Tarator aka Cold Soup

This is one of my all time favorite soups. It's easy to prepare. It takes 15-20 min to prepare and after that it's ready to be served. We Bulgarians love to make this soup in the summer and the majority of Bulgarians keep a whole pot of Tarator in their refrigerators during summer because it's very refreshing. I also think it's a good remedy for hangover ;)  . My husband, who is American, was very skeptical the first time he tried it but surprisingly he liked it so much that he learned how to make Tarator (which is very simple actually ). 

The original recipe calls for walnuts, I , however prefer pecans. Many people don't like nuts , so if you are one of them , you can skip that step. The soup will still taste delicious. 

Here is what you need for this soup

1 cucumber chopped finely 

5-6 garlic cloves smashed and chopped 

1/4 cup fresh dill chopped finely (or 2-3 Tbsp. dried dill weed) 

3-4 cups plain whole milk yogurt 

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil 

2-3 cups cold water 

Sea salt to taste 

1/2 cup pecans/walnuts (optional) 

Combine cucumber, garlic, dill, olive oil and sea salt in a bowl . Mix well. Add yogurt and water . Stir and check if more salt needed. Add nuts. Serve immediately or refrigerate. 

Gluten - Free Granola

My friend Zhana gave me a jar with homemade granola for Christmas. It was incredibly tasty and I decided to make my own. I looked online just for the basic principals and of course I made my own mix. Most of the recipes online call for vegetable oil. I though don't use any vegetable oil because it's highly processed and very bad for you. Instead I use coconut oil :) Also many of the recipes call for agave syrup or honey , or sugar. Agave is highly processed as well. Honey is good but it has a high glycemic index, and sugar: well the only reason I keep sugar in my kitchen is, because I make my own Kombucha. So.... what do I use , would you ask :) , I use raw Coconut Nectar. It has a low glycemic index and the brand I buy is 100% organic, gluten- free, non-gmo , vegan. Here is some information about Coconut Nectar provided by the company that offers it: When the coconut tree is tapped it produces a nutrient-rich "sap" that exudes from the coconut blossoms. This sap is very low glycemic , is an abundant source of minerals, 17 amino acids, vitamin C, board spectrum B vitamins, and has a nearly neutral pH. 

Also, when you pick oats, make sure that they are certified gluten-free. Be careful with baking, I slightly overcooked mine because I had to nurse my daughter and it was a matter of 3-5 min. 

Ingredients:

3 cups gluten -free oats

1 1/4 cups raw sliced almonds 

1 cup coconut flakes

3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

3/4 cup raw flaxseeds

1/2 cup raw sesame seeds

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 1/2 cups raisins 

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil 

1/2 cup raw coconut nectar

Mix oats with seeds. In a saucepan melt coconut oil and coconut nectar. Add to oats and seeds and mix evenly. bake in the oven for 15-20 min or until golden. Remove from oven and add raisins. mix well and let it cool off. Store in a jar or plastic bag. 

The Evolution of A Prime Rib Roast

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody! 

I've been gone for a while but taking care of a toddler who goes through the so called 'terrible twos " and a baby girl  isn't exactly an easy job :) I know I shouldn't complain there are people with more kinds than  me and they don't complain over lack of time. 

Today's recipe is dedicated to our annual New Year's  Eve dinner . All pictures and instructions are courtesy of my husband Christopher. Thanks , hon , for your contribution. If I was cooking I'd use organic ingredients. Also you can substitute peanut oil with olive oil or any kind of oil. 

Here we take our Rib Roast and start by removing the ribs (we'll use them in our Au Jus gravy which we will start tomorrow, one day before we cook.)

We'll cut these ribs apart after we de-fat the roast.

The ribs, fat and silver skin will go in a bag for tomorrow's gravy starter.

Here we've cut up the ribs, ideally you would get your butcher to do this and then have him saw them in half lengthwise to expose the marrow... I got to the grocery store too late for that. They will still enhance our Au Jus gravy.

Here the roast has been mostly de-fatted. We didn't need that great big fat cap on there, it won't really baste the meat as many have been led to believe, and the roast already has plenty of fat in it. We are going to season this tomorrow in a wet-rub and we want our seasonings to get into the meat, not into the fat.

Our next step involves Kosher Salt and Saran Wrap.

Now we've rubbed our meat liberally in Kosher Salt. If you watch this meat over the next few hours, the liquid in the meat will dissolve the salt and then draw it back into the meat. This will help the proteins in the meat hold on to moisture better and will give us a significantly good flavor... Don't worry, it won't seem overly salty.

Now we wrap the meat and stick it in the fridge for the next 24 hours.
For more details of this recipe and others recipes which are near 100% sure to please, go towww.amazingribs.com . you and your guest will be glad you did!

Now it is about 24 hours later and 24 hours yet to go before we actually finish this roast! So today we'll prepare a dry rub which we'll turn into a wet rub by adding oil to it. I prefer Peanut oil, you might prefer olive oil. We'll be using dry herbs and oil will extract the flavors better than water, also the oil will help to form a nice crust on our finished Prime Rib. Here we begin by using a spoon and a bowl as an improvised mortar and pestle to kind of break up our rosemary leaves to start releasing some of the aromas. 

This wet rub has the following ingredients:
4 tablespoons ground black pepper
4 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
4 teaspoons dried thyme or oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder and then we'll mix in 8 tablespoons peanut oil after removing 2 tablespoons of the dry mix for our Au Jus gravy.
This is our dry rub before the oil.

 

Now we've added the peanut oil and we'll let this sit for at least a couple hours for all the flavors and aromas to intensify a bit.

Now we'll get a head start on our Au Jus gravy. We'll start with 2 onions cut in quarters and we'll leave the skins. Onion skins give a nice flavor and also help to darken the color in a stock. No worries about them, we'll be straining all this out later.

The gravy recipe is as follows: 3 or more beef ribs or other beef bones, meaty trimmings from the roast with a little fat.
2 medium onions, root end removed, skin left on, and cut into quarters
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1" lengths
1 stalk celery, leaves left on, cleaned, and chopped into 1" lengths
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 or 3 dried mushrooms
1 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon of the Dry Rub we just made
1 bay leaf
32 ounces of water
2 smashed garlic cloves
About the mushrooms. Just about any dried mushroom will do: Porcini, wood ears, whatever. Just toss them in. As they absorb liquid they exude essence of mushroom and add umami, a savory flavor amplifier.

Our garlic cloves, all smashed up.

I chose Shitake 'shrooms.

Here's our beef ribs and trimmings that we'll use in our stock, I'm going to brown the trimmings in a skillet and brown the ribs on the grill with a few wood chips for some smoke.

Grilling our ribs. Getting the meat caramelized a bit before we simmer it will help with the flavor.

Getting ready to add the liquid ingredients.

Now the liquid ingredients are in and we'll simmer for up to 3 hours uncovered so this will reduce down.

Make sure that you get the ribs down as far as possible in the liquid so we can extract flavor from the marrow.

While the au jus is simmering let's make some horseradish sauce. I'll make it today so that it can sit overnight and all the flavors will come together.

Here's the finished horseradish sauce. Ingredients are:
1/2 cup sour cream
4 tablespoons prepared horseradish in vinegar
4 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 pinches table salt
4 pinches ground white pepper, or black,
1 tablespoon minced roasted garlic.

au jus/stock is done... 

strain it out and do whatever you want with the meat and veggies

After straining in a colander .

Now strain it back into the pot with a mesh strainer.

See how many particles still remained? Now we taste, adjust seasoning and reduce more if necessary, then in the fridge for a bit.

Here is our roast after relaxing in it's dry brine overnight, you may notice that it is very shiny... that tends to happen after dry brining.

Now we'll take our butcher's twine and tie it tightly about every inch. We are trying to make this roast as close to round as possible, this promotes more even cooking. Let's say this roast is 5 inches in diameter and 8 inches long. Even if we had another one 5 inches in diameter but 12 inches long they would both cook in the same amount of time.

Now we have taken our wet rub and liberally covered this roast and we'll put it back in the fridge until tomorrow... this time we'll let it sit uncovered.

Notice that the twine did make the roast very round. The point is that when it is round, the shortest distance to the center of the meat is the same everywhere... hence, even cooking throughout with the exception of the ends, they may be a bit more well done.

We're getting ready to place our roast on the grill. I'm preheating the aujus we made yesterday before the beef goes on. I've set up the grill for two-zone cooking. I have 4 burners and one is on all the way, the next one is about 1/2 and the other two are off. We'll put our roast above the two which are off and try to keep the temp at that end at 225 F.

Here is our roast, straight out of the fridge, and now straight to the grill. We want to cook this low and slow so we'll start it cold.

Now the roast is on a rack above the au jus so it will roast, not boil... very important, and we'll catch the drippings for even more yummy au jus. I've placed hickory chips over the burner which is hottest for some smoke. We'll leave the roast in here for about an hour to get the smoky flavor and then, since it's cold here, and getting dark, we'll transfer it to the oven set at 225 degrees F.

Now we've been in the smoke about an hour so we'll move to the oven. Some of our au jus reduced down too much so I've added some boiling water. We will be going back to the grill to sear the outside at the very end. Notice that a meat thermometer has now been inserted to the center of the roast.

Here we are monitoring our temp. When we reach 115 degrees F then we'll remove the meat back to the grill which will already be as hot as possible and we'll sear all sides with the lid open. 

Ok, now we've reached 115 degrees and we're back on the grill to sear the outside.

Searing.

After searing, now we'll let it rest and it will gain another 15 or 20 degrees to get us to 135 degrees

Here's our au jus, now we'll put it in a sauce pan and reduce it to make a nice thin gravy. 

Reducing

We've hit our target temp.

After resting in the oven.

Getting ready to cut into it.

 I wish these pictures were more accurate, it was pinker than this in reality. But you can see that the fat and connective tissues have broken down.

Very tender meat

With a little au jus poured on it. Ok, this is the end. I can tell you that I forgot the steak knives and one guest of mine said, after I remembered, no problem, I'm doing fine with a butter knife! When asked I heard, "this is the best prime rib I've ever had." That was me, Then a guest said, the same thing actually, and another guest from the Ukraine said that it was the best beef she'd had in the US, my wife enjoyed it much as well even though she normally doesn't eat medium rare meat. I think it was a success, and if you follow this recipe you should have some great success too. Happy New Year!