December 22, 2024

Sriracha Popcorn

May 1, 2015 by

Sriracha Popcorn

I have a well-documented popcorn addiction.  I’m not ashamed!  I like to fiddle around with the flavorings and see if I can change it up from regular butter and salt.  I think this one is an experiment gone RIGHT:  Sriracha Popcorn!

I went pretty easy on the Sriracha because I knew my girls would want to eat some of this and I didn’t want to burn their little tongues.  But if you live in a house full of chile heads, crank it up!  I used honey to balance out the spiciness, but you could use brown sugar instead.  Ready to get poppin’?  Let’s go!

Sriracha Popcorn

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon Sriracha (or other hot sauce – use more if you like!)
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash, Italian herb blend, or other seasoning blend
  • 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil or coconut oil for popping
  • 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
  • salt to taste

Directions:

  1. In a small pan over very low heat, melt together the butter with the Sriracha, honey, and seasoning blend.
  2. Meanwhile, pop the popcorn in the grapeseed oil.
  3. When popcorn is popped, pour the Sriracha butter over the popcorn.  Cover with a lid and shake.  Add salt to taste and shake again.  Store any leftovers in a Ziploc bag.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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Braised Beef Shanks with Gremolata

April 3, 2015 by


Braised Beef Shanks with Gremolata

 

…otherwise known as “Osso Buco”.   I didn’t use veal, so I’m calling it something else.  When you’re the boss in the kitchen, you can do that!  These Braised Beef Shanks with Gremolata would be perfect for Easter or any other lazy Sunday afternoon.  Make them now, before spring heats up and you don’t want to have your oven on for three hours!

Yes, I said three hours, but the prep is pretty easy.  Then you just pop this dish in the oven letting the low and slow cooking turn something pretty plain into magic!  Look for thick cross-sections of shank (the leg) with a large bone in the middle, or ask your butcher.  The meat will fall off the bone, the marrow will soften and become delicious, and you top it off with a bright and flavorful gremolata.  Serve with roasted potatoes and vegetables and eat like a king!

Braised Beef Shanks with Gremolata

Ingredients:

  • 4 pounds of cross-cut beef shanks (or ask for ‘osso buco’ cut)
  • 1/4 cup flour, seasoned with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 1 stick celery, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery salt (or plain salt)
  • 1 can of tomatoes (I used fresh tomatoes – just dice them, about one cup)
  • 2 cups red wine
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 lemon, zested (or peeled, and mince the peel)
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 1 small handful parsley, minced

Directions:

  1.  Preheat oven to 300*F.  Place the seasoned flour in a wide bowl or pie plate, and dredge all the shank pieces.  In a very large pot, heat the oil and butter together, and brown the meat.
  2. When browned, remove the meat to a plate, and add the diced onions, carrots, celery, and celery salt to the pan.  Sauté for about five minutes, or until starting to soften.  Add the tomatoes, wine, and water, then  simmer for five minutes.
  3. Add the meat back to the pan, and make sure it is submerged in the vegetable and wine mixture.  Cover with a lid and bake for 2.5 – 3 hours, or until done and very tender.
  4. Remove the meat from the pot and return the pot to the stovetop.  Stir the juices and vegetables over medium heat and let it reduce while you make the gremolata.
  5. To make the gremolata:  mix together the lemon zest, minced garlic, and minced parsley.  Stir to combine.
  6. To serve:  Spoon some veggies and juice into your bowl.  Place a shank on top, and garnish with a spoonful of gremolata.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipes, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

 

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Easy Chicken Mole

March 6, 2015 by

Easy Chicken Mole

The first time I had mole (say moe-lay) it was at a small but very well-regarded Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles, La Loteria.  I had heard of mole poblano before and decided to take a chance.  Que rico!  What a glorious taste!  It was rich, a tiny bit spicy, a little bitter, and a little fruity.  It was really a savory fiesta in my mouth.  However, when I went home with the intent to find out more about this magical dish and how to make it, all the recipes I saw were 40 ingredients long and took days to make.  No me gusta – I just didn’t have time to mess with that.  So after some more research, I came up with this recipe – my Easy Chicken Mole!

The two ingredients that most moles share to give them such depth of flavor are dried chiles and chocolate.  Really!  Buy the darkest chocolate you can find.  You can use baker’s unsweetened chocolate, but that will make it bitter, and you’ll probably want to bring it back around with some added honey or brown sugar.  I used bittersweet chocolate, 63% cacao.  I think it worked well, and next time I might even add a little more.

As far as the chiles go, it gets a little confusing.  Oftentimes a chile will have one name when it’s fresh and a different name when it’s dried (I guess kind of like grapes vs. raisins.)  To be honest, I think I bought ancho chiles, but I’m not sure – there were two kinds and neither were labeled!  You want chiles that are a very dark reddish-brown—like the color of dried blood—and about fist-sized.  I used two but I may use three or even four next time.  I removed the seeds, and that’s where the heat resides, so you only get the smoky, fruity flavor of the chiles and not the spiciness.

Try this recipe.  If you’ve never had mole, this is a great place to start.  If you are a mole aficionado, go ahead and tweak my recipe to get the taste you like.  Either way, I bet you’ll say, Que sabor!  (Or if you don’t habla espanol, ‘So tasty!’)

Easy Chicken Mole

Ingredients:

  • 2-4 dried chiles (use ancho, pasilla, or guajillo)
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds (or use pepitas, peanuts, or almond butter)
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup brewed coffee
  • 2 slices bread
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or use breasts, up to you!)
  • diced avocado, cilantro, sesame seeds to serve
  • rice or tortillas to serve, optional

Directions:

  1. Put the dried chiles in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Put a plate over the bowl and let the chiles soak for about 15 minutes.  When they have softened, remove the stem and seeds and roughly chop.  Discard the stem, keep some seeds if you want some heat.
  2. While the chiles are soaking, cook the onion in the butter in a very large pot or Dutch oven.  Stir to make sure they don’t burn.
  3. Add the chopped chiles, minced garlic, and sesame seeds.  Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
  4. Add the chocolate, raisins, cinnamon, salt, and oregano.  Stir to combine and cook for another 2 minutes.
  5. Add the chicken stock and coffee.  Crumble in the bread.  Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
  6. CAREFULLY transfer sauce to a blender and blend until pretty smooth.  You could use an immersion blender, too.
  7. Return the sauce to the pot and add the chicken thighs.  Tuck them into the sauce and stir.  Make sure the chicken is covered in sauce, then cover with the lid.  Let simmer for about 25 minutes.
  8. The chicken is done when you can shred it with forks.  To serve, ladle the chicken and lots of mole into a bowl.  Garnish with lots of avocado, cilantro and sesame seeds.  You can also eat this in tortillas – just serve with less sauce if you are making tacos.  You can also serve it over rice to soak up the sauce.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipes, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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Toum – Lebanese Garlic Sauce

January 16, 2015 by

Toum

My sister had an addiction.  Drugs?  Alcohol?  Gambling?  No.  She was addicted to toum.  Toum is the thick, creamy garlic sauce she was eating at her favorite Mediterranean restaurant.  She talked about it.  She bought tubs of it to take home and put on home-cooked food.  And when she moved to a different city, she craved it.  She just sent me a recipe for it on Facebook this week, and I decided to try it.  I present to you Toum – Lebanese Garlic Sauce!

The original recipe is here, and there is a lot of information and background on the sauce.  Unfortunately, the recipe makes a huge quantity, and I didn’t want to commit to using 4 cups of oil on a recipe I’d never tried before.  So I made my own, much smaller batch, which is what I’m listing here.  There are only four ingredients, and you probably have all but one in your house right now.  Use fresh cloves of garlic, fresh lemon juice, sea salt or Kosher salt (not iodized table salt), and grapeseed oil.  Grapeseed oil is readily available and not expensive.  It is very pale in color and has a very mild taste.  (Some comments in the original recipe mentioned that olive oil can make a bitter sauce, so I think it’s best to avoid it.)

As you can see, I made it by hand with my mortar and pestle.  Whew, what a workout!  If you have a small and powerful blender, use that.  I have a large food processor that is great at mixing up dough, and not good at making small batches of anything.  Either way, it’s all about technique:  just like when you make mayonnaise, you MUST add the oil a tiny bit at a time, or else your emulsification will break and you’ll have a sad, oily mess.

This sauce is friendly and gets along with all savory foods.  Yesterday I took a spoonful, shook it up with another spoonful of olive oil, a little lemon juice, and a drop or two of honey and made a delicious salad dressing.  Last night I made a wrap with grilled chicken and lettuce, and used the garlic sauce instead of mayo.  This morning I put a dollop of this garlic sauce in my breakfast bowl of fried eggs and roasted broccoli.  Right this minute I am eating the last of the batch of garlic sauce, mixed in with leftover quinoa, chicken, and vegetables.

Quinoa with Toum

…and now it’s gone.  I think I see why my sister buys it by the tub!

Toum – Lebanese Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

  • six large cloves of garlic
  • half of one lemon
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or Kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup grape seed oil

Directions:

  1. Cut the hard root end off the cloves of garlic, and cut out any bruises, brown spots, or sprouts.  Get the prettiest cloves of garlic you can find!
  2. In a mortar and pestle, mash them up.  If you are using a small and powerful blender or food processor, mash them up!
  3. Add a sprinkle of salt and a little squeeze of lemon and mash some more.  Then add about a teaspoon of oil.  If you are using a blender, you can keep the blender running as you let the oil in the top, in a very fine trickle.  If you are using a mortar and pestle, add a teaspoon and mash until it’s blended in.
  4. Take it slow.  Add a sprinkle of salt, a squeeze of lemon, and a touch more oil.  Alternate oil with salt and lemon.  Slower!
  5. Eventually, it should all come together into a creamy, fluffy blob of sauce.  If it just won’t come together, or you feel like you have too much oil, you can add another clove of garlic and another squeeze of lemon.  But if you take it slow, you’ll get it.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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Southern Cassoulet

January 2, 2015 by

Southern Cassoulet

I know, it’s a weird title – French and Southern food together?  But this dish makes sense once you eat it.  Black-eyed peas are a good luck food for the New Year in the South, so why not dress it up a little with this interpretation of a French classic?  I present to you:  Southern Cassoulet!

Authentic cassoulet can take several days to prepare, and involves making a duck confit.  Too expensive and time consuming for me!  Chicken thighs sub in nicely.  Cook the black-eyed peas during the day (or use canned).  To make this even quicker, use two cans of white Northern beans.  I used just plain smoked sausage, but try out a pound of whatever kind of sausage you like.  Did you get a big Le Creuset pot for Christmas?  Now’s your chance to put your new enameled Dutch oven to the test!

Southern Cassoulet

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound dried black-eyed peas (or use two cans of other beans)
  • 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
  • 2 large carrots, chopped
  • 3  stalks celery, chopped (use the leaves too)
  • 20 whole cloves of garlic (optional, but I thought they were delicious)
  • 1 large sprig of rosemary, minced (or use 1 teaspoon dried rosemary)
  • 4-6 large chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
  • 3 teaspoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Cook the beans in plenty of water until tender.  This can take two hours or so.  If you are using canned beans, skip ahead.
  2. In a very large enameled Dutch oven, cook the sausage.  Add the carrot, celery, garlic cloves, and rosemary.  Add a little olive oil if things start to stick.  Saute over medium heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
  3. Take the pot off the heat.  Drain the beans and add them to the sausage and vegetables, and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.  On top of the bean mixture, place the chicken thighs, skin-side up.  Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with the olive oil.
  4. Bake at 400*F for at least an hour, or until the chicken is cooked through with crispy skin.
  5. Good luck and have a Happy New Year!

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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Spinach Salad with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette

November 7, 2014 by

Spinach Salad with Sun-dried Tomato Vinaigrette

This recipe, Spinach Salad with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette, came from one of those happy accidents we all sometimes have.  Serendipity!  (Does anyone remember those books?) I was in the middle of  making a Caesar salad for dinner one night, and realized I was out of both eggs and anchovy paste!  I had half of a vinaigrette made, so I looked in the refrigerator for something to make it pop, worthy of a dinner salad.  There—far, far back on the shelf—was a nearly empty jar of sun-dried tomatoes.  Hmmm….

I put the ingredients for the dressing I’d already mixed in my food processor and emptied the jar of sun-dried tomatoes right in on top. I had about 2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes and almost a quarter cup of sun-dried tomato-flavored oil. Whiz, whiz!!  And taste – amazing!  Tart and tangy but it needed something a little creamy and fatty to offset it.  Aha!  Avocado and goat cheese!  Now, if you don’t have fresh herbs, just use small pinches of dried…or skip it, no biggie.  Dinner is done!  Et tu Caesar?  Who needs ya?!

Spinach Salad With Sun-dried Tomato Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves (I use the flowers from my plants, too)
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • splash of balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, plus as much of the oil as you can get out of the jar
  • olive oil
  • 1 bag of baby spinach leaves (wash again, no matter what the bag says!)
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 2 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled
  • cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Directions:

  1. In your food processor, buzz together the mustard, garlic, herbs, and vinegars to combine.  Make sure the garlic and herbs are well broken down.
  2. Add the sun-dried tomatoes along with as much oil as you can get out of the jar; and salt and pepper.  Combine again.  Check the consistency and add olive oil if you’d like to thin out the dressing.
  3. Assemble the salad – a big bed of spinach, with bell pepper, sliced avocado, goat cheese, and cherry tomatoes on top.  Apply dressing liberally!

To make it a meal, you can add black olives and leftover cooked chicken (come to think of it, grilled shrimp might be good on this too!)  Serve with crusty bread and a white or rosé wine.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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Beef Stroganoff

October 31, 2014 by

Beef Stroganoff GCH resizeThis recipe is one of my favorites in the “Comfort Food” category.  Beef Stroganoff is easy and filling, especially if you serve it over rice or noodles.  We just eat it straight from the bowl, paired with a salad or roasted vegetables.

Now before you think I’m crazy for using so much wine in a stew, remember that all the alcohol cooks off. You will not get tipsy from your entree, I promise!  Make sure you use a wine that you will want to drink, because this recipe leaves you enough for a glass or two with dinner.  You can use red – like cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or pinot noir – or white – like pinot grigio or chardonnay.  Don’t use anything sweet, though.  Nice and dry is the secret.  And if you are really, really opposed to wine…you can use beef broth instead.

This recipe also calls for dried mushrooms.  I get big bags of dried, sliced shiitake mushrooms at the Korean supermarket.  Any Asian grocery store should carry dried mushrooms for cheap.  If you can’t find them, you can use fresh button or cremini mushrooms.  The difference will be the cooking time – you’ll need to sauté them for longer so that you can cook most of the water out of them.  Just experiment until it looks right – it’s not rocket science.

Ready for a fall stew that will warm your belly and delight your tastebuds?  Let’s go!

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 to 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 cup dried, sliced mushrooms (or use one pound fresh mushrooms, sliced)
  • 2 cups dry red or white wine
  • 1 tablespoon fresh snipped dill (or use 1/2 teaspoon dried dill)
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional, but nice)
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 cup whole milk yogurt (or use sour cream or creme fraiche)

Directions:

  1. If using dried mushrooms:  In a bowl, pour in one cup of the wine.  Microwave for about a minute so it’s hot, or at least very warm.  Add the dried mushrooms to the hot wine to rehydrate them.  Place another bowl on top so the mushrooms stay submerged in the wine.  Let steep until Step 3.
  2. In a large pot, brown the ground beef.  You don’t need to add any extra fat, since the fat will melt out of the meat.  When brown, remove beef with a slotted spoon to a bowl.  Leave the fat and juices in the pot.
  3. Add the sliced onion to the pot and sauté over medium.  If using fresh mushrooms, add them together with the onion.  If using dried mushrooms, add the mushrooms AND the wine they were soaking in when the onion starts to turn golden, about 8 minutes.
  4. When the mushrooms and onion are soft and golden, add the beef back to the pot, along with the other cup of wine, the dill, paprika, and mustard.  Cover with a lid and turn the heat to low.  Simmer for 5 minutes to combine.
  5. Turn off the heat, stir in the yogurt, and serve hot.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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Kimchee Jjigae (Kimchee Stew)

September 26, 2014 by

Kimchee Jjigae resize

My blog is called The Frugal Girlmet, because I like to use everything I can in the kitchen and do my best to make sure nothing goes to waste.  Kimchee Jjigae is the Korean embodiment of this principle.  A little background:  Kimchee is a fermented, spicy cabbage dish that, together with rice, is the backbone of Korean cuisine.  Traditionally, Korean families made kimchee in the summer, in gigantic clay pots.  They buried the pots in the ground to preserve them, and the family ate the kimchee over the course of the winter.  Winters are very cold in Korea, so that helped preserve the kimchee…but it still got old.  What to do with overripe kimchee – throw it away?  NO!  Koreans use every last bit of their resources, which is how Kimchee Jjigae came to be.  They made a stew out of the last of their kimchee, adding  meat to make it more filling, and served it with rice for a complete and frugal meal.

The only ingredient you MUST use in this stew is kimchee.  Everything else can vary by region, resources, or personal taste.  One of the most common varieties has pork as the protein component, and this is the way I make it.  You can cut up a few pork chops, or use any leftover pork you have.  I made a pork roast in the crockpot the night before and reserved about 2 cups of meat for this stew.  Other types of Kimchee Jjigae use canned tuna, tofu, other seafood or fish, and even Spam!  During the Korean War, American GIs brought Spam with them, and Koreans adopted it too.  Another variation that was born in the Korean War is called Budae Jjigae, which translates to “Army Stew.”  American soldiers made their own version of Kimchee Jjigae by adding ramen noodles, meat, seafood, and other vegetables to make their rations last longer.

If you like spicy foods, you will love this.  If you feel a cold or sinus infection coming on, this will clear it right out (it’s loaded with Vitamin C and probiotics)!  If your family likes chili, you should really give this Kimchee Jjigae recipe a try.  Feeling brave?  Feeling frugal?  Read on!

Kimchee Jjigae

Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion, sliced fine, or one bunch of green onions, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil (or other oil)
  • 2 cups pork (see note above)
  • 2 cups kimchee, preferably old kimchee
  • about 1/2 cup kimchee juice (that red pepper water in the bottom of the jar!)
  • 2 cups water
  • rice to serve
  • sesame seeds, dried seaweed, or sliced green onions for garnish

Directions:

  1. In a large pot with a lid, add the sliced onions and oil.  Cook over medium heat for a minute or two.
  2. While the onion is cooking, chop the pork.  If you are using raw pork, you have two options:  you can add it in whole and then remove it when it’s cooked and chop it up.  You can also slice it thinly and add it now.  I think it’s easiest to use leftover pork that you can quickly chop or shred.
  3. Add the pork, kimchee, kimchee juice, and water to the pot.  Adjust the heat so the stew simmers.  Cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes.
  4. Serve with rice, and garnish with sesame seeds, dried seaweed, or green onion tops.

Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

 

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

 

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Chicken and Rice

September 19, 2014 by

 

Chicken and Rice resize

This is a recipe I learned when I was in 7th grade Home Economics. (Do they still offer that in schools?)  I liked it so much, I brought the recipe home and asked my Mom if I could make dinner for the family for the first time.  I did – and it was a success!  How’s that for boosting your kitchen self-confidence?  Your kids can make this too:  Chicken and Rice!

There are any number of variations you do make:  add onions or garlic to the rice.  Sauté the mushrooms in wine and herbs before you add them to the casserole.  Marinate the chicken in Italian dressing first.  Parboil brown rice and use that instead of white rice.  The sky is the limit, or you can keep it simple.  I made it like this last night and my whole family loved it.  Yours will too!

Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can of milk (see below)
  • 1 cup white rice
  • 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375*F.  In a large casserole or baking dish, spray some cooking spray on the bottom and sides.  Evenly place the six chicken thighs in the dish.  Season with salt and pepper.
  2. In a large bowl, empty the can of cream of mushroom soup.  Fill that empty can with milk and mix with the soup.  Add in the rice.  Chop the mushrooms and add to the soup mixture.  Add salt and pepper, stir, and pour over the chicken.  You want the rice mixture to be evenly distributed in the dish.  Depending on the size of your dish, that may mean it nearly covers the chicken, or not even halfway.  Just spread it out so it lies pretty flat.
  3. Cover the dish with foil and bake for an hour.  Check for doneness – you want the thighs to be 175*F.  Serve hot!

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

 

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Sriracha Butter

September 12, 2014 by

Sriracha Butter resize

Are you a griller?  Admittedly, I am not.  The two things I avoid, as far as cooking goes, are baking with yeast (it hates me and refuses to cooperate) and the grill.  I love it when my husband or my Dad grill up something, and I will prepare everything for the fire—as long as I am not the one doing it.  Why?  I don’t know.  I’ve never done it and I guess I’m intimidated.  So even though we live in sunny Southern California, we eat pan-fried steaks much more often than grilled.  Sound boring?  Not when you serve them with Sriracha Butter!

This is a Martha Stewart recipe I found in the back of her magazine this summer.  If you haven’t tried it yet, Sriracha is a brand of hot sauce that is beloved for it’s spicy, fruity bite.  If you don’t have Sriracha handy, try another hot sauce – just not something that’s got too much fire!  The other ingredient that makes this butter special is the anchovies.  I didn’t have any, but I always have a tube of anchovy paste in my fridge (for this Caesar salad recipe and this Green Goddess dressing).  HINT: Any time you see an anchovy fillet in a recipe, you can substitute one inch of anchovy paste.

We ate this on sirloin steaks that were very lean, so the added flavor and fat from the butter were a welcome addition.  My spice-shy daughter loved it and even put some on her steamed cauliflower!  Ready to try it?  Let’s go!

Sriracha Butter

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 2 anchovy fillets, minced (or use a 2-inch squeeze of anchovy paste)
  • 1 tablespoon Sriracha or other chili sauce
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • salt to taste (I didn’t add any extra salt to mine)

Directions:

  1. Mash the softened butter together with the anchovies, Sriracha, and garlic.  Taste to see if you want any more salt.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  Melt on steaks, cooked vegetables, or potatoes.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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