Seared Steak Salad

Seared steak salad - with some goat cheese, tomatoes, and delicious roasted onions. Then there’s some chipotle mayo drizzled on top of the steak.
I never think to make a steak salad. It always seems to me that if I’m going to grill a nice steak, I really want to eat it straight away, its own chunk of beefy goodness. With maybe a veggie, or if I’m feeling particularly weak willed, some potatoes on the side.

But I had this ONE steak in the freezer. Lonely steak. Small steak. What could I do with it, to extend it to feed two? I breezed through my recipes and came across this one that I hadn’t made in a couple of years. My recollection was that it was very good. And yes, it was. I didn't have any asparagus, but it was just dandy without it.

Don’t get overwhelmed by the list of ingredients. It’s really not difficult, even though it may look like it. There’s a rub/marinade for the steak. There are onions that get dressed and baked in a blisteringly hot oven. There’s a salad, with an easy oil and balsamic dressing, the specific salad greens and the different decorations to go along with everything, AND there’s a very easy chipotle mayo that gets drizzled on the top. See, not so awfully hard, is it?

It does take a bit of time to assemble everything, I admit, but it is worth the effort.

Cook’s Notes: First do the dry rub and get the steak going. Then do the onions – they take about 20-30 minutes altogether, after the oven gets up to 500. Make the chipotle mayo and let it rest in the refrigerator while you do other things. Then, when you’re ready to do the steak, make sure you have everything else you need ready at hand. Tossing the salad is a cinch, but you need to have the garnishes all ready to go on. The chipotle mayo was very thick, so I added just a little bit of milk to thin it down so it would drizzle better.

Seared Steak Salad
Recipe By: Tarla Fallgatter, 2002
Serving Size : 4
MEAT:
1 pound top sirloin steak
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch cayenne — optional
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
ONIONS:
2 medium red onions — cut in wedges
3 cloves garlic — minced
3 whole bay leaves — coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chipotle chile canned in adobo
SALAD:
3 cups arugula leaves
3 cups salad greens
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup goat cheese — crumbled
12 pieces asparagus spears — steamed
1 cup cherry tomatoes — halved
1. MAKE AHEAD: cook asparagus and cool, then chill. Prepare all the salad ingredients and keep in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.
2. ONIONS: Preheat oven to 500 (yes, 500). Place the onion wedges in a single layer in a shallow baking pan. Sprinkle with garlic and herbs, then season with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the onions and toss with your hands so all sides of onions have been mixed up with the oil and vinegar. Roast for about 10 minutes, remove and stir the onions around some, then return to oven and continue cooking until onions are lightly browned and just tender. If pan is crowded, it may take up to 20-30 minutes. remove and allow pan to cool.
3. CHIPOTLE MAYO: In a small bowl mince up the chiles with a fork until they are completely mushed. (Alternately, place on a flat board and mince with a chef’s knife, then mash with side of knife.) Add the mayo and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
4. STEAK: In a small bowl combine the herbs and mix well. Trim any noticeable fat from the steak, brush with olive oil, then rub with herb mixture on both sides of the steak. Set aside for 30-40 minutes before grilling. When ready to serve, add the barbecue sauce to the meat, then grill steak until medium rare, about 5-6 minutes per side. When steak is cooked to your liking, remove to a wood board and allow to sit (cover with a piece of foil, loosely) while you prepare the salad.
5. SALAD: On a large platter combine the salad greens and arugula. Pour on the olive oil and toss with your hands, then add the balsamic vinegar and do the same. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Slice the steak into thin slices and lay across the salad. Around the edges add the cooked asparagus, cherry tomatoes and the cooled, cooked onions. Drizzle the chipotle mayo down the center of the meat so ever slice has some of the sauce on it. Sprinkle the entire platter with the goat cheese crumbles. Serve immediately.
Per Serving: 641 Calories; 51g Fat (69.8% calories from fat); 31g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 90mg Cholesterol; 1093mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 4 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 6 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
Printer friendly PDF recipe.

Want a little kick in your meatballs?

(photo from kitchengardeners.org)

This is about chiles. You want a bit of chile heat in your meatballs? This is your recipe, then. Usually I make these during cool weather, not in the summer, as the spicy heat seems to taste better when the rain is falling or the wind is blowing. But, there's no reason why this couldn't be eaten any time of year.

We'd been on a hiatus from eating beef when I made this some years ago. The recipe was in Bon Appetit, and just hit a taste button with me and I promptly went out to buy the ingredients. I made a moderate batch of them and froze the remaining in dinner-sized portions. I freeze the rice in a separate quart-sized Ziploc bag but put it with the meatballs in the gallon sized bags. Then my meal is all together.

This could be made with ground turkey or chicken, or a mixture. It's the little bit of capers in the middle that make the meatballs unusual. And the chipotle chiles. Then the fresh tomato sauce is also different. Fresh Tomato Sauce merely means you use fresh tomatoes and you don't cook it very long. So the sauce retains some semblance of a "fresh" taste. It's easy and delicious. Summertime is a good season to use up your abundance of home grown tomatoes.

As I mentioned, the recipe called for rice (I use brown basmati), but it could also go over mashed potatoes just as easily. Or pasta for that matter. But you might want some kind of carb to soak up the good sauce. Generally I make more sauce than the recipe says, but it's truly not necessary unless you like sauce like we do.

Chipotle chiles are an ancient condiment, I'm sure, with all the Mexican or South American cuisines that include hot chiles. They're merely jalapeno chiles that have been smoked and canned or bottled in an adobo tomato sauce. They're spicy. Very spicy. I'd open a can and use a mere teaspoon or two, put it in the refrigerator and months later would discover this moldy messy gunk in there. So I was overjoyed when at one of the cooking classes I attended, the instructor suggested piling the chipotles into a plastic bag and freezing the leftovers. Then when you need some, you just use a spoon and scrape out whatever you need. Very easy, and certainly a better use for the contents of the can. I don't cook Mexican food very often - we have such wonderful restaurants here in our part of the world that I don't need to make it. But I use lots and lots of Mexican food products in my cooking. And this meatball dish certainly isn't Mexican particularly.

Are any of you enjoying Rick Bayless' cooking program on public television? I've been Tivo-ing it for awhile, and have enjoyed it immensely. Rick is a famous American chef from Oklahoma, although he lives in Chicago now, where he has two very popular Mexican restaurants. He's a very unassuming kind of guy - I don't detect a bit of ego in his style. He just adores Mexican cuisine, particularly from the Yucatan. He uses copious amounts of chipotle and other chiles in nearly everything he makes. Some chiles I'd never heard of. Rick has published six cookbooks. (Just an aside here for those of you who follow my cookbook obsession, I own not one single Rick Bayless cookbook . . . aren't you proud of me?) This series, with the recipes from the PBS series is from his book called Mexican Everyday, although the series is called Mexico One Plate at a Time.

My hands are particularly sensitive to chiles. No matter how careful I am with cutting up a chile, I always manage to feel some heat from it - usually underneath my fingernails. Not everybody has this problem, so this is just a friendly warning. I use plastic gloves. The staff in my dentist's office has been kind enough (thanks Joan and others) to give me a box of their gloves every couple of years. They're a must for me. Particularly with the chipotles. Getting a little bit of that spicy chipotle sauce under my fingernails can be so painful for hours and hours.

So, if you're looking for something a bit different, give this a try. Use gloves. :-)

Chipotle Meatballs in Fresh Tomato Sauce
Recipe: Bon Appetit, May, 2003
Servings: 6
3 pounds plum tomatoes -- chopped
1 medium white onion -- chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chipotle chile canned in adobo -- minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons capers -- drained
1. Puree first five ingredients in blender (in batches, if necessary) until almost smooth.
2. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat, add tomatoes, cover and simmer for 10 minutes just to blend flavors and thicken slightly. Stir occasionally and season with salt and pepper. This can be prepared up to 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
3. In a large bowl combine the beef and pork and next six ingredients. Add 1/2 cup of the cooled tomato mixture and stir well. Using your hands, form about 1 rounded tablespoon of meat mixture into a ball. Insert 2-3 capers into the center and reshape to cover them. Repeat with remaining meat mixture and capers.
4. Bring sauce to a simmer over medium heat. Add meatballs, cover and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, about 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare a batch of basmati rice. I use brown basmati rice because it's better for us. Spoon rice into a large shallow bowl and ladle meatballs and sauce on top.
NOTES : At a cooking class I learned to open a can of chipotle chiles, divide them up into small plastic bags, place those in a larger plastic bag that can be labeled. Since you never use much chipotle for any one dish, at least you'll always have it on hand. The chipotle adds a subtle, but important kick to this dish. I make this in at least double quantity and freeze both meatballs (in sauce) and rice in separate bags, and on evenings when I don't want to cook, it's really easy to pop out one of each bag and there's dinner with a vegetable and/or salad.

Per Serving : 511 Calories; 38g Fat (66.6% calories from fat); 30g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 147mg Cholesterol; 635mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 4 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 5 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a printable recipe, click on title at top.

Shepherd's Pie with a Latin Twist

Ah, Shepherd's Pie. A favorite of mine. But not something that particularly comes to mind when the temperature is in the 80's, does it? I made a batch of this last winter and one lone casserole was still languishing in the freezer awaiting a night when I can't cook. I've been diagnosed with a broken toe (1) and a very severe ankle sprain, and have been advised to use R.I.C.E.: R(est), I(ce), C(ompression), and E(levation). So, frozen Shepherd's Pie was a godsend last night.

So, just what is Shepherd's Pie? Traditionally it's a ground or minced lamb dish with some vegetables, always some peas, a bit of gravy or sauce, topped with mashed potatoes and baked until hot. Its lineage is British. Cottage pie means it's made with ground beef. Here's a bit of history from HGTV (yes, really):

The magic of pies dates back to King Henry VIII. Legend has it that
the British ruler was livid when he found out that one of his abbots was building an elaborate and expensive kitchen. The wise abbot took the wind out of the King's anger by sending him a delicious, warm pie. Early pies were predominantly made with meat. Two early examples were shepherd's pie and cottage pie. Shepherd's pie was made with lamb and vegetables, and the cottage pie was made with beef and vegetable. Both are topped with potatoes.

I had Shepherd's Pie when I visited England for the first time in 1977. Fell in love with it at first bite. It's comfort food, to be sure. Kind of a casserole, if you will, but delicious. Great made with leftovers; in fact, I think that may be part of its origin too, since our Shepherd's Pie doesn't include a crust, just the thick layer of mashed potatoes. You have a leftover lamb roast and mashed potatoes? What better use of it than to make a leftovers Shepherd's Pie.

So, some years back I read a recipe in Cooking Light for a jazzed-up version of the dish, and tried it. It added zucchini among other things and contained quite a few vegetables; probably more than the original version would have. It may have used ground chicken, but over the years I've reverted back to the lamb. But what's unique about this is the addition of chipotle pepper AND the use of sweet potato and regular potatoes mixed together. I always - always - make a large batch of this because it's a great dish to freeze. If you're not so sure you'll like it, just make a half a recipe and you'll have sufficient for several people. If you like Shepherd's Pie, then you'll undoubtedly love this dish. If you're not crazy about hot, spicy food, leave out the chipotle. It'll be fine that way, just not quite as zippy. The sweet potatoes and Maui onion add a sweetness to the overall dish and some people are turned off by meat tasting sweet. If that's your M.O., just use white potatoes and regular onions and you'll have a traditional pie with a zip. I've served this to guests on more than one occasion, to great raves.

Lamb Shepherd's Pie with Chipotle Sweet Potatoes
Recipe: adapted considerably from Cooking Light, 2002
Servings: 18 (makes 3 casseroles)
Preparation Time :1:30
FILLING:
2 1/2 pounds ground lamb -- lean cut
2 whole sweet onions -- Maui or other type, chopped
1 1/2 cups carrot -- chopped
5 cloves garlic -- minced
2 whole zucchini -- minced
1 cup celery -- chopped
1 1/2 cups mushroom -- chopped
2 1/2 cups frozen peas -- defrosted
1 cup chopped tomato -- canned, in juice
1/3 cup fresh parsley -- minced
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon salt -- or to taste

POTATO TOPPING:
2 whole chipotle chiles canned in adobo -- minced
2 1/2 pounds potatoes -- Yukon Gold preferred
1 pound yam -- or sweet potatoes
1 cup milk
2/3 cup ricotta cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add chunks of the potatoes and yam; reduce heat and simmer until yam is done and remove those pieces. Continue boiling the potatoes until they are tender, then drain and set aside to cool slightly.
2. While the potatoes are simmering, in a large frying pan heat a little olive oil and add the onion, celery and carrot and sauté for about 7-10 minutes. Cut up the zucchini, mushrooms and garlic and add to the pan, and cook for another 5-10 minutes until zucchini is barely done. Add the parsley, tomatoes, tomato paste, season with salt and pepper and cook for just a few minutes. Remove the vegetables to a bowl and set aside. Drain the frying pan and add the ground lamb and sauté it until it is thoroughly cooked. Drain the meat onto a paper towel if any grease needs to be blotted. Clean out the pan a little bit with paper towels, then add back the lamb and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a simmer, then add all of the vegetables and heat through.
3. Combine the yam and potatoes and using a mixer, whip them until there are no visible lumps. Add the milk, chipotle chiles and ricotta cheese and mix until just combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the lamb mixture equally into 3 casserole dishes. Spoon the potato mixture on top and using a spatula or flat spoon, push into the corners and more or less "seal" the potatoes to the sides of the casserole dish. This last step really isn't required, but it keeps the meat and vegetable portion from drying out. You may, if you want, add some grated Cheddar cheese to the top of the potatoes, but it's not really necessary.
4. If baking immediately, bake for 30 minutes at 400°. If you refrigerate the dish first, it will take nearly an hour to heat it through. Sprinkle the top with additional parsley when serving it. If heating leftovers, it doesn't take all that long to heat - about 2 minutes in the microwave for a serving.
Serving Ideas : This casserole is easy for freezing ahead. Sometimes potatoes get a bit soft and runny when they've been frozen, but once they've been heated again they'll be just fine. If you are freezing one or more of these casseroles, put a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the potatoes and push it in so it's touching everywhere, even in the corners. This will prevent freezer burn from sitting on the potatoes.
NOTES : Shepherd's Pie has been a favorite of mine since my first trip to Britain in 1977, so anytime I find a new version of it I'm glad to try it. Historically, in Britain, the Pie is made with lamb, but it can be made with ground beef as well. If you use the very leanest beef, it won't have a whole lot of flavor, unfortunately. I usually increase the amount of vegetables called for in this. If you use the Maui onions, you'll notice a sweetness to the meat and vegetable section, so you may prefer to use traditional yellow or white onions instead. The original recipe called for just sweet potatoes on top, but I thought that might be a bit too sweet, so mixed them, using about half of each. That, combined with the chipotle chile, gives the potatoes a very rich color.
Per Serving 321 Calories; 17g Fat (46.6% calories from fat); 16g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 53mg Cholesterol; 275mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click the title at the top.