Last night was cool and tonight is colder still, winter is arriving. That means a near steady stream of kale, bok choi, chard and tatsoi will be in our weekly produce box for the rest of the season, all of which pair really well with these sticky-salty-sweet beef ribs.
Helga is Marcus Samuelson's grandmother, and since my own grandmother has no recipe for meatballs, what better way to celebrate National Meatball Day than to use her's?
We love meatballs at my house and these are good! More carrots than usual, but that doesn't seem to be a problem. I served them with Nigel's Naked Sauce from Eatwell Farm and our son Gus' Farmstead Cheese, which he made at Louella Hill's Cheesemaking for Kids Class.
I neglected to mention this yesterday, but after dropping last night's Teriyaki Salmon on the grill I re-used its marinade for tonight's flank steak. I just can't let a half cup of soy sauce go to waste. Even my son took note of its long pouring time during preparation.
In his cookbook these are rib eyes on the bone, but I forgot, and bought them off. In typical Marcus Samulesson style the preparation involves an intricate and multi-stepped blending of culturally diverse ingredients that are delicious together, in new and surprising ways. In this case a coffee-chocolate rub, herbs, lemon juice and grilled garlic, jalapenos and scallions.
This dish puts an Indian spin on orange-beef, which I would usually consider Chinese. But adding Madras curry powder makes it something altogether different, a one-dish meal with the homey warmth of curry and a sour-sweet kick.
Roy Choi's memoir L.A. Son, the story of how he came to create the world's most popular taco truck, is a crazy fun ride of a read. In it he describes cabeza (aka beef cheek) tacos as "some of the best things this planet has to offer as food." So of course I had to try them.
Another one from The Commonsense Kitchen, p 327. How can anyone resist a meal with a name as fun to say as "Rico's Tacos?" It rhymes. And rings of a party with warm sea air where fairy lights hover over tables lit by flickering colored votives. The 1970's version of these candles, that I remember from my toddler-hood on the island paradise of Aruba.
Yes, of course, from this book. It is where 75% of my spring dinners come from. And it's green, perfect for the holiday! In my kitchen the color is more of a pleasant chartreuse than comes across here on the web.
Funny that almost exactly a year ago I was using this same cookbook. The Commonsense Kitchen must have some sort of connection to the Spring for me. Yesterday the weather was a beautiful mid-70s and sunny. This morning started out foggy, cleared to an even better day, but now at 4pm the fog has come back and I'm left contemplating grilling steak out in the cold.
There is a frozen flatiorn steak in my freezer. Bruce Aidell's The Complete Meat Cookbook explains that a flatiron steak, aka blade steak, is a top blade chuck steak, and can be quite tender. Fine, that's all good and well. But what should I do with it?
A few years ago we received this cookbook for a gift and my kids and I have loved it ever since. This was the birthday present we gave to all our friends that year. On p. 20, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is named after one of my (and my kids') all time favorite books. This is a nice recipe for a simple, family made dinner.