Steakhouse Sunday

Mmmmm meat! That's what my husband said when he saw this on the menu. The plate looks a little spare but this was a seriously filling meal.

Grilled Flank Steak

• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1 tsp. cumin seed
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. rosemary
• 1-2 lbs. flank steak

Grind peppercorns and cumin seeds. Combine remaining ingredients (except steak) in a blender, blend well, and pour over flank steak in ziplock bag. allow to marinate at least 3 hours (preferably overnight).

 

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Oil the grate and grill meat about 5 min. per side or until done to your liking.

 

Coconut Creamed Spinach

• 1 lb. frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. coconut flour
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Thaw spinach completely and squeeze out liquid.

 

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the coconut milk and 2 tsp. of the garlic. Whisk in the coconut flour until slightly simmering and remove from heat.

 

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat and add shallot, remaining garlic, and paprika. Cook until shallots are just translucent. Add spinach and cream sauce, simmering until cooked through. Serve immediately.

 

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Swedish Meatballs

You may think these are ordinary meatballs, but they are not! They are delicious Swedish meatballs, resting before diving into their sauce. This is a family recipe, which has been tweaked over the years until it's exactly what we want.

Swedish Meatballs

Serves 8 generous portions

Prep time: 20 min, Cook time: 30 min

• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 t. ground allspice
• 1/2 t. grated nutmeg
• 1/2 t. ground cardamom
• 1/2 t. ground pepper
• 1 lb. lean ground beef chuck
• 1 lb. lean ground veal
• 1/2 lb. lean ground pork
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. flour
• 14 oz. beef broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 T. dry sherry

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Put bread crumbs and milk in a large bowl. Stir and let soak 10 min. Add onion, eggs, and spices and use a wooden spoon to combine.

Break meats into small bits with hands (Note: when I'm being fancy it's worth getting veal and pork, but I just used ground beef this time) and add to bowl. Use wooden spoon to beat until well-mixed. Shape into 1 1/4-inch balls; handle gently and rinse hands often to keep mixture from sticking. (If you have an ice cream scoop or dished about this size it makes things much easier to scoop and then use your moistened hands to shape into a ball). Arrange meatballs in a single layer on ungreased baking sheets (you'll need about 4 sheets).

Bake until well-browned, 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan with wide spatula. At this point, you can cover and chill these for up to 3 days.

For the sauce, put butter and flour in a large saucepan. Blend broth and water into flour. Bring to boil while stirring. Add meatballs and sherry and bring to simmer, cover and gently simmer for 10 min.

Serve over egg noodles or baby red potatoes sprinkled with dill.

 

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Curried bison meatballs

I made this new recipe tonight and it turned out great! I used ground bison instead of beef and served it with a little rice and a lot of steamed broccoli. I always feel better--not only healthy but proud and satisfied--when I make food from scratch at home.

 

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Beef and mushroom cabbage wraps

These wraps are made with beef from a friend's farm. We get our meat and eggs directly from an awesome young woman farmer, and I love it that we can support her in building her business. If you don't want to use beef, you could probably sub pretty much any ground meat you like. I think I may try doing them with pork sometime soon.

I'd originally intended to do lettuce wraps, but I couldn't find lettuce that would work well for wrapping, so I ended up using savoy cabbage. I find it actually works pretty well and tastes great, although it's maybe not as flexible as lettuce, so it's a little more prone to cracking and allowing drips. But if you're eating wraps with your fingers, you should be the sort of person who's okay with drips, right?

Yes, I ate three of them. Actually, I didn't. I ate five.

Once again, I sort of made this up as I went along.

Ingredients:
extra-virgin coconut oil
one medium onion, diced
six cloves of garlic, smashed
fresh ginger, about 1.5" piece, minced
one pound of ground beef
gluten-free tamari
sesame oil
mushrooms, chopped coarsely, maybe 3/4 cup or so
savoy cabbage
sriracha
cilantro

Onions and garlic are the default start to about 95% of my cooking.

In a large skillet, heat coconut oil over medium heat. Add onions, cook until translucent, then add garlic and ginger--be careful not to burn them. Next, add the beef to the pan and brown it. Throw in the mushrooms, a good splash of tamari, and a glug of sesame oil. Cook for a few minutes until mushrooms are soft and it seems done enough.

While filling is cooking, tear off some cabbage leaves and put them on a plate. Chop up some cilantro.

Fill leaves with meat and mushroom mixture, then top with a swirl of sriracha (yes, it's not paleo, and no, I don't care) and a sprinkle of cilantro.

To eat, fold cabbage around filling with your hands. Expect that it will drip a little. That's okay, you can eat those bits with a spoon or do what I do if nobody's looking and lick your plate.

Nom nom nom.

Blondeez Not Daily At All Anymore Diary--Weekend Update

The week got away from me, in many ways, so I'll just catch you up on meals and recipes of note.  There weren't many.   Seriously, I was in survival mode this week.  But my parents arrived on Thursday to celebrate the kid's birthday, so we had a decent dinner that night!  I roasted a chicken and potatoes and steamed artichokes, then put together a salad with 50/50 lettuce and spinach, avocado, cucumber, and yogurt blue cheese dressing.  A bottle of chardonnay and we were a very happy bunch!  No recipes except for the chicken, which comes from my favorite basic, delicious food book.  How to Cook Everything is a great reference manual--I have often had a random thought or ingredient and looked up his instructions.  A lot of times I have another recipe in mind, but he explains technique with illustrations (like how to truss and carve poultry!) and has wonderfully simple recipes that can be dressed up or dressed down. 

Then last night my parents were at a cousin's for dinner so CJ made crock pot Beef and Sweet Potato Stew, which was a great and comforting meal after a long week.

Roast Chicken with Roasted New Potatoes (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)
Serves 4
Cook Time: 60-75 min

• 6 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. fresh (or 2 tsp. dried) herbs--thyme, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, or sage
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 whole (3-4 lb.) chicken, trimmed of excess fat, then rinsed and patted dry.
• 1 1/2 lbs. waxy red or white potatoes, skins on a scrubbed (either baby/new or cut into chunks)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Mix together the olive oil, herb, salt, and pepper.  Place the chicken, breast side down, on a rack in a roasting pan.  Toss half of the herb mixture with the potatoes and scatter them in the pan.  Begin roasting.

After about 20 minutes, take the pan out and spoon some of the oil mixture over the chicken and potatoes, then turn the chicken breast side up.  Shake the pan for the potatoes turn and cook evenly.  Roast another 7-8 minutes, or until the breast begins to brown.  Turn the heat down to 325 degrees F and baste the chicken again with the rest of the oil mixture.  Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh read 160-165 degrees F.  Total roasting time will be 50-70 min.

Remove the chicken and test potatoes for doneness.  If the potatoes are not soft, turn the heat up to 425 degrees F and roast for a few minutes while the chicken rests.

Beef and Sweet Potato Stew (crock pot) (from The Paleo Recipe Book)
Serves 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours

• 1 lb. beef chuck or otehr stewing cut, in 1-inch cubes
• 3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• pinch allspice
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 large onion, cut in chunks
• 1 can (28 oz.) tomatoes
• 8 dried apricots, halved (optional)
• chopped parsley for garnish
• cooking fat (we used walnut oil)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat a skillet over a medium heat, season the beef cubes to taste with salt and pepper and brown on all sides with some cooking fat in the hot skillet.

Place the browned beef, sweet potatoes, garlic, allspice, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, onion, and tomatoes in a crock pot and cook on high for 8 hours, until the beef is fork tender.  Add the dried apricots and cook, covered, for another 20 min until the apricots are soft.

Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick before serving with chopped parsley on top.