Yield

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. shrimp, shelled and deveined (20+ count per pound is suggested)
• 2-3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 medium sweet onion (Maui, Vidalia, or other)
• 1/4 cup beer (a light, sweet lager)
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. fresh grated lemon zest
• salt and pepper to taste
• chopped parsley (optional)

Directions

Peel and slice the onion very thinly into rings. Place the shrimp on a plate with a paer towel, pat dry, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat until the foaming subsides and add the onion, stirring to break up the rings. Cook until soft, approximately several minutes. Remove the onion to a bowl and return the pan to the stove. If there is only a little butter left in the pan, add the remaining tablespoon.

Once the butter has melted again and the foaming subsided, add the shrimp to the pan in a single layer. Cook until one side is pink, and then flip immediately with a pair of tongs. Once the shrimp are fully cooked, remove from the pan into a bowl, leaving any liquid behind, and cover to keep warm.

Return the pan to the stove, and add the beer, lemon juice, and onion slices. Turn the heat to high, and let the sauce boil, thicken slightly. Add the lemon zest and parsley, and then urn off the heat. Pour the sauce over the shrimp and toss to combine. Serve immediately with rice or pasta and vegetables on the side.

Yield

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 4 lb. roasting chicken
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4″ rounds
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of a knife
• 3-4 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 lb. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped in half
• 3 tbsp. olive oil, 2 for pot, 1 for chicken
• 2 tsp. paprika
• salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place rack on bottom shelf.

Remove giblets from chicken. Reserve neck. Cut back out of chicken and cut into several pieces. With breast side down, score the back of the breastbone and flip chicken over. Smack down center of breast in order to flatten chicken somewhat.

Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in 5-6 quart cast iron pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic and chicken backs. Saute until vegetables are quite soft, approximately 5-10 minutes. Add enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables and increase heat to high. Bring to a rolling boil and boil 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, and place chicken inside pot, breast side up. You basically want the chicken to float on top, barely submerged. Drizzle chicken with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and paprika.

Place in oven and roast uncovered until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast reaches 160 degrees.

Remove chicken from oven and pot, and place on a plate to rest. Cover lightly to keep warm. Using a ladle, remove most of the fat floating on top of the liquid. If desired, blend liquid until smooth using an immersion blender. Add mushrooms, and bring sauce to a boil. Simmer for several minutes until mushrooms are cooked through. Serve immediately.

Yield

3-4 lbs. roast beef

Ingredients

• 1 4-5 beef roast, top sirloin preferred
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 carrot
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 quart beef stock
• 1/4 cup dry red wine

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

Tie the roast with kitchen twine at 1-2″ intervals to create an evenly-shaped package. Mash the garlic into a paste and coat the roast. Season all over with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan and brown the roast on all sides. Place the roast in a roasting pan on a wire rack in the oven, and roast until the beef reaches an internal temperature of 100 F. Meanwhile, chop the onion, celery and carrots into a medium dice. Once the roast reaches 100 degrees, add the onion, celery and carrot mixture to the pan along with 1 cup of water. Return the pan to the oven, and continue roasting until the internal temperature reaches 125 F. If the water evaporates, add another cup.

Remove the roast from the oven and place it aside to rest. Place the roasting pan on the stove, turn the heat to medium-high, and add the stock and wine, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let simmer until reduced about 1/3, and then remove from heat, Pour through a fine sieve and season to taste with salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

To make a French Dip sandwich, carve the roast into thin slices. Lightly toast two pieces of bread (either rolls or slices), covering one with Swiss cheese to melt. Spread one piece with mayonnaise, the other with prepared horseradish. Add slices of beef, and place halves of sandwich together. Serve with a small bowl of jus for dipping.

Yield

2 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 4 4-to 5-ounce loin lamb chops
• 1/3 cup chopped shallots
• 3/4 cup ruby Port
• 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dried tart cherries (we used Montmorency cherries from Costco)
• 3 tbsp. cherry or raspberry jam
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• chopped fresh mint or parsley
• salt
• pepper

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Season the lamb chops on all sides with salt and pepper. Cook the chops, turning often, until they reach the desired doneness, approximately 10 minutes. Remove the chops and keep warm under foil.

Pour off any extra oil from the pan and add the shallots, sauteing 1 minute. Add port, chicken broth, cherries, jam, vinegar and cardamom to shallots and simmer until thickened to a thin syrup. Season with salt and pepper. Plate lamb and pour sauce over the top, sprinkling with parsley or mint, if desired.

Yield

2-3 servings

Ingredients

• 2 split chicken breasts (skin on)
• 1-2 cups mushrooms, cleaned and cut into halves or quarters, depending on the size
• 1 1/2 cups cipollini onions or shallots, brushed of dirt and cut in half crosswise
• 1 tbsp. chopped rosemary or thyme
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• salt
• pepper

Directions

If you have time, brine the chicken breasts in advance. This is unnecessary if they are Kosher chicken breasts, as they are already reaonably seasoned from the Koshering process. Heat the oven to 350 F. Wash and dry the chicken breast, seasoning both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat a heavy 10-12″ ovenproof skillet on medium heat . Add 1 tbsp. of the oil and place the chicken breasts skin-side down in the pan. Meanwhile, toss the mushrooms, onions and herbs with the remaining oil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Once the chicken breasts have turned light gold on the bottom, distribute the onion-mushroom mixture evenly around the pan. Place in the oven and cook 20-30 minutes or until the chicken breasts register 160 F using an instant-read thermometer.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven, empty the contents into a covered container, and pour of most of the extra oil. Heat the pan over the stove and pour in the chicken stock, scraping the pan bottom to loosen the caramelized bits. Once the chicken stock is simmering, whisk in the Dijon mustard and simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly. Plate the chicken breast with the onion-mushroom mixture and pour the sauce over the top.

Yield

Approximately 24 blintzes

Blintzes

• 5 cups milk
• 2 cups flour
• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

Filling

• 4 cups cooked chicken (breast or thigh meat is fine)
• 2 medium onions
• 4 medium carrots
• 1/4-1/2 of a medium sized jicama
• 1/2 cup chicken broth or water
• 2 tsp. herb seasoning (Mrs. Dash or similar), or 1 tbsp. fresh chopped herbs (dill, thyme, parsley or combination thereof)
• salt
• pepper

Directions

Whisk eggs, sugar, oil and salt in medium bowl. Whisk in milk. Add flour and stir enough to remove most lumps. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator 20 or more minutes.

Remove mixture from refrigerator and heat a 8″ saucepan over medium heat. Oil the pan and when a drop of water will skip across the surface of the pan, ladle a small amount of the batter into the pan, swirling it so it coats the entire bottom. Once the bottom has browned, flip over and cook the other side until golden spots appear. Flip onto a plate, lightly-oil the pan again, and repeat the process.

To make the filling, pulse chicken in food processor with steel blade attachment several times until finely minced. Set aside. Peel, dice and fry onion until golden brown. Peel carrots and jicama. Shred the carrots and jicama in food processor or with a grater, and add to onion mixture. Stir to combine. Add salt, pepper, and herbs and saute on low heat for 15 minutes or until carrots are soft. Pulse onion-carrot mixture in a food processor with steel blade several times until finely minced. Mix with chicken, and add chicken broth if too dry. It should be able to clump together.

To form blintzes, take a blintz and place it in front of you. Add 1 1/2-2 tbsp. filling in in a horizontal sausage shape 1/3 of the way up from the bottom edge. Fold bottom edge of blintz over filling, and then fold both sides inwards. Roll blintz forward until closed. Set aside and repeat with remaining blintzes.

To serve, heat oil in a saucepan, and place blintzes, seam side down on low heat. Press to flatten. Once golden crust has formed on one side, flip and fry other side until golden. Serve immediately with a choice of toppings such as dill or sour cream.

Yield

8 servings

Ingredients

• 8 medium-sized bell peppers (any color, red or yellow preferred)
• 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 3 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 1/2-3 lbs. carrots
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice or buckwheat
• 1 tbsp. dried herbs (parsley, dill, thyme, oregano)
• 2 tbsp. ketchup
• 2-3 tbsp. olive or canola oil
• salt
• pepper

Directions

Saute onions with oil in large non-stick pan over medium heat until golden brown. Reserve 1/3 of the cooked onions in a separate bowl. Meanwhile, peel carrots, cut off tops and shred with a grater or a food processor. Add carrots to onions with 1 tbsp. salt, dried herbs, and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat 20 minutes or until carrots start to become tender. If necessary, add 1/2 cup of water to moisten the mixture. Add ketchup to mixture and stir to combine. Cook another 5 minutes and remove from heat. Remove carrots from pan into bowl and place pan aside for later reuse.

Cut tops out of bell peppers and scrape insides to remove seeds. Heat a large pot of water to boiling, and submerge peppers, boiling 4-5 minutes until flexible. Remove from water and drain. Save several cups of the cooking water.

In large bowl, combine meat with grains, reserved onion, and 1/4 of the cooked carrot mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly. Stuff mixture into peppers, taking care not to over-stuff the peppers, and place the peppers into the previously-saved carrot pan. It is best if you can place the peppers in a single layer. Fill the pan with the reserved water until it reaches approximately half-way up the sides of the peppers. Add 1 tsp. of salt to the water and shake the pan to dissolve. Cover, bring to boil on high heat, turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the rest of the carrot mixture over the top of the peppers and cook for another 10 minutes.

Best served hot or warm.

Note

The peppers can be stuffed with carrots only for a vegetarian-style dish. This can be served warm or cold.

Yield

1 sandwich

Ingredients

• Roast Turkey With Oranges And Onions or Smoked Turkey
• Stuffing With Pine Nuts
• Cranberry Orange Relish
• Mustard
• Mayonnaise
• 2 slices San Luis Sourdough
• cheese (optional)

Directions

Toast the bread. Spread one side with cranberry relish and mustard. Spread other side with mayonnaise. If using cheese, place on one slice of bread and broil quickly to melt. If turkey is cold, mix with a little gravy and microwave on low power for a minute or two to warm and moisten. Place turkey and stuffing on one side of bread. Top with other side.

Variations

Add a little horseradish, a little dab of gravy, or tomatoes.

Yield

5 buns

Sauce

• 2 tsp. oyster sauce
• 3/4 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp. ketchup
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• pinch white pepper
• 3 tbsp. Chicken Broth
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil

Remaining

• 2 tsp. peanut oil
• 1/3 cup diced onions
• 1/2 cup diced roast pork (roast turkey also works well here)
• 1 tsp. Shoa-Hsing wine or sherry
• 1 recipe Steamed Bun Dough
• parchment paper

Directions

Combine all sauce ingredients. Heat wok over high heat for 30 seconds. Add peanut oil and coat wok. When smoke appears, add onions, lower heat to low, and cook until onions turn light brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add roast pork, raise heat, and stir fry 1 minute. Add wine.

Lower heat and add sauce mixture to pork. Stir until well mixed. Turn off heat and transfer to shallow dish. Cool and then refrigerate until cold.

To prepare buns:

Cut 8 2 1/2 squares of parchment paper. Roll dough into log and cut into 8 equal-size pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, covering pieces not being worked with a damp cloth.

Using fingers, press dough into domelike shape. Place 1 tbsp. filling in center of well. Gather the dough, close around filling, and pleat with fingers. Twist and break off the top so that package is sealed.

Place each bun on a square of parchment paper, pleated side up. Place in steamer, 2 inches apart. Steam 15-20 minutes over hot water.