How to dice an onion

Every once in awhile, I notice that I take for granted a technique that is highly non-obvious. How to dice an onion is one of them. There is no such thing as a chopped onion: these are only irregularly diced ones.

Dicing an onion takes seconds and results in pieces so small that they are sure to dissolve into flavor-enhancing invisibility as a soup or stew progresses.

As with my other explanations on knife skills, this description is no substitute for classroom instruction and I am totally not responsible for you cutting yourself if you choose to try this.

Always use the end of your knife that's furthest from the handle--at least the last third, if not the last sixth. This gives you far more control.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Hone your chef's knife with a steel.
2. Begin breathing only through your mouth. Don't breathe through your nose for even a second until you're done dicing.
   
3. Cut the stem end off of your onion. Cut a portion of the root end off, being sure to leave the root intact.
4. Cut through the two ends of the onion such that half of the stem end and half of the root end remain in each of the hemispheres. Remove the skin.
5. Turn your knife at an angle tangent to the hemisphere (such that it points to the middle of the onion), beginning almost parallel to the board at the far right side of the onion. Cut almost all the way through the onion, but do not cut through the root. This will hold the onion together and make it easier to dice. Make incisions in 1/4" increments.
6. Turn the onion 90 degrees and slice it into 1/4" slices. The onion will instantly fall apart into tiny pieces.
   

Voila!

Beef Barley Soup

I honestly can't believe I didn't already have this recipe written up on the blog. Not a cold month goes by where I don't make this at least once, either with beef or with dark meat chicken: both work equally well.

Don't bother making this soup if you don't have homemade broth. The recipe is designed to emphasize each of the ingredients, so bad ingredients equal bad soup.

As with lamb, the meat will become tough if you allow it to reach a boil. I should probably measure the actual temperature I use with a meat thermometer and put it here.

The fundamentals are the use of mushrooms, onions, rosemary and butternut squash--and, of course, the technique. There is a good deal of give in how to make the stock. I often use a half a cup of fresh cider (or a bottle of hard cider or brown ale) in place of the apple. Use beers only with beef; avoid them with chicken. Do not use wine, light-colored beers or porters. Don't use sweet potatoes; every time I try using sweet potatoes, I regret it.

The recipe, as written, gives a soup so hearty you can almost eat it with a fork. Add more broth if desired.

INGREDIENTS:

• 10 cups homemade chicken broth
• 2 lbs. shoulder chuck, trimmed and cut into 1" cubes (or boneless chicken thighs, cut in half)
• 1 sour apple, finely minced (food processor is fine)
  
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 10 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 small (1 to 1 1/2 lb) butternut squash, cut into 3/4" cubes
• 2 yukon gold potatoes, cut into 3/4" cubes
  
• 4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 cup barley, rinsed
  
• 1/3 oz. fresh rosemary, removed from its stem
• 1 tsp sugar
  
• Olive oil for sauteing
• Salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the beef and sear on all sides until brown. Remove and set aside.
3. Add more olive oil if needed. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add the onions, garlic and sugar; sauté until the mixture begin to turn golden, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms and continue to sauté for 5 more minutes.
5. Add the apples and rosemary; continue to sauté for a few minutes more.
6. Add the dry barley and continue to sauté for 5 minutes more, stirring constantly. The barley will absorb liquid from the other ingredients and roast slightly.
7. Add the beef and the remaining vegetables; mix thoroughly.
8. Pour broth over mixture; cover and set heat to low. Allow to cook for approximately 1 1/4 hours, being careful to keep heat just below a boil.
9. Add salt to taste.

PAIRINGS: Serve with hard cider or brown ale.

Lamb and Tomatillo Stew

I invented this stew for my mother's birthday when I was an undergraduate. Since then, I have made a few variations on it: one involving tender cactus, another involving mixed beans. This time I decided to use potatoes and green tomatoes; I think it worked very nicely.

One thing to note is that it's very, very easy to heat the lamb too hot while stewing; if you do, it will end up tough. Bringing to a boil is the kiss of death. I haven't gotten this exactly right in quite a long time; if anyone has a trick, please do share.

This dish seems far and away best suited to the spring, when the early-season tomatoes are still green. But a close second is fall--cold enough at night to justify a soul-warming stew, but warm enough during the day that a cilantro-and-lemon combination would still be welcome.

An awful lot of chopping needs to go into this stew. Indeed, by the end, I broke down and used a mini-prep to prepare the herbs and the hot pepper.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 lbs green tomatoes, diced into 1/2" cubes
• 1 lb fresh tomatillos, husked and diced into 1/2" cubes
• 1 1/2 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 3/4" cubes
  
• 1 1/2 lbs lamb, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup cilantro, finely minced
• 1 bunch scallions, finely minced
• 1 Annaheim pepper (or other chili), minced
  
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
  
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
  
• Olive oil
• Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large soup pot, heat 2 tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add lamb and brown on all sides, about 2-3 minutes per side.
2. Remove lamb and set aside. Add more olive oil if necessary; reduce heat to medium-low. Sauté onions and garlic, stirring constantly until beginning to turn golden, about 5-6 minutes.
3. Add the minced pepper and sauté for 2 minutes more.
4. Add the tomatoes, tomatillos, lemon juice and herbs; increase the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a just under a simmer, then reduce heat to very low (just below a simmer) and let cook, covered, for 1 hour.

NOTE: if your stew should accidentally reach a boil, quickly shut off heat and uncover. You may find that the lamb is already cooked through (it will cook through after only a couple of minutes at a boil); in that case, shut off the heat and allow to rest, covered, for another 30 minutes. This will tenderize the lamb somewhat.

Serve with a slice of avocado. Makes excellent leftovers.

Ratatouille Channa

This chickpea and eggplant curry started out as a recipe for ratatouille from "Cooking for Engineers." But I don't like sweet peppers, so I decided to substitute finely diced carrots to achieve an alternative sweet crunch. And then I didn't have any zucchinni. And then I decided to add a pound of chickpeas to make it into a meal. So it basically has no resemblance to the original. But it'd delicious!

NOTE: You will be deglazing the pot in this recipe, so do not use a non-stick pot!

If you substitute vegetable broth or white wine for the chicken stock, this recipe is vegan and kosher parve.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 1/2 lbs eggplant, cut into 1/2 cubes
  
• 1 lb. cooked chickpeas (about 8 oz. dry)
  
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3/4 cup chicken stock or white wine
• 4 carrots, diced into very small (<>
• 10 oz. crimini mushrooms, quartered
  
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
  
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 4 sprigs basil, minced
• 5 sprigs parsely, minced
• Olive oil for sauteing
• Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula.
2. Add onion and continue to sauté until soft, another 4-6 minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste and combine, continuing to sauté until the tomato paste begins to darken, 1-2 minutes.
   
4. Deglaze the pot with the broth, scraping the bottom with the wooden spatula to free all the onion and tomato drippings.
5. Once the broth begins to simmer, add the mushrooms eggplant and carrots. Cook for 12 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Add diced tomatoes, chickpeas and minced herbs. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for a couple more minutes.

Serve with white rice. Makes excellent leftovers.

Tahini sauce

I have always loved the tangy, salty tahini sauce found atop falafel and other Arabic and Israeli snacks. Unfortunately, every menu in the universe identifies this stuff merely as 'tahini,' which is obviously not the case: tahini by itself is heavy, astringent and a bit bitter. Every time I look for a recipe, all I find are instructions for how to grind sesame seeds into a paste (hint: smash them).

Today I decided to see if I could just throw something that approximates it together, and I actually got pretty close. Note that proportions are approximate as I was not measuring:

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tbsp. tahini paste
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. hot pepper sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 2-4 tbsp. water, depending on desired consistency

Combine all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Eat with pita bread or drizzle on other foods.

You can make kafta kabob by mixing hamburger with chopped red onion and parsley. Drizzling this sauce over a kafta kabob burger would be divine...

Yogurt pancakes

Like many Sundays, I woke up this morning with the feeling that only pancakes could provide sufficient motivation to get out of bed. Also like many Sundays, I realized that I was out of milk. But I had yogurt. So I found a particularly delicious-sounding yogurt coffee cake, adjusted the ingredients for my purposes and proceeded to undertake the experiment.

WOAH. These inch-high behemoths have the interior consistency of a pancake and the crust of a muffin top. They're rich and moist and sweet and eating them with a big glass of iced coffee was enough to make me forget all my worries. Try them.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. Add all of the wet ingredients and stir until smooth.
3. Warm up a non-stick griddle to medium-low, and apply non-stick spray or butter to make it doubly non-stick.
4. Spoon out the batter in heaping tablespoons onto the griddle. Cook for 2-3 minutes on one side or until just possible to flip. Cook for another 1-2 minutes on the other side.
   
5. Serve immediately.

Clear borscht (beverage)

This is what you do with leftover beet stock.

If you are specifically looking to make clear borscht and therefore just want a lot of beet stock, just shred or grate a number of beets and then boil them in water until they're fully cooked. The grating allows more flavor and color to be leeched from the beets.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups beet stock
• 1 cup water (or ice if beet stock is warm)
  
• 1-2 tbsp. white vinegar, according to taste
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:

Shake all ingredients well in a cocktail shaker. Pour into a tall, clear glass. Add a dollop of sour cream if desired.