Salisbury Steak

I was craving salisbury steak a few weeks ago and decided to make it at home for the first time. I haven't had salisbury steak in years, and I had no idea of how to make the dish.

Fortunately, my friend allowed me to borrow her cookbook from Costco, and it had a recipe for this dish in it. The goal of the cookbook is to get you to buy products/ingredients from their store, so I had to figure out how to make my own gravy instead of buying the store-bought variety. I just followed the recipe I use for my chicken gravy with a few adjustments. The gravy came out beautifully and tasted great.
This steak came out almost perfectly! The only change I would make is to brown the meat in the skillet before putting it in the oven. I like when the edges of the meat have a slight crunch.

I also made mashed potatoes...
and heated up some frozen broccoli (my favorite vegetable, if you haven't noticed already).

Salisbury Steak (<- link to the original recipe)

adapted from Creative Cooking The Costco Way (cool! There's an online version!)
Yields 4-6 servings

1.5 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs (or the store-bought variety)
1-2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, to taste
1 egg, beaten
16 oz or 2 cups beef gravy (recipe below)
1/4 finely chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, combine beef, onions, garlic, breadcrumbs, worcestershire sauce, egg, 1/2 cup of gravy and parsley. Mix well.

Form into 4-6 patties (grill patties in skillet to form crispy edges before cooking it in the oven, if desired) and place in a baking dish. Pour the remaining gravy over the meat.

The dish before being placed into the oven. I didn't pour the gravy on top of the meat, and it came out fine.

Cover the pan with foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for 15 minutes longer.

Beef Gravy

1/4 of butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 flour
4 cups of beef broth
salt and pepper to taste

Optional add-ins:
onions, finely chopped
mushrooms, sliced

Create a roux by melting the butter in a skillet or saucepan on medium heat and then add in the flour. Stir the mixture with a whisk, and cook it for 1-3 minutes before adding in the broth. If using onions, add the onions to the roux before adding in the broth.

Once the broth has been SLOWLY added, add in the mushrooms, if being used. Allow the mixture to cook for about 15 minutes. If it gets too thick for your liking, add in more broth or water. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Tex-Mex Beef Enchiladas/Enchiladas del estilo Tex-Mex

Look at that cheese...

One of my colleagues decided to throw a party in the form of an International Buffet, since we all work and study in the Spanish and Portuguese department and thus come from various countries. We all made dishes that come from our place of origin. Since I was born in the United States, specifically Texas, I decided to make Tex-Mex Enchiladas. I have made these enchiladas MANY times; they are outrageously good. To make them even more over the top for the buffet, I made the enchiladas with homemade, FLOUR tortillas instead of corn. They taste fantastic either way.

Look at that gravy...

The chili gravy is so unbelievably good that not even the greatest amount of accolades could give it justice. Now, a warning, if you are into authentic Mexican food, you may get angry or bothered about this dish. As a Spanish-speaking, xenophile, new foodie born in Texas and raised on Tex-Mex (whew, say that five times fast!), I go through my moments of being ashamed of liking the processed, yellow cheese (i.e., Velveeta), carne molida (ground beef), and brown gravy. However, I get over it once I take one bite of this stuff.

This photo comes from another occasion when I made this. These have corn tortillas, beef, and LOADS of Velveeta and sharp cheddar.

You will have to break out the Velveeta for this dish or you could use medium or sharp cheddar for a less Tex-Mex taste. I obtained this invaluable recipe from Homesick Texan who got it from Robb Walsh's Tex-Mex cookbook. I have made them with chicken and with ground beef (my fav). You could also make these with cheese and lots of veggies.

Homemade flour tortillas fresh off of the cast-iron skillet (I need to get a comal).

Everyone who tried the enchiladas raved about them. In fact, one person, whom I didn't know very well, ran up to me and requested the recipe and then reminded me to give it to her as I was leaving.

Pleeeeeease make this dish; you won't regret it. :D

Beef & Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Gravy
from Homesick Texan and Robb Walsh's The Tex-Mex Cookbook

(If adding meat, start preparing it before or while making the chili gravy.)

Chili Gravy (Yields 2 cups):

1/4 cup lard (or vegetable oil)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp powdered garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano (Mexican oregano is preferred if it’s available)
2 T chile powder (either homemade or a dark brand such as Gebhardt’s or Whole Foods)
2 cups chicken broth (or water)

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux.

Add all the dry ingredients and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients.

Add chicken broth or water, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens.
Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add water to adjust the thickness.

Beef and Cheese Enchiladas

Yields 8 enchiladas (I get more than that every time I make this dish)

1 lb of ground beef (any variety) or 2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 corn (or flour) tortillas
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (can make it with Velveeta for Tex-Mex authenticity)
One medium onion, diced
2 cups chili gravy

Preheat the oven to 450.

[If using corn tortillas, pour the oil in a small skillet, and heat the corn tortillas one at a time. Keep them wrapped in a cloth until all 8 are heated. If they are homemade and still hot, you'll still need to fry them a bit to make them pliable.

If using flour tortillas, simply microwave them for about 30 seconds. If they are homemade, fresh off of the comal or skillet, just start filling them.]

Pour 1/2 cup of chili gravy in a baking pan.

Take a tortilla, put 1/4 cup of cheese and 1 tablespoon of onion in the center and roll it (I just cook the beef with the onion (and garlic) and then spoon the filling in the tortillas).

Place rolled tortilla in baking dish, seam side down. Continue with remaining tortillas.

Take remaining chili gravy, and pour it over the rolled tortillas. Sprinkle remaining cheese and onions on top.

Bake for 10 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.

KAF Brownies

As promised, here are the brownies I made during my Indian feast with my friend. This recipe originates from King Arthur's website, but I spotted the recipe on Sing For Your Supper a few months ago. Since then, I have made these brownies many of times before. I have made them for my students and my colleagues as well. Everyone loves these fudgy brownies. Just like I do for cookies, I try not to fully cook these brownies to increase the fudge, creamy factor even more.

However, since in these photos, the brownies are cold, you can't see how fudgy they are after being heated up a bit. They are still very good three days later. I usually half the recipe and bake them in an 8" x 8" square pan. I enjoy the process of mixing the melted butter with the sugar. It produces a beautiful, yellow, shiny, thick mixture and is done to yield a crackly top on the brownie.

If you're out of chocolate chips or bars of chocolate and love fudgy brownies, these are the brownies for you. However, if you do have chocolate, you could always add the chunks or chips to the batter to make them even more intense. I used mini chocolate chips this time, and they melted into the brownie. However, I usually don't add chocolate chips/chunks to the brownies, and they still taste rich and delectable. Enjoy!

KAF Brownies

adapted by Sing For Your Supper and King Arthur Flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa (I used regular cocoa this time around)
1 tsp salt (I used Kosher)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp espresso powder (optional, but recommended)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 cups chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan.

In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it’s hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl (or stand mixer), and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

Add the flour and chips (optional), again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

Spoon the batter into a lightly-greased 9″ x 13″ pan. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

Chicken Tikka Masala and Turmeric Rice

Whew. The semester has finally ended. My students took their final exam on Friday, the 11th at 7pm! I submitted their grades this past Tuesday. Then, I had to go to some end-of-the-semester parties and bake stuff for those events (I will be blogging about the enchiladas I made soon). Then, yesterday, I left Texas to drive to Arkansas to spend Christmas with my mother. My original plan was to spend the night at my aunt's house in Dallas, which is en route to Arkansas. However, since I left the house pretty late in the evening (around 6pm), I decided to drive all the way to Arkansas, only stopping to get gas and to use the potty :). I arrived at my mom's house at 3:40am! Good (and bad) thing, I have insomnia.

Anyway, before I left, my colleague/friend and I decided to have an Indian feast and watch one of my favorite Bollywood movies, Devdas. You MUST watch this movie. It was the first Indian movie to win a Cannes award. The cinematography is beyond beautiful; the songs are so lovely; and the movie is filled with grief, laughter, and intense emotions.

So, for the Indian feast, I made Chicken Tikka Masala (CTM),
turmeric rice with peas,
naan,
and chocolate brownies with homemade whipped cream. Today, I will be posting the savory dishes. Later, I will post the delicious brownies.

I have made this version of CTM many of times. I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman and Pastor Ryan. I first fell in love with Indian food a few years ago after being heavily coaxed by my two more "adventurous-with-foods" friends. I am very picky about trying new foods, especially when the food looks unfamiliar to me or is composed of colors I'm not accustomed to seeing on my plate (e.g., the loud red color on tandoori chicken). After trying tandoori chicken, though, I opened myself to trying CTM and fell in love with this dish instantly.

Now that I have found this recipe, I no longer have to go back to that restaurant because my own dishes come out tasting the same or even better than the CTM there.

I also enjoy making my own naan. The process of making this popular Indian bread is almost like that of making tortillas; you just need to add in yeast and allow the dough to rise twice. I brush garlic butter on the top and bottom of the naan while it's in the skillet and place it in the same container I use for my tortillas.

I will post the recipes for CTM, the rice and the naan here so that you can make it all together. I'm not certain as to how authentic this British/Indian dish is, but considering how similar it tastes to the restaurant version, I would assume it's pretty close. I hope you try these dishes out soon. By the way, I'm submitting this naan to YeastSpotting!!

Chicken Tikka Masala and Turmeric Rice

adapted by Pastor Ryan and posted on Pioneer Woman

3-4 Chicken Breasts
Kosher Salt
Ground coriander
Cumin, to taste
½ cup plain yogurt
2 Tbsp butter
1 whole Large Onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 piece (approximately 2 Inches) Chunk Fresh Ginger
3 Tbsp Garam Masala
1 can of 28-Ounce Diced or Crushed Tomatoes
1 Tbsp Sugar
~1 Tbsp cayenne pepper (adjust to your tastes)
1½ cup Heavy Cream

Rice

2 cups Basmati rice
4 Tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp turmeric
4 cups water
1-2 cups frozen peas

OPTIONAL:
Fresh Cilantro
Chile Peppers
Turmeric

Start by seasoning the chicken breasts with some kosher salt, coriander, and cumin. Then coat the chicken breasts completely with the plain yogurt. Set the chicken on a metal cooling rack over a foil-lined baking sheet, and place it about 10-12 inches below a broiler for 5-7 minutes per side until they are slightly charred around the edges. Remove from oven.

Next, dice one large onion. In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Toss in the onions and sauté until they are slightly browned. As the onions cook, mince your garlic. Next, cut off the outer skin and mince or grate a 1 by 2 inch chunk of fresh ginger. Add the garlic and ginger to the onions. Also throw in about 1 tablespoon of salt (I highly suggest using less salt. I usually use 1/2 Tbsp or 1 1/2 teaspoons).

Next, you are going to add about 3 tablespoons Garam Masala spice and an optional chile pepper. Next, add the can of diced or crushed tomatoes. Continue cooking and stirring, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Add about 1 tablespoon sugar. Allow this mixture to simmer on medium for about 5 minutes.

To a rice cooker add 2 cups Basmati rice, 4 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon Ground Turmeric and 4 cups water (If you don't have a rice cooker, follow the instructions on the back of the bag of Basmati rice, like I did.).

After the CTM sauce has had a chance to simmer for a little bit, add in the 1 ½ cups of heavy cream. Chop up your chicken breasts into chunks, and stir them into the sauce. Add chopped fresh cilantro, if you like cilantro. Also, add the frozen peas into the cooked rice, give them a stir, and allow the heat of the rice to cook the peas.

Naan
adapted by allrecipes

1 (.25 ounce or about 2 1/4 tsp) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1/4 cup white sugar (reserve 1 Tbsp of sugar to proof the yeast)

3 Tbsp milk

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons salt (I used Kosher)

4 1/2 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)

1/4 cup butter, melted

	In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and 1 Tbsp of sugar. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in the rest of the sugar, warm milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
	Punch down dough, and knead in garlic (I add the garlic during the grilling section along with the butter instead). Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place them on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
	During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
	Roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. (Cover the naan with a top until the bread starts to form little bubbles everywhere) Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Lofthouse Frosted Sugar Cookies

UPDATE: I created a Valentine version of these cookies here! They continue to be delicious.I'm sure many of you've seen these cookies by the front entrance of Wal-Mart or near the bakery section of Costco. These cookies are called Lofthouse Frosted Sugar Cookies, and they are beyond delicious and comforting.

If you're not familiar with these cookies, the cookie part has a very cake-like texture (even the batter looks like cake batter) with a sweet, buttercream frosting on top. The cookie part is not particularly sweet, so you get most of the sweetness from the frosting.

The underside of the cookie is perfect.

I'm not a creative, fanciful person, so it was hard to make these cookies look decent enough for this post. Although not perfect-looking aesthetically, they taste wonderful. They are very soft and sweet.

They taste close enough to the real Lofthouse sugar cookies that you won't have to buy them in the stores anymore. I made quite a few changes to the original recipe after reading through many comments I found on various websites for copycat Lofthouse cookies, so you won't have to do any of the research yourself!

Also, I used a 4-inch cookie cutter after rolling out the dough because I wanted big, thick cookies instead of the traditional 2.5-3-inch size. I think these cookies would be perfect for the holidays. Be more creative than I am by coloring the frosting different colors.
NOTE: I don't recommend making these cookies the same day you want/need them because you will have to refrigerate the dough for 6-8 hours or overnight.

Lofthouse Cookies

adapted from Recipezaar

For 4-inch cookies, you will end up with two dozen cookies. So, if you make 2 1/2 - 3-inch cookies, you should end up with about 3-4 dozen cookies.

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar (in my halved version, I added 2 Tbsp (1/4 cup for full version) EXTRA of sugar to make the cake part a tad sweeter)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sour cream
5-6 cups AP flour, until desired consistency for rolling (in my halved version, I used 2 1/2 cups in the dough and then added about half a cup more of flour while rolling out the dough)

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate overnight (or 6-8 hours).

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Roll out dough to a 1/4 to 3/8 inch thickness using a generous amount of flour (I used a combination of flour and powdered sugar for a non-stick surface and flavor). Cut out shapes, and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes.

Cool on wire rack. Frost (recipe below), and decorate as desired.

Lofthouse Cookie Frosting
adapted from Recipezaar

Yields enough for 2 dozen cookies, so double the recipe, if you need more.

3 1/2 - 4 cups confectioners' sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1/2 cup shortening
5-8 Tbsp (or more) evaporated milk (or regular milk), until you reach the desired consistency
1 tsp vanilla extract
food coloring (optional)

In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the evaporated milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

Meatballs

I apologize for the photos. I'm still trying to figure out how to operate my camera and lens correctly...

Barbara from Barbara Bakes asked me a question that had been burning my brain for a few days now. It was such a simple, innocuous question, but it did intrigue me. After making the homemade Italian rolls and Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches, she asked me, "What are your plans for the other loaves?"

I didn't know what I was going to do with them until I decided to make meatballs. I searched on Google for a new recipe to try that was different from others I've tried and found one on allrecipes.com.

Instead of using store-bought breadcrumbs, I used a food processor and crumbled half of one of the two, leftover loaves of bread that had been sitting in the refrigerator and added it to the meatball mixture. After making the meatballs, I decided to make a meatball sandwich with the other bread loaf.

I placed freshly-sliced provolone (pronounced [pro-vo-LOW-neh], based on U.S. English pronunciation) on top of the meatballs. The sandwich was good, but the bread to meat ratio was off with the former being much thicker and pronounced than the meat.

The next day, I accompanied the leftover meatballs with a marinara sauce using a brand I'd never heard of called Pomì that my friend had found in Wal-Mart. I then poured the delicious meatball sauce on top of store-bought spaghetti. I took one bite, and I was smitten. This was seriously the best spaghetti and meatballs I had ever had. I didn't expect to enjoy the dish that much, but I did. In fact, after I finished, I kept repeating to myself, "Wow. That was so good."

I topped this spaghetti with freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and provolone.

I am not 100% sure of what made that dish so fantastic, but I am quickly becoming convinced that the sauce was the primary factor (even another blogger raved about this sauce). The sauce was so good that I didn't have to dump a bunch of cheese on top for it to taste better. I will have to try out that sauce again.

I seasoned the sauce with various spices and allowed it to reduce for an hour because I was too hungry to wait longer than that. The juicy, flavorful meatballs complemented the sauce perfectly. Because I played around with the sauces, I have only a formal recipe for the meatballs from allrecipes and a list of the seasonings I used for the sauce.

What did I do with the other half of leftover bread? I converted the other half of the last loaf of bread to garlic toast by placing a generous amount of margarine (I use margarine for my savory dishes to save money haha) with garlic powder and Italian seasoning. I then baked and broiled the bread in the oven. Now, I only have a little bread left that I will use with more leftover spaghetti and meatballs today.

Yummy garlic toast...

TIP: Make the full meatball recipe or double it, parbake the meatballs (350 degrees for 10-15 mins), or fully fry them, and place the extras in the freezer for later use.

If you've heard of Pomì and have tried it, please leave a comment below about your experiences with it.

Meatballs
adapted from allrecipes

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground veal (I used 1 lb of ground beef and 1 lb of ground pork)

1/2 pound ground pork

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 eggs

1 cup freshly grated Romano cheese

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat leaf

parsley

salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 cups stale Italian bread, crumbled (I used half of my last loaf of homemade bread and placed in the food processor.)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (or milk, heavy cream, or half-n-half)

1 cup olive oil

	Combine beef, veal, and pork in a large bowl (I placed the non-meat ingredients in the bowl first so that I didn't have to handle the meat as much. Handling the meat too much can make it tough). Add garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.
	Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture. Slowly add the water 1/2 cup at a time (I only used 1/2 cup in TOTAL because I was afraid of using too much water. Next time I will use milk, half-n-half, or heavy cream to make it richer). The mixture should be very moist but still hold it's shape if rolled into meatballs. Shape into meatballs.
	Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Fry meatballs in batches (You can also bake the meatballs, but I don't have the instructions for that). When the meatball is very brown and slightly crisp remove from the heat and drain on a paper towel. (If your mixture is too wet, cover the meatballs while they are cooking so that they hold their shape better.)

Marinara Sauce

1 box of Pomì tomato sauce or any other sauce
oregano
parsley
salt and pepper
1 tsp of sugar
garlic powder
onion powder (or use freshly-chopped onions)
Cooked meatballs
Homemade or store-bought pasta

Pour in the sauce, and add the seasonings. Once the seasonings are fully integrated into the sauce, allow the sauce to cook over low heat for one to two hours. If cooking for one hour, add in the cooked meatballs within 30 minutes of the process. If two hours, add the meatballs after one hour. Serve on top of any pasta you like.

An Ode to My Old Camera and My Mom (not necessarily in that order hehe)

My mother:

I'll apologize to all of you out there ahead of time for what I'm about to announce, but I truly have the greatest mother in the world. Your mothers are a close second LOL!

I declare proudly that she's the greatest because last Christmas, my mother bought me an onyx Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer (see below)...
...and this Christmas, she bought me a Canon XSi with a 50mm f/1.8 lens, and both items arrived at my doorstep the day before yesterday!!!! Words cannot even begin to describe how excited I am.

I thought that it would be easy to shoot from this camera on manual mode since that is what I use on my old camera, but I definitely need a lot more practice!

My old camera:

I tend to personify inanimate objects; it's one of my many idiosyncrasies. So, I feel like my old camera is not feeling the love anymore now that I have this new camera.

My old camera captured by my new camera at night!! :)

Since my old camera has helped me produce more than decent photos that have been published on Foodgawker, Tastespotting, Photograzing, and Refrigerator Soup, it deserves a decent thanks and somewhat of a farewell.

Notice the taped-up battery door! hahahahaha

My phone camera (Blackberry Storm)

I went from photos like the photos below of the focaccia bread that I took in my dark kitchen, which was either taken on my phone camera or my old camera.

What is that? haha

Believe it or not, all I had to do was step outside on my patio to produce much better photos like the one below of this focaccia bread from the same recipe of the one above.

Now that's more like it. I want some of that right now.

So, get ready to see better photos (hopefully) of delicious food. I already have photos of a meatball sub I made yesterday, but most of them were blurry, but I managed to produce a couple of decent ones. I just bought a tripod today to rectify those issues, though.

Thank you, mom!! I love you!
Thank you, old camera and Blackberry!
Thank you, Lord!!

Have a great day!

P.S. I received my new mixer yesterday, too!!! I will take photos of that once I get someone to help me take it out of the box haha.