Four-Chile Chili

I tried this four-chile chili over the weekend when almost everyone I know was either watching sports on TV or playing poker online because of the blustery weather outside. This dish was the right one to coddle and sit on the couch with under a soft throw with the TV on. My sports fan guest loved it so much, he asked to pack the leftovers for lunch the next day.

I already had dried ancho chile at home, but feel free to use the powdered kind. If you still find bigger chunks of chiles and tomatoes during the hour that you’re simmering, take the opportunity to press them against the inside of the pot with the back of a wooden spoon to make sure that they are incorporated well. Feel free to add some more beef stock as well to make sure your chili is not clumpy and dry.

If you double up this recipe, you can freeze them in small batches for up to 2 months and survive the winter.

Ingredients:
olive oil
2 lbs sirloin or chuck, grounded
salt, pepper
1 white onion, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large jalapeño chiles, seeded, minced
1 dried ancho chile, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp paprika
half a small can of tomato paste
1 28-ounce can peeled Italian tomatoes, coarsely chopped and juices reserved
1 32-oz beef stock or broth
1 19-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
1 tbsp dried oregano
a handful cilantro, finely chopped
sour cream

1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook over moderately high heat until brown. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining meat.
2. Pour off all but a scant of the fat from the pot. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeños and cook over medium-low heat until softened. Add the ancho pepper and paprika and cook over low heat until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the paste starts to brown. Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, the beef stock and the cooked beef plus any accumulated juices. Bring to a simmer over moderately high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the kidney beans, chipotles and oregano and simmer for 30 minutes more. Serve the chili in bowls, topped with a sprinkling of cilantro. Pass the sour cream at the table.

Rosemary and Mint-Roasted Lamb Breast with Yogurt Sauce

This recipe came from Sam Sifton in the New York Times. It’s almost the perfect recipe for such an affordable piece of lamb. Even at Whole Foods, 2 racks at about 3 pounds cost $12, probably the least expensive big-ticket item I’ve ever bought there.

As usual, I adjusted the recipe to work for me. I roasted the lamb for 2 hours without checking its internal temperature–the racks were thin enough to gauge by eye if they were cooked. I prodded the meat off the rib bones with a fork. The meat didn’t fall apart but it was quite soft and tasty that I called it done. I left the lamb in the roasting pan with all its juice tented with the foil to let it cool overnight without making it sweat. I only put it back in the fridge when I woke up 7 hours later.

It took another 14 hours before I seared them to serve. I sliced the ribs in half to fit a large frying pan and browned them for about 3 minutes on each side. I skipped the scallion accompaniment from the original recipe and instead served it with a simple mixed greens salad I collected from my garden, but the yogurt sauce was quite good with it.

Ingredients:
For the lamb:
1 head garlic, peeled
2 tbsps salt
1/4 cup olive oil
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
a handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
black pepper
lamb breast, about 3 lbs

For the yogurt sauce:
1 cup thick Greek-style yogurt
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps lemon juice
4 tsps lemon zest
2 tbsps fresh mint, finely chopped
smoked paprika
salt, pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and salt into a paste. Transfer to a bowl with a spatula. Gradually mix in the olive oil. Stir in the herbs and pepper.
2. Fit the lamb into an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan big enough to contain the racks. Smear them thoroughly with the paste, and place ribs-side down in the pan. Cover tightly with foil, and roast for no more than 2.5 hours. Meat should be wobbly but not falling apart. Allow to cool uncovered, then cover again and rest in the refrigerator overnight.
3. The next day, when ready to serve, place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cut the racks in half to make them fit in the pan at least two at a time. Sear until crispy on both sides, approximately 4 to 6 minutes.
4. In the meantime, prepare the yogurt sauce. Whisk 1 tbsp of olive oil into the yogurt. Then the lemon juice and the zest. Stir in mint and salt. Before serving, drizzle sauce with remaining tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with pepper and a pinch of paprika to taste. Whisk one last time before serving in a separate bowl with the lamb.

Monte’s

451 Carroll Street, Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn
$45 each for 3 people, with 2 beers, with tip
718/852.7800
♥ ♥

We needed to eat before the We Were Promised Jetpacks concert at the Bell House but Littleneck was closed and the first thing that came up on my phone that did not sound like a sticky-floor pub was Monte’s. Walking up to the restaurant, I recognized its outdoor garden the first time I visited Littleneck during the day. It was quite empty and I didn’t know if it was because it was a Tuesday night, September 11th, or if it was the Gowanus Canal neighborhood.

Notable:
1. Oysters – The Blue Point oysters were a dollar apiece on a Tuesday night
2. Pasta – The pappardelle pasta almost made me wish it was autumn already. Almost.
3. Backyard – I’m sure it gets busier some other days, but it was quite nice to be sitting outdoors on a quiet evening.
4. Service – Even though the place was empty, our waiter was always around to refill our water glasses and make sure we were doing okay.

Odd:
1. Owner – I almost didn’t notice that we were charged $28 for a dozen of the dollar oysters. When I brought it up to our waiter, he walked up to the older gentleman sitting at the bar, who I assumed is the owner, to let him know. We overheard him say in return, Well, did they notice? I bet he wasn’t going to get off his bar stool to revise our check if we didn’t notice the overcharge.

Jin Ramen

3183 Broadway between Tiemann Place and 125th Street
$20 each for 4 people, with drinks, with tip
646/559.2862
♥ ♥

Ramen in Harlem? This is seriously the best thing that has happened in my neighborhood in the 7+ years I’ve lived there.

Notable:
1. Happy hour $10 Sapporo pitchers after 10pm when I visited on a Monday night

Need I say more? I’ll be making more trips to Jin Ramen this winter for sure.

Salt & Fat

41-16 Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside, Queens
$40 each for 4 people, with drinks, with tip
718/433.3702
♥ ♥

Taking advantage of Queens while one of my favorite eating partners is in town from Chicago, we visited Salt & Fat with her brother to check out the scene in what is a very unfamiliar part of the city to me.

Tastiest:
1. Yellowtail tartare with yuzu gel and cassava chips – We got two orders of this because the combination of yuzu and tartare was very good.
2. Pork belly buns – Comparable to the trendiest of them all
3. Fried chicken – Pretty good and happily-salted fried chicken; I didn’t even need the herbed ranch that came with it. The spattering of pickled cubed daikon was a nice touch.

Pretty good:
1. Oxtail terrine – A little salty for me, but it didn’t seem to be a terrine
2. Pork trotters – Crispy and perfect with the slow-cooked egg
3. Truffled beet salad with yuzu crème fraîche – Simple

Notable:
1. Prices – Go now before the prices hike for visiting Brooklynites (as if they will ever leave Brooklyn!)

Weird:
1. Ice creams for dessert – A-plus for effort on the miso-apple, jalapeño-white peach and Thai iced tea flavors, but I felt like they lacked ooomph.
2. Service – Though pretty fast, our waitress seemed unhappy to be there. We had to ask for our pig trotters twice and we wondered if she was distracted.
3. The bathroom – It looked like Sanibel, Florida in there