Tim Egelhoff – Personal Chef

I’ve had enough beef stew out of a can on youth camping trips and during college days. No more overly thick stew with too many potatoes and no flavor for me any more. For this I used an elk roast cut into small cubes but you can easily use beef and get a great result too. I do not like huge pieces of vegetables in the stew, I prefer smaller more approachable sized vegetables. Here’s my recipe… Continue reading →

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Sufferin’ Succotash

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Tim

“Sufferin’ Succotash”

A phrase made famous by Warner Bothers character “Sylvester” the cat, and sometimes Daffy Duck. In the culinary world, succotash is a dish usually made with corn kernels, lima beans or some other shell bean and vegetables. I have used variations of this many times at the restaurant as a side to accompany lighter bird dishes. Personally I prefer small white beans to all the others. In summer I load the succotash up with lots of fresh sweet corn, ripe red peppers, summer squash, and fresh herbs.

In the winter I love to have a crock of beans around so I’ve decided to make succotash and just make a winter adjustment to utilize the winter produce instead of corn. I’ll make soup with the rest of the beans. As much as frozen corn can be a really good product it just doesn’t sound right today.

Ingredients for 4 servings

2 cups white beans, cooked

1 onion

3 stalks of celery

3 carrots, cut to the size of the beans

1 chayote squash

1 tsp chopped garlic

juice from a can of tomatoes, (reserve tomatoes for another use)

2 Tbsp fresh herb butter

parmesan cheese

for the herb butter;

soften 1 pound of unsalted butter

pick and chop finely

4 oz fresh thyme

4 oz fresh tarragon

4 oz fresh rosemary

mix the herbs and butter together, roll into a quarter sized roll in wax paper and refrigerate.

When firm, cut into pieces about 4 inches long and freeze some for later use.

To assemble the succotash,

Gently sautee all the vegetables

Add the tomato juice and the cooked beans

Salt & pepper to taste and simmer till almost dry

Add the herb butter and stir in

Grate cheese on top

Serve with roasted chicken, duck, quail, veal or ham

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A Stir-Fry of Leftovers

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Tim

A Stir Fry of Left Overs

Putting together a really tasty stir fry is an exercise in sautee technique. The key to a really delicious meal is organization in the beginning. You must have all of your vegetables cut and ready before you start. Additional condiments and flavorings must also be at the ready. Rice needs to be started first, or already cooked, as it may take up to an hour depending on what kind of rice you are going to use. The stir-fry sautee will take no longer than 10 minutes.

For today’s dinner I used (grouped in sautee order, hardest to softest)

2 carrots,

2 green peppers,

1 small onion

1 8oz package fresh mushrooms, cut in quarters

1/8 head of green cabbage, julienne

left over round steak, 6 oz (cooked) cut into small pieces

Condiments & flavorings

½ tsp chopped garlic

1 small thumb sized piece of fresh ginger ( scrape the skin off with a spoon and cut small)

½ tsp Thai red curry paste

Soy Sauce

Rice Wine vinegar

Honey (or sugar)

2 TbspCorn starch and 1/3 cup water mixed together in a slurry,

With everything chopped, sliced, laid out and ready, it’s time to sautee

Everything at the ready

The first rule of sautee is “get your pan down and get it HOT!”

I used a 10” non-stick sautee pan, on high heat (turn on the exhaust fan and open a window). A wok would be even better.

Into the hot pan… put 1Tbsp canola oil and allow it to get hot, 10 seconds.

Put the first grouping of hard vegetables in, toss around a little and allow to cook for about 2-3 minutes. Toss (or stir) often to keep from burning, I always keep the heat high and if the temperature is getting out of control, take the pan away from the heat for 30 seconds or so until the temperature is hot but not burning everything.

Now add the mushrooms, chopped garlic, (if you add garlic too soon to such a hot pan it WILL burn) and ginger and allow the mushrooms to cook and exude some of their moisture while allowing the flavor of the ginger and garlic to grow into the mix. 3-4 minutes cooking time should be enough, keep tossing or stirring.

Ready for second addition

At this time we will build the sauce in the working sautee, I will taste the juice I’m going to create 20 times to get it right.

Add about ½ cup of water and reduce the heat in half. Add the curry paste into the water to help dissolve it and spread its flavor. Add about ¼ cup soy sauce, mix in quickly. Add ¼ cup rice wine vinegar and 1 Tbsp honey (or sugar).

NOW IS THE TIME TO TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!

We are trying to balance sweet, sour, hot and salt all very quickly as the liquid is reducing and the vegetables are heading towards being over cooked.

Keep adjusting the different flavor profiles until you get what you like. When satisfied add the beef to merely re-warm in the juice and thicken the juice with some of the corn starch slurry. Only put in a little slurry at a time and allow it to cook and thicken. If you get it too thick too soon it’s hard to fix and keep the flavor correct. As the corn starch cooks it will thicken the juice and become clear when it’s ready (about 2 minutes).

Pour the stir fry over warm rice. Have a great dinner!!!

One of Dar’s favorites! We’re off to Sky’s Basketball game, GO TITANS!

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