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Beef Massaman Curry

Beef, Ethnic, Meat, Onions, Rice, Sauce, Soup, Stews, Thai, Vegetables - No Comments » - Posted on January, 26 at 3:16 pm

Approximately once a month, if not more, my wife and I get a real craving for a curry and coconut mixture, typically with a bit of chicken, peas, and other vegetables that is served over rice. It is a dish, especially this time of year, that is extremely comforting.  Some of my favorite Thai curry recipes basically involve a small can of curry paste that you can pick up at your local Asian store. They come in various colors, of which have different flavors, so be sure to look at the ingredients. My favorite is the red can as it packs some great heat, however they yellow curry paste, which we use in this recipe, packs these really amazing earthy flavors. Some of the ingredients include: dried chilies, shallot, garlic, fresh turmeric, lemon grass, coriander, cumin, cardamon, cinnamon, bay leaves, and cloves, among other things.  You can see where this is heading. Yep, to flavor town U.S.A. Wait, is that where I live?

Beef Massaman Curry Recipe

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Let’s get started on this simple, and comforting recipe.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

You are going to treat this entire dish like a stew. It will cook low and slow for a good couple of hours, but that is OK as you will be gifted with some wonderful and tantalizing aromas during that time.

Begin by adding your cubed beef a large mixing bowl. Add in the curry paste and beging mixing the meat around, making sure the paste adheres to all of the pieces. Once done, set aside, and wash your hands with warm water and soap.

Next, heat a dutch oven if you have one, if not a heavy pot on the stove, on medium heat. Add in the oil and let it come to temperature.

Beef Massaman Recipe Ingredients

Toss in the cinnamon stick, star anise, and cardamon seeds and pods. Give a good stir.  This is probably your second great smell as the curry paste was probably the first inviting smell. Let this cook for about 3 minutes.

Toss in the shallots and the onions and give another good stir. Let this cook, stirring a few times along the way, for about 5 minutes.

Next, toss in the curried meat mixture, turning up the heat to a medium high. and give a good stir. Cook, untouched for about two minutes. Add in the chicken stock, and the coconut milk. Give another good stir.

Let this come to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and let it cook for about 1 1/2 hours.

Now, add in the fish sauce, brown sugar, peanuts, and the potatoes. Give a good stir, then cover again. Allow this to cook until the potatoes are fork tender. This will take about 30-40 minutes.

Give the broth a taste. Heavenly right?

Once the potatoes are cooked, the beef massaman curry is ready to serve.

To serve, add some cooked jasmine rice to a soup bowl. Using a ladle, ladle in some of the broth, potatoes, and beef over the top of the rice. Top with some more broth.

Not only the smell of this massaman curry is amazing, but I think you will agree that the flavor is also out of this world. Super tender beef, along with the chunky potatoes and onions. Well, what more do I have to say to get you make this one? Hope you enjoy.



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Croque Monsieur

Bread, Cheese, Ethnic, Game Day, Pork, Sandwiches, Sauce - 3 Comments » - Posted on January, 23 at 4:34 pm

The croque monsieur. The sibling of the croque madame. A French style sandwich that, once made, will be in your memory for a very long time. It is a sandwich unlike no other. If you were to compare it to a hot brown sandwich, as awesome and amazing as those are, it still does not compare. See there is something to be said about the crunch you get when biting into this sandwich. The nutty and sweet flavor of the Gruyère cheese, along with the smooth creaminess of the béchamel sauce really makes this sandwich stick out.

Recipe for making a Croque Monsieur
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(Serves 2)

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

Begin by making the béchamel sauce. Get two saucepans, and heat one on a medium low heat, and the other on medium heat. To the pan on medium, low heat, add the milk, and let it get warm. To the other pan, add the two tablespoons of butter, and let it melt down and begin to bubble a bit. Add the flour to the butter, and mix it very well to incorporate the two. Continue whisking for about two minutes, being careful not to let the flour mixture brown. Slowly add in the warm milk, and continue whisking until you everything is nice and smooth. You will whisk this for about 8-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Add in the salt, nutmeg, and the parmesan cheese. Give a good mix, then remove it from the heat until it is ready to be used.

Next, get a large skillet going on the stove, and bring that to a medium heat. Butter four slices of the bread, and lay them into the skillet, butter side down. The goal here is to get them nice and golden brown, without burning them. As they begin to cook, add a tablespoon of butter to two pieces of the bread. Lay down three slices of Gruyère cheese on top of the mustard, then top each with four slices of the black forest ham. Let them continue cooking on the skillet, lifting to peak every couple of minutes, until the have reached that golden brown color, and have a crunchy exterior.

Now for the assembly.

Get your broiler going on 475 degrees.

Add the slices of toasted bread to a baking sheet. Place the toasted bread on top of the bread with the mustard, cheese, and ham. Now take the bechamel sauce and generously spread it all of the top of each sandwich. Take half a cup of the Gruyère cheese and add that to the top of the bechamel sauce.

Place this under the broiler until the cheese is nice and bubbly and everything is warmed through, roughly 4-6 minutes.

Remove the sandwiches from the broiler, and place on a serving plate. Dig in!

This one is super delicious and has not left my mind since I last made it. It has that sort of impact. Trust me.



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3 Responses to “Croque Monsieur”

  1. christy Says:
    January 24th, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    so i am sitting here at my desk…starving more than i should at 11:30am…and popping on to tastespotting to torture myself…and i come across this?!! pretty evil if you ask me…that is if being evil was the best thing in the world! :) off to the kitchen to see if i can conjure something remotely similar up–thanks for the treat.

  2. Farah Says:
    January 24th, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    this looks delicious! Though one question: What substitution do you recommend for the ham? We can’t eat any pork products, so what would be a good replacement for it?

  3. Anonymous Says:
    January 25th, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    This does look yummy…
    Farah – I looked at Wikipedia and there’s a variation called Croque Norvegien that replaces the ham with smoked salmon. Would that work? Otherwise, I bet you could use any white deli meat (chicken, turkey) and call it Croque whatever you want and it would probably be just as tasty.

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Homemade Pretzel Bites with Cheddar Cheese Beer Sauce

Appetizers, Cheese, dough, Game Day, Kids, Sauce, Snack - 2 Comments » - Posted on January, 20 at 6:46 pm

If there is one thing that my children and I agree on for a late night snack, it has got to be the soft pretzel. This snack was something I grew up with and it is something enjoyable to reflect on those childhood memories when I would ask my parents if I could have a soft pretzel, making them right in the oven. To me, the soft pretzel might be my favorite snack. It is warm, salty, and can be topped with delicious squeeze cheese and mustard. Yes, squeeze cheese. I admit that I love squeeze cheese, but only on a soft pretzel, nothing else.

Pretzel Bites with Beer Cheese Dip Recipe
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It has been awhile since I last made soft pretzels, and I thought I would entertain my kids with the thought of fresh, homemade soft pretzels, not only that, but to create a beer and cheddar cheese sauce that my wife and I love.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

Begin by adding 1 1/2 cups of the water to a mixing bowl. If you have a KitchenAid mixing bowl, use that. Add in the sugar, salt, and package of yeast. Gently stir, and walk away from it for about 5-10 minutes, or until the yeast foams.

Once the mixture has foamed, add in the flour and melted butter. Use your dough hook attachment, and begin mixing on medium speed for about four minutes. Your dough should be smooth and begin coming off of the sides of the bowl.  Remove the dough from the mixer and add it to another bowl. Drizzle the vegetable oil on top of the dough, and toss it to the other side, making sure the exterior is oiled. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for about two hours.

The goal is to have the dough rise, about twice the size of which you placed it in the bowl.

Once the dough has risen, uncover, and give a good smell. I love the smell of fresh dough. Nothing beats that wonderful yeast smell. Well, bacon probably beats that, but still, it is a great smell.

For the next few steps you will want to have everything prepared as things go pretty quickly.

To a large baking sheet, spray the cooking spray on it. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add the salt to a small bowl.

In a roasting pan, if you have one, add the water and the baking soda, and bring it to a boil. If you do not have a roasting pan, use a  deep skillet or another vessel that can hold that water to a boil.

OK, back to the dough. Take the dough and divide it into about 8-10 balls. The dough will be a bit sticky, so use a bit more vegetable oil to lightly coat your hands.

Take each ball and begin to roll it into a rope like shape. Once you begin to get the rope, grab both ends and swing it a bit. Your goal here is to get the rope to be about 7 inches long, or so.

Lay the rope down, and cut about 2 inch pieces. Add these pieces to the boiling water. Let these cook in the water for 20-30 seconds. What happens here is that the dough begins to soften, par cook, and enlarge a bit. Remove with a slotted spoon, trying to remove as much water as possible, and add the cooked dough to the oiled baking sheet.

Brush the egg wash onto the top of each pretzel bite, then sprinkle each one with kosher salt.

Ingredients for making homemade soft pretzels

Repeat this process for the remaining dough balls.

Once the baking sheet is filled with some pretzel bites, add them to the preheated oven and cook for about 15 minutes. They should come out golden brown. The smell is amazing. Take it in. Remove them from the baking sheet and place on a wired rack to cool.

Repeat this process until all of the pretzel bites have cooked.

As the pretzels cook, make the cheddar cheese beer sauce.

Ingredients:

Add the beer to a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil. Toss the flour with the cheese. Once the beer is boiling, add the cheese and flour mixture, dial down the heat, and stir constantly. Toss in some salt and pepper. Stir, and add to a serving bowl.

When you are ready to plate, add the pretzel bites to a plate with a small bowl of the beer sauce, and dig in.

The flavor of these pretzels are just phenomenal to say the least. Packed with this yeasty smell and flavor, every bite is nicely salted, and that beer and cheese sauce, well, I will let you judge. A perfect snack any time of the day, and better yet, a great game day appetizer that will get all of your friends and family dipping everything into that beer and cheddar cheese sauce! Enjoy.



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2 Responses to “Homemade Pretzel Bites with Cheddar Cheese Beer Sauce”

  1. Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche Says:
    January 21st, 2012 at 7:45 am

    Cheesy beer sauce sounds INCREDIBLE!

  2. Pam from OK City Says:
    January 21st, 2012 at 9:50 am

    Dax, you’ve done it again. Another delicious and fun recipe. We first had pretzel bites at the restaurant on the top floor of the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. They were wrapped in a cone of paper and brought to the table in a small wire stand, along with a dish of sweet hot mustard for dipping. Made me thirst for even more of their spicy Bloody Mary’s. I will recreate the experience very soon. Now if I could just get my hands on some of that wonderful Maryland crabmeat…

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