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Grilled Skirt Steak with Shiitake Mushroom Salsa

If a cookbook has a recipe that requires skirt steak, you can bet it's usually going to get cooked in this household. Skirt steak is an absolute favorite of ours and we try to stock up when we find it on sale. When I saw this recipe in the Cat Cora Cooking from the Hip cookbook, I knew that I had to try it. 

I never would have thought of a mushroom salsa before this recipe but it was really good. It went great with the skirt steak and I imagine it would go great with any kind of steak (the marinade too). I actually would have rather had more of the Shiitake Mushroom Salsa and will double the salsa recipe the next time I make this. (I'm sure you are only supposed to have a bit of salsa with each bite of steak but it was that good that I wanted more...I wanted to smother the steak with the salsa!).

The skirt steak with the mushroom salsa was very simple to make and quick to put together. Something easily done after work (marinate the steak in the morning before leaving for work). I only marinated the steak for two hours and thought it had wonderful flavor.  We also just broiled the steak instead of grilling it (this would work with an indoor stove top grill pan too).

Mr. L really liked the flavor combination of this dish as did I. I think we'll use the Shiitake Mushroom Salsa on many other cuts of meat in the future.

Sorry for the funky format of the recipe. Typepad changed something on me and I can't figure out now to NOT have double spacing on the ingredients!

GRILLED SKIRT STEAK WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOM SALSA

MARINADE

4-5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons peeled, grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon lime juice (from 2 large limes)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons honey

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

SHIITAKE MUSHROOM SALSA

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 1/2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms (about 1/2 pound)

2 large shallots, sliced into rings

1 small red chili, sliced into rings

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped scallions

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds skirt steak

For the marinade: In a large bowl, mix together the garlic, ginger, lime juice, soy sauce, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper to make a paste. Rub this mixture over the steak, place steak in a shallow dish, cover, and marinate for at least 1 hour, or preferably overnight in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before grilling.

Preheat the grill. Just before you put the steak on the grill, prepare the shiitake salsa.

For the Shiitake Mushroom Salsa: Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and turn the heat to high. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms. Lower the heat to medium-high. Saute until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add the shallots and chili and saute until the shallots just begin to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the mushroom mixture to a bowl to cool. Add the cilantro, sesame oil, vinegar, scallions, salt, and pepper and toss lightly.

Remove the skirt steak from the marinade and place on the grill over medium-hot coals. Cook until the steak is crusted on all sides but still medium-rare inside, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove the steak from the grill and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Cut into 1-inch thick slices and serve with a spoonful of salsa on top. Serves 4

Note: Recipe says you can serve with warm tortillas. I didn't even cut the skirt steak into strips (like fajitas), I just put a slab of steak on the plate and put the salsa on top.

Note: I added a bit more garlic. I didn't have red chili so I used a jalapeno.

Note: I only marinated for two hours and then just broiled the steak until medium rare.

Seems like a lot of ingredients but they came together quickly. I can see whipping up the marinade and putting it on the steak the night before so all you have to do is take the meat out to get to room temp and make the salsa when you get home from work.

Current Cookbook - Cooking From the Hip

COOKING FROM THE HIP - Fast, Easy, Phenomenal Meals by Cat Cora with Ann Krueger Spivack

This cookbook has a copyright of 2007. I bought this book at Barnes & Noble for $7.98. I have never cooked from this before.

I picked this book up mainly because Cat Cora looks amazing on the front. It helped that the photos of the recipes looked good and the recipes themselves sounded interesting. And she's an Iron Chef. I figured a cookbook for quick and easy meals from an Iron Chef should be good.

The cookbook is divided into five chapters: Fast (30 minutes or less) Easy (not a lot of thought to put together) Fun (recipes that family and friends can help with), Phenomenal (for special evenings) and Good to Know (basic recipes like stock and roasting bell peppers).

I have to admit, most of the recipes don't seem fast or easy to me. The instructions do seem easy to follow. Cat gives notes on a lot of the recipes which tell you little tips and tricks to make things easier/faster. She introduces each recipe with a background on an ingredient, the dish itself or substitutions you can make. Interspersed throughout are pages of information (information about Hash, what it is and how to make it using leftovers or definitions of different rices and how to use them). Though almost every recipe has a photo, not every photo is of the finished dish, some are just of ingredients.

The recipes sound intriguing...Shiitake Duxelles Tea Sandwiches, Medjool Dates with Goat Cheese and Toasted Almonds, Greek Lamb and Olive Burgers with Garlic "Sauce", Lemonade Cookies, Salmon Fillets with Fava Bean Sauce, Tropical Fruit and Jerk Chicken Sushi, Pomegranate-Glazed Duck Breast with Pear, Pearl Onion, and Mushroom Hash.

Looks like an interesting cookbook and I have many pages bookmarked to try.

Small Plates - November 6, 2009

MUCHO NACHOS - Can you guess what I'm craving today? Nachos. Probably because it's National Nachos Day and recipes for the stuff are popping up all over. I'm still a basic nacho girl: chips, refried beans, cheese (monterey jack and cheddar), jalapenos and sour cream. I'll add some guacamole if I have it but I don't crave it on my nachos. And when I make nachos they have to be "individual"...meaning that each and every chip has beans, cheese, a jalapeno slice and some sour cream. I hate getting an order of nachos and only having the good stuff on the top layer of chips.

NACHO SOUP - I made Nacho Cheese Soup before, but it was made with canned soup. I'm thinking I need to find a good recipe that uses some fresh cheese. Any recipes you can recommend?

EVEN HOCKEY PLAYERS LIKE NACHOS - "Take some nachos, take some Coke and enjoy the game". To find out which hockey player made that comment go here. 

FAVORITE NACHO QUOTE - "When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room. It's for fun." Okay technically it's not about Nachos but it does come from the movie Nacho Libre!

NACHO FANDOM - There are several blogs and websites out there devoted to all things Nacho. Check out Nachos NY (they have info about nachos in other cities too) or Enjoy Nachos. 

HALLOWEEN REDO - Finished off all that Halloween candy yet? Still have a ton left and have no clue what to do with it? I have two options for you. First, how about a Halloween Candy Pie? Though my first thought was "ewwwww", my second thought was "I so need to try this next year!". Yeah, that's it, I can go trick or treating, house to house telling folks they need to give me candy so I can make a pie. I'm sure there's a costume for that. You can check out the pie on Cakespy's wonderful site here . The second idea for that leftover candy came via a Facebook conversation between my cousin in Texas and some friends of hers. Seems the thing to do is have your kids pick out 25 pieces of candy, set that aside and use it sort of as an advent calendar treat for the days before Christmas. Gives a place for the candy to go instead of in the garbage (or your husbands tummy!). Great way for the kids not to be upset because they don't get to eat all their hard earned goodies right away.

UPDATE: Noble Pig posted a recipe for Halloween Candy Vanilla Bundt Cake using leftover candy. Check it out here. Gotta try to make this next year (unless I can find someone who will donate their leftover Halloween candy this year!).

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Small Plates - November 3, 2009

GOODBYE GOURMET, I HARDLY KNEW YE. - I've been subscribing to Gourmet magazine since I was in my twenties. You see a few years worth in this photo. I have many (many) more years packed away in boxes in my garage. But as with my cookbooks, I rarely if ever cooked from Gourmet Magazine. Okay, to be honest, the first time I made anything from the magazine was about four or five years ago when I made the cookie recipe on the cover of the December issue. The second time was last year when I made a roast recipe. Yes, two recipes in a gazillion years. Bad Gourmet reader. But I really did read each months issue, bookmark recipes I wanted to try and I've used issues to find places to eat on vacation. But no longer. Gourmet magazine as we know it has ceased publishing. Such a shame. I am comforted in the fact that I have all those back issues to try to cook from, but I will truly miss getting Gourmet each month in my mailbox.

THE COOKING LIVES ON - I've always thought that at some point I would go through all my old Gourmet issues and cook something out of them. I've found a new blog that will help me do just that. Gourmet, unbound wants bloggers to "cook, adapt, and write about a Gourmet recipe from that month's issue of any year of the magazine". So this December I can look through all my old December Gourmets and try to pick a recipe to cook. If you don't have back issues, you can always go the Epicurious website and find a recipe that was originally printed in the required month. I have a good five years sitting in my TV room and countless past years still to unpack. This might be one group I participate in quite a bit! To check out Gourmet, unbound go here.

GOURMETS LAST DAY - A gentleman by the name of Kevin Demaria who worked at Gourmet chronicled the last day of the magazines existence in photos. If you've ever worked at a company that has suddenly closed it's doors, this might bring back some depressing memories, but he did a beautiful job in capturing what was going on. To check out his photos go here.

Vienna Sausage Cornbread

Yes. Halloween is over.  This is not a trick. But, yes, you read that right, Vienna Sausage*. I admit, as a kid, I was a huge fan of the stuff. It was a treat. But I'll also admit I haven't eaten Vienna Sausage in at least 25 years.

And then I came across this little recipe. Tucked in among all these old papers my mom gave me to go through were some old recipes that were cut out of magazines and pasted to 3x5 cards. There were two cards, one that used real sausage and one that used, yes, those little canned wieners, Vienna Sausage.

So I bit the dust and bought a can. I had to try it just to bring back some of those childhood memories. Since the recipe called for a 4-oz can and they only sold 5-oz, I thought I'd take a taste of one of the sausages before I cooked with them. I remember pork goodness. I got, er, not such pork goodness. Not really a taste I remember. Not really a taste that I'd swoon over. So I didn't populate the entire cornbread with Vienna Sausage slices as requested, I just put them on half.

Interesting taste. Because they were cut so small it didn't really over flavor the cornbread. It gave the cornbread a different taste, but that I honestly can't say I was fond of. If you like Vienna Sausages you'll probably like this. I think next time I'll try the second recipe that requested Italian Hot sausage.

VIENNA SAUSAGE CORNBREAD 

1 package cornbread mix

1 4-oz can Vienna Sausages

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. (hot). Prepare mix as directed on package. Pour into baking pan. Cut sausages into 1/4 inch crosswise slices. Scatter over batter. Bake 30 minutes. Cut in squares and serve hot with butter. Serves 4.

Note: I used Jiffy corn muffin mix

Note: I didn't have real milk so I made a mixture of heavy cream and skim milk.

Note: I used the standard Vienna Sausage (as opposed to various flavors).

Note: I used the corn bread (Johnny cake) directions on the side of the Jiffy box.

*the can says Vienna Sausage is made with chicken, beef & pork in chicken broth. Ready to eat plump, delicately seasoned sausages.

Halloween - October 31, 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Have a great Halloween or the pumpkin gets it! Wait, the pumpkin already got it. And I have the guts to prove it. All I have to do now is roast those pumpkin seeds (Simply Recipes has a how-to here).

May your kids get lots of candy tonight (that they share with any and all adults which is what I'm hoping Mr. L's Godson and his sister do). May your house not be toilet papered, egged, or soaped. May all your neighbors be home answering their doors with their houses decorated. And may you all have a wonderful Halloween.

Halloween - October 30, 2009

If you haven't already checked out Extremepumpkins.com you need to. He posts amazing pumpkins on his site (and he has several books out you can find here and here). But this post isn't about pumpkins. It's about Candy Corn.

See, I have this love/hate relationship with Candy Corn. I don't think I really like the taste. It's all waxy and sugary...but I eat it. By the handfuls. If there is a bag of it or a bowl of it, I will just eat and eat and eat until it's gone. Dangerous stuff. I thought I might have to make a smaller version of this Candy Corn Extreme Pumpkin next year. They said it took three or four bags of candy corn to make. I'm assuming it will take about seven bags for me, since I'll probably be eating most of the decoration before it makes it onto the pumpkin. 

Now if you look around the internets and food blogs you will find a TON of recipes that either require the use of Candy Corn or mimic the look and taste of Candy Corn. I have a feeling next year will be the "Candy Corn" year at our house. Check out of a few of the recipes available:

Candy Corn Cordials from The Food Network

Candy Corn Cookie Bark and Candy Corn Cookies from Recipe Girl

Candy Corn Crackers from Better Homes and Garden

Sparkling Candy Corn Cookies from Lank O Lakes

Candy Corn Parfaits from Joy of Baking

Candy Corn Cupcakes from Megan's Munchies

Chocolate Candy Corn Truffles from Sunset Magazine

Halloween Candy Corn Pizza from Oprah

Candy Corn Rice Krispie Treats from Kelloggs

Candy Corn Latte from DaVinci

Candy Corn Mousse from The Runaway Spoon

Candy Corn Champagne from Pocket Cocktails

Candy Corn Shooters from The Nest

Candy Corn Cereal Treats from Baked Perfection

Candy Corn Jello Bundt from The Food Librarian 

Vegan Candy Corn from The Urban Housewife

Candy Corn Snack Mix from Taste of Home

And if you've made some Candy Corn treats, why not make these cute little Candy Corn Bags from The Crafty Crow to put them in!

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Halloween - October 29, 2009

I heart Not Martha. Who else would come up with this hand to serve for dinner? And if you go here she will show you step by step directions on how to make this meat hand. She even gives you several different versions to make! Yes, I guess the Mummy Meatloaf from yesterday was a bit too tame for some of my readers. The Phantom sent me this link from Food Network Humor which shows many different ways to serve up meatloaf on Halloween. None of them look half as appetizing as the Mummy Meatloaf. In fact, even knowing they were edible, some of those dishes I wouldn't even serve my cat!

Do check out the Not Martha blog for more ideas. She has links to Halloween recipes, costumes and all sorts of Halloween goodness! Check out Not Martha here.

Halloween - October 28, 2009

There are so many great bloggers out there posting amazing food they have cooked up for Halloween. I'm bummed that I didn't have time to link to them all or to try out some of their ghoulish treats. But I admit, I'm a bit candy overloaded right now and Halloween is still a few days away. That's why when I saw this meatloaf I decided it had to be made even if it's not in time for Halloween.

There are cupcakes out there that look similar and you can find directions for them here, here, here and here - all different degrees of difficulty and flavors. A Google search will give you many options for mummy cupcakes.

But this? Meatloaf? Sigh, speaks to my Halloween heart.  You can find the recipe for this on Epicurious here. I'm thinking any meatloaf recipe would work though. I am having a bit of a problem with finding the pasta (it's pappardelle which I may have to order as I can't find that size at any of my local stores. Okay, yes, I could make my own pasta, but get real, this is ME trying to make this). The eyes are made out of  slices of a Mozzarella ball and some olives. Seriously cute. And perfect to disguise meatloaf for kids that may not be inclined to eat it in the first place. 

Slow Roasted Pork Belly

For ages I kept running across these awesome sounding recipes that required, no, demanded the use of good pork belly. So when I came across some pork belly at Prathers in the Ferry Building I had to snatch some up. Because it's pork belly. And it was Prathers. I bought two packages. Not cheap but, like I said. Pork Belly. Prathers.

Of course when I got home and tried to find all these delicious recipes I was remembering I couldn't find a one. I know there are a ton in recent food magazines and in some of my newer cookbooks, but I really was at a loss to locate them.

So I started an internet search and came across quite a few good sounding recipes that took more time than I had or required ingredients that weren't in my pantry. Until I came across this little recipe that was up on Cucina Rebecca's blog back in 2006. She said it "has a difficulty level only slightly higher than boiling water" which sounded right up my ally these days. And it required just two main ingredients. The pork belly and onions.

This was good. Really good. The kind of good that had Mr. L and I not even making it to the dining room table. We started tasting this right out of the pan. And we kept tasting. Standing at the kitchen island cutting pieces off. And next thing we knew the pork belly was gone. In our bellies. Pork fatty goodness. Meltingly good. Seriously good. I think I even heard Mr. L swoon. I'm of the mind that a lot of the tastiness of the dish came from the yummy pork belly from Prathers. No matter. I have a second pork belly to cook. I have several other pork belly recipes to try. But I may just have to go the simple route and make this again.

Do check out Cucina Rebecca's post about the pork belly here. She had me laughing when I came across it and it was part of the reason I decided to make this simple dish. She stopped posting in 2007 which is a shame as I liked her style. She was in Australia so I tried to figure out the measurements as best I could since we measure things funny compared to them. The recipe is in her words.

SLOW ROASTED PORK BELLY

1 kg piece of pork belly with rind still on

2 large onions

Olive oil

Salt

Peel the onions and cut them in half. Lay the onions, cut side down, in a baking dish. They will form a trivet and keep the pork from touching the hot dish. Score the pork skin with a very sharp knife at about 1 cm intervals length ways and rub with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place the pork on the onions, add a little water to the bottom of the dish, and bake at 160°C for 2 ½ - 3 hours.

Check it every so often. The alchemy that happens involves the pork skin slowly crisping to a magnificently crunchy crackling, and the fat from the layers dissolving out, not only basting the pork constantly, but basting the slowly caramelizing onions underneath.

Add more water to the dish in small amounts so the juices that run out don’t scorch. Never baste the top of the crackling, just keep adding water to the baking dish.

At the end of the cooking time, remove the pork and let it rest, remove the onions and take the rendered fat off the top of the juices (you can scrape the dish and make a jus with these juices by adding wine and water and reducing them down further).

Cut the crackling off the pork ready to snap into deafeningly crispy shards of crunchy delight, and cut the pork against the grain into serving pieces which will be meltingly juicy. Serve with your favorite winter veggies, or make a scallop’s day and sear it and chuck it on top.

Note from Mrs. L: I made cuts which were probably more than 1cm (about an inch) and I think I made them too deep. Next time closer cuts and and shallower.

Note from Mrs. L: I baked it at 320 degrees F which I think is about 160 C and what I think was correct for my convection oven. I roasted the pork belly for almost 3 hours.

Note from Mrs. L: 1 kg of pork belly is about 2.2 lbs. I had a pork belly that was a bit under a pound and it was "skin on" which I think is what she was referring to when she says "rind". I used medium onions and an 8" x 8" pan to cook this dish.

Note from Mrs. L: I put probably a half a cup of water in the bottom of the pan and it was too much. Next time I'd  go with just a bit of water and add more if needed.

Note from Mrs. L: I did not add scallops nor did I make a "jus". Mr. L did however save the juices and who know what might be made with that.

This was pretty dang tasty. Made me realize that pork belly is a good thing and though I won't be cooking it regularly, I'll eat it every chance I get. Super simple recipe that works. Loved the hard cracking skin. More please.