Beef stew

Posted by somegoodish on January 13, 2012

I don’t think I’ve ever stewed anything before but stew meat was cheap and I’m nothing if not stingy so here we are….

Step one is to salt, pepper, and season the beef… I used oregano, (because thyme, majoram, savory, and basil are spices of the devil, but you can use them if you have them).

I have to err on the side of the joy of cooking on this one because I’ll be damned if I understand how this helped make a bomb stew, but then I covered the beef in flour…

Beef McNuggets... I'm loving it.

Then brown the beef in bacon fat and remove from pan…

I cannot stress enough how important bacon fat is as a cooking ingredient...

Chopped up one carrot, one celery, one onion, and 4 cloves of garlic, sauteed them in the bacon fat as well…

This is called a "mirepoix" in cullinary terms. No, I cannot pronounce it.

Added the beef back in with 3 cups of beef broth, more oregano (or your devil spices) and some beer… Simmered for an hour and a half….

Beer is good for cooking, drinking while cooking, and drinking while eating what you cooked. Mmmmm Beer!

Added 3 carrots and 3 potatoes (peeled, because skin is for suckers) cut up into big pieces, cooked for 30 more minutes…

For the record, it is difficult to take a picture and stir a stew at the same time

Finally, to thicken the soup up a bit, whisk in 2 tablespoons butter and two tablespoons flour and … stew!

I mean... its a stew. Its not photogenic, its tasty.

Honey-lemon glazed salmon and lemon pepper sauce with roasted brussel sprouts

Posted by somegoodish on January 13, 2012

Made a pretty good dinner last night, and now that I can blog from my phone I promise to get more of my recent stuff up (so stop hassling me to blog more, damn).

So first off made a marinade / glaze with 1 tablespoon each lemon juice and honey, and half a teaspoon of lemon zest… Then marinaded some salmon filets for an hour, and baked at 400° for 14 minutes.

I butchered this filet, what do I look like a sushi chef? Shit's hard.

Then I made a lemon pepper sauce with a cup of sour cream, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a teaspoon of lemon zest, pinch of salt, and a butt load of pepper….

Mixing things together still counts as cooking, I checked.

Then I cut a bunch of brussel sprouts in half and tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and a teaspoon of water (the water is the secret to good roasted sprouts, allegedly). Place face down on a baking tray and wrap in foil. Bake at 500° for 10 minutes and uncover and bake another 12 minutes. Then salt til they are good.

Kids are stupid for not liking these...

It came together pretty damn well if I don’t say so myself…

I shoulda made more salmon. REGRET.

Fish Tacos with Homemade Pickled Onions, Salsa Verde, and Tortillas

Posted by somegoodish on January 3, 2012

Sorry it took so long to make another post, but I have a doozy to make up for it… I made everything in this meal from scratch (well, I mean, I didn’t grow or catch it or anything but you know what I mean)…

First off, I made pickled onions a couple of days ago, by covering a bunch of sliced onions in balsamic vinegar. I don’t remember where I first heard this recipe, but you can let them sit in the fridge for several weeks and they will only get tastier.

It's a scientific fact that pickling things makes them better

Then, I made salsa verde with a tomatillo, some garlic, onion, a dried chili, and a bunch of cilantro. Throw it in the Magic Bullet (because honestly who owns a food processor?), and then add water until its salsa verde-ey (I’m sure there is a cooking term for this, but I’ll be damned if I know it – the texture that salsa verde should be).

Tomatillo = unripe tomato?

This episode of Some Good Ish brought to you by the Magic Bullet (TM)

This is good on everything. Seriously.

Next, I marinated some tilapia filets in lime juice, 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro, a tablespoon of crushed, dried chili, and some salt and pepper for 3 hours:

I ate some of this raw, because I like ceviche. And tapeworms.

Tacos would just be fish and sauce without tortillas, but I didn’t have any and it was way too early to go to the store so I made my own… Allegedly tortilla dough is just flour, salt, baking powder, and lard. But since I didn’t have lard, I used bacon fat, which is what lard wishes it was: