Category: Recipes (Page 17 of 26)

London Broil is the name given to top round in California. It’s a very lean, very tough cut of meat. I used to use it to make a tomato-sauce based stew, that cooks just for under an hour, and it was quite good for that. But I’ve always been weary about grilling it because of its toughness.
Still, the times are tough and, like everyone else, I want to save money. And London broil is ridiculously cheap right now – last week it was under $2 lb – so I wanted to cook it. I found this recipe at epicurious.com which got raves. Alas, thinking back, given all the ingredients for the marinade, the final dish is not necessarily cheap, but other than the beef, I had everything else saved for the lemons.
In any case, the meat was VERY yummy, I loved the tangy flavor given by the marinade. I’d use it with london broil again. The key is to marinade the meat OVERNIGHT, any less and it won’t get enough flavor.
Note that I’m writing the quantities needed to make HALF of the quantity that the original recipe makes – the original recipe says to keep half to serve as a sauce, but I found the sauce too tangy to go with either the beef or the couscous I served with it. I’d just skip it. The quantities below should be enough to marinate a 2lbs (or even bigger) chunk of meat. You can use flank, tri-tip or other similar cuts in addition to top round.
Ingredients

• 1 lemon
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• 1 1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Juice the lemon and then chop the rind. Put in a medium size bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.

Put the meat your are using in a large, sealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Marinade overnight, turning from time to time.

Yesterday and today I made grilled/smoked steaks for dinner, served with a very nice mustard-basil sauce. I got the recipe at epicurious.com, my favorite recipe site, and it was surprisingly good. When I just made it I thought it tasted too much of mustard, so much thought that it’d overwhelm the meat, but it mellowed down when it cooled and the basil took over, not really tasting like basil, but giving a nice fresh tasting to the meat.
Here is the recipe, which I copy because it’s so easy.
Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp. drained capers
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh basil
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp. coarse grained mustard
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

Directions
Mix all the ingredients in a mini-chopper and chop/grind until it becomes a smooth paste. Put the bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes. Remove and scoop the butter into a clean cutting board, shape in a cylinder shape and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze or refrigerate until solid.
Meanwhile grill your choice of meat, serve a pat of the solid butter on top of the meat.
Marga’s Best Recipes

Today I had a BBQ and made this marinade from an epicurious.com recipe. I thought it was quite yummy and somewhat reminiscent of chimichurri. I’d make it again.

I made this cheesecake for dinner tonight – there was some leftover breadcrumbs and filling so I put them in some ramekins and cooked them with the cheesecake. My kids loved it, which is a pretty good recommendation 🙂 I made a couple of changes from the original recipe and would make slightly less crust next time (as per the recipe below), but I like having extra filling to taste before cutting the whole recipe.
Turtle Swirl Cheesecake
– 8 oz chocolate graham crackers, finely chopped
– 2 Tbsp white sugar
– 1 Tbsp brown sugar
– 5 Tbsp unsalted batter, melted
– 4 8-oz packages of cream cheese
– 1 cup sugar
– 4 eggs
– 2 Tbsp. whipping cream
– 2 1/2 oz dark chocolate, chopped
– 1/2 cup pre-made caramel sauce (store bought or home made)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F
Mix the cookie crumbs with the sugars and melted butter. Grease a 9″ springform pan and cover the bottom and 1″ of the sides with the cookie crumbs. Wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil. Place in the refrigerator and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Put the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on high to maximum until the cheese is quite fluffy. Slowly add the sugar and mix until it’s fully incorporated. Add the eggs, one at the time, until fully mixed in.
Prepare the chocolate sauce by bringing the whipping cream to a simmer in a small saucepan, adding the chocolate and cooking, stirring constantly, until it’s all melted.
Remove the pan from the fridge and pour half of the cheese mixture into it. Spoon half of the chocolate sauce onto the cheese. Swirl with a fork. Repeat with half of the caramel sauce. Pour the rest of the cheese mixture into the pan and add the remaining chocolate sauce and caramel sauce. Swirl.
Fill a roasting or lasagna pan with 3/4″ of water and place the springform pan in it. Bake for an hour or until the sides are set. Cool in rack and then place in the fridge and cool for at least 8 hours.

This week I’ve been trying to cook with herbs from my garden and today was oregano’s turn. I found this recipe for Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Mushrooms at epicurious.com and followed the directions pretty closely, though I cut the quantities by 2/3. The results were fantastic, a sauce with a deep, hearty flavor which I even liked more than my regular pasta sauce. It’s supposed to get better if made in advance (as with most stewed dishes), I made it in the morning and served it in the evening.
I’m “copying” the recipe in the modified format:
Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Mushrooms
Ingredients
– 1 lb mild Italian sausage, loose
– 1 Tbsp. olive oil
– 8 oz sliced button mushrooms
– 1 yellow onion, chopped
– 1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
– 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
– 1 garlic cloves, minced
– 1 cup white wine
– 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
– 3/4 cup canned diced tomatoes
– 1/2 Tbsp. butter
– 1 lb broad noodles
– 1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated.
Cook the sausage in a medium-size sauce pan over medium-high heat until brown, about 15 minutes. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and add the olive oil to the drippings. Heat again and add the mushrooms and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they are both soft, about 15 more minutes. Stir in oregano, garlic and 6 Tbsp. chopped basil, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the wine, mix well and cook until it’s almost fully absorbed. Add the crushed tomatoes, mix, cover and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and butter, mix and cook for 15 more minutes, stirring frequently. Up to this point you can make in advance.
Cook the pasta according to instructions. Drain.
Heat up the sauce (if you made in advance) and stir in 2 Tbsp. chopped basil and 3 Tbsp. grated cheese. Serve pasta with sauce and additional grated cheese on the side.
Marga’s Best Recipes

Last night I made a heart clogging pasta carbonara from this Fettucini Carbonara recipe at allrecipes.com. I’ve made other pasta carbonara recipes, and I’d been disappointed with them. This one, on the other hand, was absolutely delicious, beyond restaurant quality, by far the best carbonara recipe I’ve ever made. What’s interesting it’s that it didn’t differ much from other carbonaras, so I’m not sure what made it that good. It might have been the center-cut bacon, which was an unknown-to-me brand from Grocery Outlet – but who knows?
Here is the recipe:
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients

I’d bought some frozen mahi mahi at Trader Joe’s, and I wanted a child-friendly recipe to use them up. I found one for Mahi Cutlet with Meyer Lemons and Capers at the Food Network, which got very good reviews. I, of course, made it with regular lemons (you can read my rant about lemons here). The results were mixed. I liked the fish itself, the breading was crispy and stayed on the fish, but it was bland. Next time I’ll add salt to the eggs.
The sauce, OTOH, was a complete waste of expensive ingredients. It was bitter, too sour, and had a weird off-taste. I think the fish would be better with just lemon juice added.
Camila really liked the fish – and this is a child that has a “it’s yucky” attitude to everything I make. She called it fish nuggets, and I guess that was enough for her to eat it. Mika wasn’t hear for that dinner, but I think she may try it next time.
Of course, fried fish is not ideal for anyone, but I’m hoping that if they start eating fish this way, they’ll accept it in other permutations later.