad particularly likes pork, we decided to try out a new-to-us pork recipe. Here's a beauty shot of the pork mid-way through the cooking:

Mihai was in charge of the milk and cream braised pork, and it turned out amazing - not dry at all, just juicy and delicious. He did have a great recipe to start with, one from Gabrielle Hamilton, the chef at Prune, and written up as a "favorite" in Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte (and covered online here and here).

For sides, we had Roasted Cauliflower with Gremolata Bread Crumbs:

and Green Beans with Almonds and Thyme:

Here's a shot of a full plate:

For dessert, I wanted something with apple (both because I like apple desserts and because we had a bunch of apples from the CSA we recently signed up for). Mihai's dad has pretty high standards for apple baked goods, so I went with a safe option - combining one of my favorite doughs (I always go with the all flour option rather than the almond and flour combination) with a pinch of cardamom and, on top, apples and cinnamon instead of the traditional plums or apricots. It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself:

All in all, a satisfying but not overwhelming Thanksgiving, with a good mix of tried-and-true and new-to-us dishes. The leftovers have been tasty too.

Potato Gratin

I love potatoes. Pretty much in all variations, although I am particularly partial to my mom's fried potatoes (and for some reason I've never been able to really enjoy the red skinned potatoes when they are cooked with skins on). So of course, when Deb featured this simple potato gratin on Smitten Kitchen, I had to try it.

I cooked mine with the shiitakes as Deb suggests in the recipe notes, and skipped the butter since I used cream instead of milk. I am also pretty sure I used more than 2 ounces of cheese in between the potato layers. All in all, this was a winner, though next time I will use less cream/milk (I am guessing half a cup will do), because the end result was almost too creamy (and I'd rather it was more cheesy).