Grilled Skirt Steak Skewers

Ah, that time of year in which you dust off the grill, vacuum out the cobwebs, scare away any critters who have taken up residence over the winter (including one black widow, yikes!), clean the grates, turn on the gas, and realize your starter doesn’t work.

So you use a match, and for some reason that grill. Will. Just. Not. Get. Hot. Enough.

So you start over with the Weber and some charcoal, and grill a batch of beautiful skirt steak skewers that were marinating the whole time you were futzing with the equipment.

And they are so perfect and delicious that you don’t care about the broken starter that needs to get fixed or your close call with a black widow. Like a Homer Simpson thought bubble, all you can think about is steak so goooooood.

Why is skirt steak in particular so good, and so perfect for grilling threaded on skewers? Let me show you:

It’s the fat, of course!

Skirt steak is much fattier than, say, flank steak. The way that the fat is marbleized throughout the meat results in a cut that is much more flavorful, and more forgiving when you cook it.

Unlike flank steak, which because it’s so lean needs to be cooked rare or it gets too dry, skirt steak can be cooked all the way through without suffering.

You still need to cut the steak across the grain when you cut your strips, but the steak will be tender and flavorful because of the fat.

Grilled Skirt Steak Skewers Recipe

Ingredients

Marinade ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1-inch piece of ginger, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Other ingredients:

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds skirt steak, trimmed of membranes and silver skin
• Olive oil for grill grates
• 25-30 bamboo or wooden skewers for grilling

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Pickled Shrimp

Pickled shrimp is one of those party dishes that has everyone rushing into the kitchen to see how you made it. In fact, you didn’t do very much at all, which is what makes pickled shrimp such a great choice for cocktail parties and holiday gatherings.

The shrimp look so amazing packed into a jar. You can see the pink curls against the glass with spices and herbs swirling around them.

Pickled shrimp is an easy, make-ahead appetizer that never fails to impress.

All you do to make pickled shrimp is poach some shrimp and then pack them into a big crock or canning jar with simple pickling spices, vinegar, and olive oil. Let this sit in the fridge for a day or two, and pull out the jar just before the party starts.

It’s all very colorful, especially if you use a clear glass jar: pink shrimp, bright yellow slices of lemon, mustard seeds, thyme leaves, red onion, and fronds from a bulb of fresh fennel. (The fennel gives mix some crunch in addition to being pretty!)

The pickling liquid is a combination of cider vinegar and olive oil. As long as the shrimp are submerged in liquid, they’ll keep well for a few days in the refrigerator.

When it’s party time, tip the contents into a bowl – spices and all – and hand out toothpicks. Part of the fun is letting guests go fishing.

Pickled Shrimp Recipe

You can double or triple this recipe as needed as long as you have extra jars!

Ingredients

• 1 stalk celery, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, sliced into very thin rounds
• Salt, to taste
• 4 cups water
• 1 pound (12-20 count) raw shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails intact
• 1/2 bulb fresh fennel
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil, or more if needed
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Few sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 2 tablespoons capers and their juices
• 2 teaspoons mustard seed

Special equipment:

• 1-quart canning jar or crock, or any combination of smaller jars equaling 1 quart

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Blueberry Shortcake

When the summer months come, I find it almost impossibly hard to resist buying fresh blueberries by the double basketful.

Thank goodness they’re such good brain food! (These days my brain needs all the help it can get.)

My twelve year old nephew is in town which is perfect excuse to make shortcake of any variety.Unlike with strawberries, where all you have to do is cut them and sprinkle them with sugar, to get the blueberries juicy enough for shortcake it works well to cook them, just a little, with sugar. This way more juices are released.

This recipe makes a lot of blueberry topping. If you find you have leftover, it’s great over ice cream, or better yet, pancakes.

Blueberry Shortcake Recipe

Ingredients

Berries

• 5 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 pinch cinnamon

Biscuits

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• Pinch cinnamon
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 7/8 cup (1 cup minus 2 Tbsp) heavy whipping cream
• 1 large egg*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Heavy cream for whipping

*The egg is optional. Including the egg will result in a less crumbly shortcake biscuit, but either way, with or without egg, is good.

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Short-Rib Beef Stew with Ale

The debate didn’t last long. “You could have used boneless beef short-ribs. You’re paying for the bones when you buy them bone-in,” my mother remarked in while we were all enjoying this wonderful stew.

“It’s better with the bones,” my father and I replied, practically in unison. “Better flavor,” dad added. “And then there’s all that goodness from the marrow,” said I.

Mom, not willing to give in so easily, said, “these bones are too small, I can’t see any marrow.” At this point, dad and I put our forks down and focused our gaze upon her.

“Mom, just because you can’t see a hole in the bones, doesn’t mean there’s no marrow.”

“But they couldn’t have cooked long enough for anything to come out.”

“They cooked for two and a half hours.”

“Okay. Nevermind.”

And so it goes. Lest you think that my dad and I unfairly give my mom a hard time, tonight both of them pounced on me for not knowing who Falstaff was. “Shakespeare, Henry IV!,” said they, rolling their eyes the way they do when they realize how little I, the daughter of two teachers, really know.

By the way, my mother is right more often than not, though in this case I’ll stand by our assertion that this stew tastes better, and is better for you, when cooked with the short ribs bone-in.

This recipe is adapted from one in a old Sunset Magazine. We used a malty brown ale in place of the beer the original recipe calls for, and added carrots and turnips.

We love turnips in stews, though they have their own unique, somewhat bitter flavor; you can easily leave them out.

Updated. From the recipe archive. First posted 2007.

Short-Rib Beef Stew with Ale Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 Tbsp hot paprika
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, trimmed of excess fat
• 4 strips thick-cut bacon
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bottle (12 oz.) a malty brown ale (we used Newcastle Brown ale)
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) whole peeled tomatoes, chopped and juices reserved
• 2 pounds Yukon Gold or russet potatoes
• 2 large carrots
• 1 pound turnips (optional)

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Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and sour soup is a lot like chili; every family has their own recipe, and each family thinks that theirs is the best. When I was in the local Chinese market perusing the mushrooms I asked one of the other shoppers, a tiny and ancient woman half my height whose etched wrinkles framed a friendly smile, where the wood ear mushrooms were.

“What are you using them for?”

“Hot and sour soup,” I replied.

“What? You don’t want those. Here,” she grabbed a bag of dried shiitake, “use these.”

“No! You don’t want those for hot and sour soup!” cried another, more stout lady behind me. She said something in Cantonese to the first lady before grabbing a fresh bunch of enoki mushrooms and throwing them in my basket. “This is better.”

Soon, nine women were having an all out argument in the middle of the aisle. I was stuck in the middle, caught between volleys of angry insults and defenses of cherished family recipes for hot and sour soup, both in Cantonese and English.

People insulted each other’s families, critiqued the various provinces of China (all were in agreement that the people in the North, apparently, can’t cook good soup), and altered the contents of my shopping basket at whim.

Eventually, a decision was reached that you absolutely have to use black fungus—an apt, but unappetizing name for a delightful ingredient—and lily buds. The other mushroom is up to you. Whatever one you decide on be sure to be ready to defend your choice.

Hot and Sour Soup Recipe

You can use gluten-free soy sauce in this recipe, and use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian. However, do not substitute black pepper for the white pepper. The mushrooms and lily buds can be found at any Chinese market.

Ingredients

• 6 dried Chinese black fungus
• 6 dried wood ear, black, cloud, straw, or shiitake mushrooms, or one bunch of fresh enoki mushrooms
• 5 dried lily buds
• One can of bamboo shoots
• 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 1/2 block of firm tofu, diced into small cubes
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 3 scallions, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of finely ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of chili oil (optional)
• Cilantro (optional)

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Classic King Crab

Please welcome Hank Shaw as he serves up some Alaskan king crab! ~Elise

One of my early memories as a kid was eating piles of Alaskan king crab legs in restaurants. Dipped in lots of melted butter and served with a lemon wedge I rarely used, it was tons of fun pulling big chunks of rich, luscious crab meat from those enormous legs. I grew up in New Jersey, where the much smaller blue crab reigns supreme, so the idea of gigantic crabs up to six feet long wandering around on the bottom of the ocean was both exotic and slightly scary. Eating these crabs was like traveling to a different world.

As I later learned, it was a different world back then. Our family was not particularly wealthy, and I never remember king crab even being in the same class as Maine lobster. King crab was what you got when lobster was too expensive. If you look at the history of the Alaskan king crab fishery, you’ll know why: At precisely the same time I was enjoying mountains of king crab, the fishery was reaching the high-water mark of unsustainability: In 1981, fishermen hauled up 130 million pounds of kings. Two years later, the fishery collapsed.

It took years, but crab stocks did recover. Since then, king crab has been fished sustainably throughout Alaska. And while it will never be inexpensive again, it’s still one of the world’s great luxury foods. Rich, soft and briny, king crab is reminiscent more of lobster than of crab. The meat is also easy to extract and fills the shells, which gives you a good amount of meat per pound — unlike most other crabs.

King crab is best served simply. To do too much to it would be like stuffing caviar into a burrito. Steam it, grill it or even microwave it, and then choose a support player and enjoy. The classic is, was and always will be melted butter and lemon. It is a classic for a reason.

As a consumer, you need to keep in mind two things: First, be certain to buy American crab. There is a lot of inexpensive Russian king crab on the market, and the reason it’s so cheap is because the Russians are destroying their fishery for a quick buck. American fishermen work under strict rules of sustainability, which is why U.S. crab is more expensive. We should reward them for playing fair.

The second thing you need to remember is that virtually all king crab is pre-cooked. It has to be, to preserve freshness. Alaskan king crab is cooked and blast frozen right in the harbor. If they did not, the giant crabs would die and rot within hours. This means that as a cook, you are really reheating king crab, not actually cooking it. So be gentle. I prefer to steam it for 5 minutes and call it a day. King crab really needs nothing else.

Classic King Crab Recipe

You could use olive oil instead of butter, but why would you want to?

Ingredients

• 3-4 pounds Alaskan king crab legs and claws
• 1 stick of butter
• Lemon wedges for garnish

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Sesame Cucumber Salad

Will someone please tell me why it is 60°F and drizzly, at the end of May, here in Sacramento?

For my Memorial Day BBQ, we huddled around the fireplace, while the brave ones (or those more appropriately dressed for the weather) manned the grill.

I don’t want to complain too loudly though, lest some of you enduring the heat wave that’s sitting on much of the country send those searing temps back towards us. We’ll get our share later, I can assure you.

For those of you who do find yourself in stifling heat, and are looking for something cooling, I can recommend this cucumber salad, recipe courtesy of a certain tall, dark, and handsome Frenchman. (Thank you Guy!)

It’s actually good any time of the year; we like it for a light late night snack while watching Poirot or the Pink Panther.

Sesame Cucumber Salad Recipe

Make sure your sesame oil is fresh and not rancid. These oils can go rancid after a few months. Do a taste test before adding to the cucumbers; if it tastes off, don't use. If you want you can sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on the cucumbers.

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized cucumbers (about 1 lb total)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp dark sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes

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