Colorado Beef - It's what's for dinner! #UnitedWeGrill

Okay, let me admit this. You know those cooking competition shows on television, where a bunch of cooks are set loose to cook stuff in an unfamiliar kitchen? You know, like The Next Food Network Star? Or maybe Master Chef?

Those are my guilty pleasure. Except I'm not so guilty about it. I don't watch sports on television, so I think you can cut me some slack for watching people scramble to poach the perfect egg rather than watching them plopping a small ball into a hole in the ground.

So anyway, Sprouts Farmer's Market hosted a blogger event at the home of the Colorado Beef Council. I attended an event there in December that focused how to cook beef roasts. This being grilling season, we learned about steaks and grilling.

The had some great handouts about beef in general and a super-handy chart that listed different beef cuts and how to cook them. And about nutrition, storing, reheating, and more. And there was a pamphlet with some recipes, too.

We also learned that Sprout sells two types of beef. The first is grass fed beef that is 100 percent grass fed - never corn - and is raised with no antibiotics, ever. The second is natural beef, which is grass fed and grain finished. The cows do not receive antibiotics for the last 300 days, but it's possible they might have received them before that.

Someone asked if Sprouts carried organic beef, but it was explained that they used to buy organic beef from a trusted supplier, but there came a point where they sold so much beef that the supplier couldn't keep up with the demand. There just isn't enough organic beef out there.

In the kitchen, we learned about cooking beef and saw a demo of how to get proper grill marks on a steak ...

... and then the fun really started ...

We were told that we could pick from three different types of steak - ribeye, tenderloin, or strip. We could also choose where we wanted to cook - oven, grill, or stove (with different pans available). We could choose from a variety of different seasonings, and we could choose from a bunch of fresh vegetables and herbs, as well as some grains. There were also a few sauces including a red pepper coulis and a horseradish sauce.

Although they didn't say, "Ready, set, GO!" that's sort of what it was like as the teaching portion of the day was complete and we were set loose in a commercial kitchen to create and plate our own vision of what that evening's steak dinner.

And then bloggers scrambled in every direction. Some chose their steak first, while others claimed their work space. Still others went to the "pantry" where the vegetables and spices were waiting. Some chose their utensils, but that's the last thing I did, so I ended up cutting my vegetables with a fillet knife. It was super-sharp, so it didn't really matter that it wasn't a chef's knife.

Unlike the shows on television, however, there was no pushing and shoving. Everyone was polite, and waited their turn at the ingredients. No one yelled "medic!" The staff was awesome, answering questions and pointing toward ingredients and tools we needed. And they got stuck cleaning up the mess we made.

When it came to the vegetables, there was a limited amount of each: a small cauliflower cut in half, a bunch of asparagus, a small bag of baby potatoes, a few summer squash, a few types of mushrooms. No one went hungry, and no one hogged any of the ingredients, but it meant that everyone chose different combinations of sides. Which actually was kind of brilliant.

I would have been happy with the steak slathered with all of the mushrooms, but I took just a few mushrooms. And a zucchini. And some potatoes.

And then the prep and cooking began. Unlike competition cooking shows, we weren't given a time limit for our cooking, although it was suggested that we be finished by a certain time so we could all take photos of our plated food and then get down to the devouring.

I decided to cook my vegetables on a sheet pan in the oven. I seasoned them with salt, pepper, and thyme, then drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and popped them in 450 degree oven that would look really good in my kitchen. I think I was one of the few who used the oven, but I chose that method so I could pay more attention to my steak.

The area near the grill was really hot, but I wanted to give it a try. Ooooh, grill marks! Flames! Wheeeee!

The folks who didn't use the grill worked on one of the stoves. Here's a happy steak sharing space with the sides in a cast iron pan.

We were told that a 3/4 inch steak should take 6-7 minutes to cook, but I cooked mine slightly less because I knew that most of it would be coming home with me as leftovers. I wanted to be able to cook the leftover steak at home without overcooking it.

An area was set aside in the lobby with a nice light for photos, and the photographer who handles the Colorado Beef photos was on hand to document our successes. Because they were all successes. Of course they were, because we all cooked food that we liked!

Each blogger also took photos of their own steaks, and when were were all assembled and eating, we were treated to a slideshow of the photos that the photographer took. It was pretty amazing to see how different all the plates were (check out the collage at the bottom of this post!) We all started with the same meat and we chose from the same array of vegetables, but they all looked very different from each other.

Here's the photographer's version of my plate:

And here's my photos - slightly different angle, but still top-down. I really should have put a garnish on there, but I was pretty hungry and everything looked and smelled so darned good.

Beef. It's what we all had for dinner!

After I plated mine, I realized that I should have cooked something to add another color. While my beef and vegetables were nicely browned and looked darned tasty, the presentation could have been improved if I had chopped some herbs or piled some of the pickled onions on top of the steak. Or maybe a quick salad from the fresh corn on the cob and some red bell pepper.

But ... when I was choosing my pantry ingredients, I was thinking more about what I wanted to eat than what the plating should look like. I was thinking more like a hungry person than like a blogger!

I also should have chosen a larger plate or perhaps a different shape ... but when I went to grab a plate, I didn't realize how many choices there were. So ... basic round white plate for me. Other people were much more creative.

I did use the sauces to decorate my plate, however. And they were delicious.

Unlike competition shows, no one judged us, we didn't have to hold our hands in the air when we were done cooking, and no one else tasted our food. We sat down, chowed down, and then we had dessert, too, all provided by Sprouts. Handy to-go boxes helped us take our leftovers home (YUM!) and pretty soon we were on our way with full bellies and a better understanding of beef.

Collage photos courtesy of Colorado Beef Council

Thanks to Sprouts Farmers Market and Colorado Beef Council for sponsoring and hosting this event!

Sous Vide Oxtails

It's been a while since I've posted a sous vide recipe, mostly because I've been making a lot of the same things.

This time, though ... I decided to make something totally different. Well, the meat isn't different for me, since I grew up eating oxtails. But the method is different. I've pressure-cooked oxtails and I've braised them and I've slow cooked them.

But then I thought ... why not sous vide? I loved the sous vide short ribs I've made, and oxtails are that same sort of tough meat. So I figured I'd use the same sort of cooking method. I upped the temperature just a little bit, but kept the looooooong cooking time.

I didn't add a lot of seasoning - just a little bit of commercial barbecue sauce. Then I sealed up the bag, chucked it in a big pot, and let the oxtails enjoy the hot tub experience.

I used my Anova Wifi Precision Cooker, which is actually pretty cool. I can set it all from my phone and monitor it from my phone and watch it from my phone. There are recipes included as well as suggested cooking times and temperatures.

Let me mention that one thing I like about this model is that the timing doesn't start until the temperature has been reached. If you're cooking for a long time, the extra time it takes water to come to a recipe probably doesn't matter much. But if you're cooking for a short time, it's nice that the timer doesn't start before temperature has been reached.

But of course I didn't use the included recipes because I was winging it. Or tailing it, maybe?

The great thing about this recipe is that you can pretty much cook more or less meat, and you can flavor it any way you like. I added that tiny squirt of barbecue sauce, but you could certainly add hot sauce, teriyaki, ginger, beer, wine ... pretty much anything you can think of. Or add nothing and serve the oxtails with a sauce.

There's one prefect word for these oxtails ... unctuous. They were tender and juicy and mmmm. Just mmmmm. Not soft and mushy, not dry or chewy. Perfectly cooked, but still pink inside. Not rare pink, but not brown or gray. They couldn't be better.

I'm definitely going to make these again. I'm not saying I'll never use my pressure cooker for oxtails when I want food fast. But I'm definitely going to try to plan ahead next time I want oxtails so I can cook them sous vide. It's well worth it.

Sous Vide Oxtails

3 pounds oxtails (or as many as will fit neatly in a bag in one layer)
Squirt of barbecue sauce or other flavoring (optional)

Put the oxtails and flavoring in a vacuum seal bag and seal it.

Place in a large pot with your sous vide attached. Cover the pot as best you can with foil or another type of cover. I use a silicone cover from GIR that has a V cut out. They don't come with that cut-out, but scissors or a sharp knife will do the trick.

Set the sous vide for 150 degrees for 72 hours.

When the time is up, you can serve the oxtails right away, or let them cool to room temperature, then refrigerate and reheat later.

The juice left in the bag is a pretty amazing stock. There's not much of it, but there's plenty to make a little bit of a sauce or gravy, or add it to the cooking water for rice, or add it to some soup to add a boost of flavor.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin over Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Once again, the nice folks at the Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission asked to sponsor a post here on Cookistry, and of course I said yes. I love berries, and I like to have frozen ones on hand for smoothies or for cooking.

In season, fresh berries are a wonderful thing. But they're also very perishable. Frozen berries are great year-round, and I can use a few or a lot and not worry about having the rest go bad before I get to them.

Raspberries are actually one of my favorite berries, but I'm sort of a weirdo since I like them better cooked, juiced, macerated or otherwise manipulated than I like them fresh and raw. Yep, I'm odd.


I decided to use the berries two ways - or three, if we want to count the garnish.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin over Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

For the raspberry vinaigrette:
Frozen Oregon raspberries, to fill small jar
Cider vinegar, as needed
Olive oil
Salt, as needed

For the pork:
1 cup frozen Oregon raspberries
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and finely diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 pork tenderloins

To make the raspberry vinaigrette:
Fill a small jar with frozen raspberries and add cider vinegar to fill. You can leave this at room temperature for a few hours, if you need it quickly. If you're planning ahead, refrigerate until needed - you'll have more raspberry flavor if you let it sit for a day or so.

When you're ready to make the salad dressing, combine 1 part vinegar with 2-3 parts olive oil, to taste. For example, 1 tablespoon of vinegar with 2 or three tablespoons olive oil. Add a pinch of salt, to taste, and whisk to emulsify. You can also combine the oil and vinegar in a small jar and shake it. Taste and add more salt, if needed. If you like a sweeter dressing, add sugar or honey to taste.

Serve this over fresh salad greens. Garnish with some thawed frozen berries, if desired.

To make the pork:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and have a baking sheet standing by.

Put the berries, along with about 1/4 cup of water, in a small saucepan. Heat on medium-low heat, stirring as needed, until the berries have fallen apart. Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Set the sauce aside.

Put the butter in a saute pan and heat on medium until melted. Add the onion, apple, and salt. Cook, stirring as needed, until the onions are softened and translucent. Add the raspberry sauce, and stir to combine. Cook until the mixture is jammy rather than saucy. Add the thyme and give it one more stir.

If the tenderloins have any silverskin, remove it, then butterfly the meat and pound it flat. The thinner the meat is, the more of a spiral you'll have with the filling. You don't want to pound so thin that the meat will tear and shred, though.

Spread half of the filling on each tenderloin and roll each one up, jellyroll-style. You can fasten the seam with toothpicks, tie the rolls with kitchen twine at intervals, or just very carefully lift the rolls and place them on a baking sheet.

Roast the tenderloins at 375 degrees, until done to your likeness. I prefer tenderloins at 140 degrees, which takes about 30 minutes.

Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving with salad greens drizzled with the raspberry vinaigrette. Garnish with a few berries, if desired.

Thanks to the Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission for sponsoring this post! Oregon brands of frozen berries include Stahlbush Island Farms, Scenic Fruit, Columbia Fruit, and Willamette Valley Fruit Company.

Super-Simple (and really fast!) Oxtails

Okay, fine. If you don't like oxtails, just look away. I happen to love them. My mom made them often when I was a kid, and I couldn't get enough of them.

They do look sort of ... dangerous and prehistoric and caveman-like, though. Which, I guess, is part of their appeal.

And there's really no delicate way to eat them. Sure, you can try to go at them with a fork and knife like a civilized person. I start that way with the larger pieces. But when I always end up picking up the bones and ... well ... slurping the rest of the meat off.

I guess I'm really not that civilized, despite living in a well-equipped cave.

Speaking of well-equipped, the latest toy to show up in my kitchen is the Instant Pot DUO 60. I got this little charmer through 37 Cooks, a group blog I belong to. I already had a pressure cooker (okay, fine. I have several), but I'd heard so many people swooning over the Instant Pot, I knew I had to give it a try.

The Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker and slow cooker, but it's got some special features as well that make it a little more foolproof for the average cook.

Like the buttons that are pre-sets for particular types of foods. No need to look up how long it takes to cook those basic items - you just press the button.

Or, if you want to cook something using your own recipe and timing, you just choose the manual function. Or sear. Or slow cook or warm. Or steam. Or whatever.

Did I mention that it has a lot of options?

It's no wonder people are crazy about this appliance. It does a lot.

Since the whole point of an Instant Pot is to make dinner fast and easy, I decided to create a super-easy recipe. I used a little cheat - a jar of sofrito. While in theory you can make your own sofrito, the one in a jar has a spice that I've never seen anywhere - culantro.

Nope, that's not a misspelling of cilantro. It's a different herb. It's sort of like cilantro, but it's not. Just like marjoram isn't oregano.

Oxtails with Sofrito

3 pounds oxtails, trimmed of excess fat
1 onion, diced
1 12-ounce jar Goya sofrito

1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Place all ingredients in your Instant Pot. Put the cover on and make sure the knob is set for sealing and not for venting.

Press the "meat/stew" button and make sure it's set for 50 minutes.

When the time is up, turn the cooker off (or, if your Instant Pot has the feature, you could simply set it ahead of time to not go to the warm setting) and wait 15 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure.

Serve immediately (skim off any excess fat on top of the sauce, if there's a lot) or transfer to storage containers and refrigerate. I like stewed meats best if they've been chilled and reheated, but it's up to you. If you refrigerate, the fat will rise to the top and harden, making it easier to remove. Just pull that off, reheat, and serve.

I served these with polenta, but they'd be great with rice, potatoes, or noodles to sop up all the extra sauce.

I received the Instant Pot through 37 Cooks at no cost to me.

You can follow Instant Pot on Twitter or Facebook. Want to chat with other Instant Pot users? There's a very lively Facebook group dedicated to the pot! 

Chorizo and Fried Egg Tacos

There are two basic types of chorizo, and they're completely different from each other. Spanish chorizo is something like pepperoni in shape and form. Mexican chorizo is totally uncooked. It's more like spicy sloppy joe in a tube than it's like a typical sausage. Needless to say, you can't substitute one for the other.

This recipe requires Mexican chorizo.

Now that we've got that settled, you might find a whole lot of different versions at the store. Most of the time, I see it sold in plastic tubes that make it look like a sausage, but sometimes you can find it sold in bulk. Some chorizo is made from pork and some is made from beef.

For this recipe, it's not going to make a whole lot of difference. Use what you like - or what you can find.

The great thing about using chorizo in a recipe is that since it's so highly spiced, your really don't need to add a whole lot more. You could, if you wanted to. But you totally don't need to. And that's what makes it perfect for a quick meal. No need to drag out half the spices in the cabinet.

The downside about chorizo is that it can be very greasy. Like oil-slick greasy. It depends on the brand you buy, but be prepared to drain the grease if you need to.

The other bad thing about chorizo is that the red chile in the meat can stain things. If you splatter on your clothes, you won't be happy. So be neat.

On the other hand, it's delicious, and it cooks really quickly. You can have dinner on the table in no time at all.

I've seen plenty of recipes for chorizo and eggs, but usually it's scrambled eggs with chorizo mixed in. That's great, for sure, but I decided that a slightly runny fried egg would add a nice complement to the sharp and spicy meat.

Chorizo and Fried Egg Tacos

For the chorizo filling:
8 ounces Mexican chorizo
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 medium green bell pepper, cored and diced
Salt, as needed

For the taco:
Tortillas (as needed)
Eggs, fried, poached, or sunnyside-up, as desired (as needed)

Heat a saute pan on medium and add the chorizo (removed from the tube). along with the onion and bell pepper. Break up the chorizo with a spoon or spatula as it cooks, stirring as needed so it all cooks evenly.

Because of the red chiles in the chorizo, the color doesn't change very much as it cooks, so you won't see it turn from reddish to brownish. It stays pretty red and only turns slightly brown.

But, since you have onions and green peppers in the mix, you can use those as your gauge. If the onions and peppers are done, you know the meat is done as well.

Taste the mix. While you won't need to add more spice, you might need one other adjustment. Some peppers can be a little bit bitter, so if you taste that bitterness in the chorizo, add a bit of salt.

Yes, salt. Not sugar. Sweet is the opposite of sour, but salt combats bitterness. Trust me, it works. And of course, you can add a bit of salt just because you think it needs it.

To make the tacos, add a small amount of the chorizo to the taco and top with your cooked egg. Serve immediately.

You can serve these as-is, or you can bring out your favorite taco toppings, like guacamole, sour cream, chopped tomatoes or onions, or shredded cheese. Basically, grab whatever's easy and have dinner on the table in no time.

On the other hand, if you're avoiding bready things, you can ditch the taco and serve this without it. Or make a bed of lettuce and make it a salad!

Half-Moon Taco Burgers

Ground meat isn't unusual in a taco, but I decided to change things up by making half-moon shaped burgers that would fit neatly inside a tortilla.

I flavored them with peppers and chili powder, melted cheese on top, and served them in warm tortillas with guacamole and pepper.

The result was a really really really tasty burger that looked unique, nestled it its tortilla home.

The meat I used was a combination of beef and chicken from a company called Cluck 'n Moo that provided product for the blog group 37 Cooks that I belong to.

Because the meat includes chicken, it needs to be cooked to a safe temperature - no rare burgers with this stuff.

You can make these less spicy by using mild pepper and mild chile powder, or make it more spicy by using hotter peppers and chile powder. And of course, you can add extra spice with your choice of condiments, like peppers or salsa.

Half-Moon Taco Burgers

1 pound Cluck 'n Moo ground chicken and beef
1 4-ounce can diced Hatch chiles (hot or mild, your choice)
2 teaspoons chili powder (hot or mild, your choice)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a mix of cheeses, but any good-melting cheese will work)

In a medium bowl, combine the ground meat, chiles, and chili powder.

Divide the meat into four portions. Shape each portion into a half-mood shape that will fit into your tortilla. I used 6-inch tortillas and made the burgers slightly smaller that the tortillas - keep in mind that the tortillas need to wrap the meat.

Heat your grill. Sprinkle the burgers with salt as desired, and cook, flipping as needed, until just about done. Divide the cheese onto the tops of the four burgers, close the grill, and let them cook until the cheese is almost melted.

When the cheese is almost melted, place the tortillas on the grill (on a cooler part of the grill, if possible). Place the burgers on the tortillas and close the grill again. Cook until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are warmed.

Serve with your favorite taco toppings. I used guacamole and pickled jalapenos. Other options are shredded lettuce, salsa, cilantro, crema, or chopped fresh tomatoes.

Roast Pork Shoulder with Sepo Sauce

I bought a pork roast specifically so I could test a device called The Ribalizer. I'm reviewing it for my review blog, but when I'm reviewing a cooking tool, it usually means I've got some cooking to do.

The Ribalizer is designed for cooking ribs, but the instructions said that with the rib separator rack removed, you could use it for roasts. Well, okay. I had already cooked ribs with it, so it made sense to try its other function.

While The Ribalizer is intended to be used on an outdoor grill, the weather wasn't cooperating. It was chilly and rainy and I wasn't in the mood for going in and out of the nasty weather. Staying in a warm, cozy house made more sense.

So I fired up the oven instead of the grill. And then I checked the size of The Ribalizer to make sure it would fit in my oven. Luckily, it did.

The ribalizer is covered in more detail on my review blog, but basically it's a two-piece metal rack that's designed to fit into disposable aluminum roasting pans, and its main purpose is cooking ribs. If you don't happen to have a ribalizer sitting around, you can cook your roast with this method in a lidded roasting pan with a rack.

I knew that I wanted to use some spices or a sauce or ... something ... on top of the roast, but I didn't make the final decision until the roast was at that stage (you'll see). So I started digging around in the refrigerator to see what might be interesting.

I grabbed a jar of Sepo Sauce that I got from a company called Seponifiq. It's supposed to be used as a dip, sandwich spread, or salad dressing, but I thought it might be just right for adding a little flavor to the crust of my pork.

I had already tried it drizzled on vegetables, so I knew what it tasted like - it reminded me a bit of Caesar dressing, but not quite the same. I thought the garlic flavor would work really well with the pork. And, gee, I was right.

The beauty of this recipe is the versatility of the leftovers. You can slice thin for sandwiches (hot or cold) or cut the meat into chunks for stew, green chili, or mom's midwestern chop suey. You can continue cooking it until it falls apart for pulled pork. Or ... I'm sure you can think of more!

Roast Pork Shoulder

Roast pork in the oven!

1 8-9 pound* pork shoulder roast
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup (or as needed) Sepo Sauce
Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Season the roast on all sides with salt and pepper, as desired.

Put the pork shoulder, fat-side up, in a ribalizer or in a roasting pan on a rack. Add about water to the pan to cover the bottom of the pan with about 1/4 inch of water - just make sure it's below the level of the rack - you don't want the meat swimming, you just want to create steam.

Put the lid on the ribalizer or the roasting pan. Place it in the oven and cook, covered, for 4 hours.

Remove the cover. The pork should be tender if you stab it with a fork. It shouldn't be falling apart, but it should be easy to poke. Brush Sepo Sauce on the top and sides of the roast and return it to the oven, uncovered. Cook for another 45 minutes.

Let the roast rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

*it doesn't need to be exactly this size - a little larger or smaller isn't going to kill the recipe, but if you stray too far, the cooking time might need to be adjusted.

I received the Ribalizer for the purpose of a review on Cookistry Reviews; I was not required to mention it in a recipe. I received Sepo Sauce from the manufacturer; I wasn not required to use it in a recipe.

Chicken Taco Meatballs

There was a time when I preferred my cookbooks to be all-encompassing. I wanted to have one book - or maybe two or three, for variety's sake - that would have appetizers, breakfasts, main dishes, desserts, and side dishes all in one neat little package.

And while you're at it, give me a smattering of Italian, Tex-Mex, Chinese, barbecue, and pickling, too.

Those books are great for a beginning cook or for someone who doesn't have much storage space for books. But the more I cook, the more I want details. Don't just give me one recipe for enchiladas, give me a variety of styles and sauces. Don't just give me Northern Italian - let's talk about that boot, too.

So when Global Meatballs landed on my doorstep, I did a little dance. I like meatballs. I like the idea of meatballs. But to be honest, most of the time my meatballs are either Italian or they're similar to my meatloaf recipe - an all-purpose, inoffensive ball of meaty goodness in search of a sauce.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that these may be globally-inspired meatballs rather than meatballs made in each country.

But I'm fine with that. I'm also fine with the fact that not all of the meatballs are meat. There are vegetarian balls, as well. I've got beet balls bookmarked. Maybe because I love beets, but also because it's so quirky to take a round vegetable and shred it, just to turn it back into a ball.

I've made a few recipes from this book and I have a whole bunch more bookmarked, like potato balls with a ricotta cheese filling, buckwheat balls with a mushroom gravy, and a bahn mi meatball sandwich.

As you can see, the book isn't just about making a bunch of meatballs, but it's also about how to dress them up for serving.

So far, my favorite recipe is the Taco Chicken Meatballs, probably because it's not something I ever would have thought of. The meatballs are served with a tomato-salsa-spiked rice, but they're also pretty good all by themselves or stuffed into a tortilla. Think about that. Taco Chicken Meatball Tacos. It's mind-bending.

When I made these, the meat mixture was way too soft to hold together when I first mixed it, so I added more bread - not soaked this time - to get it to the right consistency. The recipe did note that you could add more bread if the milk didn't all get soaked up, so obviously there' some wiggle room in the recipe.

Extra bread or not, it was a tasty recipe. I think next time, I'll try it with turkey.

Taco Chicken Meatballs
with Red Salsa Rice
Adapted from Global Meatballs by Adelines Myers

For the Red Salsa Rice:
1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
1 cup salsa
1 cup water or chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Meatballs:
1 to 2 slices crustless white bread
1/4 cup milk
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin

To make the rice:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add the oil and rice to a 30-quart ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven on medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the grains of rice turn milky white, about 5 minutes. If a little of the rice gets toasted, that's fine.

Add the salsa, water, and salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, take it off the heat, and place it in the oven. Cook for 25 minute at 350 degrees, then remove it from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes with the cover on. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

To make the meatballs:
While the rice is cooking, soak the bread and milk in a large bowl for 10 minutes, until the milk has been absorbed and the bread is mushy. If there's a puddle of milk, add more bread.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in the oil in a medium saute pan until tender.

Have a baking sheet standing by. If you like, line it with aluminum foil for easy cleanup and spray with a little oil to keep the meatballs from sticking.

Add the onions and all of the remaining meatball ingredients to the bowl with the bread. Mix well with your hands.

Form the meat mixture into approximately 2-inch balls and arrange them on the baking sheet.

When all the balls are prepared, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. When they're done, they should reach 170 degrees on a meat thermometer.

Serve the meatballs with the rice. Garnish as desired - anything you'd use for tacos would be appropriate, like lime wedges, sour cream, or guacamole.

I received the book from the publisher at no cost to me.

Lime and Sriracha Marinated Skirt Steak

I was paging through Everyday Food: Great Food Fast and I saw a recipe for a marinated flank steak. I didn't jot down the ingredients, but when I saw it, I thought, gee, those are things I always have around here. Lime juice and soy sauce were the main components.

So, when I went to the store, I picked up a skirt steak. First, I really like skirt steak, and second, the skirt steaks were smaller than the flank steaks, and I didn't want to make a lot of steak.

When I got home, I realized that I didn't actually have all the ingredients I needed, so I took the flavor profile and went my own way. And then, instead of serving it as a steak, I cut it into bite-size strips and served it on top of an Indian flatbread called paratha that I picked up at a new store here in town.

Here's how it went:

Lime and Sriracha Marinated Skirt Steak

Skirt or flank steak, or flap meat for 1-2 servings

For the marinade:
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sriracha
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger

Combine all of the marinade ingredients. If you like, take a little taste to see if you like the balance of salt (from the soy) and tart (from the lime juice). You can add more ginger or sriracha, too, if you like.

Put your steak - flank or skirt or flap meat - into a plastic zip-top bag and drizzle the marinade into the bag. You only need enough marinade to coat the meat - you don't need it swimming. If you don't have enough to coat all surfaces of the meat, add another splash or two of soy and lime juice.

Let the meat rest on the counter for 15 minutes while you're prepping the rest of the meal. You don't need it to marinate for a long time - you're working with thin cuts of meat.

Heat a cast iron pan or medium-high heat. Add a little of your favorite oil to the pan - you just need enough to coat the bottom of the pan - a tablespoon is fine.

Remove the meat from the pan and let as much of the liquid drip off as possible. Add it to the hot pan and cook on both sides, until the meat is done to your liking.

Let the meat rest for a few minutes before slicing.

If you like spicy food, drizzle with some extra sriracha.

Meatloaf! File this one under "not Mom's"

Some of the best inventions came about by accident. And by inventions, I mean food inventions, too.

The microwave oven wasn't intended for cooking food, for example, and the first instance of cooking food probably had more to do with something accidentally burning rather than some primitive ancestor deciding that mammoth tartare was getting boring.

Cornflakes were an accident, and nachos happened because a desperate cook threw together what he had on hand when some late customers wanted something to eat. Caesar salad allegedly was invented in the same way. Cookies were small amounts of cake batter that were cooked to test the cake.

And, allegedly, chocolate chip cookies were an accident as well, although some sources say that's a bit of a fiction.

Yes some good things happen when we step out of our comfort zone, reach into the fridge, and accidentally grab the wrong spice.

This meatloaf isn't quite that accidental, but it wasn't really deliberate, either. I was cooking a recipe from a cookbook, and I used 1/4 pound each of ground beef and pork. But I had bought 1-pound packages. So I had 3/4 pound each of the ground beef and pork.

So ... what could I use that meat for? The weather said, "meatloaf" and I obliged.

My usual meatloaf is all-beef, so the half-and-half pork and beef mix was different. And I usually add cubed or torn bread. But ... I ended up using bread crumbs, because that's what I had.

The bread crumbs themselves were a little unusual. I had made a loaf of bread that included cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and oregano, so that's what the crumbs were made from.

So the bread was definitely different, since I normally use a plain white bread. The tomatoes added specs of red to the meatloaf, and the cheese and oregano added some subtle flavor.

The biggest difference between this loaf and my usual was the texture. My meatloaf is usually fairly chunky and ... not exactly crumbly, but coarsely grained. This one was a lot smoother - more like the lunchmeat style meatloaf that you'd find in the deli.

Definitely a success, and I'm sure I'll make this again. But I'm not going to abandon my mom's old fashioned meatloaf, either. There's room for both.

Not-Mom's Meatloaf

3/4 pound ground beef
3/4 pound ground pork
1 egg
1/2 onions, diced
1/2 - 1 cup bread crumbs*, or as needed
Splash of heavy cream (or milk)
Salt and pepper, to taste (1/2 teaspoon each, if you're unsure)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and have a suitable baking pan standing by.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Your hands are the best tool for this, since the feel of the meatloaf is important. You want a loaf that's not particularly wet or dry. It shouldn't be mushy or sloppy, but it also shouldn't be as dense as ground meat. The texture going into the oven is similar to what you'll get coming out - more cohesive, but similar.

If your meatloaf is too wet, add more breadcrumbs. If it's too dry and dense, add a splash more cream or milk.

Form meat into a loaf. It should hold together well and not sag or collapse.

Place this on a baking pan or lipped baking sheet. I used a glass casserole (reviewed here).

Bake at 350 degrees until the internal temperature reaches at least 180 degrees - this took about 2 hours, but the shape of your loaf, the pan, and your oven will make a difference. Check after an hour to see how far you have to go.

Let the meatloaf rest at least 15 minutes before slicing.

*I used flavored bread crumbs, but plain crumbs are fine. If you're using plain crumbs, you can opt to add some herbs, spices, or other flavorings to the loaf.

Neil Anderson's Bolognese of August from Adventures in Comfort Food

When I agreed to participate in a blog tour for a book with "comfort food" in the title, a number of things came to mind. Pasta with a tomato sauce was high on the list. So when I saw this recipe for bolognese, I knew I had to try it.

This isn't typically how I make tomato sauce for pasta, but then again, I'm not Italian. When I went to the store for supplies, there was no veal to be found except for some tiny chops that cost more than my mortgage. The butcher said they stopped carrying the ground veal because of quality issues.

There was also a celery shortage, but I averted that disaster by buying celery sticks that were cleverly hidden in the prepped-foods area, along with must-haves like pineapple chunks and asparagus packed with lemon slices.

As for the veal, there was nothing I could do except buy something else. I briefly pondered using ground turkey or chicken, but then decided to use beef. So that's what I used here. If you can find veal, then by all means, use it. But beef worked just fine, if that's holding you back.

The one thing I quibble with here is the serving size. This might feed 3-4 people if they're all teenagers or athletes, but around here a half-pound box of dry pasta is good for 4-6 servings. Then again, we probably don't eat as much as the average person. So take my thoughts with a grain or two of salt.

The intro to the recipe said:
Neil Anderson was the second chef I ever hired. He came into the restaurant one day, turned to the waitress and said, “I want to work here.” We took him on. During Neil’s first summer, I told him we were going to make Bolognese sauce.

“Right," said Neil. "We are making Bolognese, and you are going to go sweat over it." He was not incorrect that heavy, long-cooked meat sauces are not entirely appropriate for the dog days, but I am contrary. Neil is now a professor of languages somewhere, and every summer we make this out of season in his honor.

This is our version of a traditional Bolognese: a meat sauce flavored with a bit of  tomato. It is not the red sauce with meat that sometimes gets called by the same name. Through long cooking, the meats gain a velvety texture and a flavor so addictive that you won’t be able to stop eating it, no matter what the weather.

Look for more bloggers posting more recipes from the book, including: FAB Bowl of Meet, Steak Bomb, Wontons from Space  Deconstructed Nachos,  Woo-Tang Clam, Fish Hash,  Vacation in your Mouth, Jerry Fries, and Steak House.

Did I mention that some of the recipe names are quirky? Why, yes they are.

Neil Anderson’s Bolognese of August
Recipe from Adventures in Comfort Food: Incredible, Delicious and New Recipes
Used with permission. All rights reserved.Serves 3 to 4

1/2 cup/120 ml olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1/8 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 onion, sliced
1 rib celery, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup/60 g carrot, cut into medium dice
4 oz/113 g ground veal
4 oz/113 g ground pork
1 (28 oz/794 g) can tomatoes
2 tbsp/33 g tomato paste
1/2 cup/118 ml heavy cream
1 lb/454 g dried rigatoni pasta, cooked

Place a 4-quart/4 L nonreactive pot over medium-high heat. Heat the olive oil and add the garlic; fry until the cloves are almost golden, 4 minutes. Add the fennel seeds, count to 3, and drop in the onion, celery and carrot. Sweat the vegetables in the olive oil until they are sweet and the garlic is soft, about 10 minutes. Add the veal and pork, breaking up with a spoon to distribute the meat and vegetables as evenly as you can (you’ll mash it later).

When the meat is cooked (it should take 10 to 12 minutes) add the tomatoes, tomato paste and 1/2 cup/118 ml of water. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for at least an hour, preferably 2. Mash with a potato masher to break everything up until it looks like a sauce.

Add the cream. If you’ll be storing the sauce, wait to add the cream until reheating.

For this dish, I prefer boxed rigatoni (not homemade noodles). Add the cooked noodles to the pot of sauce and stir carefully so that you don’t break any noodles.

Distribute onto plates, pour some red wine and eat.

Chef’s Tip: For foolproof seasoning: Remove a small amount of the sauce and add some salt and pepper until it tastes perfect. Using this as a guide, add salt and pepper by small amounts to the pot until it matches the sample.

Recipe by Kerry Altiero and Katherine Gaudet from Adventures in Comfort Food: Incredible, Delicious and New Recipes from a Unique, Small-Town Restaurant. Printed with permission of Page St. Publishing.

I received the book from the publisher for the purpose of this book tour.

A couple notes on this recipe:

This recipe has a lot of oil - there's 1/2 cup at the beginning, along with the fat from the meats you use. If you're bothered by that amount of fat, the easy way to get rid of it is to refrigerate the finished sauce. The fat will rise to the top and harden a bit, so you can remove as much as you like. Leave at least a little - there's flavor in fat. I left it as is, and once the cream and pasta were added, it just sort of disappeared.

I was a little concerned about the whole garlic cloves - I didn't like the idea of someone eating a whole clove with their pasta, so I hunted them down in the finished sauce and made sure they were smashed. If I make this again, I might dice or slice the garlic thinly rather than leaving it whole. Maybe.

The admonishment about not adding the cream if you're going to reheat has to do with the possibility that the cream could curdle. I have the same problem with a tomato soup I make. The solution is to heat the sauce slowly and gently, and never let it boil. If it does boil, you're doomed. The cream is probably going to curdle. It's still edible, but it's not pretty and it the texture is grainy.

So, if you make the sauce ahead, or if you have leftovers, heat gently to warm it, but don't boil it, and you should be fine.