M. Bison Chili Recipe

What's up everybody? It's been almost a year since my last post, and a lot has changed; I moved to Chicago for business school full time, and I hardly go out to dinner because of my grad school budget. Womp, womp! But I've become passionate about cooking and definitely know my way around the kitchen now! I'm still getting back into the swing of writing, so excuse me if this post is not as involved as the others. 

M. Bison. What the hell did the M stand for anyway??

Below is a bison chili recipe that I freaked the week. I call is M. Bison Chili because I'm an 80's baby that grew up playing Street Fighter as a kid in the 90's. Remember that cat M. Bison that you had to fight to ultimately win the game and that flying punch move he had? Well this chili packs a punch like no other!

Bison meat is a nice alternative to ground beef. It's got 50% less fat than ground beef.  Now, some types of fat are a good thing. Dietary fat, for example, provides energy, helps your body absorb vitamins, aids in brain development and helps keep your tissues healthy. It's that saturated and trans fat bs that you wanna avoid. Ain't nobody got time for that. Bison has almost 85% less saturated fat than ground beef. Less total fat, higher concentration of good fat both sound good to me. For more on fat and ground beef vs. bison go here.

Here's what you'll need, serves about 15 cups.

- 2 lbs of lean ground bison
- 1 14oz can of butter beans
- 1 14 oz can of black beans
- 1 15 oz can of kidney beans
- 2 14 oz can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 2 green peppers diced
- 1 fresh jalapeno chopped
- 2 medium sized onions chopped
- 2 cups of celery diced
- 2 cups of baby carrots chopped
- 1 cup shitake diced mushrooms (optional)
- 2 tbl spn chili powder
- 1 tbl spn ground cumin
- 1 tbl spn cayenne pepper
- 1 qt low sodium beef broth
- 2 tbl spoons of kosher salt
- 3 tbl spoons of Lawry's seasoning salt
- black ground pepper
- all-purpose flour

1.  Ninja up the vegetables !

2. Brown up meat under medium heat, chopping up the bison to avoid clumps. Unless you're like Mr. Humpty and like your oatmeal lumpy.

3. Sautee vegetables together under medium heat with 2 tbl spoon of canola oil. Add in all the spices after 5 minutes, stirring around veggies with a wooden spoon. Make sure onions caramelize.

Combine veggies, beans, and bison into the crock pot. Add in half of the beef broth.

Set on low heat and cook for 8 hours.

Your work isn't done once you set the timer! Around the 4-hour mark, make sure you are tasting frequently, about 3-4 times before cooking stops.  Flavor with additional Lawry's seasoning salt, kosher salt, and pepper to desired taste.  Make sure to stir in the seasonings if you decide to add to it.  When it's done, have a bowl. It'll be alright. If you refrigerate overnight and microwave a bowl the next day, however, it's much more bangin'.  Maven out!

All You Can EAT Sushi - Ashiya Sushi NYC!

Ashiya Sushi - 374 Greenwhich St. btw Franklin & N. Moore Streets
 

Ladies and gentlemen, I found a steal! For $42 including tax and tip, you get all the sushi you can eat and all the sake and Sapporo beer you can drink for 2 hours!! Me and my boys rolled through here and got nice.  I ate about $65 work of sushi and drank about $35 in sake and beer. Sushi was pretty good and they let you get WHATEVER you want off the menu, including sashimi, maki, and sushi.  The space is pretty bare bones, so don't come here expecting to wow a chic with the decor. And at about 9pm, it becomes extremely loud in there, as rowdy young professionals pregame here. I will be back again. Price can't be beaten. You have to check it out!

Sake walking the plank

Assuming the proper position

All kinds of sushi goodness

Maki and sashimi goodness

Under the (beer) sea sake

Definitely a great spot to start the night.  No way you can be disappointed.

Maven out!

The Stanton Social Restaurant Review - 99 Stanton Street

Went to "Social Exchange Mondays" at the Stanton Social located at 99 Stanton St. between Ludlow and Orchard.  If you truly know me then you know that one of my goals is to live in the Lower East Side.  So much swag in that district.

Anyway, me and the lady went out there for a late night dinner. Like 10pm.  I hadn't been there since my Wall Street Days (R.I.P.).  Good to know that this place hasn't lost a touch of its elegance.

Sexy dim lighting 1

Swagged out lighting 2

Stanton Social is tapas-style dining, meaning everything is meant for sharing.  Its ensconced exterior makes it great for intimate dates or casual yet serious group meetings.  This was confirmed by my future publicist, who I randomly saw working on marketing connections. Now to the good stuff.

They gave us some complimentary cream ish on a mini baguette. I'm sorry. I forget.

Maryland Jumbo Lump Crabcake 'Corn Dogs'

Now, I ain't been to Coney Island in a minute, but I do recall disliking corn dogs as a kid.  I just thought that a battered schmorgasbord of mystery meat was not the business.  But these were slammin'.  The crab was nicely seasoned and the batter provided a moderate amount of crust to make it delectable.  Interesting way to eat a crabcake.

Potato & Goat Cheese Pierogies with caramelized onions & truffle creme fraiche

Pierogies are pretty much Polish dumplings or unleavened dough - first boiled, then baked or fried in butter with onions - traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit.  It was my first pierogi and it was good.  The potato blunted the usually overpowering taste of goat cheese. And I don't like sour cream, but the truffle creme fraiche (28% butter fat with a pH of around 4.5) went very well with the pierogi.  Embrace truffle oil in your life.

My Cannon Powershot S95 is a monster.

Moving along...

Red Snapper Tacos - creamy avocado, spicy mango

The red snapper tacos were so dumb.  First of all the taco shells were still super warm and you could taste a hint of the oil in which the taco was cook.  That gave the shell its fresh-out-the-cooker taste.  Second the tropical fruit really complimented the soft texture of the fish.  Nicely done.


Creekstone Farms Braised Short Rib Soft Tacos
cherry tomato relish, poblano crema

If you've seen my last post, then you know how I feel about braised beef ribs. I was wondering why The Stanton Social had to mention the farm from which this hunk of red meat came from.  Turns out that Creekstone Farms is committed to producing the highest quality beef in America. It has many certifications:

- USDA Certification                                                                - Highest Quality Corn-based Feed
- Verifiable Black Angus Genetics (black power, baby)          - State of the Art Processing
- Humane Animal Treatment                                                    - Two USDA Certified Beef Programs -
                                                                                                     (Premium and Natural)

In other words, they treat their beef like royalty.  Either way, you gotta get these bad boys when you swoop through Stanton Social.

'Chicken n' Waffles'
brick pressed chicken, aged cheddar waffle,
corn pudding, balsamic spiked maple syrup

I gotta be honest, this wasn't my favorite dish.  Call me old fashioned, but I like my chicken and waffles done the regular way. Like Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles regular way.  The chicken was good, but something about it was just doing the most.  For me, this was a classic example of "if it ain't broke don't fix it".  But ya'll might like it. -_-

You can't even tell what it is...can you?

Dessert?

Warm Doughnuts and Dippin' Sauces

I heard these were mad good.  I'm not the sauce man, so I let those be. So what did I do?

Chocolate Chip, Reverse Chip, and Oatmeal raisin

I got some "milk and cooookies." They were good, but I wasn't feelin that shot of milk.  Can a brotha get some more milk, please? I bet you they thought that was cute.

All in all, we enjoyed our Stanton Social experience.  Ambiance was great, food was great, and the live DJ was goin H.A.M.(!!!!) in the background.  This deejay was excellent.  He was spinnin that hip hop and R&B, putting 15 years in between well-executed transitions.  He was so good that we had to check the upstairs lounge.  And What did we see?

People gettin it in upstairs!!!

You can't see but peeps was poppin bottles on a Monday. Wow..I'm not that baller.

It was a full-blown party upstairs. Models and bottles full throttle.  DJ Tablmar was crushin' it.  I might have him DJ my next party.  We grabbed a drink, danced a bit, and took in the vibe on a Monday.  it was awesome. 

Social Exchange on Mondays at the Stanton Social was dope.  I definitely can't wait to run it back.  Makes me sad that I'll be leaving the city in a few months :-(

Maven Out!

How to Make Braised Beef Short Ribs

I put my foot in it.

I decided to go on a triple date with two other couples, only I decided to in-house the whole operation. The menu:  

Appetizers: Shrimp cocktail and spinach artichoke dip (not made by me but by the lady)

Main Courses: Bone-in and boneless short ribs, mac-n-cheese, sweet potato casserole (not made by me), baked potatoes, and sauteed spinach. This post will be primarily about the ribs.

Went to Whole Foods and copped 6 lbs. of bone-in ribs

Ingredients (serves about 10):

- 6 lbs. bone-in short ribs (make sure you have the butcher cut the ribs)

- 6 pieces of boneless short ribs

- 10 oz pack of cut baby bella mushrooms

- 1 pack of shiitake mushrooms

- 2 cups of red wine

- 2 whole onions roughly cut

- 2 garlic cloves roughly cut

- 1-2 quarts of beef broth

- Whatever spices you have you in your cupboard: Goya Adobo, kosher salt, pepper, oregano, basil, Lawry's

- Fresh rosemary and thyme (from the veggie section, not the one in the shaker, but that will do if you have no access to fresh rosemary and thyme)

- half a stick of salted butter

- olive oil

- all-purpose flour 

- 2 quart crock pot

Step 1: Season meat generously on each side until coated. If you can, do this the night before and seal in tupperware in fridge over night.

Step 2:  (Next Day) Take meat out and spank in all-purpose flour. Really beat that flour into the ribs (Ying Yang's "Wait" song comes to mind) like so:

Step 3: Turn stove up to high heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a cooking pan.  Once you start to see smoke rising from the olive oil, sear ribs on each side until brown. You'll start to see the blood start to rise out.

Step 4:  Take shiitake mushrooms out and slice em up.

Step 5: Combine the shiitake and 1/3-1/2 of baby bella mushrooms in a pan on medium heat and add a half inch of butter. Saute for about 4-5 minutes and then add in 1 roughly cut onion  and garlic clove to the pan. Saute until onions brown

Step 6: Add quart of beef broth into the mix and stir occasionally until beef broth starts to simmer.

Step 7: Add ribs to the crock pot and add about 3/8 oz each of fresh rosemary and thyme. Add broth mixture and cover. Cook for about seven hours on high heat.

Since I only had one crock pot, I had to cook the boneless ribs in the oven.  I pre-heated the oven to 275 degrees (Shout out to HCP for the assist on the oven technique) and repeated steps 1-5 for the 6 pieces of boneless short ribs and used about half (2 cups) of the second quart of beef broth. Cook for about 4-5 hours.

Now the most important part of cooking is tasting as often as possible.  You want to be tasting often starting after the third hour.  First, start by tasting the broth, as it is sure to need more salt and more seasoning than you used to season the ribs.  I had to add much more kosher salt and healthy doses of Lawry's Seasoning Salt multiple times before it started to taste right.  Salt to taste is key.  It definitely helps to have someone else taste your meals, too. after about the fifth hour, start tasting the beef. 

Now I forgot to take a picture of the final bone-in rib but you get the point from the top picture.  Here's what them boneless ribs looked like:

Threw some baked potatoes in there, as well.

Ribs were a hit and people took home leftovers.  So that's how you make boneless and bone-in ribs in either a crock pot or in the oven!  I will say that I've never made short ribs before, but it was great to get solicited confirmation from Helga CP after starting the process.  I used this video as a baseline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBAugCvw7pk

The mac-n-cheese (post coming up later):

ribs next to mac

 

The sweet potato casserole (post coming up later):

Sauteed Spinach:

The warm chocolate molten cake (I'll show you how to do this later in the week):

Maven Out!

Chef Roble's Seared Tuna Rendition

Me and Chef Roble

   So I met Bravo Television star Chef Roble last month at a gala fundraiser we both attended for the Evidence Dance Company (shout out to my wonderful mentor for the look). Even bought my first tuxedo :).  I was trying to figure out how I was gonna say what up to him when I saw my entrance point: his suit jack collar was unpleasantly popped.  So I did what any brother would do for another: I walked up to him and fixed it (and simultaneously intro'd myself). I told him I was a big fan of him and his ridiculously hilarious Twitter feed. 

    While I was Facebook stalking him (don't judge me), I came across one of these dishes he made in like 10 minutes..

Link to actual Roble pic

I said to myself, "Self, that looks damned good!"  So I transformed like Optimus Prime into Chef Maven and decided to hook it up.  It was pretty easy.

Optimus Prime - defender of the Free World.

I went to Best Yet supermarket and got some tuna (sidenote: has anyone noticed how Tuna has been revalued at a higher price in recent times?  Joint is dumb expensive now).

Recipe:

- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 4 (6-oz) Ahi steaks, about 1 1/2" thick (ask for "sear" or "sushi" grade if cooking medium rare)
- 4 tbsp fresh coarsely ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lemon, quartered



Directions:
1. I put all the spices in a bowl and mixed it up. 
2. Since my steaks were like 3" thick I sliced them in half. and then chopped them in to lengths that looked like Roble's picture.
3. I coated all sides with the spice and then squeeze lemon over it.
4. Got a pan and threw the veggie oil on it.  Heated it up until I started to see some smoke come from it
5. Commenced searing (which is pretty much another word for frying. Think of "frying lite").  Seared each side for about 30 secs. 
6. Steamed some of my favorite veggies (kale - the super food- and asparagus)
7. Got some rice (I used Madagascar pink rice because it's high in minerals. It's got tons of potassium, manganese, and molybdenum.

Voila!

Seared tuna is very easy to make.  It's really healthy, too.  I would be very light on the coriander, though.  I think it's an acquired taste.  Good luck!

-Maven Out!