Ribeye Steak with Salmorigano and Haricot Yaune

I was so excited when the Zuni Cafe Cookbook arrived in the mail yesterday because it's won the James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the Year award and IACP Cookbook of the Year award. Also, the restaurant won the James Beard Foundation Restaurant of the Year, and Judy Rodgers (who founded Zuni Cafe and wrote the book) won the James Beard Foundation Best Chef of the Year award. Not only do the recipes look delicious, the cookbook is very well-written and include many helpful details for the home cook, a glossary for ingredients, and even wine pairings for each main course (a nice touch for those who drink alcohol, though I currently can't). It's also a natural transition from the Alice Waters style cooking that I've been doing for the past year or so - French and Italian influenced Californian cuisine with a focus on fresh, seasonal, and organic/natural ingredients. Judy Rodgers actually interned at Chez Panisse at one time before she started Zuni Cafe.

The first recipe I decided to make was salmorigano, which is a salsa-marinade that can be used for marinating meat, or as a sauce for cooked food, such as fish or roasted or grilled vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, onions, eggplant, etc), or even as a sauce for grilled bread. It's traditionally made with fresh oregano, but this version of it uses dried oregano. I used salmorigano to marinate pieces of ribeye (one of my favorite cuts of meat) overnight - it definitely didn't disappoint! I paired the ribeye with haricot yaune (the yellow version of haricot vert) which was sauteed with onions and lavendar peppers.


Black and lavendar peppers from the Union Square Greenmarket

A few tips when buying steak: a) Look for lots of marbling (thin threads of fat throughout the meat) - marbling means fat which means flavor b) It should be about 1-1½ inches thick so that it doesn't dry out while it's being cooked c) Grass fed, naturally raised beef is your best quality meat, but if not, go for USDA Prime; and if not Prime, then Choice (one level below Prime). d) The best cuts are filet mignon or tenderloin (the most tender and expensive cut, though not the most flavorful), ribeye (well marbled, one of the juiciest and most flavorful cuts), New York Strip (best cut for grilling), Porterhouse (a combination of New York Strip steak on one side and tender filet on the other), and T-bone (very similar to a Porterhouse steak, except with less of the tenderloin muscle.)

Ribeye Steak with Salmorigano and Haricot Yaune Adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook Ingredients: • 4 ribeye steaks, 1-1½ inches thick, about 10 ounces each • 1 pound haricot yaune, washed and stems trimmed (or if you can't find them, substitute haricot vert) • 1 bell pepper, washed diced (I used lavender pepper, but you can use any color - preferably red, orange, or yellow, as green ones lend a bitter rather than sweet flavor) • 1 red onion, peeled and diced Salmorigano • 12 small garlic cloves • About 1½ cup extra-virgin olive oil • ¾ teaspoon salt • ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or chili pepper flakes\ • 3 tablespoons dried oregano • 1½ lemons, halved • 6 tablespoons simmering water Directions: 1. Remove your steak from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you plan to cook it and allow it to come to room temperature, since a cold steak will contract when it hits the heat and cause it to toughen. Preheat your oven to 425°F. 2. Salmorigano: Peel and crush the garlic in a garlic press. Add a pinch of salt, then add the oregano, oil, and black pepper or dried chili. Stir the mixture to combine. Just before using, add the simmering water, squeeze in the lemon juice, whisk, and taste. The sauce shouldn't be too tart or sour so as to overwhelm the other flavors. If you're using it as a marinade, allow each piece of steak to soak in the mixture for up to 1 hour. 3. Haricot Yaune: Sauté the onion in a non stick pan on medium high heat for about 10 minutes until it begins to caramelize. Then add the haricot yaune and sauté for 10 minutes more until they are soft. (I prefer them a bit on the softer side, so sauté for 6 or 7 minutes if you prefer them a little crunchy.) 4. Preheat a skillet to medium high heat. When it's hot, drop the steak in the skillet and sear each side for 30-45 seconds, depending on its thickness. Then place the steak in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, again depending on its thickness - this will produce a medium rare steak, so leave the steak in for longer if you prefer a steak that's more well done. Remove the steak and allow it to rest for about 5 minutes to let the juices settle before serving with a side of haricot yaune and caramelized onions.

Red Wine Tomato Quinoa & Garlic Ground Beef Stuffed Winter Squash

Aren't these stuffed winter squashes just adorable?! Well, they're not just pretty to look at, they're easy to make, very nutritious, store for many weeks or even months in a cool, dry place (unlike summer squashes), and taste great when stuffed and baked - or roasted and pureed, made into soups, cut into chunks, baked into souffles, muffins, cookies, and other baked goods, made into pancakes, and so on and so forth. They're so versatile, they can be made into both sweet and savory dishes; the possibilities are endless!

I went a little crazy and purchased 5 different varieties this week:


clockwise from the right: butternut squash (the light-orange colored squash with the long neck), kabocha squash (large, dark green), delicata squash (small, yellow, and striped), acorn squash (small, dark green), and small dumpling squash (small, light orange)

I'll prepare them in different ways because the different tastes, textures, and sizes of each variety make them suitable for different ways of cooking. With the butternut squash, I plan to make a white bean & butternut squash soup with chicken, and with the kabocha squash, I'll make pancakes two different ways - as "ho bak jeon" (Korean-style squash pancakes made with julienned strips of squash) and as regular American-style pancakes. I may also make squash muffins if I have leftover squash - we'll see. Delicata, sweet dumpling, and acorn squash are small and therefore the most suitable winter squashes for stuffing, so I stuffed all three.

My favorite of the three is definitely the delicata squash (pictured above), which tastes somewhat like sweet potatoes. Sweet dumpling squash is mildly sweet and has a bit of a dry texture. I definitely liked it more than acorn squash, which has a creamy, slightly fibrous texture and a mild, nutty taste that I found to be slightly bitter also - and not the kind of slight bitterness that I love in other vegetables, such as kale, but the kind that reminded me of yellow summer squash and zucchini, neither of which I'm too fond of. (Growing up, I used to pick out all the individual yellow squash and zucchini from my plate.) However, with the great varieties of squash out there (and they don't all taste the same), pretty much everyone can find varieties that they love! I myself love pumpkin, butternut squash, and delicata squash - yup, all the orange-fleshed sweet flavored squashes.

If you're not a fan of squash of any kind, the stuffing I made is delicious on its own and can serve as a main course. The red wine quinoa component also makes for a great side dish, and the garlic ground beef, red peppers, and red onions component also makes a fantastic topping for pizza when combined with pineapple chunks and grated cheese - in fact, it's one of my all-time favorite pizza toppings. By the way, quinoa is not only light, fluffy, and delicious, it's nature's perfect grain (though it's technically not a grain, but a seed)- it has a complete set of amino acids, is high in fiber, iron, and B-vitamins, and is also gluten-free for those who are sensitive to wheat products.

Garlic Ground Beef and Red Wine Tomato Quinoa Stuffed Winter Squash Ingredients: • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil • 8 small winter squash (delicata, acorn, or small dumpling squashes are good choices), about 1-1¼ lb each For red wine tomato quinoa • 2½ cups quinoa • 2 medium tomatoes • 1 bay leaf • 6 sprigs thyme • 3 cloves garlic • ½ cup red wine (I substituted red grape juice, instead) • 4½ cups chicken stock • sea salt and pepper, to taste For garlic ground beef • 3 pounds grass-fed ground beef • 1 teaspoon sea salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt (sea salt is often saltier than regular table or kosher salt) • 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper • 2 medium red onions, diced • 3 red peppers, washed, seeded and diced • 2 bulbs or about 20 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed through a garlic press • 1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano and 2 ounces Gruyere (optional) Directions: 1. Rinse and drain the quinoa in a rice cooker pot. Add tomato, thyme, bay leaf, garlic, kosher salt and pepper, red wine, and chicken stock to the pot, and cook the quinoa. 2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut 1-inch off the top of each acorn squash and scoop out the seeds with a spoon or a melon baller. If necessary in order for the squash to sit upright, cut off a small portion of the bottom. Rub the insides of each squash with extra-virgin olive oil and set them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. 3. Sauté the ground meat in a non-stick fry pan on medium heat until it is almost fully cooked, breaking the chunks apart with a spatula. Remove from the heat and drain the fat from the pan. Return the pan to the stove top and turn the heat on again to medium. Add the red peppers, onions, and garlic, and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 15-20 minutes. Add the cooked quinoa, stirring constantly and heating the mixture thoroughly, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. 5. Divide the mixture evenly among the squash, top each squash with its lid and bake for 1 hour or until the squash is tender. (You may also begin baking the squash before you sauté the ground beef, as long as the total bake time is about 1 hour.) 6. Remove the lids and grate cheese (optional) on top of squash. Serve immediately.

Slow Braised Beef Short Ribs with Raspberry-Blueberry Sauce and Gremolata

MMM.. these slow braised short ribs are melt-in-your-mouth tender and juicy, with a ton of flavor (read: fatty). I highly recommend using grass fed beef short ribs, and I just can't emphasize enough how much more delicious and flavorful grass fed beef is compared to regular beef. However, any kind of beef short ribs do have a high fat content, which is why I won't be making this dish regularly, only once in awhile. Don't say I didn't warn you - you might have to bust out your sweatpants!

The sauce that is paired with the short ribs was absolutely delicious. The original recipe called for 3/4 cups of red wine to be added to the braising liquid (later turned into sauce), but since I didn't want to drink any alcohol and I knew that only some of the alcohol would have cooked off had I included it, I substituted blueberries and raspberries instead. When pureed, the blueberries and raspberries produced about 1 cup of juice and gave the sauce a nice sweetness that balanced out the saltiness. Other options could have been red seedless grapes, cranberries, blackberries, etc, or their respective juices.

The only part about this dish I could have done without was the gremolata. This was my first time making and tasting gremolata, which is traditionally made with lemon or orange zest, garlic, and fresh parsley, and honestly, it was a bit too strong for my preference (partly because of the raw garlic - whew!).

Slow Braised Beef Short Ribs with Raspberry-Blueberry Sauce and Gremolata Adapted from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Café Cookbook Ingredients: Beef short ribs • 3.5 pounds beef short ribs - cut 2" thick • Salt to taste • Freshly-ground black pepper to taste • 2 large yellow onions, roughly chopped • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 1 leek, white and pale green parts only, roughly chopped • 1 small to medium carrot, peeled, and roughly chopped • 5 cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped • 6 garlic cloves, smashed • 6 sprigs thyme • 6 sprigs parsley • 2 bay leaves • 1 pint raspberries • 1 pint blueberries • 4 cups beef stock Gremolata *¼ cup chopped parsley *Zest of ½ lemon, minced *1 large garlic clove, minced Directions: 1. For the ribs: Preheat oven to 475°F. Cut the ribs into squares, so that each piece includes a bone. Season the ribs with salt and pepper; be generous. Arrange ribs bone-side down in a roasting pan and roast until lightly browned. This should take about 20 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, put 2 tablespoons olive oil in large skillet and turn heat to medium-high. Add onions, and saute until onions are starting to soften, 6 to 7 minutes. Add leeks and carrot, and cook until slightly softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic, thyme, parsley and bay leaves and saute 2 minutes more. 3. Spread vegetables into a roasting pan, and arrange ribs on top of vegetables, bone-side up. Puree blueberries and raspberries together in a blender. Add the puree and enough beef stock to barely cover ribs. Cover pan tightly with foil and place in oven. 4. When braise begins to simmer, after about 20 minutes, loosen foil and reduce heat to 350°F. 5. Turn ribs about once an hour. After 1½ to 2 hours, test meat with a fork; meat should be tender, nearly falling from bone. Raise heat to 450°F and return ribs to oven for a final browning. 6. After about 10 minutes, remove from oven. Pour off and strain braising juices into a large skillet, pressing down on the vegetables to extract all their juices. Discard vegetables. Allow liquid to rest for five minutes, then skim off grease from surface. Bring strained and skimmed liquid to a boil, and reduce to about half. Pour liquid back over ribs and reheat if serving immediately. (Or alternatively, refrigerate for a few hours or overnight and skim solidified grease off the surface. Then, reheat sauce, and serve next day with gremolata.) 7. For the gremolata: Just before serving, mix chopped parsley, fresh lemon zest and minced garlic and sprinkle over short ribs.