Category: Meat & Poultry

Food Files Cookbook + Giveaway!

I was recently lucky enough to receive a copy of the beautiful new cookbook, Food Files, benefiting Yeshiva of Flatbush. The book is a compilation of beautiful, healthy, seasonal and original recipes from home cooks in Flatbush, Brooklyn. As a food blogger, I’m honored to receive review copies of cookbooks all the time. Sometimes the books are nothing to write home about, and they end up in the growing “give away” pile in the basement. Other times, the books are so beautiful that they’re worthy of your coffee table, and this, my friends, is one of them.

I was pleasantly surprised at the simple yet sophisticated style of this book, the stunning photos and the original recipes. All too often cookbooks are filled with recipes and adaptations of recipes that we’ve all seen before, but Food Files is filled with truly original dishes that capture the inventive cook.

Some of the recipes that caught my eye include homemade burrata, cauflower tabbouleh with raw falafel balls (yes!!), porcini mushroom latkes with truffle infused chive cream, farro leek soup, date hazelnut and feta salad, lemon poppy seed pancakes, green chili mac ‘n cheese, spiked sweet potatoes (recipe below), Chilean sea bass kanafe, mushroom stuffed ribeyes, no bake chocolate hazelnut cheesecake, peanut butter honeycomb pie, and tartufo martinis.

With Thanksgiving just a week away, please enjoy sample recipes for Asian Glazed Turkey Breast and Spiked Sweet Potatoes from the book, below!

Food Files makes a great Chanukah gift and is available for purchase here, but I’m so excited to be giving away a copy of their cookbook as well!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

To enter the giveaway to win a copy of Food Files:

1. Leave a comment below letting me know your favorite cookbook.
2. For an extra entry, follow Busy In Brooklyn via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. Just be sure to leave a note in the comment letting me know where you follow.

Giveaway is open to U.S. residents (for international entries, prize can only be shipped in the U.S.). Winner will be chosen at random at 10:00 AM EST on Thursday, November 23rd, 2017.

Asian Glazed Turkey Breast
Recipe by Julie Ebani, reprinted with permission from Flatbush Food Files

FOR THE MARINADE:
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
1/2 cup sake or dry white wine
5 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14- to 15-pound) turkey breast,
on the bone
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 to 10 sprigs thyme
1 tablespoon cornstarch, diluted
in 1/4 cup cold water

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Make the marinade: In a bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients. Mix well and set aside.
Place the turkey breast in a large roaster. Sprinkle the curry powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper evenly over the turkey breast. Put the thyme sprigs inside the cavity of the turkey, between the breast and the bone. Spoon the marinade over the turkey and roast it, uncovered, for 2 hours, basting about every 15 minutes so that the flavors are well
absorbed. If you see that the skin is getting too dark, cover it lightly with foil. Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before slicing.
To make the gravy, transfer the juices of the turkey to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. When the liquid is boiling, lower the heat and allow the liquid to simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes, until it has reduced by half. Add the cornstarch mixture to the liquid and let it simmer until it thickens to a gravy-like consistency, about 2 minutes.
The turkey can be served whole and carved at the table, or it can be served already sliced, with the gravy drizzled on top. Reserve the rest of the gravy to be served on the side.

Spiked Sweet Potatoes
Recipe by Micki Horovits, reprinted with permission from Flatbush Food Files

1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup apple cider
1/3 cup whiskey
1/3 cup maple-flavored agave
Cinnamon, to taste
4 to 6 sweet potatoes, peeled
and cubed
Oil, to coat the baking pan
1/4 cup brown sugar, for topping
1 bag marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a bowl, mix the orange juice, apple cider, whiskey, agave, and cinnamon together. Add in the sweet potatoes and stir to coat.
Place the potatoes in a large, lightly oiled oven-to-table baking dish. Crumble the brown sugar on top. Bake for about 1 hour, until the sweet potatoes are glazed and soft.
When the sweet potatoes have come out of the oven, top them with marshmallows. Be generous; they should almost be packed in, and you shouldn’t be able to see the sweet potatoes underneath.
Raise the oven temperature to broil. Broil for a few minutes, until the marshmallows are toasted and golden brown.

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Skirt Steak Tacos

Cookbook. Cookbook. Cookbook. That’s all I can think about these days. In the morning, afternoon and evening, even in my sleep. I was literally typing up recipes in my dream the other night…yes! It’s really happening!

Here are the stats as of 11/9/17, 10:41 AM:}

132/145 recipes tested
13/145 recipes to retest
11/145 recipes photographed
59/145 recipes written
0/145 headnotes written
0/3 intro chapters written

Would you look at those numbers? When I think about all the work I have ahead of me, I get so overwhelmed and stressed. But then I look back at the 132 crazy, amazing, unique, delicious and doable recipes that I’ve created for this book and I have to be proud. Yes, there is so, so much to do. But it will happen. And it will be glorious when it does.

Meanwhile, we’ve mostly been eating the recipes I’ve been testing (my 11 year old wanted to know why the dinners have become so weird in the house, with several courses, sometimes mismatched foods that don’t go together!), so I’ve been pretty quiet on social media these days. I did take the time to celebrate persimmon season with these awesome skirt steak tacos, and I’m so happy to share the recipe with you here!

Skirt Steak Tacos

1 skirt steak, soaked in water for 30 minutes
freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp grapeseed or canola oil
soft corn tortillas
shredded red cabbage
fresh lime
cilantro, for garnish
Persimmon Guacamole
Cilantro Lime Crema (use vegan sour cream)
Pickled Onions

Method:

Heat a cast iron skillet until smoking. Using paper towels, dry the skirt steak thoroughly. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Grease the skillet with oil and add the skirt steak. Cook until a crust forms and the skirt steak releases from the pan, about 3 minutes. Turn over and repeat on the opposite side. Rest for five minutes and slice thinly against the grain.

Heat the corn tortillas over an open flame until lightly toasted on both sides. Fill the tortillas with skirt steak, red cabbage, persimmon guacamole, pickled onions, crema and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

Related Recipes:

refried bean tacos
Old Bay fish tacos
coconut crusted fish tacos with plantain tortillas
fish tacos with broccoli slaw

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Cranberry Apple Braised Chicken


And just like that, summer is over. I’m starting to smell that fresh, crisp fall air and the nights have that slight chill that wraps me like a warm sweater. If I’m honest, I don’t hate the winter at all, but I’ll sure miss the carefree spirit of summer and the smell of freshly cut grass.

I’m excited for the fall flavors that are making their way into the supermarkets. Pumpkins, persimmon and pomegranates are just a few of my favorite things and I can’t wait to see the seasonal produce on the shelves!

It’s a bit early for cranberry season, but you can easily use frozen cranberries in this recipe. The tartness of the berries are a great contrast to the sweetness of the apples and honey, and they make for the most luscious sauce that you’ll want to smother all over rice or noodles. Considering the popularity of my tart pomegranate roast, I think this chicken will be a winner as well!

Serve with a side of sweet tzimmes and braised leeks and you’ve got a simanim-filled entree worthy of your holiday table.

Cranberry Apple Braised Chicken

1 chicken, quartered (skin-on)
1 tbsp grapeseed or other neutral flavored oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 fuji apples, cut into eights
2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup port or sweet red wine
heaping 1/3 cup honey
a few sprigs of thyme

Method:

Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a dutch oven or oven-safe pot to medium-high heat and add the oil. Sear the chicken on both sides until browned. Add the wine, honey, apples, cranberries and thyme and season everything with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, allowing the alcohol to cook off for a minute or two and transfer the pot, covered, to a 350 degree oven. Bake the chicken for 1 1/2 hours.

Related Recipes:

turkey meatballs with red wine cranberry marinara
cranberry sriracha green beans
honey roasted za’atar chicken with dried fruit
duchesse sweet potato apples

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Asian Lettuce Wraps

Summer has officially begun! Last week, we made the 3  hour trek to the Catskills in Upstate New York where we spend our summer. I’m more of a city gal myself, but the city heat is unbearable, so I welcome the cool mountain air, rolling hills, grass and trees (something we majorly lack in Brooklyn)! The ten weeks we spend here fill my kids with vitality like a tank fills with gas. The long summer days spent carefree in the the outdoors are life’s best medicine, and I’m so thankful I get to give it to them.

As for me, some of my best memories are the ones I spent in the bungalow colony as a child. I love waking up to the smell of the mountains, and when I sit outside sipping my coffee and listening to the birds sing their song, it’s like pure heaven. But I can do without the endless laundry (they change like four times a day!), constant meals (all the swimming and biking makes them ravenous), and not seeing my husband the whole week (someone’s got to pay for all the food and laundry detergent we go through lol!).

I’m not really sure how much I’ll be able to keep up my blogging from here. I didn’t bring any props with me and I’m keeping things simple in the kitchen. But I did bring my camera and I loved the challenge of putting together a summer recipe without all of my fancy ingredients and food styling stuff. It’s also a learning experience working with different natural light, so I was happy to prepare these simple summer wraps and blog about them. Otherwise, I’ll be keeping things light around here, and probably blogging a lot less than usual. But I hope you’ll all be taking a break too!

Wishing you a light, healthy and refreshing summer!

Asian Lettuce Wraps

2 lbs dark meat turkey
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp grapeseed oil (or other neutral flavored oil)
2 tbsp soy sauce.
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sriracha plus more for garnish
kosher salt, to taste
Boston lettuce
optional toppings: carrot sticks, radish, scallions

Method:

Heat the sesame and grapeseed oil in a skillet and add the ginger and garlic. Saute until fragrant but not browned. Add the ground turkey and season with salt. Cook over medium heat, breaking it up as it cooks, until the turkey is crumbled and no longer pink. Add the soy sauce, lime juice and sriracha and stir to incorporate.

Divide the turkey among lettuce cups and top with carrot sticks, sliced radish and scallions. Finish with sriracha.

NOTE: to make these Paleo/Whole30, use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and substitute hot sauce for the sriracha.

If desired, you may pickle the carrots and/or radishes as follows:

OPTIONAL PICKLES
julienned carrots, sliced radishes, sliced cucumbers
1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt

Bring the vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a boil. Remove from the heat. Add veggies and set aside to cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.


Related Recipes:

quinoa pad thai
curried chicken lettuce wraps

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Mongolian Beef

It’s been hard getting back into the blogging groove lately. I surprised myself when I kept things going so consistently ever since baby #5 came last July, but those days of sleeping babies are long gone, and my little rascal is crawling around putting every last tiny speck and crumb into her mouth.


I also lost my cleaning help (of 6 years!)  recently, which any mom knows is the single most important thing to help us keep our sanity. I mean, who do you think did the dishes after every cookfest I had in the kitchen? I mean, I love to cook, but I don’t love to clean up after myself. ;) Yes, my friends. That is my dirty little secret.

People always ask me, “How do you do what you do?” and the truth is, I’d never be able to do it without help! I always say – somethings got to give. Having five kids is a full time job in and of itself, so how I manage recipe testing, blogging, cooking classes and photography work boils down to this – I can’t do it all. I’m not very active in the gazillion whatsapp groups I belong to. I went off Facebook. I cut down on volunteer work (and send a donation instead!) and I have, ahem – had, cleaning help.

Luckily, this recipe was photographed and tested months ago, and I love saving things like these in the archives for those stressful times when I don’t have time to work on new recipes. I had made it for dinner one night and it came together super fast with little fuss. Who doesn’t love recipes like that?!

With summer coming and school coming to an end, we all need those quick and easy stir fries that we can throw together at the last minute. I hope you all enjoy this one as much as we did!

Mongolian Beef

1 lb pepper steak (see note)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp grapeseed or other neutral flavored oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cloves garlic, minced
small knob of ginger, peeled and very finely julienned
1/2 red chili pepper, thinly sliced (remove veins and seeds for less heat)
1/2 c stock
1/3 c hoison sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method:

Heat a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat and add the sesame and grapeseed oils. Stir fry the meat until brown, seasoning it with salt and pepper (I prefer to do this in two batches). Remove the meat from the pan and discard any liquid. Add more oil, if needed, and saute the garlic, ginger and chili pepper until fragrant. Add the stock, hoison sauce, brown sugar and soy sauce and bring to a boil.

In a small bowl mix the cornstarch with a tablespoon of water to dissolve. Add the mixture the pan and simmer until the sauce thickens. Return the meat to the pan and stir to coat the meat in the sauce.

Serve the meat over rice with sliced scallions and sesame seeds for garnish.

NOTE: Kosher pepper steak is thinly sliced steak that is usually used for stir fry. Many butchers cut their pepper steak from different parts of the steer. Depending on where the pepper steak is cut from, it can be very tender or it can be very tough. Many people assume that it is the way they are cooking it, but it has to do with the quality of the meat and where it is cut from. For instance, meat that is cut from the top of the rib will be pretty tough, and meat this is cut from the filet split (a smaller cut from a minute steak roast) will be tender. Pepper steak that is tender will be soft and easy to chew after a quick stir fry, however meat that is tough will be rubbery and will require a long braise to break it down and tenderize. For this recipe, I recommend purchasing a tender cut of pepper steak because of the quick preparation. For a more in-depth explanation of kosher cuts and cooking methods, read this guide.

Related Recipes:

pepper steak with plum sauce
soy and ginger glazed sugar snap peas

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