Extra Schmaltz!

There is a restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, called "Mediterranean Cafe" aka MedCaf and they have perfected how to do 'fast food' right. They make huge batches of homecooked food, and have such quick turnover that it's always really fresh. Every day they have 4 specials, in addition to some standby items that are always available - it's hugely popular, and at lunch time there's often a bit of a line out the door. One of my favorite dishes that they had, which was a special and so only available certain days, was a chicken apricot pie. I don't think this is an authentic dish in any particular country, but represents the kind of fusiony approach that make MedCaf so popular. This is the recipe from my third time making it, since the first couple just didn't come close enough to what I remember. This recipe requires one unusual ingredient, "Qamar ad-din" paste. It's basically unsweetened apricot fruit leather that is normally used to...

So it turns out making your own mustard is ridiculously easy, though not actually that profitable since mustard powder is not actually that much cheaper than just buying mustard. However, given how easy it is, there's almost no reason not to make it. The main ingredient is yellow mustard seed powder, which you should be able to get almost anywhere. You can also add brown or black mustard seeds (note that they look almost identical), in whole or ground form (I don't see much availability of these as pre-ground, you generally have to grind them yourself). To make the condiment mustard, you'll mix water, vinegar and spices in with your mustard powder/seeds. You then need to wait a couple of days for it to get less bitter - hold in mind while tasting it at first that it's going to be bitter. The main rule of thumb is that the temperature of water you use will play a big role in spiciness - the hotter the water, the less spicy the resulting mustard is. It seems really ...

This is unfortunately a bit of a non-recipe, since I just eyeball the ingredients. However, it turns out delicious every time I've made it, it takes almost no effort, and it makes a lot. Obviously beef and broccoli is normally a stir-fry and doesn't make that long to cook. The advantage to this recipe is that it allows you to use a really cheap roast cut instead of more expensive cuts good for stir frying, and it actually takes even less effort than stir frying. Beef roast (~2 lbs) - my favorite is London Broil, since the grain makes for pieces that are great for picking up with chop sticks 1/2 onion, cut into wedges Sauce: 3-6 garlic cloves depending on size 2-3 slices of ginger Soy sauce (Tablespoons) Oyster sauce (Tablespoon-2 Tblsp) Rice wine/sherry (Tablespoon) Water Cornstarch + cold water (optional) Broccoli Mix up the sauce and taste. I often end up making too little - the roast will contribute less liquid than you think.Adding water actually helps the ...