Randi Rhodes Forums

It is a great recipe and meal. I'm not a vegetarian but I love this dish. Filling yet a light meal all in one.

Small hen turkey indirectly grilled on BBQ for 3 hours with constant deep-soak mesquite smoke.

Guaranteed to drive neighbors absolutely crazy.

Add parboiled and mediterranean spiced potatoes, red onions, and small bell peppers to a BBQ Wok and smoke them for the last 1/2 to 1 hour along with the turkey and gently stir occasionally just until a slight carmelization starts on the potatoes.

Randi was bemoaning the lost family brisket recipe - allow this goy who grew up on the Upper West Side (800 WEA) in the '60's to help out.


GROSSINGER's Brisket is a traditional Passover recipe and can be found here: http://bit.ly/dBZjYC

The key to making a tender brisket is not to rush the process. This is a cut of meat that is not tender - and cuts of this nature require a long cooking process - and, traditional Passover Brisket is prepared as a braised dish (tightly covered pot with stock/liquid at all times). That means low heat (I'd vary the linked recipe by reducing the oven temp to 300 f and increasing the cooking time) and liquid. You want to convert the collagen (connective tissue in the beef) into gelatin and that requires low and slow cooking. When you braise a brisket - remember that there is no "overcooking" possible so long as the dutch oven/braising pot remains covered and always has a good supply of liquid. The test for doneness is that "fork tender" - not some arbitrary time in the oven. You cook it until it is done - be it 3 hours or 10 hours - it's not done until it is tender.

There is an easy way to make a smaller brisket - have the butcher cut a flat-plate (top of the brisket) down to 2-3 lbs and buy a big crockpot. Start the brisket just before you go to bed and plan on having it at dinner time the next day. That's about an 18 hour braise - you won't have tough brisket and all that you will have to do is to adjust the veggies and seasonings to come up with the new favorite family brisket. It is foolproof as long as it never goes dry!

FWIW, the brisket features front and center in the haute cuisine of the midwest and southwest in the form of smoked brisket barbecue. I've smoked hundreds of pounds of brisket in my life and can tell you that a tender smoked brisket requires a decent spice rub, a good smoker that can hold a solid 165f while heating wood to the smoking point. My typical smoking time runs 18-24 hrs and I do spray the brisket with Apple Juice about once an hour for 10 hours and wrap the brisket in aluminum foil for the last 6 hours of cooking. Tender and flavorful - and an entirely different result than the braised brisket. Now that I'm in LA, my son has the smoker back in KC....

The next time that you visit Kansas City, you should try the smoked brisket "burnt ends" (not actually "burnt") at Arthur Bryant's http://www.arthurbryantsbbq.com/ - Calvin Trillin declared in Playboy magazine that "...the single best restaurant in the world is Arthur Bryant's Barbeque at 18th & Brooklyn in Kansas City."


GRO

Any Type II Diabetics out there? How about some Yoghurt Smoothies for breakfast? Tastes great and you have decent protein, low glycemic index, high calcium, low fat and fresh fruit!

Ingredients:

5-6 oz Greek or Icelandic style non-fat yoghurt (6g of carb, 15-17 g protein, Sodium 60-70 mg, Potassium 230 mg, 20% of daily Calcium - 100 Calories, total)

30 g (1/4 c) high-protein Granola (I use Near Naked Peak Protein with 16 g carb, 7 g fat, 6 g protein, 25 mg Sodium)

3 Packets Sweet & Low (the pink ones) - pretty much zero on all nutrients

Seltzer (from Pellegrino to 2 cents plain - avoid the high Sodium brands)

Some ice, as needed

1/4- 1/2 C fresh fruit (for Diabetics - avoid bananas - too much fructose) I use berries - typically whole fresh Blueberries or else I put Raspberries or Blackberries through a food mill (removes the seeds and leaves a nice puree) and freeze them in 5 oz Dixie Cups for a 3 oz serving. Kiwi fruit, pealed and cut into 3 chunks works well, too.

Making the Smoothie:

Put Granola into a blender - right on top of the blades, follow with all of the Sweet & Low (if you have an issue with fiber - now is a great time to toss in 1/4 c of Benefiber)

Add the fruit & yoghurt (hint: if you have frozen berry puree, hold the cup in your hand for 30 sec and turn it upside down over the blender and push on the bottom of that paper cup - out plops the frozen fruit)

Add Seltzer to where it is even with the top of the ingredients in the blender and toss in 1 c crushed / or small cube ice.

Blend for 1 minute on high (grinds up the granola)

Adjust the ice if you want a thicker smoothie

Serve in large glass. (If you take Vitamin D - by all means take it with the smoothie - you'll never have as much bio-available Calcium and D3 in any other food source)

Works great for my wife, the Diabetic, and keeps her full the whole morning. I love them - and I can add higher glycemic index fruits such as: Bananas or Mango or fresh Coconut juice and pulp (yeah, those funny white Coconuts you see in the store), Passion fruit pulp, Pineapple, Kewano melon fruit, Pears, Peaches, Apricots, Plums - and I taper down the Sweet & Low depending on how sweet the fruit - I use none with fresh Pineapple.

In my 50's my physician advised me to take Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) and I take mine with the Smoothie, too.

Bamya alecha (East African Gumbo) Lentin recipe

1 Large onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, minced
1 Large green bell pepper, sliced in 1"x1/4" strips
1 Large Annaheim chile (or hotter varieties if that is your preferrence) in matchsticks
1 Pound small okra pods, trimmed and split lengthwise
3 Teaspoons ground cardamom
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes

Stir-fry onions on medium heat in a DRY skillet until soft
Add olive oil and garlic, stir-fry another minute, then add chiles and bell peppers and stir fry another minute.
Add okra and stir fry until okra becomes dark green
Sprinkle cardamom over vegetables in pan and mix.
Add tomatoes with liquid and bring to a boil, then simmer until okra is tender.

Serve over rice or injerra.

I don't know if I posted about this b4. But I love to cook turkey on the grill. I don't like smoked turkey that much. Mainly because some folk end up with a dry smoked bird. But this way is easy and always ends up moist, tender and smoky.

I take one of those big blue roasters and place a aluminum muffin pan upside down in the bottom. Put in enough water to almost cover it and put your seasoned bird on it. This keeps the bird from having direct contact with the bottom of the pan. Don't use the lid, instead cover and seal it all around with aluminum foil. Get your coals very hot and put it on for about an hour. You end up with a juicy steamed bird. Then put on your wood chips and place the bird back on w/o the foil covering. After about 20-30 minutes you are done and have a browned smoke flavorful perfect bird. I use a Webber Kettle grill.

I used to BBQ turkey breasts a lot on my Weber...even when snow was coming down. Wish I'd had your method back then, sounds EXCELLENT!

Take a Savoy cabbage and slice it into 1/2" slices, discarding the base. Toss the shreds in a colander with a couple of tablespoons of Kosher salt. Let rest for an hour or two (over a pan, or in a clean sink) then rinse and drain.

Toss with a little olive oil, plenty of fresh-ground black pepper and enough Sherry vinegar to make it a bit sharp. A great summer treat.

Coffee/star anise Lamb Shanks in slow cooker
Serves 2.

2 tbsp Coffee/star anise rub (recipe follows)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp green olive oil, divided
1 pat butter
2 lamb shanks, cut by butcher in 1 1/2" pieces
2 cups beef stock (ideal would be 2 cups veal stock, or 1 cup beef stock and 1 cup chicken stock)
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 large shallots, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/4 cup red wine
1 box Parmalat (or 1 14 oz can) chopped tomatoes
1 - 1 1/2 cups water (optional)
Chopped Italian parsley or chopped cilantro, for garnish (optional)
1 cup cooked couscous

Coffee/Star Anise Rub:
2 tbsp medium roast coffee beans
3 star anise
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Grind these in a spice grinder to a fine powder.

Combine 1/4 olive oil with the 2 tbsp coffee anise rub. Arrange the lamb shanks in one layer in a glass dish. Pour coffee/anise rub marinade over the lamb and mix to coat. Cover, and marinate overnight, turning at least once.

Melt the butter and 2 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the lamb shanks and brown on each side. Remove the shanks to a plate. Put the stock, thyme, and bay leaf in the slow cooker and set to med-high/6-8 hour setting. Add the shallots and garlic to the saute pan, and saute for 2 minutes. Add the carrots, saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add the wine, loosening browned bits with a spatula, and saute for a couple minutes.

Add the shallot/carrot/garlic wine mixture to the stock in the slow cooker. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir. Place lamb shanks in the slow cooker and cook for 6-8 hours or until meat falls off the bone. Add water during the cooking if necessary, to keep shanks in at least 3/4 liquid. Remove bay leaf.

Serve a couple shanks over couscous and garnish with chopped parsley or cilantro, if desired. Couscous cooked with chicken stock and 1 tsp minced garlic goes well with this dish.

The shanks look to be a very nice recipe. I'll give them a go - though I'll braise (don't own a slow cooker).

Injerra (Sour dough flatbread)

Injerra is made from a variety of whole grain flour, but, in Ethiopia where it originated, is typically made with teff flour, possibly one of the richest vegetable sources of complete protein in the world.

Traditionally, Ethiopian meals are eaten communally, with everyone eating from a common plate, covered with a large disk of injerra which is pulled apart and used to pick up entre items.

To make a good injerra, one must first make a good sour dough starter. It chose to start mine in barley malt so that it would be gluten-free.

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/4 cup barely malt
4 organicly-grown grapes
1 cup barely flour

Mix water and barely malt to form a thin slurry. Place gtapes in a shallow bowl and pour the malt slurry over them, rolling them a bit to coat thoroughly. Grapes should be more than half-submerged. Cover loosely with a paper towel and leave in a warm area for two-three days, until the mixture forms bubbles indicating fermentation in progress. Remove and discard grapes. Mix in enough barely flour to form a workable ball and leave, covered to rise for an hour or until the mass is doubled in size. Cover and refrigerate until needed. At least once a month, add more flour and water to feed the yeast culture.

Injerra batter

Batter should be prepared a day or more ahead of its planned use.

1/4 cup sour dough starter
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup teff flour or some combination of teff, barely, whole wheat, buckwheat or corn flour

Add water to sourdough starter and mix thoroughly. Add flour and stir vigorously to break up lumps. Batter should be the consistancy slightly thinner than pancake batter. Set in a warm place to ferment until the batter bubbles. If not to be used immediately, the batter may be kept refrigerate for up to three days.

Heat a shallow non-stick skillet or lefse pan until a bead of water dances on the cooking surface. A thin cooking of oil may be placed on the skillet. Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan about 1/8 inch deep. tilting the pan to spread it evenly. Cover and bake for about 2 minutes. Injerra is done when the top is a uniform color and the edges separate freely from the skillet surface. Slide injerra out of pan onto a basket or kitchen towel to cool. You may have to adjust cooking time and temperatures to your stove and skillet and types of flour used.

If you have left over batter, merely add it to the next batch of batter in place of the sourdough starter.

To serve a meal, place one injerra on a large serving platter. Various entrees are the placed on the injerra, about 1/2 cup total per person. Customarily, each dioner will recieve an additional injerra. With the right hand only, tear a piece of injerra about 2-3 inches square and use it to pick up a bite-sized portion of one entree item and pop it into your mouth without touching your lips. Do ont lick your fingers during the meal.

Out of curiosity, why do you add whole grapes? Do they add to the fermentation process with their sugars?

I'm guessing that the yeast for the sour dough starter comes from the grapes. Signs of fermentation simply tell you that there is enough yeast to make the sour dough starter.

On second thought, perhaps the grapes just provide sugar to grow the yeast.

Or perhaps the grapes provide lactobacillus or something similar to it.

So, where did the yeast come from?

Well, wherever it came from, sourdough is a fascinating food.

Sheesh, I really mucked up that explanation.

Well, I'm sure you all get the basic idea of what I was trying to say about yeast, bacteria, and sourdough bread starters.