Judging the 2011 National Beef-Cook-Off

By Sandy Hu

If you’re a beef lover like me, tucking into 20 great beef dishes over two days, prepared by an excellent chef, may seem like a sublime, died-and-gone-to-heaven experience. And, okay, I’ll admit I enjoyed it.

But being a judge of a recipe contest is also serious business and carries considerable responsibility – especially when $25,000 is at stake for the National Beef Cook-Off’s grand prize winner.

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Chill out with an Apricot Piña Colada

By Sandy Hu

Summer is a time for fruity drinks – preferably gussied up with a fancy garnish and sipped through a straw. If you have a blender, it’s easy to whip up delicious, Fresh Apricot Piña Coladas in minutes. Serve each drink immediately because the ingredients will separate upon standing.

Fruits are not uniformly sweet, so you may have to adjust the recipe with more simple syrup, depending on the quality of your fruit. Use simple syrup Instead of sugar to sweeten because sugar will not dissolve readily in cold liquids.

To make simple syrup, just combine equal parts of sugar and water and boil gently for a minute or two until sugar is dissolved. Store any leftovers in a glass jar, refrigerated, up to a month. You can use simple syrup to sweeten iced tea, sangria, lemonade and other cold drinks.

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Make this Easy Summer Fruit Shortcake for Father’s Day

By Sandy Hu

Steve is the best breakfast maker. Flaky sky-high biscuits, tender muffins, Belgian waffles, popovers, Dutch babies – he’s a master of them all. Since there’s no way to top his skill, for Father’s Day, I tend to resort to the same celebratory breakfast: simple scones with a make-ahead dough that can be shaped and frozen, so all I have to do is pop them in the oven on his big day.

As Dave and I were planning a Father’s Day menu, I thought about changing it up this year and giving those scones a new identity, as shortcakes with summer fruit and whipped cream. I’ve made and shaped my dough this weekend and the discs are in the freezer. On Sunday, we just need to bake them off, split the scone/shortcakes and fill them with fruit and whipped cream. We’ll just bake enough for the four of us so we won’t be tempted to eat more dessert than we should, and we’ll have the remainder in reserve for another time when we come home with a bounty of fruit from the farmers’ market.

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Weekday Company? Try this Easy Moroccan Chicken

By Sandy Hu

Recently, I came across this tattered recipe for Moroccan Chicken in a recipe folder. The recipe was from my friend Carol who was also my neighbor, living a few floors below us in the same high-rise on West 14th Street in New York City. It was one of the first things I learned to make when I started cooking.

This was long before the days when we were exposed to real Moroccan food, so today, we’d just say it’s loosely “inspired” by Moroccan cuisine. Nonetheless, it’s a great meal for company on a busy weeknight, since the chicken is marinated the night before and only needs to be floured, browned and popped into the oven to bake unattended while you set the table and tidy the house. Serve it with instant couscous, another quick-to-fix dish.

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Riffing on a Wrap

By Sandy Hu

Some years ago, Steve’s friend Shadi introduced us to the shawarma, an Arab wrap sandwich of grilled meat. It’s one of our go-to takeout meals. We always order lamb and we get it with eggplant and potatoes.

Steve liked the idea of grilled lamb and veggies in a wrap so much, he decided to riff on the concept to see if he could come up with something fun to barbecue this year. His experimentation was such a huge hit with our family, I thought I’d share his recipe with you.

The instructions may look long, but they’re really simple. 1) Grill some meat. Steve grilled a bone-in leg of lamb; no reason it couldn’t be boneless or another cut of meat. 2) Grill some vegetables. 3) Make a sauce. Steve just stirred a bit of canned harissa into yogurt. 4) Wrap everything up in a lavash, a soft, thin flatbread. 5) Grill the wraps.

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