by Sam Tackeff | Nov 25, 2014 | Meat
I’ve officially started my winter training plan. Given that I don’t actually train during race season, I was surprised that I even had the initiative to consider a training plan as the weather is getting cold. This year I dabbled in triathlon and marathon running, but next year I’d like to do better! I’m sure I’m going to dread getting out in the cold (and will have to spend a good amount of training in the gym), but it always feels good to have a plan! I got in a great baseline workout on the trainer tonight, wearing a heartrate monitor for the first time in forever. After cycling 300 miles in September, I clearly haven’t spent enough time on the bike since. It was a serious sweat session.
I got home late, and was thankful that my meal planning had taken all the stress out of what I was going to eat – all I had to do was execute. In the pan went my pork tenderloin from my Walden Local Meat share, seasoned with salt, pepper, and allspice. I stuck a few sweet potatoes in the microwave, and when the pork was almost done, tossed some shredded Brussels sprouts into the pan to steam and soak up all the pan drippings.
by Sam Tackeff | Dec 3, 2013 | Holidays
My little Hanukkah ledge reminds me of the desert. I’d be pretty happy to be hanging out in Joshua Tree right about now. Well maybe not at this very minute – night time and it starts getting cold. Seven candles tonight, and I don’t want the holiday to end. There are so many latkes left to eat, and I haven’t yet played any dreidel! Dinner tonight was a mish-mash of pantry food: Rancho Gordo Florida butter beans, brussels sprouts, a little bacon, and a couple of eggs.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 25, 2013 | Challenge, chicken, Pantry Staples, Pasta
For someone who loves food and cooking so much, some nights it’s awfully hard to make a decision and get food on the table. This evening threatened to be trashy takeout night– we didn’t get home until 8:30, and it took all of my willpower not to order in. I usually reserve Sunday afternoons for batch cooking, but yesterday I was out and about, and didn’t have time to cook. I did however pick up a package of organic free range chicken thighs at Trader Joe’s, which was my starting point for tonights meal.
First I added a spoonful of coconut oil to my All Clad and heated up the pan on medium high heat, seasoned my chicken thighs (about a pound and a half) with Maldon salt and black pepper, and seared them on one side for about five minutes without touching them. Once nicely browned, I flipped them over and started rummaging through my cupboards for something to cook with them. I had some garlic, just a few cloves, which I sliced and added to the pan. Then I decided on shredded brussels sprouts, a few large handfuls, which I added after the chicken was cooked through (about 12 minutes). I tossed the chicken and sprouts, and added a pinch of urfa biber (Turkish hot pepper), and covered the lid to let the sprouts steam. At this point, I took the picture, thinking that we’d eat, until I spotted a lone portion of soba noodles, one of those single portions, maybe 2 or 3 ounces, which I decided to quickly boil and add to the pan. To finish the dish, I grated on a massive amount of parmesan cheese, which just makes everything in life better, and tossed everything together.
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 8, 2013 | chicken, Meat
When I attempt to produce any sort of creative work, there’s often a lot of “what I should have produced” that holds me back from sharing the actual thing that I did produce. No clear picture of a dish? Well, then scrap the entire post. And then I have to remind myself that Nigel Slater writes these great little essays about food for the Observer, and rarely do I ever need to see a picture…to get the picture. No, I’m not comparing myself to Nigel here. Just giving myself a little pep talk. So here’s dinner, from a few days back.
Trader Joe’s has these boneless skinless organic free range chicken thighs, and they are my kitchen salvation, despite their only flaw – a lack of delicious chicken skin. While not the whole chickens from the farm that I’d get in San Francisco (sigh…), these chicken thighs are my favorite quick chicken option – because they have taste, they cook quickly, and they are forgiving if you forget them on the heat a little too long. Also, admittedly I do not love having to cut off the head and feet of my chickens before eating them, sorry. Also, while I very much enjoy roasting whole chickens, I do not enjoy eating whole chickens, mostly because I think that white meat is a waste of time. It’s all about the thighs, guys. All about the thighs. Because everyone seems to need another recipe for chicken in the rotation, here’s what I did this week.
This is more of a method that I use, and I’m not sure that it’s the best method, but it’s quick and easy. Basically, it’s taking a fat of some sort, browning the chicken on one side for a few minutes, then popping the lid on the pan to steam it a little bit. Then you flip them in the fat, cook a little more, add some vegetables, cover the lid, steam those, take the lid off, cook a few minutes more and by the end you get sort of crispy chicken that’s caramelized, and soft vegetables. I do this most often with pancetta, chicken and greens. But you don’t have pancetta, you could use bacon, or even salami. And you could choose whatever vegetable you’d like, providing it doesn’t take too long to cook. (Or you could pre-steam it.)
In my large All-Clad skillet, I tossed in 4 ounces of cubed Citerrio pancetta (the small container they sell at Trader Joe’s), and turned the heat to medium to cook it slowly and let the fat start rendering out, about 5 minutes. Then, I seasoned my raw chicken thighs (about 1.5 lbs.) with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (yep, the powder…), pushed the pancetta cubes to one side and put the chicken in the melted fat in the center of the skillet. I then added a few springs of fresh thyme, turned the heat to medium high, and covered the lid for five minutes. The bottom of the chicken seared to golden while the top part steamed, and then I flipped the chicken, making sure to let the oil from the pancetta coat the surface of the pan before laying the chicken down. I cooked another five minutes, added an entire 12 ounces of shredded brussels sprouts, and covered the lid again, until the sprouts were tender, about four minutes – I tossed everything together, and that was dinner. (If you eat cheese, you can add a little of that in at the end too – a bit of brie, or gorgonzola, or if you are on a Trader Joe’s binge, a few laughing cow garlic herb wedges – they have those too.)
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 28, 2013 | Poultry, Quick and Easy, Vegetables
So there was a snow storm three weeks ago. Nemo – I’m sure you heard of it. It was officially named by the Weather Channel, much to the chagrin of the National Weather Service. But three weeks ago – that’s about the last time I sat down at my computer to relax. (These are some of the photos I took of the storm!)
The week of Nemo I joined the team at RunKeeper – as a project manager leading globalization efforts! Beyond the job itself – which is absolutely thrilling – I’m most excited about working with a team of people who are kind, silly, and have a lot of fun together. I knew I would be in good company when in my exhaustive interviews I met cookbook lovers, people excited about home sausage making, home brewers, and another whose wife runs a small CSA/recipe club.
This week confirmed it, when our Hackathon had us working on crazy projects, and suddenly I found myself recording audio on ProTools (something I’d never done before), and dressing up as a “real runner” in order to properly make a fool of myself infront of my new coworkers. It paid off – our team won prizes in the “Audio” and “Best Demo” categories, and I personally won a Nerf gun.
The transition has been a little bit jarring – all of a sudden I’ve been thrust back into a daily grind, and it has been a challenge feeding us healthy meals, without resorting to more takeout.
Thankfully, not every night has been a wash. Here are a few of my favorites – easy meals that I put together quickly while I set about getting other things done.
Roasted sausages + Brussels Sprouts: the sausages are garlic thyme from M.F. Dulock (part of my Meat Club subscription). I usually keep extras in the freezer to defrost and cook when I really can’t bother to do any other work. They went into the skillet with a few cups of brussels sprouts doused with some olive oil, salt, and pepper at 350F, and after about 20 or 25 minutes I flipped over the sausages, agitated the brussels sprouts, and roasted for another 25 minutes, until the sprouts were soft and a little bit crispy.
Steak Salad: I don’t usually cook steaks for dinner, because they are expensive, and I’m happier with good quality ground meat or cheaper stewing or braising cuts for my meal. But sometimes, they show up in Meat Club, so I’m “forced” to eat them. Having not eaten enough vegetables, I opted for steak salad.
I seasoned the steak with salt and pepper, and seared it in a little bit of butter in the skillet. This was a thin steak, so it cooked in about 3 minutes on each side.
I let the steak rest as I heated up some leftover roasted baby potatoes, made a quick sharp mustardy dressing, and tossed it with some butter lettuce.
And then there was sausage night two (do you see a theme here?) This was a spicy Italian sausage, freshly made at the butcher, which I served with some mashed purple potato, and a spinach salad.
And finally, quick garlic chicken thighs, with more of those leftover roasted baby potatoes (another theme!), tossed with some steamed green beans, and a lemon-anchovy vinaigrette. The chicken is simply coated with salt, pepper, and garlic powder – yep, garlic powder. It forms a crispy crust that you can’t get from the fresh allium – and cooked on the stovetop in a little bit of coconut oil, about 7 minutes on each side, until cooked through.
This week, there were a few too many meals out… erm… most of them, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things!
