Tupelo Honey Cafe: Blueberry Chipotle Flank Steak (not suitable for Vegetarians)

Zok altered this recipe by using just dried chipotle peppers, not canned ones that were in adobo sauce as called for in the recipe book.  We would have had to make the sauce ourselves and we didn't have the time.  However, peppers in adobo sauce is now on our preserves list so we will feature it sometime next month when we are back in Australia.

I am going to write up the recipe as Zok made it. This is a two-part recipe

This is for two servings but you could use the same amount with a 2 pound or about a kilo to serve four people.

2 chipotle peppers diced (seeds and all)

3/4 cup blueberry jam (we had to use store bought)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbl. olive oil

1/4 cup honey 

2 tablespoons molasses

1 tsp. salt

a single slice one pound flank steak (1/2 kilo)

Combine the peppers, jam, vinegar, olive oil, honey, molasses, and salt in a bolw and comine well.

Pour this marinade into a sealable plastic bad and add the flank steak to the bag. Seal and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 48 hours. (It is recommended to turn the meat occasionally) Zok did a 24 hour marinade, as this was a test rust of the recipe just for himself.

When you've marinated the meat for the amount of time you choose, remove the meat but keep the marinade mixture for the glaze (below).

Grill your meat over medium-high heat for ten minutes per side (Zok says the time is the same for a steak- so 8 minutes is on the rare side- 12 would be medium- 14 for well done)

Slice your meat across the grain and drizzle with the glaze and serve.

Blueberry Chipotle Glaze

2 cups reserved blueberry chipotle marinade (see above)

1/2 cup apple juice (Zok used organic-100% apple juice)

1 tbl. all-purpose flour

1 tbl. milk

Combine your marinade, apple juice into a small pot and bring them to a boil.

In a small bowl, whisk together your flour and milk, and then whisk this into the hot glaze.  Simmer the complete mixture for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently

*Zok made this here in Sweden during winter, but the recipe book recommends and Zok enthusiastically agrees that this is a BBQ grilling recipe.

As an Aussie he would like it noted he means to say on a real outdoor gas BBQ, not a Swedish one use, and only charcoal if you are familiar with grilling. 

**Zok decided he would reduce the amount of cider vinegar by 1/2.  

Tupelo Cafe: Nutty Fried Chicken (gluten free optional)

Zok loves a recipe that calls for 'buttermilk'.  If you want any frying tips please look at the fried chicken blog entry here:

southern fried chicken 

Zok said that this recipe is not like the southern fried chicken in taste- although the process is similar.  This time he sort of 'filleted' or cut each chicken breast, so that it was smaller and therefore easier to cook all the way through. An added bonus of these smaller cuts was as our guest Sofia mentioned "gives a better chicken to tasty coating ratio."

6 (6-ounce/250 grams) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups buttermilk (300 ml)

2 cups panko bread crumbs

2 cups roasted and salted mixed nuts

2 cups canola oil

Marinate the chicken in  the buttermilk in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (Zok marinated his for 3 hours but only because our building lost power for two hours...he does think that it is worth it to do an overnight marinate if you want to make sure your chicken is moist).

Combine the bread crumbs (Zok used gluten free store bought bread crumbs)

and nuts in a food processor and grind until fine.  In a cast-iron skillet, heat your oil to 325 f. (Zok says if you cast in a pinch of your nut/bread crumb mixture and it sizzles then you know its ready.

Take your chicken pieces and one by one dredge them through the mixture to coat them well  and then fry each piece for about 4-5 minutes on each side- this should give you a golden brown color (Zok let his go a bit longer- he says its all individual choice).

Use paper towels to drain the oil by putting each piece on the towels  as you cook, this gets rid of excess oil.

This recipe is meant to go with milk gravy and mashed sweet potatoes.

All meat eaters heartily approved of this combination.

 

 

 

Tupelo Honey Cafe; Buttermilk Biscuits

I would like to take a moment to brag about my friend Zok-

He was raised mostly on Macedonian food (we plan to feature some recipes here, as soon as we find the time) in Australia.

Later he moved to Sweden where cuisine is pretty much restrained by the type of produce that can be imported.  When we are in Tasmania we are as the Australians would say 'spoiled for choice' - the produce we grow at home is so good, really a person could be happy just eating it all raw.

Zok enjoys cooking and I have gone out of my way to try and introduce new types of cooking-as we seem to spend ages cooking, eating, and cleaning up.  Of course- the best of times is when people come over to eat with us.

My point here, really is that Zok does an amazing job making foods that are completely foreign to him, like these biscuits.

How foreign are these biscuits to Australia? Well, let me tell you Australia has the 'KFC' chain but they don't serve biscuits.  Perhaps this is good, as I think it would be sad if one's only reference was the fast food/chain version of these.

Don't get discouraged if it takes a few tries to get these 'consistently' perfect- they have a careful balance, like a good pie crust- it takes time to learn.

That said, Zok's first try was almost perfect.

If you get to Asheville  (cue song) do not miss going to the Tupelo Honey Cafe, where they in true American fashion, give you free, warm, biscuits as you peruse your menu. 

"...when you get to Asheville...send me an email..."

Here is the recipe. It rocks.

2 cups self rising flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup of chilled shortening, cut into pieces (in Europe/AU shortening comes chilled and we tend to grate it) but if you are using crisco- then you should chill it.

1/2 cup heavy cream (this is not a diet food)

1 cup buttermilk

Melted butter (go the 'whole hog' and melt that butter!)

Preheat the oven to 425 f./ 220 c

Position an oven rack slightly below the center of the oven.  Lightly butter a round cake pan or cast-iron skillet

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and salt.

If you don't want to grate your shortening what is recommended is "snap the pieces of shortening with your fingers until the shortening pieces are no larger than peas.

Make a well in the mixture and pour in the cream and 2/3 cup of your buttermilk

Using your hands or a rubber spatula, sweep in the flour and turn the dough until the dry ingredients are moistened and the dough resembles cottage cheese. If it isn't keep adding in the remaining 1/3 cup of buttermilk until you reach this consistency.

Sprinkle your rolling surface with flour.  Turn the dough out onto the surface and then sprinkle the dough with flour as well.

Flour your hands and then fold the dough in half and pat the dough into a width of about 1/3-1/2 inch thickness

Fold again and pat the dough to achieve a 1 inch. thickness

(Use sprinkling of flour as needed- so if you don't get the width the first time, start again, but use the sprinkling of flour all over again)

When you have your 1 inch thickness

Dip a 2-inch round (5 centimeters) biscuit/cookie cutter in your dough, (do not twist your cutter, straight down and up)

Place your biscuits in your pan sides touching.

Brush the tops with melted butter and then bake for 15-20 minutes , until a light golden brown.

This might be best achieved if you rotate your pan after 6-8 minutes

Remove from oven when golden brown and brush once more with melted butter

 

Tupelo Honey Cafe; Apple Salsa (to go with the Rootbeer-Molasses Ribs) Zok's version

Zok left out the 'poblano pepper', and also used regular honey, as we are very far from Tupelo trees...but if you are in North America you should try and find Tupelo honey, it's almost as good as Blue Gum.

 

2 Granny Smith apples, diced

(or other tart apple equivalent)

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 white onion (recipe recommends 'vidalia' if you can get them)

2 tablespoons honey of your choice

pinch of salt and pepper

Fresh chopped basil a few leaves

(fresh parsley would also work)

This can be made and served up directly, or it should keep up to 2 days in an airtight refrigerated container if you want to make it ahead of time.

 

Tupelo Honey Cafe: Gala Apple Cashew Cobbler (gluten free optional)

Gala Apple Cashew Cobbler

*I think this is a great dessert if you find pie too daunting, it's really easy and quick. I am writing out a recipe for 8 - 12 people we cut it in half but this would be an easy large dish to bring to a party.

Filling:
3 pounds/ 1.4 kilos of Gala apples, peeled and sliced
3 tbl. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 c./160 mil firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice

Topping:
1 cup raw cashews
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (we used gluten free and as this is crumble topping, you could not taste any difference)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 tsp. almond extract (we didn't have this so we left it out)

Preheat the oven to 350f/175c. Butter a baking dish
To make the filling, toss the apples with the lemon juice and vanilla in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.
Add the spice mixture to the apples and toss until all the fruit is coated.  
Spread the apple mixture in the prepared baking dish.

 To make the topping, place the cashews and brown sugar in a food processor and pulse 6-8 times to coarsely chop the cashews.  Add the flour and salt, plus 4 more times.
Add the butter, shortening, and alond extract and pulse 4-5 times to blend.
Crumble the nut mixture over the apples and bake for 55 minutes, or until hot, bubbly, and lightly browned.
Let cool slightly before serving.
(Zok made a little less so 40 minutes was as much as it needed)

 

Tupelo Honey Cafe: Root Beer and Molasses-Braised Beef (or Pork) Short Ribs

The recommended potatoes to go with this dish are 'pineapple mashed sweet potatoes' but we haven't done these yet, so we have been serving them with roasted garlic mashed potatoes.  Zok roasts the garlic in a small terracotta roaster in the oven, he also uses a bit of butter and milk.

This recipe also called for smoked Jalapeño sauce which Zok did not make 

6 (3 inch long or about 8 cm) beef (we used pork) short ribs

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 (12 ounce or 360 milliliters) cans/bottles of Root Beer (if you are downunder Zok says Woolys has it)

3/4 cup sorghum molasses (Sorghum means molasses from sugar cane, there are a few different types- it is also stocked near the treacle in Australia and perhaps treacle could be a substitute but we haven't tried that yet)

 4 1/2 cups Apple Salsa (recipe on blog)

Zok uses both a cast iron skillet and a dutch oven and of course he loves to cook, so he also loves to buy decent tools for the kitchen- if you have a 'catering' store in your area, they usually also sell to the public, and the prices are usually really good-

This is our local one in Hobart: http://medhurstkitchenequipment.com.au/

Position the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325F/165C

Sprinkle the short ribs evenly with the salt and pepper. Heat a large, heavy skillet (or dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Carefully add the oil to the hot pan and heat until hot, but no smoking.

The oil should be just shimmering in the pan.  Working in batches, brown the ribs on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes.  

If you are using a Dutch oven, fill it with the browned ribs piled on top of one another.  

If you are using a skillet, arrange the browned ribs in a deep skillet just large enough to held them.  

Combine the root beer and molasses in a large saucepan and bring to a boil- then pour this liquid over your ribs, coating them thoroughly.

If using a dutch oven, place your cover on top, if you are using a roasting pan cover it tightly with aluminum foil.  Roast your meat for 1.5 to 2.5 hours (Zok says his always takes a bit over 2 hours, but check it at 1.5 -the meat should be so tender it falls from the bone with little prying).

Zok dished up everyone's dish- as recommended in the book-

So put a portion of your potatoes on the plate, lay on the short ribs, bone side down, on top of the potatoes.  Then garnish with the Apple Salsa.

Serve immediately.

ribs uncut

This is the type of skillet Zok uses

 Here are the pieces layered into the dutch oven

Finally here they are coated and ready to be put into the oven

Tupelo Honey Cafe; Cornucopia Salad

Cornucopia Salad

*This can be prepped ahead of time, as the salad needs to marinate at least 2 hours*

All vegetables chopped into half inch-1 in. pieces (or 1 to 1.5 cm) 

(As I try to type this Zok is reinforcing the fact that especially with this type of recipe, one would just add in more of what they like and less of what they don't - "It's a salad.")

1 cup sliced cucumber (the original recipe calls for "baby seedless cucumber", Zok used a peeler and quartered the cucumber, then scraped the seeds out.

1/2 cup fresh green beans 

14 grape tomatoes

8 baby carrots (of course you can use regular carrots, the baby ones tend to be sweeter)

1/2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced (Zok chopped his)

4 medium shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced 

1 tablespoon minced sweet onion (our only option has been white)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon fresh tarragon

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons peppered vinegar (recipe on blog)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

 The recipe also calls for fresh rye croutons, which I think go really well with this, but the salad is as good without, we keep them to the side as we have many friends not eating gluten.

 The trick in making all these good raw vegetables so delightful, is making sure you refrigerate-marinate them for at least two hours.

Combine the cucumber, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and tarragon in a large sealable plastic bag.  Add the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to the vegetables.  Seal the bag and shake to blend all of the ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend.  Serve topped iwth Rye Croutons and add extra Peppered Vinegar to taste (Zok thinks both the croutons and extra vinegar are unnecessary)

 Here is what Zok actually used, except he used half the zucchini and only the 1 cup of string beans

 Here the vegetables are after the 2 hours

 Here are the vegetables as they looked going into the refrigerator