Steak on the Coals; Meat Marinade: Impressing At The Grill

Happy Memorial Day, folks. We had a huge, beautiful meal of pork with cabbage & white beans last night, followed by strawberry shortcake (the strawberries were macerated with sugar, fig balsamic, and fresh thyme), so we've no immediate grilling plans for today, but my mind goes to the grill nonetheless.

I like cooking over a grill. Anything tastes better after some time above the coals. Betty Crocker's Outdoor Cook Book challenges my belief, though, and suggests "above" isn't the way to go.

Steak on the Coals
This method startles those who see it for the first time, but it draws ecstatic praise from those who like an emphatic grilled flavor.

Use a large piece of lean, tender steak, such as sirloin, weighing at least 3 lb., 1 1/2 to 2" thick. Place steak in baking pan and cover with Meat Marinade (recipe below). Refrigerate 3 hr. Turn meat occasionally to thoroughly over with marinade. Drain steak and allow to come to room temperature.

Have a bed of white-hot charcoal briquets about 3" deep. A shallow layer of coals will not serve. Remove the grill. Place the meat directly on the fiery coals. Turn every 10 min. to another white-hot area. Allow 12 to 15 min. per side for the center to become
rare, hot, and juicy. Allow 1/2 to 3/4 lb. per serving. Makes 6 servings.

Ooo, a bonus recipe!

Meat Marinade: Combine in bowl 1/2 cup vinegar; 1/2 cup vegetable oil; 1 small onion, minced; 1 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. dry mustard; 1/4 tsp. each mace, nutmeg, and cloves; 1 clove garlic, crushed; and 1/2 tsp. Tabasco. Pour over meat. Serve meat with remaining hot marinade.

Before we go any further, let's point out one important thing: you can not serve that leftover marinade unless you cook it. Cook it. Yes. Cook it. I've nothing against a good steak tartare, but I value your health and don't want you slopping raw meat juice over your Flintstones-esque slab o' meat. Food safety: It's not just for 4H geeks.

It's for 4H geeks, too -- just not ONLY for 4H geeks. (Go, 4H!)

I have no doubt that this method of steak cookery will yield a cooked piece of meat. I do, however, doubt that this is the best way to treat your 3 pounds of sirloin. The very phrase "emphatic grilled flavor" sends shivers of horror down my spine. In fact, according to my handy dandy Google-fu, I find that there's only one place "emphatic grilled flavor" comes up in this world of ours, and it's right here, in this recipe, in this cookbook. When phrases occur only once? I think it's because they shouldn't occur again... Ban the "emphatic grilled flavor"! Embrace some frickin' subtlety!

And yet... it does have a primitive sort of allure...

Here's my final take on this: If you have absolute faith in your cooking fuel, and know for a fact that there aren't weird waxes and chemicals and flammable liquids going on, then fine. Try this. But if you're using briquets and a can of fire starter and God knows what else, put some distance between the unknown and your beef.

Guacamole with Cottage Cheese

Sometimes, it seems to me that this blog is a never ending cavalcade of foods I couldn't stand or never tried as a child. Today's recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites is half stuff I couldn't stand, and half stuff I loved beyond all passion -- take that, cavalcade!

Guacamole with Cottage Cheese

Before you even taste this guacamole, you will be impressed by its lovely light green shade. We've never seen anything quite like it before, and the bonus is that it doesn't darken a bit as it sits, the way most other guacamoles do. Collective member Ned Asta's seven-year-old son Tazio devoured most of this recipe in one sitting and asked if he could have it every time he went to Moosewood.

1 ripe avocado, preferably Hass
2/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped scallions
3/4 teaspoon minced fresh chile
2 garlic cloves, pressed
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Slice the avocado in half lengthwise and separate the halves by gently twisting. Remove the pit. With a tablespoon or soup spoon, scoop out the flesh of each half. In a food processor, combine the avocado, cottage cheese, lime juice, scallions, chile, and garlic and purée until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately or chill.

The flavor of the guacamole will increase in intensity as it sits.

Makes 1 1/2 cups
Total time: 10 minutes

Yeah... I'm nearly ashamed to admit it, but I couldn't stand to be near an avocado when I was growing up. A high school friend turned me around on that point the summer of 1994...so, right after college graduation. I was a late bloomer. Cottage cheese and I go way back, though. I like it plain. I like it sweet. I like it savory.

And, yes, I like it in guacamole.

It's great served with the black bean chilaquile, or any other spicy TexMex dish. It's also great on chips, or with any other dip-able. I also like it schmeared onto a turkey sandwich. Mmmm...

Did you know that all Hass avocados descend from one avocado tree? Mail man Rudolph Hass had a particularly lovely avocado tree in his back yard, and patented the tree back in the 30s. It survived until 2002, and every Hass avocado tree is a descendant of Mr. Hass's original mother tree.

I love that you can get fresh avocados all year long. They're never out of season! And once you learn how to judge a ripe avocado, you'll be able to whip up guac whenever you want. My ripeness trick? Flick off the stem "button" -- if it comes right off, the avocado is ripe. If it doesn't come off without resistance, it's not ripe yet. If you don't want to use the avocado right away, buy it under-ripe; it'll be perfect in a day or two.

Poblano Pesto

It's nearly Halloween! Growing up in Oregon, we never carved pumpkins too far in advance -- damp above-freezing weather means quick rotting, after all. But now that we're in the home stretch, it's time to think about pumpkin guts, and toasting seeds. The Great Salsa Book has a great recipe to use up those seeds if you get tired of eating them plain.

Poblano Pesto

3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup canola oil
5 poblano chiles
1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Toast the pumpkin seeds and let cool. Heat the canola oil in a skillet and when almost smoking, turn the poblanos in the hot oil for 45 seconds until blistered but not blackened. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let steam for 10 minutes.

Peel and seed the poblanos, place in a food processor with the toasted pumpkin seeds, and chop for 1 minute. Add the cilantro and blend for 1 minute. Add the olive oil, lime juice, and salt, and run for 30 seconds longer, or until smooth.

Serving suggestions: With pasta or rabbit.
Yield: About 2 cups.
Heat: 5.

Like any good pesto, it's going to turn out a vivid green. I'm much more tempted by the pasta suggestion than the rabbit. But, really, what I want to do is roast the pumpkin, and serve chunks of it with this salsa spooned over the top.

Or on toast.

I've focused mainly on tomato, chile, and corn salsas this week. The Great Salsa Book has tons of other types -- tropical, fruit, bean, garden, seafood, and exotic. It's a great little book to pick up for some sauce inspiration.

Salsa Mexicana

Sometimes, you just want something basic. Stripped down. Familiar.

The Great Salsa Book doesn't disappoint -- if you want to make a salsa that will fit a lot of people's idea of what a salsa is, this here is your recipe:

Salsa Mexicana

2 tablespoons finely diced white onion
8 Roma tomatoes (about 1 pound), diced
2 serrano chiles, finely diced, with seeds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Place the onion in a strainer, rinse with hot water, and drain. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add a little more sugar if the tomatoes are acidic, but make sure the salsa does not taste of sugar. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to combine.

Serving suggestions: An all-purpose salsa; especially good with tortilla chips or grilled meats.
Yield: About 2 cups.
Heat: 4.

A-yup.

This is salsa. This is load-it-up-on-your-chip, wrap-it-in-with-your-taco, smother-your-burrito-with-it salsa. It's simple. It's straight-forward. And it's damned tasty.

It really is.

This is actually the first recipe I ever made from this book by myself. I borrowed it from Chefly Husband (back when he was Pseudo-Ex-Boyfriend...we've a long history), and made a double batch of this to take to a barbeque. It was delightful! Went with everything, fed tons of people, was cheap as chips to make, and looked impressive.

If you've never made your own salsa, start with this recipe. It will give you confidence (and yumminess) (and lots of lycopene).

I'm flagging this as both fruit and vegetable; you can choose to think of the tomato either way; I count it as both, because I have yet to have to make a living as a botanical taxonomist.

Smoked Salmon Salsa

Part of the fun of this blog for me is looking for recipes I never would have imagined in my life. Moose bologna. Beef pancake pie. Hell balls. Odd ingredients, strange transformation, head scratchers, they're all good for a laugh and a lark. Better, though, are the recipes that take ingredients I love and combine them for presentations and uses I'd never thought of, like this recipe from The Great Salsa Book:

Smoked Salmon Salsa

4 ounces smoked salmon, finely diced
3 tablespoons finely diced sun-dried tomatoes (in oil)
3/4 cup finely diced fennel bulb
3 tablespoons chopped fennel tops
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

Thoroughly combine all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

Serving suggestions: On top of eggs, as a soup garnish (for tomato soup in particular), or with pasta.
Yield: About 1 3/4 cups.
Heat: 3-4.

So simple! So... well, so obvious, once someone says it the first time... why wouldn't you make a salsa with these ingredients?

I can totally see this, with tomato soup, at an elegant brunch or tea. A thick tomato soup would hold up a nice mound of this, and it would add so much, visually and taste-wise. And, yes, toss what ever is left over in with some pasta for dinner after you clean up. Mmmm. Champagne with both!

I would use a dry-smoked salmon, not a wet-cured. So, no lox, folks. My Oregonian roots are showing when I say this: Try your darnedest to get alder-smoked fish; the smokiness will play nicely with the sun-dried tomatoes and fennel.

Roasted Corn and Wild Mushroom Salsa

I'm known to be salsa-intensive. Chefly Husband might be able to get through a meal at a TexMex restaurant with just one small bowl of salsa to go with his chips, but if I'm with him, we need at least three. I like it. A lot. Sometimes, I'll admit, my strategy to get even more salsa is to select a salsa that Chefly Husband won't eat...say, one based on large amounts of corn, like this one, from The Great Salsa Book:

Roasted Corn and Wild Mushroom Salsa

4 ears fresh corn
1/3 cup cleaned and diced morels or other wild mushrooms
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), finely diced, with 1 teaspoon of their oil
2 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 teaspoons minced fresh marjoram
1 clove roasted garlic, minced
1 teaspoon adobo sauce
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut the corn kernels from the cobs with a sharp knife (about 3 cups). Heat a large, heavy-bottomed sauté pan or skillet over high heat until almost smoking. Place no more than two layers of the corn kernels in the pan at a time, and dry-roast for 4 to 5 minutes until smoky and dark, tossing continuously.

Sauté the mushrooms in 1/2 teaspoon of the olive oil until they are cooked well, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add the corn, remaining olive oil, and the rest of the ingredients, and thoroughly combine.

Note: If fresh wild mushrooms aren't available, use a combination of dried wild and fresh domestic mushrooms.
Serving suggestions: This is a very versatile salsa; especially good with chicken, grilled steak, or as a side dish.
Yield: About 3 cups.
Heat: 4-5

Fresh corn and fresh morels? This recipe isn't too slavish about seasonal availability, is it?

The side dish suggestion is a good one; I could see eating this with a spoon, and it would be nice not to be viewed as a freak because of that. Not that I eat salsa out of the jar with a spoon. Not often. Not again. Oh, God...

Anyway.

This would also be great loaded up on a tortilla chip or five.

Salsa Borracha: Drunk Salsa!

There's something about salsa-slathered food and beer... it's a perfect combination. So, why not put beer in the salsa? Try this recipe from The Great Salsa Book:

Salsa Borracha

3 ounces dried pasilla chiles (12-15), seeded and stemmed
4 tablespoons diced white onions
1 1/2 teaspoons virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cups (1 bottle) dark beer, such as Negra Modelo
2 cloves roasted garlic
3 Roma tomatoes, blackened
1/2 teaspoon toasted ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon toasted ground oregano
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces Queso Anejo or other dry-aged goat cheese, grated

Toast the chiles and rehydrate them in 2 cups of warm water (page 144). Drain the chiles, reserving 1/2 cup of the water. Devein the chiles and transfer to a blender. If it is not bitter, add the reserved chile water; otherwise, add 1/2 cup plain water. Sauté the onion in the oil for 5 minutes over medium heat, and add to the chiles. Add the garlic, tomatoes, cumin, oregano, salt, and beer, and blend until puréed. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Note: In Spanish, borracha means "drunk"; this recipe owes its titel to the inclusion of a bottle of beer. True pasilla chiles are dried chilaca chiles. Fresh poblanos are oftenly mistakenly labeled as pasillas, so double-check before buying.

Serving suggestions: With grilled beef or lamb
Yield: About 3 cups.
Heat: 4-5.

Oooo, tasty. The cheese, as you can guess, is optional; by "optional," I of course mean that you may choose to substitute another cheese to sprinkle on top of your salsa. You do not have the option of not using cheese here at Take One Cookbook. We are pro-cheese, and pretty snotty about it.

You may wonder, "Where the heck am I going to find pasilla chiles?" Well, dear friends, if you can't find them at your local market, get yourself over to TheSpiceHouse.Com. Please, remember the "the"; if you drop it, I can not be held accountable for what manner of not-safe-for-work site you might find yourself on. Anyway! The Spice House is a great store in Milwaukee, where Chefly Husband first took a cooking course. Their spices and herbs are amazing -- fresh, flavorful, transforming. And, yeah, they stock pasillas. Dried chiles from The Spice House tend to be supple as raisins. Mmmm. Delicious.

You could also check your local Penzey's... did I mention that The Spice House was founded by ... yup! Ruth and Bill Penzey. The spice empire all started in Milwaukee, with The Spice House.

I could go on gushing, and emphasizing the the -- can you tell someone I care about was deeply embarrassed once by forgetting the the in front of that someone's employer? -- but instead, I'll say: this recipe is worth the effort. Yes, it's fussy. Yes, there's lots of steps. Yes, you're working with those peppers a whole heck of a lot.

It's worth it. Great, rich, layered flavor.

And, if you find yourself with 5 extra bottles of Negra Modelo after you bought a 6-pack to make the recipe, well... that's just a bonus, isn't it?

Cranberry-Orange Salsa

Driving home from the chiropractor today (a long story, for a different blog), I saw what my friends and I refer to, seasonally, as The House That Christmas Puked On. It is, today, October 21st. Ten days before Halloween. And, lo, it came to pass that THTCPO is already putting up its Christmas decorations. There's a time and a place, people! Decorations go up after Thanksgiving! If you want to rush the seasons, do it the old fashioned way, and lose yourself in menu planning!

If you feel similarly, here's something to think about for your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey, from The Great Salsa Book:

Cranberry-Orange Salsa

2 cups dried cranberries (about 7 ounces)
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon minced orange zest
2/3 cup toasted pecans
4 teaspoons pure red chile powder.

Purée all the ingredients together in a food processor or blender.

Serving sugestions: With turkey, quail, or pork.
Yield: About 2 cups.
Heat: 2-3

Ooooo, a cranberry compote relying on dried cranberries, not fresh, frozen, or squidgy jellied out of the can! And with 4 teaspoons of chile powder, relatively mild -- it'll have spice but not fire -- so it should pass muster with some of the more conservative eaters at your table.

I'd like to try this with a selection of sausages. Grill or broil up the sausages, cut them into hearty bite-sized chunks, and use this salsa for dipping. A chicken-apple sausage would be great, as would a bratwurst.

In any given turkey dinner spread, I tend to devote more individual dishes to cranberry whatnots than any other specific foodstuff -- I like to have canned whole berry and canned jelly, and I must make a cranberry port compote from scratch. Can I add another cranberry dish? ...probably. It's worth considering.

The Great Salsa Book, by Mark Miller; Golden Tomato, Ginger, and Chipotle Salsa

It's time to confess something (confession being good for the soul): I'm a salsa addict. I put obscene amounts of salsa on anything that will stay moderately still long enough for me to pour. Long before Chefly Husband became either chefly or husbandish, he bought The Great Salsa Book, by Mark Miller (copyright 1994); it gave us our first forays into making our own salsa, instead of eating heat-pasteurized commercial stuffs. One of our early and perennial favorites, particularly suited to the end of the tomato season:

Golden Tomato, Ginger, and Chipotle Salsa

3 yellow tomatoes (about 1 pound), roughly chopped
1 chipotle chile en adobo
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon roasted garlic
1 tablespoon Coyote Cocina Howlin' Hot Sauce or other Scotch bonnet chile sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a food processor or blender, purée 2 of the tomatoes, the chipotle chile, and ginger. Add the remaining tomato and all of the other ingredients and pulse just enough to create a roughly blended mixture. Be sure to leave the salsa somewhat chunky.

Variation: Substitute 1 additional teaspoon Howlin' Hot Sauce or other yellow Scotch bonnet sauce or 1 teaspoon habanero chile sauce for the chipotle chile.
Serving suggestions: With grilled tuna, swordfish, pork, or duck.
Yield: About 2 cups.
Heat: 7.

Back in the day, we had the hardest time figuring out what the hell to do about getting chipotle in adobo. It's easier now -- heck, "Chipotle" is the name of a chain restaurant -- but if you've never used it in cooking before, here's what you need to do:

Go to the Hispanic/Latino/TexMex aisle in your supermarket. Look for a small can -- a bit larger than a tomato paste can. You'll get chipotles (smoked jalepenos) in a spicy sauce (adobo). When you take out one whole smoked chile, you'll have some thick dark smokey sauce clinging to it. Ta da! You've a chipotle en adobo. If you're going to use the rest of the can of chipotles within the week, put it in a glass dish, cover it in plastic, and stash it in the fridge. (Ask me about my chipotle/tequila/chicken soup recipe, a favorite for using up leftover chipotle en adobo.) Otherwise, put it in a freezer-safe zip-top bag, and freeze. The stuff is great, and lasts for a long time.

When Chefly Husband and I used it in the past, we paired it with fish -- the meaty fishes recommended in the recipe. So. Damned. Tasty.

Looking forward to a week of salsas, and might cap it off with Chefly Husband's own Quick Salsa recipe, if there's interest.

Mamma's (and Michael's) Meat Sauce

If you see comments on Take One Cookbook... from Kelly Redwine, you should know, you're reading my big sister. As a little sister, I feel it's my duty to both support and horribly tease my big sister whenever possible, and Eat This...It'll Make You Feel Better! has given me a fabulous chance. So, Kelly, here's your boyfriend's meat sauce recipe.

Mamma's (and Michael's) Meat Sauce

Once when my mother came to visit us, she taught my son Michael (who was nine years old at the time) to make this sauce. Michael (who is seventeen now) has been making it ever since. He takes requests for "Michael's Meat Sauce" without batting an eye.

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 28-oz. cans ready-cut, peeled tomatoes
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pound lean ground beef
1 teaspoon thyme
10 fresh mushrooms, diced

In a saucepan, heat oil and lightly brown onion, carrot, and garlic. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, pepper, and sugar. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, brown ground beef in skillet over medium-high heat, drain off fat. Add meat and thyme to tomato mixture. Cover and simmer 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and cook another 10 minutes.

Great with 1 pound of pasta, cooked al dente.

Serves 4-6.

I know you loooooooove him, Kelly, so here's a photo of your boyfriend. He's so dreamy!

Requisite teasing: over.

This meat sauce sounds like my family's standard spaghetti sauce -- well, if you sidestep around the whole "we used a Schilling seasoning packet" part -- and so sounds cozy as all get-out to me. I also like that it says how much pasta this recipe will sauce adequately. Anyone who gets 6 servings out of a pound of pasta is clearly no friend of mine, however. 4? Sure. 6? NO.

If for any reason you have leftovers, this should keep well.

As you'd expect, there are a lot of sauce recipes in Eat This...It'll Make You Feel Better! -- it's a predominantly Italian cookbook, after all. If anyone's interested, I'll post Mamma's Sunday Sauce, too... it's what Dom DeLuise grew up eating, and his default sauce.