by Falls, K. C.
Salt
Preheat the oven to 350°
First, remove the root end and trim off the green tops. Slice the entire top off leaving a clean exposed surface. Don't throw the greens away, they are excellent in their own right. Scrub the beets, let them drain off most of the water and rub a little olive oil on them. (Just put them all in a big bowl and rub away).
Put some aluminum foil in the bottom of a roasting pan sized for your number of servings. Put the beets on the foil, cover with another piece of foil and crimp around the edges. The cooking time depends on how large the beets are and how old they are. They can take anywhere from an hour to two. When you can easily pierce into the beet with a paring knife, they're done. Really, because they take so long to cook, five minutes over-cooking isn't going to make any difference so don't sweat it too much.
When they're done, remove them from the hot pan and let them cool enough for you to handle them. You will be able to slip the skins right off of the beets by wiping them with paper towels. Gloves will prevent your hands from turning beet red, but in time you can use just the paper towels. Just takes a little practice.
Quarter the beets.
Now, back in the big bowl, toss the beets with a couple of tablespoons of honey. Return the beets to the oven for just long enough to get them piping hot. The honey will render them sticky. You're going to use tongs for the next step unless, like Mae, you have asbestos fingers. Have enough black pepper in a saucer to use for coating the curved side of the beet quarter. Arrange them artfully on the plate. Visually this is a stunning side dish so don't just throw them at your plate like they were French fries! Serve with roasts, chops, steaks, etc.
An excellent appetizer can be made by putting a golf-ball sized piece of goat cheese on a plate and arranging the beets like petals around the cheese.
"Finewood Park" Beef Kway Teow
This dish was my absolute favorite thing to eat in Singapore. Apparently, from my research it is a dish found only at this island nation. The place I had it for the first time was called the Goodwood Park Hotel. It is a venerable old institution on which I modeled the fictional 'Finewood Park'where Mae and Cess meet for dinner. Like many places in Singapore, the place is kept icy-cold. Mae would very much have needed her shawl in that place!
Most Asian dishes, whether from Chinese origins or from the subcontinent use meat sparingly. In this recipe, I use about a half a pound of beef and would expect four portions—that's only two ounces of meat for each serving. If you think this is too little, feel free to make it more 'meaty' But, I urge you to try it with the small amount first. You might be pleasantly surprised at how a lot of flavor makes a little bit of expensive protein go a long way. Since we are using such a small amount, go with the best meat you can find. I use filet or sometimes a strip or sirloin. Whatever you do, do not succumb to your grocer's 'beef for stir-fry'come-on. It's usually cut way too thick and will disappoint you with both texture and the way it cooks.
You will have to search out the noodles—kway teow—for this dish, but if your town has an Asian market it won't be too hard to find them. You can order them online if you can't find them locally. There is no substitute. The wide rice noodle has a particular texture that just can't be fudged. In Singapore the noodles are fresh. I've learned to live with the dry variety and it is a really good facsimile of the "real thing" As with all stir-fry type dishes the key to success is not to overcook anything.
The classic recipe calls for Chinese chives, but I have used many greens as the veggie part of the dish. Spinach, Swiss chard—leaves only, mustard greens, even the mature outside leaves of Romaine lettuce will make a fine dish. Do not fear to improvise, Grasshopper, it is the essence of all the best sensual delights.
The dish calls for fresh bean sprouts. The real experts pick off the heads and tails, but that is wayyy too much work for me. Feel free to do so if you have time on your hands or cheap child labor around. If you can't find fresh bean sprouts, leave them out altogether. The canned ones bear as much resemblance to the fresh as a flaccid penis to an erect one. If you'd like, you can add some really finely shredded cabbage to get that element of crispness. No one will sue you.
A note on ginger and garlic: I know you are busy. I know you 'don't have time'to peel and grate these essential Asian elements. Please try it once. Then make your dish with the jar kind. If you can't tell the difference, then okay, I can't help you. If you do see the difference, take the five minutes for the real thing. Foreplay, baby, can make or break sex or cooking.
INGREDIENTS:
½ Pound of lean beef filet
One package—usually around a pound (more or less) wide rice noodles. Sometimes called Pad Thai or rice sticks. They should be about a half inch wide.
½ Pound –a bag, bunch, etc. of the greens of your choice (see above) sliced in ribbons
3 Small green onions sliced thinly on the diagonal—green and white parts
½ Pound of fresh bean sprouts or finely shredded cabbage—Chinese variety is best
5 Cloves of minced or grated garlic
A two-inch knob of minced or grated peeled fresh ginger
4 Tablespoons of cooking oil—peanut is best, but any neutral oil is fine
A few tablespoons water
Marinade for meat:
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
1 Teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Scant teaspoon sugar
1 ½ Teaspoons cornstarch
Several dashes sesame oil
First, slice the beef as thin as you can, against the grain. Marinate the beef in the mixed ingredients of the marinade for twenty minutes or so.
The noodles are the trickiest part of this dish. I can't really tell you how long to blanch the dry ones as there is so much variation in moisture content of packaged rice noodles. I take a pot of boiling salted water and throw the noodles in. Then I turn the heat off. The noodles are ready when they are slightly less done than 'al dente' You should be able to bite through one, but it shouldn't be done enough to eat. Softening the noodles in this way shouldn't take more than a few minutes so don't walk away and get busy with other things. If you overcook them at this stage, you will have an unappetizing lump of goo when you cook them the second time.
When the noodles are done enough, drain them and rinse them with cold water. They will be slippery.
Now, you can assemble the dish. Most recipes will tell you to use a wok for Chinese cooking and that's fine, but you don't have to have a wok. In fact, I have an excellent wok that for some reason doesn't get along with the gas stove I presently have, so I have been using a big cast iron skillet lately. It works great.
Heat a tablespoon of oil to hot, but not smoking, and quick-fry the greens and the sprouts or cabbage to 'almost done' This takes a minute or so. Don't overcook as they will be going back into the pan for the final combining. Set the vegetables aside.
Heat another tablespoon of oil in the pan and add the garlic. Don't burn it. When the garlic begins to color, add the drained noodles and cook until the noodles start to show some browning on the edges. Be gentle, the noodles will break easily. Set the noodles aside with the vegetables.
Heat the remainder of the oil in the pan with the ginger. Let the ginger start to sizzle and then add the meat, marinade and all. The meat is not going to get brown, just cook it until the color changes and it's done.
Add a few tablespoons of water and stir. The cornstarch in the marinade will thicken and form the sauce. Add the vegetables and the noodles to the meat and sauce mixture and gently combine until everything is nicely coated. Garnish with the green onions and serve hot.
This dish is usually served with these tiny green pickled chilies on the side that I have never found outside of Singapore. However, I have found several excellent substitutes. Most Asian groceries sell a small green pickled pepper. There are many varieties. You can use the jalapenos you probably already have in your pantry, but these just aren't quite
as good as the little green ones. These peppers are also easily made at home. Buy some Serrano chilies, slice them in thin pieces and put them in a clean glass jar. Boil enough cider vinegar to cover the peppers and season the vinegar with salt and just a pinch of sugar. Pour the boiling vinegar over the chilies and refrigerate for a couple of days. They just keep getting better with age.
Mae's Wasabi Cocktail Sauce
This is just a little variation on the traditional cocktail sauce you are already familiar with. But I've had rave reviews on it. Sometimes simple changes to old standards pack a big flavor punch. This is excellent with any cold shellfish—shrimp, crab claws, even cold pieces of poached white fish like Mahi-Mahi. Just make sure your fish is screaming fresh.
INGREDIENTS:
½ Cup ketchup
Zest and juice from half a lemon or one small lime
A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce
A few drops of Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons of wasabi paste
Mix it all together and serve chilled. Adjust the wasabi to your taste level. I use the kind in the tube as I find most powders that are available in retail stores tend to be bitter. But if you have a favorite, by all means experiment.
A wonderful seafood salad can be made by mixing three parts good quality mayonnaise with one part wasabi cocktail sauce. Toss in shrimp, lobster or crab, some chopped celery and onion and, if you have them and like them—some capers. Yummy.
Braised Lamb Shank (Kurt's original version and Nick's new version)
If you think you don't like lamb or haven't a clue how to cook it, braised lamb shanks are an excellent introduction to this 'other red meat'and the method of cooking is very forgiving. Lamb shanks are braised until they practically fall off the bone so you don't have to pay much attention to the dish once it's prepped and ready to cook.
Lamb shanks are one of the cheaper cuts of lamb, but still not as cheap as chicken or pork chops. So, although this is a rustic meal, it would still qualify as a 'special'dinner. Plus, there's a certain raw sexiness about having a shank on your plate. It looks like caveman food, although I would advise against trying to eat it with your hands unless you're into messiness. I am going to give you the traditional method and then I am going to give you the different take on the traditional method that Nick and Mae came up with at the Elysium.
Mastering the technique of braising will serve you well in the kitchen. Your goal is to achieve a caramelization of the sugars present in the meat. This brown coating accomplishes two things: it seals the juices inside the meat and it provides a depth of flavor to your dish that you can't get by just boiling a hunk of flesh. Braising is an excellent way to coax a cheap cut of meat into becoming an elegant, complex dish. For example, if you wanted to substitute beef short ribs for the lamb in the first version of this recipe, it would be delicious. You could even braise chicken for the second version of the recipe—the Asian-influenced one—but you would need to shorten the cooking time.
Both of these dishes start the same way. The first step is to brown the shanks well. You can cook this dish in an electric frying pan (this is what I use), a crock-pot, or in the oven. If you choose to do it in the oven, you'll need a heavy skillet or Dutch oven that can go on the stove top and in the oven. A cast iron Dutch oven is a perfect choice. If you choose a crock-pot, you will still need a heavy skillet to prepare the ingredients for the slow cooker.
Allow one shank per person. If your market carries the foreleg portion of lamb, this will usually feed two people. Be warned, though, that the foreleg may be too long to fit in your vessel. (Yes, it is possible to be too long when we're talking about fitting in a cooking vessel). If you need to cut part of the bone, you will need to saw it.
Generously salt and pepper the shanks and brown them on medium high heat in just a small amount of oil—enough to keep them from sticking. The lamb will render off quite a bit of fat so you want to keep added fat to a minimum. Turn the shanks often and try to get them as evenly brown all around as you can. The browning is what gives the sauce a lot of its color and flavor. Browning will take a while—fifteen minutes or so—so while that is happening you can prepare the ingredients for your braising sauce.
Traditional Apple and Rosemary Braise
Allow one Granny Smith apple, one small onion, one carrot and a rib of celery for two shanks.
Peel and chop (medium dice) the apple, onion and carrot. Chop the celery.
When the shanks are browned, remove them and put all of the chopped fruit and vegetables into the pan. Sweat the vegetables until they soften.
Mince or grate three cloves of garlic. Remove the leaves from a six-inch stalk of fresh rosemary and chop finely. Add these ingredients to the pan along with a bay leaf or two.. Add the shanks.
You will need enough liquid to come halfway up the shanks. If you are only making two shanks, you will have way more sauce than you will consume, but there's no way around the liquid requirement. Use one part red wine to one part water. In my electric frying pan, I use about a quart of liquid.
Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce to a bare simmer if using an electric skillet. If you are baking the shanks, put foil over the pot very tightly and then put the top on. Cook in the oven at three hundred degrees. If you are using a crock-pot, this is the point where you put the shanks, veggies and liquid into the pot. They will be fine cooking all day on low. Both the oven and the electric skillet method will require about four hours cooking time. A word of warning: my electric fry pan periodically heats up and boils and therefore I usually have to add some liquid during the cooking process to keep it from drying out. Use just water for this as you don't want the wine to be overwhelming in the end product. This won't be a problem with the oven or the crock-pot method.
The shanks are done when you can easily separate the meat from the bone with a fork. They should be very tender. If the sauce seems too watery, you can reduce it on the stove or in the electric frying pan, if using.
Elysium Dinner Special with Mango Braise
Substitute one (or two if very small) green mangoes for the apple. Omit the carrot but keep the onion and celery. Probably the only place you might find green mangoes (other than on the tree) is at an Asian market. If you don't have green mangoes, don't despair. Use the hardest mango you can find at your supermarket.
Use ½ to one teaspoon of your favorite curry powder—I like hot Madras--instead of the bay leaf and rosemary. Add a teaspoon of grated ginger with the chopped garlic.
Add two stalks of lemongrass to the pot. Crush the ends of the lemon grass, tie it in a knot and remove before serving. No lemongrass? Toss half of a seeded lemon, skin and all in the pot.
Use a dry white wine instead of red. This is just so that the color of the fruit and the curry has a chance to shine in the dish. Once your ingredients are all combined taste the liquid. Add one or two teaspoons of brown sugar (palm sugar or jaggery in the Elysium recipe, but that's nearly impossible to find—check the Indian shelf at the Asian market) if the sauce seems too tart.
Again, these are proportions for two shanks. More fruit, veggies and spice for more shanks. But because the shanks then occupy more of the pot space, you probably won't have to double the liquid even if you double the shanks.
Questions, comments, demands, needs, desires? Email Torri: [email protected]
You can find K.C. Falls
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcfallsbooks
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/kcfallsbooks
On Her Blog: kcfalls.com
By Email: [email protected]
And, if you enjoyed the book and love the recipes, please take a moment to leave a review.
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More from K.C. Falls & Torri D. Cooke
Year of the Billionaire Series
Knowing His Secret (Part 1)
Taking His Risk (Part 2)
Keeping His Promise (Part 3)
Carnal Cuisine Books
Sizzling in Singapore
(Carnal Cuisine Novel)
Passion in Panama (Carnal Cuisine Novel)
Desire for Dinner (Carnal Cuisine Short Story)
Hunger for Halloween (Carnal Cuisine Short Story)
About K.C. Falls
The 'C' in my name stands for Cheyenne. Although you wouldn't know it by looking at me, I have a great grandparent who was a member of that Native American Tribe. Her people once lived in the very southeastern corner of Montana where I now make my home. I didn't always live in such a wide open space, though. I grew up in New York City. Much as I love the city and admire what it takes to live there, I met a kindred spirit at Columbia University and together, we found a way to take our lives from the Big Apple to the Big Sky. We haven't regretted a moment.
We've got a smallish ranch where we raise cattle and keep a menagerie of other animals, too. Once or twice a year, we hire a 'ranch sitter' and take an urban vacation somewhere hitting all the restaurants, plays, museums and musical performances we can squeeze in. Then it's back to the wide open.
My inspiration comes from the hundreds (maybe thousands) of wonderful romances I have read since I was old enough to hide my "bodice rippers" under the covers and read with a flashlight away from my mother's prying eyes. I'm happy to have found a partner in Torri who can bring her passion for food to my world of passion for, well, passion. Together I think we make a very creative team. She gets all the credit for the culinary creativity that goes into our collaboration.
A writer finds creativity flourishes in solitude. My fantasy world is full of characters and stories lined up and waiting for me to bring them to life. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.
