Italian Stuffed Flank Steak

Non-Conformist Easter

When you have a holiday that involves a traditional food, it is easy to get bored. (Except Thanksgiving. You don’t mess with Thanksgiving.) For me, it’s Easter.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things that I love about Easter but for some reason, this holiday more than any other makes me food-fidgety. (Yup. That’s a technical term.)

My sister hosts our Easter get togethers. Sometimes it’s brunch. Sometimes it’s dinner and, from time to time, it’s yelling in a clown’s mouth on the road to a soccer tournament.

This year our extended family is having brunch, which means that I will be doing my own thing for dinner. I’ve decided I’m going to go against all tradition and cook beef.

I have a large collection of recipe pages from classes at Tante Marie in the city. They are in plastic sheet covers, housed in 3-ring binders, and for the most part they sit on my shelf. From time to time, I flip through them looking for a particular recipe or inspiration. Last weekend I was thumbing through the pages when I saw one of my favorite recipes—Italian Stuffed Flank Steak. I decided then and there that I must make it for Easter dinner because: I’m just not all that excited about roasting a Leg of Lamb, it is so stinkin’ great, and Easter is as good an excuse as any.

Italian Stuffed Flank Steak is adapted by Tante Marie from a Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso recipe in The New Basics Cookbook. It takes some patience. Rolling the flank steak can be tricky. (Having another set of hands can be helpful). But it will always taste good no matter what the perfection police have to say about your rolling abilities. Read more…

Nitrate-Free Corned Beef

Corned Beef

Kiss Me, I’m Irish…Not Really.
When we got married, my husband knew that he was getting a wife who could cook. What he didn’t know was that he was marrying someone who is culinarily (is that even a word?!?) nuts. If I find some celebration, cuisine or ingredient that fascinates me, fasten your seat belts! Like it or not, you are going on this ride of discovery with me as taste-testers, guinea pigs, or unsuspecting victims. This is how the Moroccan Dinner came to be. It is also why I have pickles of many shapes and flavors decorating my shelves—there are too many to eat. It is also why my bookcase is filled with books I may only take out once a year.

Here’s the perfect example: Monday is St. Patrick’s Day. So do I go out and celebrate like the rest of the world with green beer and shamrock shakes? Nope. That would be the normal thing to do…though normal is relative.

This year I am going to corn my own beef for our St. Patrick’s Day dinner. You may first ask yourselves “why?”. The answer is I am compelled to do it, and resistance is futile. The second question may be “Is this a request from my family?” No. “Is it for a school project about St. Patrick’s Day?” No. “Are you Irish?” Nope. I’m just nuts.

I get these ideas in my head about wanting to taste things the way they are supposed to taste, the way they were originally prepared back in the day when you walked out into the pasture to get that night’s dinner, and before mass production was an option. I become obsessed with authenticity. So when I can’t find someone who makes things the “right” way, I give in to my psychosis and make it myself. This is why I’m corning my own beef.

It used to be that butchers would make their own corned beef and people would buy it by the pound—and not just on St. Patrick’s Day. For years we made it here at the store, until people just stopped eating corned beef regularly. Of course the last of our guys to do it took the recipe with him when he left.

I am trying a corned beef recipe I found in Michael Symon’s book Carnivore. It may not be “super authentic” but it’s my first go ’round. Next time I can be psycho authentic chick. It’s nitrate free (which is always a good idea) so the meat won’t have the usual pink hue. I am looking forward to the results and the corned beef hash. Read more…

Open-Face Fava and Egg Salad Sandwiches

Peas of Mind

Over the weekend I started getting my garden ready for the spring. I waterproofed the floor of my greenhouse, started my pumpkin and cantaloupe seeds, and planted the English peas that I had started a few weeks ago.

Because I have done this, we are now supposed to have a torrential downpour that will last for days starting on Wednesday. Had I known that I could make water fall from the sky by the bucketful just by working in the garden, I would have started at the beginning of January. Now I just have to hope that my plants will survive the beating.

This year I opted not to plant fava beans along with my peas, and I am now regretting that decision. After finishing in the garden and feeling rather pleased with myself, I sat down with my lemonade and Sunset magazine, and pretended that I was the kind of person who would normally be enjoying the spring-like weather while reading Sunset. (I really would like to be that person, who is a gardening bad ass, but it’s just not true. If I am successful it usually dumb luck.)

Anyway, while thumbing through the March issue, I spied a recipe that made me stop in my tracks. Open-Faced Fava and Egg Salad Sandwiches. What could say “The Winter produce doldrums are over!” better than that? It’s so simple, but the bright green color of the favas screams Spring, and the picture made my mouth water. After noting that it included a recipe for tabil by Kitty Morse, one of my favorite Moroccan cooking teachers, I knew I would have to try it. Now I will regret not having the fresh fava beans from the garden.

For now, I will sit back and be happy for the rain, and cross my fingers that my peas will survive…and wait for fresh favas to appear at the market.

Open-Face Fava and Egg Salad Sandwiches
Recipe adapted from Kitty Morse and myrecipes.com Read more…

Featherbed Eggs

Featherbed Eggs At least one of the mornings each weekend, I try to make up for all the cereal and bagels we have eaten for breakfast during the week by making a big breakfast. By big I mean anything that doesn’t require a bowl and a spoon, and actually takes some effort. Sometimes I make pancakes, sometimes it’s scrambled eggs and bacon, and other times I make all three.

This past weekend, we had our Cookbook Club dinner, but this time around, we turned it into brunch because the book we chose was The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham. While I was not totally blown away by the book, I did like the Featherbed Eggs recipe that I made for the group. And there are a few other recipes in it that I would make again.

Featherbed Eggs are basically bread pudding with cheese, that you start the night before, and bake when you get up in the morning. It’s a good basic recipe that would stand up to some of your favorite additions. Personally, I would go with some green chilies or bell peppers, but you could do bacon or ham as well. It’s so pretty right out of the oven, and super easy to make. I doubled the recipe (cause 4 servings wouldn’t be enough), and alternated bread and cheese layers like you would for lasagna. It worked out well.

So if you are feeling like you’re in a breakfast rut this weekend, invite some friends over and give this recipe a try.… It goes well with some spicy Bloody Marys too! Read more…