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Archives for March 2009

Not your typical Pot Roast

March 31, 2009 by greg 4 Comments

Here I sit in Fargo, North Dakota. We’ve been all over the news lately for our record flooding. We are winning the battle against the water. The river is coming down. Unfortunately, so is about two feet of new snow. Yes, once again, we are socked in with a blizzard. Sometimes I think I want to just go to sleep and wake up in 2010. But the high water and blizzard just make us work harder up here in Fargo. As much as I yearn for spring (and I saw my tulips coming up a week ago) I am slapped by mother nature again reminding me that she still thinks it’s winter.

Since I can’t get out and the sandbagging has ceased (for now) I made a slow cooked pot roast. But this isn’t your typical pot roast. I loaded this one up with strong Asian flavors and served it with rice. It all started with this grass-fed rump roast from a local farmer.

I love to slow cook meats in my Turkish clay pot. I really appreciate my dear friend who gave this pot to me. It has been used a lot.

I made a sauce from strongly flavored Asian ingredients. Of course I didn’t measure anything but let me try to approximate it for you. Into a blender I put in 6 garlic cloves, about an inch of fresh ginger, a tbsp of hoisin sauce, 3 tbsp of red miso paste, 2 tbsp of fermented black bean sauce, 1 tbsp srirach hot sauce, 1 tbsp of nuoc mam fish sauce, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp mirin and 2 tbsp of sugar, give or take.

This was all blended up into a thick marinade.

The meat was drowned in the sauce and it was rubbed into every crack and crevice of the roast.

Into my pot I put a large cut up onion and 6 large carrots, cut into large chunks. I plopped the roast onto the vegetables and poured any remaining sauce on top. This was covered and placed in a 250 F oven for about six hours to slowly cook. After the first three hours I basted the roast with the pot juices every hour or so. As you can see from my first picture I served it with the carrots on rice with a side of asparagus.

At least someone is enjoying the snow.

Filed Under: asian, beef Tagged With: oven, pot roast

Pizza and high water

March 29, 2009 by greg 6 Comments

Well it has been a tough week of sandbagging in blizzards and watching the mighty Red River of the North rise. But we still have to eat. Saturday we got some good news. The river was starting to go down. We may have reached our crest just under 41 feet which is a foot or two less than they predicted. While many people have already lost so much in the rising waters much of the city of Fargo is holding on by a thread. I had a little time on Saturday to make some pizza. The first is a pesto pizza with summer sausage, olives and asparagus. The second one you see is a pepperoni pizza with asparagus.

This morning I was interviewed by Susan Hendricks from CNN’s Headline News about the flooding in Fargo. I posted some of my photos to CNN’s iReport and they wanted to talk to me. Here’s the video.

I have some new photos of the river and dikes as the river reaches it’s crest near 41 feet.







Filed Under: Pizza Tagged With: Fargo Flood 2009

The taste of sand

March 27, 2009 by greg 4 Comments


As the Red River of the North reaches biblical proportions I have not had time to do any cooking. Instead I have been sandbagging for the last week. Even with temperatures as low as 10 degrees and blizzard like conditions, we will win this fight against the rising waters. Please be reassured that I am being well fueled by lots of kind folks bringing food and hot coffee to the front lines. I’ll be back in my kitchen as soon as I can.

Cross your fingers and wish us luck. It all comes down to NOW.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Fargo Flood 2009

chicken wrapped asparagus with lemon sauce

March 23, 2009 by greg 6 Comments

Dinner tonight turned out much better than I imagined. I was thinking about how to use chicken and asparagus and I came up with this concoction.

I started with two boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I pounded flat. I seasoned the inside of the chicken with salt, pepper, pureed garlic and the zest of a lemon. I added about 6 asparagus spears and rolled the whole thing up.


The chicken rolls were seared in a hot pan to give it some golden brown color.

After searing for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side I added a can of chicken broth to the pan. The chicken was covered and cooked on low heat for about 10 minutes until the chicken was fully cooked through. I then added the juice of one lemon and some corn starch paste (1 tbsp corn starch mixed with cold water). This was cooked until the sauce was thickened. I plated the chicken with white rice and topped everything with the delicious lemony chicken sauce. It was very very good.

Filed Under: chicken Tagged With: asparagus

Blueberry ovaltine and peanut butter protein smoothie

March 22, 2009 by greg 4 Comments

After a good long Sunday run I usually refuel with my favorite smoothie and after a brisk 8 miles this morning I needed some superfood. Blueberries are absolutely packed with antioxidants and healthy vitamins.

Here’s my recipe for my super delicious super power smoothie.
1 cup skim milk
1 cup frozen blueberries softened in the microwave for 1 minute
1.5 scoops of non-flavored whey protein powder
2 tbsp ovaltine chocolate drink mix
1 tbsp natural creamy peanut butter
That’s it! Blend until smooth and serve in your favorite Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville glass!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blueberry, protein, smoothie
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