Why Should You Make Pickled Red Onion

Let’s actually start with the why. Pickled red onion add a punch to many dishes. I am not a fan of raw onions, but pickled onions are different. They are milder but add flavor and that extra umami to many dishes.

Some Ideas for Using Pickled Onions

How to Make Pickled Red Onion

• 1/2 red onion, cut into half moons
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 tablespoons peppercorns
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• cilantro

Why Red Onion?

Red Onion are often my choice for many dishes as they are sweeter, less pungent do you lower levels of pyruvic acid and sulfur compounds.

Red onion is always my choice for pickling. They turn a pretty pink and they maintain a slight crunch. You could also try shallots, but you’ll pay more. You could use sweet onion, but the texture isn’t optimal.

Equipment

• Mandoline or sharp knife
• Colander
• Mason Jar

These are my favorite tacos which would be enhanced with some pickled red onion.

• Slaw for Taco
• Salmon Tacos
• Ground Beef Taco Meat
• Easy Carnitas Tacos
• Shrimp Tacos

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Pickled Red Onion

A perfect addition to tacos, salads, sandwiches to add an extra flavor.

Prep Time 4 minutes minutes

Resting Time for Pickled Onion 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

Pickled Red Onion

• 1/2 red onion sliced into half moons
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar optional
• 1 tablespoon peppercorns or some black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic cut in half

Instructions

Pickled Onion

• Slice into thin half moons and place in colander.
  
• Place raw onion in colander.
• Pour boiling water over onion.
• Put vinegar in jar with sugar and peppercorns.
• Put onion in jar. Will be ready in 30 minutes. Dice as needed.

The post Pickled Red Onion, Ready in 30 Minutes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I’ve tried this sauce a few different ways to and ended up liking the sauce the most that had the Dijon mustard stirred in at the end, similar to Steak Diane. (Another delicious, fancy steak recipe, I’ll be posting soon).

What is Steak Au Poivre

Steak au poivre is steak with a black peppercorn sauce, made with green and black peppercorns, butter, heavy cream, and cognac. Some recipes add a bit of shallots and some add some mustard. I tried all the ways to see what I liked best.

What Steak to use for Steak au Poivre?

You can use various steaks, but the most common are filet mignon and strip steak. These are good choices as both don’t have a lot of fat. You could even use a cheaper cut such teres major (often referred to as faux filet). I wouldn’t recommend ribeye steak because that steak already has enough fat, but that’s just my opinion.

Ingredients for Steak au Poivre

• Steak
• Peppercorns
• Butter
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Cognac or Brandy
• Shallots (optional)
• Heavy Cream
• Dijon Mustard
• Fresh Thyme or Parsley

How to Crush the Peppercorns

My pepper mill has a dial from fine to course and the course setting is perfect. However, you can crush with a rolling pin or use a mortar and pestle. This OXO salt mill and pepper mill set is the best I’ve ever tried. I have mine for 5 years now and the pepper mill crushed these peppercorns perfectly.

How to Add Peppercorns to the Steak

First of all, salt meat and allow to sit out to get to near room temperature 30 to 60 minutes in advance. Next, place crushed peppercorns on a plate and place steaks on the peppercorns. You may need to press them in. Cover both sides.

Part 1: Cook the Steak

• Place butter and olive oil in frying pan. Don’t use cast iron for this. Use a stainless steel frying pan because you will be making a sauce with heavy cream and alcohol.
• On a medium high heat, place steaks in pan and turn after four minutes. Cook another four minutes. You should already have a great sear.
• Use a meat thermometer to determine if the meat is where you want it. I usually will place in the oven in a different pan at 375 degrees F. to get to about 135 degrees F.
• If the steaks are at the temp you desire, remove from pan, tent with foil. Set aside.

Steak au Poivre Part 2: Make the Peppercorn Sauce

In same pan you cooked the steaks, without cleaning the pan, add the cognac.

You don’t want your sauce to have a heavy alcohol taste, but a more discreet rich flavor. You must burn off the alcohol by either cooking over low or to do it quickly, use the flambé technique.Caution: Have a lid ready. (Adding any alcohol to the fat can cause a kitchen geyser). Give it a few seconds and take off lid.

At this point you can flambé the cognac to burn off the alcohol, (take off burner to do so) or simmer to let the alcohol burn off.

• Add heavy cream, stir on low until sauce thickens and coats back of a spoon.
• Stir in Dijon Mustard.
• Season with salt.
• Serve immediately.

How to Safely Flambé Alcohol

Use a lighter to flame the cognac, but do this away from your stove or turn your gas stove off. The flame will burn off the alcohol and leave the flavor.

What is the Best Side Dish for Steak au Poivre?

Good sides include french fries, mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower and a dish of sautéed greens. Keep in mind how rich the sauce from heavy cream and butter. I might even just serve this with baked potatoes, which are just as easy to make as this dish.

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Steak Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• PERFECT Strip Steak (most popular post, most positive comments).
• Tomahawk Steak Reverse Sear
• Picanha (Brazilian Steak)
• Teres Major, a filet knock-off
• Skirt Steak with Chimichurri
• Beef Ribs in the Oven

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Steak au Poivre

Steak with French Style Pepper Sauce

Course Main Course

Cuisine French

Keyword steak, steak au poivre

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 minute minute

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 4 tenderloin steaks or NY strip steaks see notes
• Kosher or Himalayan pink salt
• 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns crushed (more if needed)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup Cognac or Brandy
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon shallots finely chopped (optional)

Instructions

Steak

• Trim any fat off of the steaks. Salt steaks and allow to sit out for 30 minutes.
• Crush peppercorns either with mortar and pestle, a course grind on pepper mill. If you have neither, place between towel and crush with mallet.
• Put crushed peppercorns on flat plate and place steak on peppercorns until both sides are coated.
  
• Heat butter and oil in frying pan on medium high.
• Add steaks to pan and cook on each side 3 to 4 minutes to get a good sear. Remove steaks from heat and from pan. Place in oven in a different pan to finish off to get desired temperature. Medium rare will between 130-135 F.
  

Peppercorn Sauce

• If you want to add shallots, soften these first before adding in water. You may need to add another tablespoon of butter to do this. Shallots are an option.
• Using same pan you cooked steaks in, add a tiny amount of water to stir up the bits from the bottom of pan. You can use broth if you happen to have some available, but no reason to open a whole box for this.
• Take off the stove and have a lid ready, as you add cognac to the pan. Adding in any alcohol to a hot pan with fat can produce a geyser effect so immediately place a lid on and wait a few seconds. You can flambé the cognac to burn off the alcohol or just heat for several minutes on stove on low, which will also burn off the alcohol. Make sure that is done before adding cream.
• Add some fresh thyme, on the stem, which you will remove later.
• Add in heavy cream and continue to stir until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Stir in Dijon mustard. Season with Salt.
• Remove thyme. Pour over steaks. Serve immediately.
  

Notes

You can make 4 tenderloin steaks or preferably medallions. You can also use New York Strip steaks. Doneness will be determined by thickness of the steaks, so please use meat thermometer. 

The post Steak au Poivre appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

When your Italian mother nags you to no end for your recipes, you know you’re doing something right in the kitchen!

I called Retro Rose to come to dinner just to show off a little. You see, Retro Rose is the queen of southern fried chicken. She learned it from my Grandmother Grace (the one from the south, not Italy) and has been making it for over fifty years. I couldn’t wait to see what she thought of this non-fried chicken. And, as predicted, she was making it two days later. She gets just as excited about cooking something a new way as I do.

It may seem crazy to turn on the oven in a heat wave, but it’s too hot to stand outside, even for two minutes. So into the oven went six pieces of chicken on the bone, adorned with a dry rub.

When roasted at a very high temperature in a cast iron pan, (the way I roast whole chickens), the chicken resembles a fried chicken that is still tender and juicy inside, yet a much healthier choice.

It started with the rub: Fennel seed, coriander seed, red chili pepper, sea salt, black pepper.

It ended in a hot old fashioned cast iron pan in the oven at 450 degrees. And as long as the oven is hot, perfect side choices are roasted green beans with a roasted carrot garnish or roasted red corn on the cob.

The is the first time I’ve used coriander seed, and was inspired by the dipping oil spice mix at a recent eatery, Bria Bistro. I was thrilled when the food server shared the ingredients and after some experimentation, this became a rub that I have been using frequently. It is particularly nice with roasted carrots.

Fennel Coriander Spice Rub

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fennel seed, toasted
• 2 teaspoons coriander seed, toasted
• 1/2 teaspoon tellicherry peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon red chile pepper (optional)

Instructions

1. Grind fennel seed, coriander seed, tellicherry peppercorns in magic bullet (or spice grinder)
2. Add salt, and here you need to decide how much. You can even exclude the salt or add a little at a time to your own taste. If you want heat, add crushed red pepper.

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Cast Iron Cooking: Oven-Fried Chicken with Aromatic Spice Rub

Aromatic rub for oven fried chicken

Course Entree

Cuisine Mediterranean

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 6-8 pieces of chicken with skin and bone I used breasts, wings, legs. You can use various and adjust cooking times)
• olive oil
• lime juice
• spice rub see recipe below
• cast iron frying pan

Instructions

• One hour prior to preparing, rub chicken very lightly with olive olive oil, rub generously with rub, cover and bring to room temperature.
• minutes prior to cooking, preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you don’t have good ventilation, reduce heat to 400 degrees.
• minutes prior to cooking, put pan in oven to heat up. Rub with 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil.
• Make sure chicken pieces have enough rub on them. You may need to add more.
• Place in hot pan, skin side down. Put in lower part of oven.
• If cooking larger pieces (breasts) turn after 30 minutes. Cook 30 minutes more.
• If only cooking legs and thighs turn at 20 minutes.I cooked all pieces at same time and legs and wings were able to brown more, which we liked.

Notes

Buy a whole chicken and have your butcher cut it into pieces. Tell the butcher you want all pieces included the back, which you can freeze and use for soup.

The post Cast Iron Cooking: Oven-Fried Chicken with Aromatic Spice Rub appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I chose this particular chicken recipe from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking for our cooking Italy group, because for most of us, it’s time to light the grill, and because I wanted to challenge myself.

Grilling chicken with bone and skin has always intimidated me, because it seems, it always burns and gets dried out. If you have those same fears, this is the dish to try, and you will be so pleasantly surprised as you impress new dinner guests with your amazing outdoor cooking abilities. At least, that’s how I think. And, as one who rarely prepares tasteless, skinless, boneless chicken breasts, summer chicken is back for Spinach Tiger!

Chicken needs and deserves it’s bones and skin when it isn’t to be fried in fat and garnished with sauce. A grilled boneless breast just doesn’t have the taste power of a piece of chicken on the bone.

I learned a secret from the Zuni Cafe signature chicken dish that I now apply to all chickens that get roasted or grilled. Salt and wrap in plastic for two or three days. The white meat will be just as tender a a thigh and takes all the “dry chicken” worry away.

Chicken alla Divalolo requires a bit of aggression. Cracking bones and crushing peppercorns with a hammer is part of the fun.

I am not the best at properly butchering chicken, but I followed the directions to cut up through the back of the chicken. Using kitchen shears and a boning knife, I removed the back bone and wrapped away to freeze and use for stock. Then I smashed the chicken breasts down to flatten out the chicken, while still being somewhat careful to not destroy it.

I salted the chicken for three days, rinsed patted dry and began the process. I placed peppercorns in a ziploc bag and crushed with a hammer, and placed all over the chicken on both sides. Then it was placed in the olive oil marinade for 3 hours. If you don’t do the salt process, you could marinate overnight or all day for a similar tender result.
Before grilling, I took the chicken out for one full hour to bring down the temperature. Even though I placed it on a very high heated grill, the skin did not burn. Some recipes call for using a brick to place over the chicken. I skipped this part and I had very satisfactory results. The brick can cause the chicken to dry out and char too much.

I was expecting a charred chicken with skin I would throw out, and was happily surprised that this turned out so beautifully cooked. The skin was the best part, so crispy but not charred at all. I still eat chicken skin and just can’t understand people who buy chicken on the bone with skin removed. It’s the best part. I ate the leg and both wings, while my husband was happy with a leg and thigh. Neither of us ate much of the breast even though it was tender and that remains our dinner for tonight.

Tell me, are you the type that eats the skin and sucks the bones or do discard most of the chicken and only eat the white meat? And does the idea of leftovers excite you or distress you? I adore left overs because I get to eat my food again without cooking, and it’s usually better.

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Cooking Italy: Grilled Chicken alla Diavola, Roman Style

A succulent way to grill chicken.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 4 hours hours

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 4 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon sea salt and more for seasoning
• 3 1/2 pound organic chicken
• 2 tablespoons peppercorns
• extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lemon or more

Instructions

• - 3 days in advance: Rinse and pat dry chicken. Cut up the middle of the back, press down. Cut out the back bone.
• Salt inside and out, pat dry, wrap and refrigerate.
• On cooking day, rinse chicken, pat dry, put in large bowl.
• Crush peppercorns in a ziploc bag with hammer or mallet. Pour over chicken, pat into both sides.
• Mix olive oil and lemon juice. Pour onto chicken. Marinate for 2 - 3 hours in refrigerator.
• Take out of refrigerator, for one hour before cooking,
• Light grill 30 minutes before grilling to get very hot.
• Cut up through the back of the chicken and flatten chicken before placing it on grill.
• Cook for 20 to 30 minutes until chicken is done (registers 160 with thermometer).

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Which type are you when life is having its moments? Do you run to creamy cheesecake, crunchy chips or chocolate? Or, are you like me, with barely an appetite and the only thing I want is soup, and it has to be homemade soup. This is where chicken stock (or chicken broth) comes in. It is the base for so many soups and comfort foods.

If you take out the best of the best cookbooks looking for THE recipe for chicken stock or chicken broth, you will find a lot of different opinions, but I believe that after scouring through, I have found the secret to a good broth (or stock). Just look at that golden color of delicious, organic broth.

Stock and broth are not the same thing, but sometimes these words are used interchangeably. I still can’t give you a definitive answer on this, but basically stock is concentrated and made from bones, whereas broth is lighter and made from meat. But, what about the stock/broth that is made from both meat and bones?

To add to the confusion, Thomas Keller has a broth recipe that uses backs and necks, and Marcella Hazan has a broth recipe that requires that only 2/5 of the meat/bones can be bones.

When does stock become chicken stock and chicken broth become chicken broth?

Stock has more body, getting its luscious quality from the collagen extracted from the bones, as this homemade beef stock.

Broth (which is made from meat or mostly meat) has more flavor. Even if one is using bones that have meat on them (chicken necks), a shorter cooking time can end up with more of a broth than a stock.

For example, Thomas Keller suggests a rather quick cooking time in which the necks and backs (and chicken feet) are simmered for up to two hours in total, but not to the point where the bones begin to disappear and a thick gelatin is extracted, which is what Alton Brown suggests. So, even if you decide to make a broth using bones that tend to release more of that good collagen (like neck bones) and you adhere to a shorter cook time, you may be closer to making a broth than a stock.

When stock becomes bone broth.

However if you cook those bones for 24 hours or more, you are extracting all the collagen and nutrients into the broth and we call that bone broth. 

Is your head feeling like cotton and all you are hearing from me is blah blah blah?

Well, don’t worry, whether you decide to cook your bones down for hours to get a very concentrated stock, or you are looking for a lighter, nearly fat free broth, the same rules and kitchen secrets apply. You can decide in the end what ratio of meat/bones to use and cooking time.

Thomas Keller and Ad Hoc
In all of my research and trial and error, I have learned the most from Thomas Keller’s chicken broth recipe, found in one of my favorite cookbooks, Ad Hoc at Home.

It’s from his most casual restaurant that was inspired by what the staff ate every day, meaning the kind of food you and I eat at home.

He wanted to make it the very best home cooking possible. You might know Thomas Keller as one of the most renowned chefs in the world, legendary for The French Laundry which could cost $1000 for a meal.  

However, Ad Hoc is more my style, and the cookbook is one that anyone could cook from. His recipe is the one I studied the most, adding in peppercorns as suggested by Alice Waters.

Why You Should Consider Making and Stockpiling Your Own Chicken Stock/Broth
If Spinach Tiger had a restaurant, it would be much more along the Ad Hoc style, giving people the best home style cooking possible, preparing everything fresh, seasonal and simple. Chicken broth is the basic foundation for so many of these types of dishes, and an important recipe to master.

How to Save Your Chicken Stock

Once the broth is made, freeze it in silicone muffin cups, then store in freezer bags for up to three months

Once frozen,  store in plastic ziplock bags for up to three months.

Ten Tips for Making ChickenBroth/Stock/Bone Broth

1. Chicken backs and chicken necks (and feet) rock, but get them from a reputable chicken farmer. Organic necks and backs are affordable.
2. Wash your chicken parts very thoroughly in cold water.
3. Do not add organs to the pot, as they will make your broth bitter.
4. Start your broth with COLD water, bringing the heat up SLOWLY.
5. Use salt from the beginning, but carefully, as stock concentrates, so does the salt..
6. Never abandon your broth in the first hour of simmering as you need to skim the scum repeatedly.
7. Never boil your broth (it will turn cloudy); only bring to a simmer.
8. Have equal amount of ice cubes ready to add to that first simmer to bring the fat to the surface. Do this before you add vegetables.
9. Do not add any vegetables until the first simmer and skimming, then use onion, leeks, carrots, celery, which will be discarded during the straining process.
10. Never pour your broth when straining; ladle to avoid bottom sediment.

Once broth is simmering and skimmed, add onion, leeks, carrot, bay leaf, peppercorns.

This fine mesh strainer works well for skimming even the finest particle.

Freeze in flexible muffin pan, place in freezer bags, for up to three months.

Enjoy!

I have a video for  beef bone broth here.

More Soups from Spinach Tiger

Asparagus Detox Soup

Broccoli Basil Soup

Spicy Italian Sausage Soup

The Best One Hour Roast Chicken

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Ten Tips for Making Chicken Bone Broth

Recipe for Chicken Broth adapted from Ad Hoc at Home, Thomas Keller

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 5-6 pounds of chicken necks. you can mix in chicken backs, chicken feet
• 4 quarts cold water
• 8 quarts ice cubes
• Bay leaf
• 1 1/2 cups carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 leeks cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups onions
• 1 cup celery my addition
• 1/4 cup peppercorns my addition
• Sea salt pepper

Instructions

• Rinse chicken parts thoroughly in cold water. Place in large stock pot, with just enough cold water to cover by about an inch. Put on a low heat, bringing to a simmer very slowly. Do not allow to boil.
• Once simmering, skim repeatedly, and add ice cubes one cup at a time, which will force more fat to the surface.
• Add vegetables and continue to simmer for 40 minutes. If broth is too light for your taste, you can concentrate by cooking longer remaining at a very low temperature.
• This is where broth become stock, highly concentrated in body.
• If you want bone broth, transfer on low to a crock pot and continue to cook for the next 12 hours, up to 24 hours until the bones begin to almost disappear.
• When using chicken necks, you will see more collagen and get that jelly like substance that covers the broth.
• Once you are finished simmering, allow to sit for 10 minutes before straining.
• Strain out all bones and vegetables. Discard.
• Cool entire pot in ice bath, if storing.
• Store in refrigerator no longer than 3 days. Store in freezer up to three months.

Notes

Bone Broth: Continue cooking on a very low simmer for 24 hours until the bones nearly disappear.

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