Chicken & Veal Burgers

This was a surprisingly delicious combination of meat-- lean ground chicken breast and tasty ground veal. Jesse smothered his (above) in bacon & cheese, and stuffed the sandwich with avocado and hot sauce. I made mine (below) like last month's stuffed turkey burgers, but stuffed them with cheese (firecracker cheddar) and jalapeno slices, which I also put on top.


Into the 1/2lb chicken & 1/2lb veal went minced shallots, jalapeno, and garlic.


We ate these with simple baked sweet potato fries:


and a seriously good version of a basic cabbage salad. The secret ingredient...

kumquats!

Winter Salad with Spiced Turbot and Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

This is insanely good. Don't take my word for it-- make it yourself. It's satisfying, tasty, and light. Because you can't eat short ribs every night.

You'll need (serves 2):

mixed greens-- we used baby spinach and arugula
4 small sweet potatoes (use the orange-fleshed kind; I like Garnet), peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and sliced into 1/4"-thick half-moons
toasted sliced almonds (any toasted nut would be good)
1 avocado, cubed
fresh thyme
good olive oil
2 filets of Turbot, or any white-fleshed fish
whatever spices you want to put on the fish

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potato slices with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Roast until caramelized, about 20 minutes. The smaller your slices are, the faster they'll cook (duh).

Preheat broiler. Coat fish in spices (cayenne pepper, cumin, etc). Rub with olive oil. Place under broiler for 5 minutes per side, until just opaque. Do not overcook!

Toss greens with vinaigrette of your choice (preferably balsamic-Dijon), salt, and pepper. Add cooked potatoes with the oil and thyme left on the baking sheet. Add almonds.

Serve, topped with avocado and fish filet.

Latkes

This is not my picture. I stole it from Marissa McClellan's latest post on Slashfood. (Will I get in trouble for using it? Who knows.) I made latkes two nights in a row; both times, we ate them so quickly I couldn't get a picture in. The following are quasi-recipes for 2 kinds of latkes (the second looked a bit like the picture above).

Potato Latkes

Grate a bunch of potatoes. We made enough for 4 people, and used maybe 5 medium yellow finn potatoes. It's best to use potatoes that are naturally delicious-- yellow finns and yukon golds are particularly sweet and tasty. Most recipes call for russets (or another starchy potato), but I prefer my latkes light and crispy. That way I can eat more of them. Sometimes I think of them as a vehicle for that annual combo of sour cream and applesauce. Mmmm.

So grate a bunch of potatoes and one very large onion (separately). Soak the potatoes if you want, but I don't think it's necessary. Salt them with about 1T kosher salt and let them sit in a colander for a few minutes. Then squeeze them in handfuls; get as much moisture out as you can. Squeeze the onion too, and mix it all together.

Beat an egg until frothy-- this will make your latkes even lighter. Gently mix the potato-onion mixture in with the egg. Here, many people add flour and/or baking soda. I think flour makes the latkes too heavy, but it does help hold things together. Baking soda prevents the potatoes from turning purplish; if you don't mind the color change, don't use it (I think it can be a bit chalky).

Form *small* patties and fry them in 1/4" hot oil (peanut oil or anything with a high smoke point works well. Please don't use olive oil). When you place the latke lump down, press it flat with a slotted spatula. When the edges turn brown, flip and cook the other side. Remove when browned and let drain on paper towels.

Curried Sweet Potato Latkes

Grate orange-fleshed sweet potatoes-- Garnet or Beauregard are the best. (Even the orange-fleshed ones are sweet potatoes, not yams. Watch Alton Brown's Good Eats on this. He finally convinced me.) Grate an onion too-- squeeze out the water and set aside. If this is going to take you a while, keep the grated potatoes in water so they don't change color. Be sure to squeeze them out well before mixing with onion and egg.

Beat 2 eggs until frothy with 1T flour, 2T curry powder, 1t cayenne, 1t brown sugar, salt and pepper. Mix with potatoes and onion. Following cooking directions above for Potato Latkes.

Just a clarification: These should be eaten with applesauce and/or sour cream. Not ketchup.

Bourbon-Pomegranate Short Ribs

Adapted from a recipe on justbraise.

5 meaty bone-in short ribs
2T grapeseed oil
8 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
1 serrano chile, chopped
3 bay leaves
1t herbes de provence
1c bourbon
2T tomato paste
1c stock
2T soy sauce
4 anchovy filets
scant ½ cup pomegranate molasses

Preheat oven to 350F.

Heat oil over medium heat. Cover both sides of the short ribs with black and cayenne peppers and kosher salt. Brown the ribs on all 4 sides (about 6 minutes each side). Remove.

Add the carrot, celery, onion, jalapeño and anchovies. Sauté to soften and absorb the fond, about 7 minutes

Deglaze with bourbon. Add bay leaves, thyme, tomato paste, garlic cloves and soy sauce. Stir well to combine. Add ribs. Add stock (it should be halfway up ribs) and bring to a boil.

Cover well (I used foil and the pot lid) and cook in oven for 2.5-3 hours. If sauce is still liquidy, remove ribs and reduce on stove. Stir in pomegranate molasses. Return ribs to pot to coat with sauce and combine flavors.

Serve with yam oven fries (julienne peeled yams, drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake at 400 degree until crispy). *What we call "yams" are really orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. I buy "garnet"-- I think they're the sweetest and have the best texture.