My Global Kitchens

Midwest Baked Beans

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Colorful Baked Beans

The weekend of October 21 we boarded a nonstop flight from Seattle to Texas, traveling to Austin for my nephew’s wedding. I’ve never “been there, done that” so off we flew to meet up with everyone in my immediate family: my children, two of the grandkids, my siblings, a girlfriend, a spouse. What a great excuse for a family reunion.

I was shocked at how “young” the folks were in this city and how large the city was – almost a million people. Like I’d pictured, Austin is flat and spread out. What I didn’t conjure up in my mind? Countless food trucks. Extremely hot weather at the end of October. The beautiful river and walking path. Night bats. Some of the varied architecture (Victorian) along 6th Street. And names of establishments spread throughout the city were a kick in the pants: Esther’s Follies, The Broken Spoke, Salt Lick Barbeque, Dirty Martins, The Jackaloupe, Buffalo Billiards, The Thirsty Nickel to name a few. Utterly charming.

Fancy Food Truck

I strolled up and down 6th Street gazing into the many bars and nightclubs and was especially thrilled to enter The Elephant Room on Saturday evening where approximately 15 family members gathered for a jazz performance by Ephraim Owens. The bouncer even carded me calling me “overqualified”!

The following Thursday night 12 of us were stunned by the creative food at Uchiko. Thanks to sister Kay and her friends who have visited Austin, we booked reservations at this highly popular establishment back in August – two months prior to the wedding. Billed as “Japanese farmhouse dining” we decided to order a tasting menu so we could enjoy as many dishes as possible. Two of my favorites? Seared pear, brussel sprout puree and grilled mullet with mint and Jar Jar Duck, presented in a jar (of course) with candied citrus and endive with rosemary smoke that emanated when the lid of the jar was removed. We left stuffed to the gills and convened at The Broken Spoke for live honky-tonk country music and dancing.

Beautiful Brussels Sprout Puree with Grilled Mullet

Saturday night’s rehearsal dinner took place at IronWorks Barbeque.The wedding guests, 90% from out of town, were treated to barbecued beef ribs, chicken, beans, coleslaw, and Texas Toast along with typical Texas desserts: banana cream pudding, fruit crisp, and pecan pie.

The Happy Groom & His Cousins

Barbeque is ubiquitous in Texas and most menus and side dishes seem identical. The beans are good but simple and I started to think about my longtime favorite Baked Bean recipe. I make this as a side for barbequed beef, burgers or chicken and it’s always front and center on the 4th of July. It’s easy as can be and sooooo good.

Midwest Baked Beans (circa 1972)

Serves 10

Ingredients

1 cup chopped yellow onion, diced ¼ inch
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ cup ketchup
a few grinds of fresh black pepper to taste (I did eight)
¾ cup light brown sugar (use less if you don’t want it too sweet)
1 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp red wine vinegar
dash of tabasco or sriracha (Hot chili sauce)
Dash of liquid smoke or hickory seasoning (Wright’s makes a good concentrated type)
1 16 oz can vegetarian baked beans in sauce (Bush’s is my fave)
1 16 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 16 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 16 oz can butter beans, rinsed and drained
1 16 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Sauté onion in olive oil until limp, about eight minutes. Mix sauteed onion with all five types of the beans.

Mix other ingredients (ketchup through liquid smoke) in a separate dish and taste your sauce – add more hot sauce or mustard if you like.

Oil a large porcelain casserole (I smeared it with coconut oil), pour the beans and sauce in, cover well with aluminum foil and bake mid oven for about an hour. Remove from the oven, stir and taste – season if needed with salt, pepper or hickory.

Cook’s notes:

This dish stays hot a long time and is wonderful as a side dish for barbecued beef sandwiches, hamburgers and hotdogs or barbecued chicken.

When I want to kick it up a notch – I add some diced sauteed salami at the beginning.

In the winter I often make this as a main vegetarian dish and make a huge kale or cabbage salad with lots of vegetables for a meatless meal.

Posted in Side Dish | Tagged Austin, Baked Beans, Broken Spoke, Ironworks Barbeque, Texas, The Elephant Room, Uchiko | Leave a comment

Nourishing Ginger Brew

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Ginger Brew

It seems like so many people become ill this time of year. Right around Thanksgiving in 2012 I battled an awful cold for what seemed like weeks. After sniffling and coughing and going through numerous boxes of Kleenex, I finally decided it was time to make a jar of “ginger brew.” My daughter’s friend who served in the Peace Corps somewhere in Africa gave her this recipe, and since ginger speaks to me, I thought I’d give it a try. In addition ginger has been used for centuries for its healing properties – it purportedly clears up sinuses and can rid the body of throat and nose congestion. Sign me up!

This formula can be doubled or tripled if you want a more substantial amount of the concentrate. Basically, just combine the ingredients for this recipe, keep it in the refrigerator then pour about two ounces in a large tea mug and fill it with seven ounces of boiling water. Believe me, this instantly stopped my nagging cough and opened my sinuses big time.

If you make this in the summer, it can be diluted with ice water, or added to sparkling water or even juice. It is heavy on the ginger flavor (translate as “peppery” or spicy) so if you aren’t a ginger lover, use less concentrate.

Ginger Brew Ingredients

Ginger Brew

Yield: 2 cups of concentrate which makes about 8 glasses of tea or cold brew

Ingredients:

1 cup boiling water
3 Tbsp fresh grated ginger (I don’t peel it)
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
7 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick (2 ½ inches long)
1 lime, squeezed (use the juice only)
½ juice orange, squeezed (use the juice only)
1 cup cold water

Instructions:

Pour boiling water over the grated ginger, sugar, cloves and cinnamon Stir, cover and keep in a glass bowl or measuring cup and place in a warm place covered for an hour. If it is sunny, put it on the window sill. This time of year I keep it in a warm oven (90 degrees).

After the hour, strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Add the lime juice, orange juice and cold water. Again, keep the mix in a glass container and cover it, then keep it in a warm place for another hour. Strain the liquid and don’t pour the sediment at the bottom of the container through the strainer-discard it. The mix should be pretty clear.

Store covered in the refrigerator. This will keep for 7-10 days.

Cook’s notes: According to Rachel, ginger is great for digestion and all of the spices in this mix are “warming” and excellent for the winter time.

Posted in Beverage, Odds & Ends | Tagged ginger brew | 2 Comments

Luscious Lamb Shanks

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Marilyn

Click here to view recipe.

Lamb Shanks, Sweet Potatoes & Vegetables

We have been to New Zealand twice: the first trip we covered parts of the North and a few areas of the South Island — and didn’t feel like we’d seen nearly enough. Two years later we returned and spent two weeks in the South Island and this time we knew the ropes and decided to do things a little differently. We rented a Mauri camper van for travel and lodging, staying in motels only two times. The campgrounds were not crowded and featured nice bathrooms with showers, washers and dryers and hook ups for electricity and sewage as well. Oddly we did not see even one other American in the campgrounds!

New Zealand Sheep! (the little white spots in the background)

I make no apologies for the fact that I love lamb – lamb shanks, lamb stews, ground lamb, lamb chops, leg of lamb. And New Zealand is the “Land of Sheep” – they are everywhere and so it made great sense that lamb shank was on the menu of every single pub we visited. I venture to say that during our trip we had lamb shanks at casual eateries at least five times a week. Each preparation was different but I cannot tell you that any of the dishes were less than wonderful. In New Zealand, shanks are traditionally served with various vegetables and a heap of mashed “kumara,” a term they use for sweet potatoes.

While I was there I picked up three cookbooks by a New Zealand cookbook author and TV show doyenne, Annabelle Langbein; her name consistently came up when I asked natives for a good New Zealand cookbook author. Indeed! She is the equivalent of the Barefoot Contessa in my book, and I have used Annabelle’s books not only for lamb recipes but for inspiration when making vegetables, salads and other dishes. The only caveat is that I need to convert grams to ounces and oven temperatures from Centigrade to Fahrenheit. I love mathematics so it makes it challenging for me! (It’s easy to convert via the internet though)

The lamb shank preparation I love the most began with a recipe from Annabelle’s cookbook Assemble. I had to search in Seattle for lamb shanks that we not enormous (fore shanks are smaller and I greatly prefer them). I also found it interesting that lamb from Australia and New Zealand is grass fed and most likely organic – and I found the perfect shanks at … Safeway! Go figure…

Make these on a cold Sunday, and mash some sweet potatoes to soak up the savory juices. Roast some Brussels sprouts, green beans or brocollini and you will have a filling, beautiful plate of food. Invite some friends over, and pretend that these were very difficult and time consuming to prepare! You’ll be a star, I promise.

Key Ingredients

Luscious Lamb Shanks

Serves 4