Been so long – Satay-style flank steak

This seems a good recipe to come back with, as it’s been many, many years since I made it.  OK, technically the peanut butter might be less than ideal but the flavour is so tasty and there is nothing I could substitute.  I think the original recipe, which I have tweaked over the years, came from the Washington Post but the original info is lost in time.

For the marinade:

a good dollop of peanut butter, maybe two tablespoons

a few drops of Tabasco sauce

the juice of two limes

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1 tbls fresh garlic, minced

1 tbls soy sauce

Mix this all up.  if it is very thick, add a little more lime juice, some stock, or even some water, to thin it to a pouring consistency.

Marinate a couple of flank steaks for 8 hours or so.  Sorry, no idea on the size and weight.  we get them from Costco in a big pack and they are not full steaks, more like chinks, so it’s hard to tell the weight of any individual one!

Grill or BBQ.  Grind over plenty of fresh pepper, and I like the mixed peppercorns best.  If you BBQ, be aware that the marinade is quite thick and sticky and it will stick to the grill.

The leftover marinade should be cooked well, and then can be spooned over the sliced meat (and slicing thinly, across the grain will make the flank steak less chewy, but keep in mind it is NOT a prime cut, but a bargain one)

Leftovers the next day, on a bed of green salad leaves and a scattering of beans is a great no-fuss lunch, with any extra marinade whisked up with a little sesame oil and extra soy for a salad dressing.

Looks a bit messy, but I’m out of practice.  We have been having a rotating series of meals, all stuff I’ve put on here before, or when I’ve done something new I’ve forgotten to take a photo.

Now summer has fully arrived I suspect I’ll try some new recipes that are more salad based so hopefully there will be new stuff slightly more regularly.

This slow-carb cooking was a total departure from the way I usually cooked.  So in the beginning, I was doing at least 5 new or altered recipes a week.  Once I found a core set of recipes that I felt we could eat over and over again, I soon settled into a routine, cycling thru them, with some favourites coming out every week.  Then it was ALL about the BBQ, and really there are just so many marinades that you can do before they all seem to become variations on the basic oil-acid-spice or herb recipe and not worth sharing.  With some heat finally here and very hot days, I’ll be looking for recipes that either don’t use the oven or that can be made all week after the results of a massive BBQ on the weekend are stored to be trotted out all week.  I still need to pull my finger out and make some home-made Caesar dressing for chicken Caesar salads, as an example.

So how’s it going?  Well, frankly we are still enjoying the food, but the weight loss seems stalled.  No exercise to speak of and too many days with not enough water, and too many “special occasions” that end up being cheat days during the week.  I was 1.5 lbs. away from my first major milestone then a bad cheat day at Jamie’s Italian in London, and a handful of little cheats during the week and I am still losing the same 3 lbs over and over again.  I know what we need to do, but making it happen is harder than it should be.

We shall see what summer brings and then decide.

Still messing with that recipe!

Last night I made the blog recipe of ground beef with broccoli again and changed it even more.

1. I added broccoli (fresh), green beans (fresh) and lots of onion

2. Instead of Soy Sauce I added a cup of strong, rich beef broth with red wine

3. I added a goodly portion of garlic, 3 cloves or more

4. Again, puy lentils instead of white beans.

I also roasted some long sweet red peppers with olive oil, salt, pepper and more garlic.  Served together the combo was just yummy.  So yummy, in fact, we sat down and ate it without stopping to take a picture!  Oh well.  Just imagine it.

Next time….

Sort of curry

I had a couple of packs of the 3 for £10 beef from ASDA and wanted to make something nice. This is what I did:

1 tbls olive oil

2 onions very finely diced

1 tlbs cumin seed

600 to 700 gm stew beef

1 tbls garlic puree

1 tbls ginger puree

1 tbls lemon grass puree

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tbls ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 400 ml can coconut milk

Saute the onions for about 10 minutes then add the cumin seed and saute for a minute or two more.

Add the beef and saute till it is browned.  You can remove the onion and add a bit more oil and do this in two batches if you like.

Add all the spices and saute for a minute or two. Salt and pepper.  Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil.

Put it all in an oven-safe casserole and put it into a low oven (about 120c) for 2 hours, checking it every so often to make sure there is enough liquid.

Add in a bag of washed and stems-removed baby spinach for the last 30 minutes so it wilts down.

DH thought it needed more heat.  I served it with a cauliflower mash, basically this recipe but with the florets steamed till soft then blended with the oil and turmeric, and the onion seeds added last thing.  DS and I liked the mash, DH prefered is as florets. Two to one – he loses!  I’d make it again with even more cumin and garlic, I think.

Doesn’t look very appealing in the photo but it was very tasty. I added a little sprinkle of ground almond on the top.

A rare no-bean meal!

Tim’s blog recipe – altered

Like most slow-carbers, I watch Tim’s blog for info, tips, etc.

The recipe posted recently interested me,  but frankly I didn’t like a few elements of it – first, why use frozen broccoli?  OK so maybe a case could be made for flash frozen veg being “fresher” than fresh, but I’m not convinced of that.  I suppose it depends on where you get it.  Obviously fresh from YOUR garden is better.  Also, there wasn’t enough veg in there for me – I used a full head and a bit of broccoli and a handful of sliced spring onions and I would have liked even MORE. I toyed with adding some fresh spinach to wilt in there as well, and probably will add it next time.

Just soy sauce for flavoring didn’t appeal either, so I used soy sauce, a tbls. of rice wine vinegar (accepting the slight carb content as a trade off for the flavour) and some sesame oil – I used no oil in the pan, but used a non-stick skillet and drained off the fat.  That helped boost the flavor for me.  I tend to think chicken when I think cannelli beans, or tuna, not red meat, so I used a can of puy lentils instead.

It was good, but not outstanding.  Still, it was fast and easy, with little clean-up after the fact, so I would be happy making it again – just lots more veg and maybe some ginger and garlic added whisked into the soy/vinegar/sesame oil as well. I think bean sprouts might also be a nice addition.

While I can see the appeal of minimal ingredients, I just think adding a few more things turn the recipe form a nice enough dish when you are in a hurry into a proper and tasty meal. But then I don’t get the whole egg/spinach/beans/salsa microwave breakfast either! If I only get to eat a limited number of things, I want those things to be as flavoursome and appealing as humanly possible within the limits for losing fat.  If that means it takes 20 minutes instead of 10 or 15, and used 10 ingredients instead of 3 then so be it.

Spicy beans and Flank Steak

When you are married to someone who likes REALLY spicy food, and you don’t, it’s always a struggle to come up with something that pleases both people. The default is to make things NOT spicy and let DH tart it up with lashings of hot sauce, and believe me, he has a lot of choices there:

This was maybe slightly hotter than I would like it to be, especially without yogurt or rice or potatoes to help tame the fire, for me, and not hot enough for him.  Still it was pretty tasty with the meat.  I just took the same spices and the lemon juice and oil to make a marinade for the steak (cumin, coriander and turmeric plus about 3 tbls of oil and the juice of a big lemon, about 3 tbls.) then let it marinate all day and cooked it under the grill.  Even DS liked it – so much he has sliced leftovers for his lunchbox treat today!

Spicy Beans

1 big onion, cut in thin slices

1 tbls olive oil (I use garlic infused OO)

1 tbls fresh grated ginger or ginger paste

1 tbls mashed garlic or garlic puree

hot sauce or a de-seeded not too hot chili,  minced

1 tbls ground cumin and 1 tbls cumin seeds

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp. turmeric

3 tbls lemon juice

1/2 cup water

I only had coriander puree in a tube but will try fresh cilantro/coriander leaves next time

Seems like a lot but it really isn’t complicated.

Fry the onion in the oil for about 5 minutes till it is all soft and brown.

Add the hot sauce or minced chili and all the spices and stir to combine.

Add the ginger and garlic and the lemon juice and water and cook for about 5 minutes.

To this basic mix you can add whatever beans you like.  I had cannelli and black beans on hand so I added a can of each.

Cook for 10 minutes then add the coriander/cilantro leaves.  Taste, then salt and pepper.

I only added two cans of beans but I think that more could have been added. I wonder what the result would be if I used my wand blender to make a sort of mash from the bean and onion mix?

And I suspect DH would have enjoyed any leftovers scrambled with eggs in the morning…with hot sauce, I’m sure!

 

Meatball soup

I am always looking for a good way to use ground beef, as I often find it on sale, and this fits the bill.

1 kg ground beef

2 tbls garlic puree or fresh minced garlic

1/2 cup frozen spinach (defrosted and squeezed dry) – you could try fresh chopped spinach but frozen was what I had!

1 tbls herb mix (Italian is best) or a variety of chopped fresh herbs – thyme, sage, basil, oregano

1 large egg

1 finely minced onion

1 tbls of soy or Worstercheshire sauce

salt and pepper

Mix all this up in a bowl. Form into small meatballs, a heaped tablespoon in size, then pop in a baking tray and into a 180C/350F oven for about 15 minutes.  Turn and pop back in for another 15 minutes till the meatballs are slightly crispy on the edges.

Drain off the fat.  Add 500- 1000 ml of rich beef stock and a 400g can of chopped tomatoes to a large casserole (how much stock you add will depend on how much liquid you want – really soupy or more meatballs with some “juice”. Less stock and it will be more tomato-y in flavour) and extra herbs and garlic if you want.  Add the meatballs and a 400g can of Borlotti beans.

Pop this in the oven for 20-30 minutes, to reduce the liquid a bit and heat the beans.

All it needs is a green salad, with some fresh spinach leaves if you like them that way.

Works great with black beans too, and you can surely add more than one can for a more bean-rich bowl.

 

 

Spicy Beef

I have a recipe from my mate’s DH for Stracatto (italian beef, slow cooked) that I adapted for this.  As with most of my food photos, it looks a bit messy but I assure you it tastes fab!

1 small bottle of red wine (the lunch/individual serving size, 1.87 CL I think)

2 lbs. flank steak

2 tbls. olive oil

one carrot, stalk of celery and medium red onion, finely chopped

couple of cloves of garlic minced

2 bay leaves

1 tbls. each sage and italian mixed herbs

1 400 gm. can of chopped tomatoes

Marinate the beef in the wine for 8 hours if you cn manage it – but even 4 hours would be good. Take it out of the wine (but save the wine!) and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper.  Brown the meat well on both sides in the olive oil – you want a good dark colour overall.  Take out the beef and fry the carrot/celery/onion in the same pan, for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic ad fry briefly but don’t let it brown.  Add the reserved marinade and cook down till it coats all the veg. Add the tomatoes and the other herbs and bring to a boil.  Put the meat in a covered casserole, pour over the veg and tomato mixture, add the bay leaves.  Cover and cook in the oven, very low heat (about 140C) for 3 or 4 hours till the meat falls apart.  You may need to add a bit more liquid, water, wine or even beef stock, if it seems to be drying out.

Remove the meat chunks and stir some Beluga lentils into the thickened sauce.  Serve with spinach or other assorted veg.

Other meat will also work well – chuck steak, pot roast, whatever.  The long slow cooking will leave you with tender meat that flakes apart with a fork.  Cannelli beans would also work with this.  You could turn it into more of a stew by adding more liquid (say 2 cans of tomatoes and/or 500 ml of beef broth) and add in the lentils and the spinach towards the end of the cooking, breaking up the meat in the casserole,  then heat through and serve in a bowl. A squeeze of lemon at the table lifts the flavours, and adding chili flakes adds a kick to it.