Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

recipe

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Coconut Braised Chuck Roast with Gremolata

By

Several months ago I posted this wonderful Thai-Inspired, Coconut Braised Short Rib recipe (with gremolata!); we’ve enjoyed it several times since, and swear it tastes better every time around.

That recipe was one that a friend down in Austin (Chef Libby) had adapted from Bon Appetit, upping the spices quite a bit, and adding some Texas-inspired spice via jalapenos to gremolata.

I thought all along this recipe would be readily adaptable to other braising meats, and recently did a few runs with nice, grass-fed chuck roasts. While we love a great short rib prep around our camp, my wife and I both agreed this chuck roast version is probably even better. The aromas of this roast will drive everyone in the house crazy as it’s slowing cooking down in the oven – the coconut, lemongrass, and ginger are delightful.

And a tip from Libby via the short rib version –

Libby also had shared a tip last year about using lemongrass; if you’re not feeling up to actually prepping lemongrass stalks, you can certainly using some of the pre-prepared lemongrass purees that are available in produce sections around the country. (We’re big lemongrass fans, so I actually used both…)

This isn’t a quick cook, but worth the investment of time, and the prep is uber-simple. A great weekend project, and I’d cook two to enjoy all week…

4-5 lb grass fed chuck roast
Good salt

3 lemongrass stalks (see note above)
2 medium shallots, trimmed and chopped
5 large garlic cloves
3 jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded, chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 tbsp + 1 tsp good curry powder
1 can (14-ounces) full fat, unsweetened coconut milk or cream
Optional: 1 tbsp fish sauce

For the gremolata
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped
1 jalapeno or fresno chile, stemmed, seeded, sliced into half rings
2 tbsp fresh-squeezed lime juice (one average lime)
Salt to taste

Preheat your trusty oven to 250.

Trim the uppermost three quarters of the lemongrass stalks off and lay in the bottom on your dutch oven or large cast iron skillet (if using the prepared lemongrass puree, skip this step of course). Salt the chuck roast generously and lay atop the lemongrass.

Blend together the coconut milk, shallots, garlic, jalapenos, ginger, curry, the lemongrass (at least 1 tbsp of the puree if using, grate the bottom quarters of the stalks in otherwise), and the optional fish sauce, puree until smooth. Pour over the chuck roast, and slide into the oven.

Roast at 250 for 3.5 hours; you’re looking for the meat to begin to tenderize, and the liquids to reduce by roughly half. (It will look broken and oily, don’t worry about that). At 2 hours, turn the roast and throw it back into the oven for another 2 hours (maybe even three) until the meat is fall apart tender.

During the last hour, toast the coconut until golden (10-15 minutes), set aside to cool. When cool, combine with the cilantro and sliced pepper; add the fresh lime juice and salt just before serving.

When the roast is done, slice to your tastes and serve hot with the gremolata spooned over the top.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Veg Tuesday: Slow Roasted and Grill Finished Cabbage

By

We’re big cabbage fans around our camp; cabbage is incredibly versatile, can either be a supporting player or the star of the show, is hardy, stores well, and readily available for most of us around the country.

When this recipe popped up in Garden and Gun’s feed a few months back, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first, though finishing vegetables on the grill, or just plain grilling vegetables is pretty much always a great prep, and done right, wins over even the pickiest eaters.

We cooked this up yesterday afternoon, and it was amazing to say the least. We’re real-wood fire people in our grill and smoker worlds, and using a very good butter also pushes this dish over the top.

1 medium-sized cabbage, loose outer leaves removed, stem trimmed flat
2-3 tbsp good butter
1 medium lemon, quartered

Optional toppings
Finely chopped chives or thinly sliced green onions
Toasted pepitas or sunflower seeds
Your favorite spice mix

Preheat the oven to 300, then roast the cabbage whole on a foil-lined baking sheet until a small knife can easily penetrate to the core, roughly 2 hours.

Remove from the oven, fire your grill, and melt the butter.

When the cabbage is cool enough to handle, peel away the dark outer leaves until down to less-brown layers, cut into quarters, brush with the butter and dust with any spice or spice mix you’re using, and grill until slightly charred and well marked (won’t take long).

Pull from the grill, brush once more with the butter, spritz with the lemon, and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Southern Sausage and Cheese Balls

By

Growing up in the South, just about every holiday spent with extended family, or party with friends, included at least plate or platter of some version of these classic sausage cheese balls.

One of my grandmother’s (the scratch baker grandmother) recipe was something along the lines of classic Southern chef Vivian Howard’s; my other grandmother used the (gasp, cough, wheeze) Bisquick-based recipe still floating around out there today.

It didn’t matter, as kids we still stuffed our pockets with these little bite-sized delights and fought over the last two on the plate.

After moving to a primal | paleo food plan years ago, to be honest I’d never even thought about a gluten free, primally-oriented version of these until a friend recently asked me if I’d ever run across one as she was planning a party menu.

There are several good ones floating around, and this one isn’t all that different from many you’ll see, save for kicking the spices up quite a bit, and adding additional flavor with alliums and peppers. I’ve added a shallot (or green onions), finely diced, to sauté with the sausage, my grandmother’s dry mustard, cayenne, and red pepper flakes (or minced serranos), and even use Monterrey jack cheese occasionally to mix things up. (In the pic above, we used cheddar on the left and MJ on the right.)

Upping the coconut flour to 1/2 cup (a generous 1/2 cup) makes these a little more bready, though my wife prefers ‘em with less coconut flour. Another tip – portioning out with a cookie scoop (I used a No. 60, about a tbsp; made 7 rows of 5 balls, which just fit on a standard 1/2-sheet) make the prep easier and faster.

These are great for a quick snack and my lovely wife has been grabbing handful for a work lunch on the run.

1 pound spicy ground sausage
1 medium shallot, diced fine OR
2-3 green onions, thinly sliced

4 eggs
4 and 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp sour cream or softened cream cheese
1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut flour (generous measure, see note above)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp good salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne

2 cups freshly grated sharp cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese

Optional
Toasted red pepper flakes
1-2 minced serrano or jalapeno peppers

Sauté the sausage for several minutes, breaking it up into small pieces. As it’s beginning to brown, throw in the shallot or green onions. Brown the sausage well, and drain in a paper towel-lined bowl.

While the sausage is browning, melt the butter and set aside. Grate the cheese and line a baking sheet with parchment. Preheat the oven to 375.

Now combine the eggs, butter, sour cream/cream cheese, mustard, garlic powder, salt, baking powder, cayenne, and red pepper flakes or minced peppers; whisk to combine well. Now whisk in the coconut flour until well combined.

Stir in the sausage-onion mixture and the cheese until evenly distributed, then form into balls roughly 1-inch in diameter (I used a cookie scoop) and place on the lined baking sheet. Place fairly closely on the sheet in 7 rows of 5 and it’ll just fit a standard 1/2-sheet.

Bake for 16-18 minutes until slightly browned; cool and store in the fridge (should be good for a week or so, though they won’t last that long).

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Southwestern Hot Chicken Salad

By

This Southwestern Hot Chicken Salad (great with turkey too) is based on one one that’s been part of our family food lexicon for years now; this version amps up the spice and flavor a bit with the addition of Mediterraneo Dulce and poblano peppers and (usually) 4 to 8 ounces of roasted, diced green chiles too. Packed with lots of crunchy vegetable goodness, we stir this one up now without digging the recipe out, typically throwing in whatever we have on hand.

The original recipe we were given for this dish was topped with cheese (by all means don’t add it if you’re not doing dairy – we’re happy and healthy Primal enthusiasts, so include it) and then crushed potato chips. As we’ve revamped all of the family favorite recipes to be healthier over the years, topping this dish with sliced almonds is far better than the potato-chip crowned version.

This is comfort food supreme, and not at all a complicated dish to stir together and slide into the oven on short notice. It reheats very well by the way, we never finish an entire recipe ourselves, and find it reheats best in the oven (350, 25-30 minutes) versus the microwave.

3 cups (+) cooked chicken, white and dark meat, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 medium Mediterraneo Dulce peppers, stemmed, seeded chopped
2 medium poblano peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 medium bunch celery including leaves, trimmed, sliced on the diagonal
1 small sweet onion or 2 shallots, trimmed and chopped small
1/2 cup diced pimento
1/2 cup sliced green olives (or more)
1 cup avocado or olive oil mayo
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cups medium Cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese, grated
1 cup sliced almonds (or more)
1-2 tbsp. paprika

Optional
Sliced water chestnuts
1 cup frozen peas
4-8 ounce can roasted, diced green chiles

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cut up the chicken and place in a large bowl. Add chopped peppers, celery, onion (or shallots), diced pimento, green olives, and if using – the water chestnuts, frozen peas, and green chiles. Now stir in the lemon juice and mayo, then season to taste with good salt and pepper.

Spoon into a 13 x 9 baking dish, sprinkle with the grated cheese then the sliced almonds. Top it all off with a healthy shake of a good paprika.

Now into the oven for 30-40 minutes until the cheese is gooey and melted, the almonds are toasty, and it’s bubbling around the edges.

Serve hot with a generous splash of your favorite hot sauce; reheat on a foil or parchment-lined baking sheet for 20-25 minutes if there’s any left over.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Tuesday Veg 12 March: Our House Chimichurri

By

A few years back we lived in a suburb of Austin for a couple of years (Lakeway), and there a wonderful Argentinean eatery happened to reside across the street from my wife’s office (the Buenos Aires Cafe).

The proprietress was a delightful and somewhat bashful women, a master chef with a wonderful palate, who graced every table with a freshly prepared container of her house chimichurri. It was simple, though with layers of flavor, from the herbal parsley to the heady, pungent garlic to the bite of aged red wine vinegar.

Over the years we played with several chimichurri recipes, and finally went in and begged her to share her recipe; she listed these from memory and left us to wiggle around to find the amounts.

I like to prep this one by hand; even though a food processor is faster, it just doesn’t seem to taste quite as good to us, though that might just be an irrational bias that comes from playing with our food too much.

It gets better with time, though when I make a batch, it never seems to last more than a few days. Today’s batch will be drizzled over pan-seared shrimp tonight…

1 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves (tender stems too), chopped
1 generous tbsp. fresh oregano leaves, chopped
2 green onions, white and green parts, sliced thin
5-6 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon zest
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil (or avocado oil)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ to 1 tsp. Kosher salt, adjust to taste
½ to 1 tsp. red pepper flakes, adjust to taste

I love to grab a chef’s knife and prepare this by hand (it’s great for your knife skills), though the food processor speeds the process a bit. If using your trusty food processor, combine the first six ingredients and the vinegar and pulse to chop fine.

Now make a sauce. Now whisk in the olive or avocado oil (or drizzle into running food processor).

Finish it up by whisking in the salt, red pepper flakes and even a grind or two of fresh black pepper.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: New Mexico Red Spice Rub No. 1

By

Earlier this week I posted on Instagram a pic of a quick dinner one afternoon, a blackened mahi fish taco over our house guacamole in romaine “boats”; several people emailed to ask about the spice mixes we use…

In part due to growing up in the Texas Panhandle and escaping often to nearby New Mexico to hike, camp, and ski growing up, and in part due to the fact that New Mexico offers a wonderful, and very unique, regional cuisine to those willing to invest some time learning about it, we’ve long been fans of New Mexico’s spicy food culture.

One of the things we’ve worked on over the years is developing spice mixes featuring New Mexico’s great array of chiles; this New Mexico Red Spice Rub No. 1 is our version featuring the Chimayo red chile (though you can of course use whatever red chile powder you have on hand).

This is outstanding with fish, chicken, or pork (trying a slow roasted pork shoulder slathered in this), and we even occasionally use it in places you wouldn’t necessarily expect, as in flavoring a vinaigrette or even sprinkle over scrambled or deviled eggs.

3 parts good New Mexico chili powder (Chimayo)
2 parts sweet paprika
1 and 1/2 parts ground cumin
1 part granulated garlic
1 part granulated onion
1 part freshly ground black pepper
1 part good salt (kosher salt)
1/2 part dried (Mexican) oregano
1/2 part chipotle powder
1/2 part ground coriander

This one couldn’t be easier, mix the dry ingredients well in a small bowl. Stir tightly sealed in a cool, dark place, and use generously.

the Older Bolder Life Tuesday Veg 5 March: Ginger Pecan Cauliflower Rice Pilaf

By

Our friend Chef Libby down in Austin has been playing around with cauliflower rice pilaf recipes over the past few weeks, working on something with a bit of Texas flair for some events on her spring calendar coming up.

In Texas, that means of course incorporating pecans instead of the classic pilaf sliced almonds, and to her palate ginger seems to play very well with the butter (or ghee) toasted pecans.

Her team has been using the organic pre-riced cauliflower in 5-cup bags from Costco for some of their experiments in her kitchen, and I’ve sized the following recipe down to fit that or a medium-sized cauliflower head you rice yourself.

Libby notes the fresh ginger really makes this recipe pop, though I made a recipe yesterday with powdered ginger (no fresh ginger in the house!) and it was delicious. You’ll want to try this one; it’s tasty, spot on in terms of macros, and presents very well for impressing the family or guests at the table.

1 medium head cauliflower, trimmed and riced, see notes above
5-6 green onions, green and white parts separated
3-4 tbsp butter or ghee
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds
1-2 tbsp finely chopped ginger (or 1/2 to 1 tsp ground ginger)
1/2-1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Good salt to taste

Optional
Alternative spices: Garlic, cinnamon, your call
3-4 tbsp chopped golden raisins OR
1-2 chopped medjool dates

Rice your cauliflower if using fresh. Prep the green onions: trim and clean, chop the white parts, then thinly slice the green stems on a steep angle and set aside.

Melt 2 tbsp of the butter/ghee over medium heat, and sauté (toast) the pecans until fragrant and golden brown. Remove from the heat, stir in the ginger and red pepper flakes, sprinkle with salt, then scrape into a large bowl.

Into the same skillet goes the remainder of the butter/ghee over medium-high heat, then the white parts of the onions; sauté for several minutes until just beginning to caramelize around the edges. Add the cauliflower, and raisins or dates if using, drop the heat down a notch, and cook for 4-5 minutes (longer if using frozen) until the cauliflower is just beginning to get tender.

Now scrape the cauliflower onion mixture into the bowl with the nuts, stir to mix, and adjust the salt to taste. Top artfully with the sliced onion greens and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Friday Feast 1 March: Coconut Curry Braised Chicken Legs

By

With much of the country is still hip deep in winter today, let’s talk about a warm, rich, tasty, and easy dinner to get on the table tonight – Coconut Curry Braised Chicken Legs.

Braised foods score big points on so many fronts. Braising allows one to take a humble cut of meat, one packed with tooth and connective tissue, and with the magical application of gentle heat, time, and liquid to convey both heat and flavor, turn that protein into a tender, moist, deeply flavored delight.

Probably my most remembered home dish from childhood was a beer-braised brisket; we have several great brisket recipes, but that’s the one we keep going back to. And how about those Thai-inspired Slow Roasted Short Ribs from a few weeks back? By the way, I just did a chuck roast using that recipe, and it was astoundingly good (post in the queue already).

My professional photographer daughter has been braising chicken legs in coconut milk and curry for years, and we’ve lately been using this amped up Coconut Curry Braised Chicken Leg recipe as later winter battles early spring here in North Texas.

We like spicy, full-flavored food, of course you can ramp up or tone down the spices in this recipe, but remember the chicken legs are a mildly-flavored blank slate here. This recipe yields big results for about 10 minutes prep time before it slides into the oven…

1 can full-fat unsweetened coconut milk
2-4 tbsp prepared Thai curry paste
1-3 lemongrass stalks, outer layer peeled, crushed (see note above)
2-3 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, coarsely grated
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed
4 chicken legs (thigh+drumstick)
Good salt to taste

Optional
1-2 chopped serrano or jalapeno peppers
1-2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar

To serve
Chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
Lime wedges and/or zest
Toasted unsweetened coconut flakes
Cauliflower rice

Prep the chicken, lightly season with salt and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400.

Stir the coconut milk, curry paste, and grated ginger together in a baking dish large enough to hold the 4 chicken legs. Add the lemongrass and garlic, then add the chicken legs and spoon the mixture over.

Bake for 60-75 minutes (depends on the size of the legs), basting with the cooking liquid/sauce every 15 minutes until the chicken is browned and cooked through (the joint will move fairly easily).

Plate, spoon some sauce over, and top with the cilantro, zest, and coconut flakes.

Enjoy.