Menu of the Week #5

Harper says hi. This week I tried two new recipes, and both will make a return on our menu this year for sure. Cuban Shredded Beef with Rice and Beans, Salmon over Faux Risotto, Old Bay Shrimp Rolls, Chicken Picatta over Egg Noodles, and Pumpkin Pasta with Chicken Sausage.

Sunday: Cuban Shredded Beef with Rice and Beans
I found this recipe for Cuban Shredded Beef in the September/October 2015 Cooks Illustrated magazine and thought it would make a perfect Sunday dinner. The day did not go as planned though and I was not left with enough time to boil the 2 pounds of boneless beef chuck-eye roast for an hour and forty-five minutes. Instead, I put the 1 1/2 inch cubes of meat in my pressure cooker with half an onion, a large sprinkle of salt and some beef broth for 20 minutes. Guess what? It worked splendidly.

A new technique that I learned from this recipe was to put the cooked beef on a metal sheet pan and pound it with a meat pounder. This produces a nice mix of chunks and fine threads.

Ingredient List:
2 lbs well-marbled chuck eye roast, pulled apart at seams, trimmed, and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
3 garlic cloves, minced
Vegetable oil
1/4 t ground cumin
2 T orange juice
1 1/2 t grated lime zest plus 1 T juice, plus lime wedges for serving
1 onion, halved and sliced thin
2 T dry sherry

1. Bring beef, 2 cups water, and 1 1/4 t salt to boil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and gently simmer until beef is very tender about 1 hour 45 minutes. (Check every 30 minutes, adding water, so that bottom third of beef is submerged.)

Instead, I put mine in the pressure cooker and would do it this way again, so easy!

While beef simmers, combine garlic, oil, and cumin in a bowl. Combine orange juice and lime zest and juice in the second bowl.

2. Remove lid from skillet, increase heat to medium, and simmer until water evaporates and beef starts to sizzle, 3 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer beef to rimmed baking sheet. Pour off and reserve fat from skillet. Rinse skillet clean and dry with paper towels. Place sheet of alumninum foil over beef and, using meat pounder or heavy saute pan, pound to flatten beef into 1/8-inch thick peices, discarding any large pieces of fat or connective tissue. (Some of the beef shold separate into shreds. Larger pieces that do not seperate can be torn in half. )

3. Heat 1 1/2 t reserved fat (or add vegetable oil) in the now empty skillet over high heat. When fat begins to sizzle, add onion and 1/3 t salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden brown and charred in spots, 5-8 minutes. Add sherry and 1/4 c water and cook until liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Transfer onion to bowl. Return skillet to high heat , add 1 1/2 t reserved fat (or add vegetable oil) and heat until it begins to sizzle. Add beef and cook, stirring frequently, until dark golden brown and crusty, 2 to 4 minutes.

Side Note: These onions were AMAZING, and easily my favorite part of this recipe. Note to self, make onions this way again!

4. Reduce heat to low and push beef to sides of skillet. Add garlic mixture to center and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and golden brown, about 30 seconds. Remove pan from heat, add orange juice mixture and onion, and toss to combine. Season with pepper to taste. Serve immediately with white rice and pinto beans.

Monday - Salmon over Faux Risotto
When I posted my menu last week, I received a few inquiries about what "faux risotto" was, and I was just as curious as you. I found the recipe from Impatient Foodie and thought I would give it a try. The typical arborio rice is swapped with orzo pasta and made creamy by stirring in soft marscarpone, an Italian cream cheese spread. I was first introduced to marscapone on a wine tasting trip with my friend Tara. She was living in California at the time and took me to Trader Joes, which had not set up stores in Texas yet. A typical grocery run for a day in wine country looks like this:

• Large baguette
• Crackers
• 2-3 cheeses (two hard like parmesan and manchego plus something soft like brie or goat cheese)
• Roll of paper towels
• Mix of cured meats and deli meat
• Store prepared fruit (something already cut up)
• Bottled Water
• Small tub of marscapone  

Tara couldn't have known that she was starting, but here I am eight or nine years later and still love to scrape a cracker or toast across the rich and creamy surface of the tub. Yup, straight from the tub. As you can imagine, I liked the marscapone in this dish, but I do have trouble including the word "risotto" in the title of this recipe. It should be more appropriately creamy pasta.


Tuesday: Old Bay Shrimp Rolls
I first discovered this recipe for Shrimp Rolls when Jim and I were using Plated as a food delivery service. I absolutely loved the recipes and learned new cooking techniques and was introduced to new foods. I keep the recipe cards and make our favorite meals over and over again. This particular recipe card is bent and shows signs of dirty fingers grabbing it. It clearly lets whoever sees it know that this recipe is well loved in our house.

Ingredients:
1 stalk celery
3 sprigs tarragon
1 lemon
8 ounces shrimp
2-3 T mayonnaise
2 T butter
1 t Old Bay Seasoning
2 Hoagie Rolls

Prep Ingredients
1. Rinse celery and cut in half length-wise and then crossways into a small dice. Rinse tarragon and finely chop leaves, discarding stems. Halve lemon. Peel and devein shrimp, rinse and pat with paper towel.

Combine Ingredients
2. In a large bowl, combine celery, tarragon, juice of 1 lemon, and mayonnaise.

Cook Shrimp
3. Chop shrimp into bite-size pieces. Season all over with salt. Heat butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. When butter is foamy, add Old Bay and swirl to combine. Add shrimp in a single layer and cook until just pink, 1-2 minutes per side.

Dress Shrimp & Serve
4. Add shrimp and any pan juices to dressing in the bowl and toss to coat. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Divide evenly between hoagie rolls and serve with fries or chips and a beer.

Wednesday: Chicken Picatta over Egg Noodles
I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about this recipe until Jim took his first bite, his eyes went wide and he turned to me with a full mouth to say, "this is really good!" Chicken piccata takes a favorite food—pan-fried chicken cutlets—and tops it with a simple but luxurious lemon-butter pan sauce. The result is a flavor and texture festival that blends crispness, juiciness, richness, and tartness all into one.

Find the full recipe on Serious Eats, a trusted recipe site that I use often.

The Pumpkin Pasta with Chicken Sausage didn't get made this week. An impromptu dinner out changed our plans but luckily the sausage will be good for another week in the fridge, and everything else has months of shelf-life left. Stay tuned for next week's post which will have a review of the pumpkin dinner.