cooking @ home

Archive for the ‘Beef’ Category

©2008 Harry Kenney

Simple recipe? Yes. Simple ingredients? Yes. Great taste? Hey! That goes without saying. What does need talking about is, simple as these are, what is a sauce? A glaze? A mop? What exactly is Jack Daniel’s? And while we’re at it, where exactly on the steer does a strip steak come from?

According to About.com “Mops are sauces you might (better) know as sop, bastes or mops.” I would have to add “glazes” to that list. (For instance the Asian glaze I use on salmon is like this; whereas the glaze I put on meatloaf stays there the first time, that is, one application and leave it.) First, let’s take a left turn. A marinade is a sauce made of either all wet ingredients or wet ingredients and some dry (spices and herbs), but it’s still basically a wet sauce. And into this marinade, your proteins, your meat, poultry or seafood is placed prior to cooking to add flavor. So all these other things — glazes, mops, bastes — are what you put on immediately before and/or during your cooking — as with this recipe.

Moving on, what the heck is Jack Daniel’s anyways? Why it’s Tennessee whiskey. Which is not to say it’s actually whiskey. Ok, it is, but it’s more like bourbon. To confuse you more it’s a “sour mash”. Here’s the deal. taken from Wikipedia: “Whisky or whiskey refers to a broad category of alcoholic beverages that are distilled from fermented grain mash and aged in wooden casks (generally oak). Different grains are used for different varieties, including: barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and maize (corn).”

Got that? Ok, let’s then look at American whiskeys and Jack Daniel’s in particular. “American whiskeys include both straights and blends. To be called ’straight’ the whiskey must be one of the “named types” listed in the federal regulations”. The most common of which are: “Bourbon, which must be at least 51% corn (maize); Rye, which must be at least 51% rye; Corn, which is made from a mash made up of at least 80% corn (maize).” All straight American whiskeys are defined by law to meet certain criteria (which we’ll skip over here). But not Jack Daniel’s which “is identical to bourbon in almost every important respect. The most recognizable difference is that Tennessee whiskey is filtered through sugar maple charcoal, giving it a unique flavour and aroma.”

Ok, that covers sauces and “Jack”. (Btw, if anyone ever says to you “You don’t know jack”, now you can say you do!) So what is strip steak? It is cut from the short loin (sometimes also called a strip loin), It’s a muscle that does little work, and so it’s extremely tender. Unlike the nearby filet mignon, the strip loin is a sizable muscle, which allows it to be cut into the larger portions to the delight of steak eaters. (See the public domain image here.)

One funny thing about this steak, it has more aliases than most criminals! It is known simply as the strip steak, natch. It’s also known as (big breath): top loin steak, New York steak, New York strip steak, Kansas City steak, Kansas City strip steak, hotel steak, ambassador steak, club sirloin steak, strip sirlon steak, shell steak and even the Delmonico. Yep, a whole lot of names for one single cut. Furthermore, in the UK and British Commonwealth countries this is known as “porterhouse”. But no, this is not the same as American’s are used to, Amercian porterhouse is a different cut, which to avoid any more confusion, I’m not going to get into. What matters about the strip steak is it’s expensive and it’s tender and delicious.

Note: This is a smoke alert dish! As you see in the photo, this baby will smoke. How do they do it in the restaurants? Obviously they have those big hooded exhaust fans directly over their grills and stoves. Whereas cooking at home, some of us do, many of us do not. If you can do this on an outdoor grill, all the better, in fact, that would be best. For me, as it was 16 degrees here in Philly when I did this the other day, I pretty much had no choice. Hey, you know the saying where there’s smoke there’s fire? Well here, where there’s smoke, there’s taste! … And a bit of a clean up. So, you’ve been forewarned.

Grilled Strip Steak with Jack Daniel’s Glaze
©2008 Harry Kenney

Two one-pound strip steaks

1/2 cup Jack Daniel’s
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp worchestershire
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger

Combine (whisk) ingredients well. Place into small saucepan on medium-high heat. Reduce volume of liquid down to 1/4. Either get your outdoor grill ready or preheat your indoor grill. Let sauce cool enough that you can pour onto a plate and coat both sides of each steak portion in the sauce then onto the grill. Cook as you normally would. Each time you turn your steak, baste on with brush (or tablespoon if no brush) more of the glaze. Do not add sauce after you take it off, only before and during. Cook to your taste (preferabbly medium or medium-rare). Serve.

Sauce is enough for repeated bastings of both sides of two one pound steaks. Warning if done indoors this will create a good deal of smoke. Therefore outdoors is preferred, but you can certainly do this indoors. Your choice.

©2008 Harry Kenney

What we have here essentially is a Spanish Oxtail Stew featuring Root Vegetables. Not only is it a dish eaten in the south of Spain, but this is a dish that transcends not only geography, but also social classes and time itself. With a few variations this dish could have been eaten in close to this form not only a few hundred years ago, but also two thousand years ago, and even nine millennia ago. Talk about getting in touch with the earth and roots huh? So how did I decide to do this exact dish?

Having done so many Italian and Italian-American recipes lately I’ve felt a great need for change. And a desire to let my taste buds, if not my actual personage, travel to some different distant lands. It was an episode of Dinner: Impossible that got me interested in trying out oxtails. I find it in some ways humorous and in many ways delightful when poor people’s food or “peasant food” becomes trendy cuisine.

To quote About.com: “Cooks around the world have long made use of oxtails with variations on a theme. Today, upscale chefs are rediscovering oxtails to the nostalgic delight of older patrons and the wonder of the younger crowd who consider it an exotic meat.” Indeed, my mother who at 92 still recalls that her father enjoyed oxtails; apparently it was a part of his father and his father’s father’s English roots.

At first then I thought, ah, I’ll make an English version of this dish, partly due to Robert Irvine having brought it to my attention via his television program as well as because of my grandfather. And then I started looking around. And all I can say is “wow”. I mean think about it: oxtail, oxen, animal husbandry, early cultivation … In short, if you want to find a protein, a meat, a dish that goes back to the beginning of man’s civilized history, oxtails have been eaten since before recorded history.

So when researching I found there’s pretty much no ancient culture that doesn’t have an oxtail recipe. There are Chinese recipes, Indian recipes, Greek and Basque recipes. When later countries came into being, they continued eating oxtails, so there are recipes from the UK to South Africa to Burma and beyond. And if we go just a few centuries old, there are many Caribbean recipes too. In short oxtails are a global dish.

So while I initially wanted to make an English dish, I thought I would keep my mind open and see what most appealed to me with so many variations from so many countries available. When I found this one, I knew I just had to do it. Rabo de Toro, literally “Tail of the Bull”, a dish from Spain specifically the Andalusian region, and more specifically having come from the bull fights in Cordoba.

Speaking of history lessons, just as the dish coq au vin is rarely ever made with roosters any more and is today almost always made with chickens so is the case here. Rabo de Toro — unless you happen to be an actual matador — is almost always made today with oxtails. And, just to confuse you even more, oxtails, which did historically come from the ox, pretty much today come from the tails of beef cattle of both genders.

What makes this dish so especially Spanish? And what gives it that twist I was searching for? The answer to both are the ingredients of red bell pepper, paprika and chocolate. Yes chocolate. And what makes this classic recipe in any way mine? Two things. Oddly all the recipes I saw containing root vegetables seemed to neglect one particular one which I can’t imagine would have been originally left out, and so one contribution is my addition of the white turnip along with the traditional carrots and parsnips.

Also the recipes call for a deep, full-bodied red wine. Now as much as my bottle of Portuguese Porto Reserve would have been a fit pairing with this neighboring country dish I found that too expensive a proposition, so I ended up with a combination of both Merlot and American (yes, Taylor’s) Port; the Merlot provided a nice dry backbone while the Port gave it some deeper body and a touch of sweetness which was needed. And at less than half the price of using the Porto Reserve.

I will say one thing if you haven’t figured it out yet: This is a long and I mean long cooking dish. Some might think that great as for the most part you pretty much leave it do it’s thing. Part of my impatience though comes out with four full hours of just the beef cooking, not to mention the prep work or the 45 minutes after for the vegetable cooking was just a long time. But to my delight it was worth it. Delicious.

Btw, as slow cooking and crock pots have made a resurgence in popular recently, yes, this probably would be an excellent choice for cooking in that manner. However, just as I didn’t toss the bulk of the vegetables in until last so they would have body and not get soggy, I would probably suggest doing the same and not adding them to the slow cooker until the last hour.

For those of you particularly squeamish just think of this as beef stew with some interestingly different tastes thrown in — because really that’s what it basically is. And for those of you yearning for something out of the ordinary: here’s a taste of Spain, a dish with an interesting story and history behind it from ancient man to modern bull fights, and a stew containing chocolate — all rolled into one. What more could you want? ¡Olé!

Rabo de Toro – Spanish Oxtail Stew
©2008 Harry Kenney

2 lbs oxtails
1 medium-large yellow onion, diced
1-1/2 medium-sized parsnips, peeled, large dice
1 medium-sized white turnip, peeled, large dice
2 medium carrots, unpeeled (if fresh), large dice
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
15 oz of canned diced tomatoes (use fresh only at peak season)
2 tbsps minced garlic (or same amount from fresh cloves)
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp thyme
2 tsps oregano
1/2 tsp cumen (optional)
1-2 medium bay leaves
1 oz unsweetened (bakers) chocolate, sliced down into slivers
* 3 cups beef stock / broth
* 3 cups dry red wine (I used Merlot)
* 1-1/2 cups American (Taylor’s) Port wine
* 8 cups water
salt
pepper

3 baking potatoes to make mashed potatoes

* liquid ingredients marked with asterisk (and to lesser degree the spices not marked with asterisks) the amounts listed all depend on how much evaporation, time cooking, seasoning to your taste, etc. Constantly adding more and more as needed over the long cook. The amounts listed are approximations of the total amounts used over the entire course of the cooking. When starting out, start out with less and add more over time as needed and/or desired, as mentioned in the instructions here.

In a large stewing pot or dutch oven — I used a four quart pot — with heat medium-high begin by browning your oxtails on all sides using plenty of olive oil. I found using long tong work well. This takes about 15 minutes roughly.

Remove the oxtails onto a plate. Into the pot add more oil, most of the onions, most of the celery. Start to sweat. Several minutes in add the minced garlic. Continue to sweat, not to brown. When softened enough, put the oxtails back in adding also 1 cup of dry wine and 1/2 cup of port and one cup of beef stock. Turn heat to high. Scrape bottom to get bits up. Add salt and pepper and oregano. Add as much water as needed to just cover the top of the oxtails. Cover, when it comes to a boil, put flame back down to simmer.

This concept of checking on the stew, giving it a stir, adding more water or wine or stock as required. Bringing it to high heat when you’ve done so, then lowering back to a simmer if basically what you will do for the next four hours. How much of which and what I leave to you. Too much and it’s too rich, too much water and you’ll get watery stew. I would add no more than two cups of water at a time, a cup preferably. Wine the next time, some more stock the next. The amounts listed at the top of the recipe give you an idea of how much should be used during the entire course of the cooking.

After the three hour mark, start testing the softness of the beef. The best way I’ve found is to lift part of it out with a large serving spoon, and test with the end of a steak knife or fork gently. At roughly the four hour mark or the point you most feel the beef is tender, that it is just holding on to the bone barely, take it out, place on a plate and let it cool for about 15 minutes. During this time I leave the lid off the stew and let it continue on simmer, this will reduce the liquid somewhat.

Take the meat completely off the bone. Shread with your fingers or fork and place back into stew. At this point, add all the root vegetables, including the small remainder of onion and celery left over from the start. Add the remaining half of your oregano plus all of your spices including the chocolate. Add more broth, wines and water as needed. Cover, bring to full boil, reduce back to simmer.

You should find the carrots are done first, then the turnips and finally the parsnips in that order, and it should take roughly 45 more minutes of stewing.

Meanwhile, take three baking potatoes, punch three deep rows of holes in them with a fork, two on one side, one on the other and place in microwave for roughly 12 minutes. When done, let cool enough to touch, scoop out, use butter, milk, salt, pepper and make a medium to thick consistency mashed potatoes.

When stew is done, place some mash on the side of your deep bowl and fill the rest with the stew. Because of the richness of the stew including the deep notes of the dark wines used, go the other way and use a sweet blush or white wine as accompaniment. I suggest a White Zinfandel or a Riesling. I know, it’s not exactly Spanish, but it tastes good. Want to keep it Spanish and still sweet? The no-brainer would be go with Sangria; matter of fact that would probably be best.

©2008 Harry Kenney

What do you get when you take Wolfgang Puck and Guy Fieri, put them into one person and say give me your best meal? In my opinion, what you get served is prime rib. It’s got the Puck big-time class with the Fieri big-time eats all in one. It’s elegant. Yet there’s no getting around it: It’s also one big ol’ slab of beef, baby. Quality and quantity.

Tyler Florence once likened this to that giant side of Brontosaurus Fred Flintstone has slapped on top of his car and eventually makes it fall over. LMAO! I couldn’t agree more. It really does look like a miniature version of that cartoon hallmark. (And that’s the last time I’ll use the word miniature referring to this dish.)

Now, the name itself, Prime Rib. It’s a misnomer in a way. Because, at least here in America, it suggests that it is a prime grade of meat. And, if you purchase it at the butcher or the supermarket, where just about all of us get our meats, well, they don’t sell “prime”. You’ve no doubt purchased either Choice or Select. So, for all intents and purposes, even though the most famous name of this meat is Prime Rib, it’s actually better labeled as a Standing Rib Roast.

Ok, because of this name game thing, this is an excellent place to look into exactly what is United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grading, what these meat grades are, what beef falls into what category, and where can and can’t they be purchased from.

Here’s the deal. There are eight levels of beef grading. In order from the best on downward, they are: Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner. Prime is rarely sold anywhere except for restaurants and hotels. Choice and Select are the best of the supermarket grades. Standard and Commercial are usually sold as “store-brand” or non-graded at markets. And the last three are rarely ever seen in retail, and go to industry to make fillers, processed products and we assume pet food.

Concerning ourselves with the three best grades … Prime: This is the ultimate for flavor and tenderness, produced from young, well-fed cattle. Contains the greatest amount of marbled fat and less than three percent of all beef can meet this criteria. Choice: Still very high quality though with less marbling than Prime has. This is the most popular as it has a high degree of tenderness and flavor while a lot less costly than Prime. Just over half of all beef are given the standard of Choice. Select: It is leaner than Choice or Prime and therefore the least amount of marbling and a degree down in terms of taste. It is still tasty though and fairly tender, generally, but it can vary from meat to meat. Roughly a third of all beef falls under this grade.

If you are desiring visual aids, and want to see photos of these — and at the same time play “can you be a meat grader” go here. And if you’re interested in further information on USDA grading, including how it grades other meats and poultry check out the USDA site.

Another thing I need to address here is this “thing” I’ve read on some websites that say your standing rib roast has to have a lot of ribs or forget it. One particular website snootily said (ok, it was actually the owner of the site not the site itself who said it, if you want to get technical) … “Don’t even bother with less than a three-rib roast, any less than that is not a roast but rather a thick steak and would be better treated as such.” Hah! I say. I could not disagree more! Sure a six-rib mass of roast looks impressive to the eye, but, dear sir, I am more concerned with taste than looks.

One of my guests when learned I had two one-ribbers in the oven (to serve four people), said what a great idea. I replied, yes, I think you get better cooking that way and put an outside coating on more steaks this way, making it tastier. She agreed adding that when she’s had it before “everyone wants the end cuts” — that is, let’s say you were serving six people with a three-ribber roast, two would get the end cuts and four people would get the one’s in between. If you instead made three one-ribbers, each steak would be an “end cut”. You see the ends get that exterior cook plus that exterior coating.

So unlike some folks’ thinking, if you have a three-rib roast, I’d do the opposite, and get the butcher to precut them down (or you could do yourself possibly) into three one-ribbers: better cooking, more flavorful with each serving getting a coating and the exterior heat, and six “ends” — the most desired cuts of the roast.

Now this is an impressive meal. And I served it over the holidays for that reason, to impress some folks, and to overall make them a very nice meal, part of my Christmas gift. Funny though, it is and it is not expensive. I ended up with two nearly-three pound roasts which together cost me about $25 at the market. Think about it though, do you really believe if the four of us had gone to a restaurant and ordered this that we could all have been fed for $25? Heck no. Even now knowing what we learned about grading and that the restaurant meal would have been up a grade to “real” Prime rib … we’re talking a $200 meal and that’s not including appetizers, dessert, wine and tip. Easily. (And I won’t even mention parking or gas!) So, expensive meal? In one way, yes; in another way — a steal.

So enjoy this ultimate beef dish and don’t overcook it. This puppy deserves to be served with a lot of pink. It’s just that good and that tender.

Prime Rib of Beef with Peppercorn-Horseradish Coating
©2008 Harry Kenney

Two 2.5 to 3 lb cuts of prime rib roast
1/4 cup whole peppercorns
4 heaping tblspns horseradish sauce
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°F Take the two roasts, stand them so the fat side is up (this will cover two sides). With a sharp paring knife make 8-12 insertions into the fat. Place thin slices of garlic deep into each incision.

Crush the peppercorns and place into small bowl. Add horseradish and enough olive oil so it’s about 2:1 ratio oil. Mix with a fork, then cover all sides (except bone side) of both roasts and rub in. Especially get the fat side and the two “steak” sides.

Place in roaster uncovered for roughly 1-1/2 hours. The rib should be on the bottom, almost like a natural plate or rack, with the fatty section on top so it can drip on down. If they won’t stand by themselves, let them lean on the side of the deep roasting pan if it’s sturdy enough.

Temperature is more important than time though. Continuallly test the inside temperature with a meat thermometer. You need to take a reading in multiple places as depending on where you place them, you may be hitting bone or marblized fat. Go with whatever turns out to be the lowest temperatures as your official “read”, and base off of that.

When you get a reading of 120-130°F at multiple points and at the previous lowest temperature points, take the roast out, cover, and let sit for 20-30 minutes, then cut off the rib from the back, slice exactly down the middle, and serve. Feeds four.

As with meat loaf, I have several different ways to make beef stew, depending upon my mood du jour. Actually the ways are not all that different, so maybe variants or “slight variations” would be the more correct phrase. But this one is pretty much what I would consider the “master” verion.

There are so many great things about stews. Number one is they turn any tough meat into delicious meat. Second they bring together so many wonderful things — meat, vegetables, herbs, sometimes wine — into this well amazing orchestra, basically. For what is an orchestra but something which at times you hear (in this case taste) all the individual elements, and yet they also work in harmony with each other Kill me for saying this, but it’s music for your mouth and your stomach

You can use way inexpensive meat, such as ground beef, and turn it into something of a feast. Stew has to be the ultimate way to cook a budget meal for your family. Budget if you’re using beef chunks, and major budget-saver if you’re using burger. Stews are an excellent way to use up some leftovers, definitely leftover vegetables. Together they also form an amazing broth. I know whenever I make stew I use a tablespoon over a fork and I must have plenty of bread or rolls in the house to lap up every drop of that flavorful brew. It’s one of the ultimate comfort foods. And during the frigid winter, it just might become for that season the ultimate comfort food. And if you are into the cook a lot on one big day so you can microwave it multiple times the rest of the week, then stew is indeed your friend.

What more to say? Always sear your meat prior to putting it in the stew. Get it carmelized. If you’re using ground meat, this isn’t as necessary. What is more important for “hamburger stew” is drawing out the fats in the pan and putting the meat and the fat (aka, the flavoring) into the stew itself. But you don’t want it too dry either.

More tips: Chunky is better. You can also cut it into smaller pieces in your bowl with your spoon or fork. (No knifes here except for spreading margarine on your bread!) Sometimes I use tomato sauce as an important base element. Sometimes wine. Often both.

You’ll have noticed that I do not suggest using premade broths in my stew. But, why, Harry? Two reasons, the main one being: hello, it’s stew! — It makes broth, it doesn’t require broth! Second, the entire idea of adding broth to a stew reminds me one of those science fiction time warp anomalies. Adding broth to a stew means someone first had to make a stew to make the broth in order for you to now be making your stew! Yes, it gives me the same headache as when I hear about how if you go back in time to shoot your grandfather then you no longer exist and if you never existed then how could you have gone back in time…. Ouch! See what I mean?

Last tip or tips. Don’t be scared that this uses a lot of water. There is plenty of juices in the veggies and meats and all to flavor it. On the flip side, do not be shy with using your spices. With the exception of bay leaves in which a few can flavor two to three gallons of stew handily, when it comes to putting in your other spices, do it liberally. And yes I mean a lot. There’s a lot of water and a lot of food in there. It needs it to get around. Again, we’re going for eight quarts of stew here. A dash here and there is nice for a little meat chop or a burger, but it will be lost in all of this if that’s all you put in.

Finally, a word about the wine in this dish. Just the other day I did as the story lead up to a recipe where I talked about the statistics for alcohol evaporation in cooking. Compare that to this recipe. There’s about .75 quarts of wine among a total of 8 quarts of water, beef, potatoes, carrots, etc. When you take that with the statistics mentioned and stewing for about an hour and a half, that has now burnt off 80% of the wine. Considering how much wine is in this dish with the rest of the dish and that less than 20% of it remains, no, no one is going to get drunk. Remember, wine with food stops that. Even a little wine with no food it rarely happens. And how can you get more wine with food then wine actually in the food?

So for those of you who think I’m getting you drunk … well, it will either gladen you or sadden you to know, that it won’t happen with this dish. Enjoy, bon appetite and (hehe) salute!

Homemade Beef Stew
©2007 Harry Kenney

2 lbs chuck (or other stewing beef), chunks
(you can substitute ground meat for “hamburger stew”)
6 cups potatoes (about five large potatoes, I prefer the medium-starch potatoes), chunks
3 cups carrots (about five medium-large), cylindrical chunks
2 cups yellow onion (about 2 large onions), triangular chunks
2/3 cup celery (about 3 stalks), small chunks
1 cup frozen peas
1-1/2 cups Italian flat beans (or regular green beans)

8 or more cups water
1 cup dry Marsala wine
2-3 cups dry red wine (suggestion: Merlot)

16 oz diced tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste (or 4-8 oz of spaghetti sauce)
5 cloves garlic, crushed, cut finely

to taste:

salt
pepper
3 bay leaves
basil
oregano
garlic powder
onion powder
Worcestershire
hot sauce (or Tabasco)
cornstarch (if needed)

In your giant stewing pot, dutch oven, or other similar container that is going to be your “final” pot, put in the mirepoix, in other words, your onions, carrots and celery with oil on a low to medium-low flame and sweat them for 10 minutes. Do not brown. Meanwhile in a large pan, start browning your beef with oil and 3/4 of your fresh garlic, salt and pepper.

When your core vegetables are looking nice (and the onions going translucent), time to add 2 cups of water and a ton of seasonings including your bay leaves. Remember, you’re starting to season this not just for what is currently in the pot, but to some degree for what will be the entire pot, so go crazy with it. See photo above.

As your beef is browning and you’ve been turning it to brown on all sides, now add more seasonings and splash with some red wine. After a few minutes, toss in the main pot with the veggies. Add the potatoes. Add the Marsala and red wine and if needed, more water, enough to cover everything. Cover with lid, simmer on medium-heat.

After about three-quarters of an hour, add more water as needed. Mix around and taste. At this point you can usually tell how bland it might be and if it needs some kick to it. Add more seasoning if needed, including Worcestershire and or hot sauce to taste. Add tomatoes, and green vegetables.

Check on it about twenty minutes or so later. Again, add water or make any other seasoning adjustments, including adding tomato paste or sauce at this point. Add cornstarch if it seems too thin. Mind you, you are not aiming for gravy nor sauce, but you do want a very well seasoned not-thin broth with body to it. Continue stewing for another 15-30 minutes. Basically at this point you’re checking every 10 minutes until you are happy with it all. Besides tasting the broth, be sure to open up at least one chunk of beef and taste a bit of it to see if you agree with the consistency and taste of it to your liking. When you are happy with it, that’s when it’s done. Makes 8 quarts, feeds a small army or enough leftovers to last the bulk of a week.

There are so many combinations of meatloaf in the world. Use 100 percent beef. No, use beef and pork. No, has to be the tri-meat combination of beef, pork and veal. No, it’s lamb as the third, not veal. You can use milk-soaked bread, big crouton things purchased or made yourself. You can use breadcrumbs. Nope, use the oats in oatmeal. With and without eggs. Mayonnaise as an extra binder; no way, hold the mayo. Gotta have some gravy. Gravy has to be brown. No, it’s gotta be tomato. No gravy anywhere; that ruins it. … And the list goes on and on.

And then, like myself, many cooks have more than one meatloaf. Why? Same as above. There’s so many ways to do it and there’s no one right way. In fact, it’s pretty tough to mess up. Hope all you newbie cooks are listening up. Meatloaf is many things: The perfect comfort food being one. And an excellent dish to start on if you’ve never or rarely cooked before.

I mentioned various meatloafs myself. I recall it being one of the first things I ever did, back around the age of 18 or 20. I followed the directions on the side of the Quaker Oats box, and yeah, oats, the stuff I would have for breakfast on freezing cold winter days here in Philadelphia, it actually worked. It was a pretty decent meatloaf as I recall.

Since then, who knows how many variations. Many of the early ones I would overcook and make too dry inside, and sometimes burn the glaze (if I remembered to have one, that is.) Sometimes myself I use the triple combination of meats, sometimes it’s all beef. Each has it’s own interesting characteristic and flavor from the other. I came up with another interesting variation about a year ago when I had a big jar of salsa left over after a party. It dawned on me, the ingredients were basically three I would normally use in a meatloaf: tomato, and red and green peppers. And yes, the jalapeno gave it a really nice kick, not too hot either. I’ll no doubt get to making that one later in the season and of course, when I do, I’ll publish it here complete with the requisite photos.

For this recipe, I decided to do a gravy. I don’t always do that. This time it was simple. I had a half pound of gorgeous pre-sliced mushrooms I picked up from the store and needed to do something with. While a vegetable or chicken ratatouille came to mind, I knew with Thanksgiving days away, the last thing I needed in the fridge was going to be not one but two kinds of leftover poultry. In fact, each year the same thing happens. Before Thanksgiving you can’t wait to “get to the bird”, and days later you get tired of eating turkey and turkey and turkey. One of the best things I know is to get around that — besides creative leftovers, I mean — is to vary the leftover meals by having something beefy to switch off from. Meatloaf will work perfectly.

So, that meant I knew what I was going to do with my mushrooms, make a chunky gravy with them. I decided to go for the creamy and the wine version. Yes, it is more of a contrasting gravy than a complementary one, but I think it still works. That said, no, this meatloaf — and this new glaze I tried on it, big yums! — does in no way need the gravy. It’s got a bit of crispness on the outside and it’s moist inside. So, feel free to skip the gravy by all means, you will not miss it. On the other hand, if you want to treat yourself to something extra, something involving mushrooms, heavy cream and wine, I say go for it. You’re worth it.

     

Meatloaf with Tomato-Balsmic Glaze and Creamy Mushroom Gravy
©2007 Harry Kenney

Meatloaf:

2 lbs combination of ground beef, veal, pork

2/3 cup green pepper, cut finely
2/3 cup red pepper, cut finely
2/3 cup onion. cut finely
3 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
2 tbsps worchesterhire sauce
1 1/2 tbsps soy sauce
dash of hot sauce
2/3 cup grated parmegan
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg, whipped slightly
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup dijon
to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

Tomato-Balsamic Glaze

1/2 cup ketchup
4 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp worchestershire
dash garlic powder
dash onion powder
2 tbsps light brown sugar

Creamy Mushroom Gravy

8 oz sliced button mushrooms
1 cup beef stock
1 cup red wine, Merlot
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/4 tsp corn starch
to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix all of the meatloaf ingredients well and by hand in a large bowl. Free-form into a loaf, place on baking sheet and put into oven.

Mix ingredients for glaze and apply to meatloaf, half-way through cooking (the 30-minute mark), covering the top and letting some spill down the sides.

For the gravy, medium heat, oil in pan, a light dusting of garlic powder in the oil, dump in the mushrooms, and cook well until browned, stirring often. Toss in the beef stock, mix, two minutes later toss in the cream and the wine. Reduce by at half to a third. Season. Add cornstarch. Let thicken and reduce until you get a nice gravy consistency.

Meatloaf should be done after one full hour. Check to make sure glaze is not getting burnt, and use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. Serve gravy a top of or on the side of the meatloaf. Makes 6-8 servings.

Whew! The last three recipes were each a bit complicated and time-consuming in terms of preparation and cooking … got to do plenty of interesting cooking things though: turned a slab of beef into steaks, pounded meat thin, made a meat stuffing, created a custard in a pot, made a ganache, took a squash apart, made a puree with the food processor, oven-roasted vegetables, got to cook some chorizo…

Time then to switch things up and do something quick and a bit more whimsical. So for today, it’s pizza for kids. Yes, I know, kids like any kind of pizza; but that said, they’ll like these even more. Moreover, you don’t have to have kids, these are definitely pizzas for the kids in us all!

Before diving in, be sure to check out my previous pizza foray, where I made the more convention Pepperoni Pizza as well as a Ham and Pineapple one. There are more basic tips in that one. Think of this as a continuation. As said, last time was somewhat more traditional. This time, I went and let my inner child run wild, hmm, maybe even a tad amok. hehe

And this is one of the best things about doing pizza at home: you can create pizzas you will not find at your average around-the-corner, down-the-street pizzaria. One element I kept running up against doing this — can’t recall if I complained about this in my other recipe or not — but that was that my dough wants to basically stay round, and my baking sheets are rectangular. What happened each time then, in my personal experience, was I would end up with one large rectangular pizza and one smaller rectangular one. You see I had to go the width of the baking sheets and that would have made too doughy a pizza. Following the outline or dimensions of the sheets though made for thin, crispy crusts. While nothing wrong with that, I do personally like a bit of more medium dough. I’d also like to make a “real” round pizza too.

So, realizing I am definitely going to make more of these in the future, I went out and got a round pizza pan. I measured my oven first to ensure I could get the largest that fit, and found a 16″ would do it. Next stop at K-Mart and I grabbed one for about 10 bucks. So I’m looking forward to — if not tossing it in the air — at least letting my dough make a nice big round one. If you follow my recipes and get some ideas of my philosophy when cooking I tend to like to go zen and let my food tell me what it wants. (Asparagus tells you where to cut it; frying pans tell you when you can have your browning meat…) Since pizza dough wants to stay round,

Ok, the cheeseburger pizza is fairly explanatory. Actually, so is this particular dessert pizza too. However, just so you can get into the mood of it, let me say all you have to do is think what would each particular ingredient be for a dessert pizza as compared to a standard pizza? Mozarella cheese … then you need a sweet cheese … ricotta or perhaps a mascapone if you can get a hold of some. Ok, what replaces the pizza sauce? At first you go “huh”, and then you start getting into the swing of things and go “ah, jelly!”. Ok, pepperoni or whatever topping becomes some kind of fruit. Garlic powder? Maybe it becomes cinnamon. Basil? Maybe (or not) it becomes sprigs of mint. Maybe jimmies. Who knows? You tell me.

Play with it, think it out, give whatever comes to mind a try. Now you’re getting the idea. So let that inner kid go run wild — better yet, do it with your children — have some fun, and enjoy!

Cheeseburger Pizza
©2007 Harry Kenney

pizza dough
tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce with meat works nicely
shredded mozzarella
American cheese
ground beef
ketchup

salt
pepper
garlic powder
dried oregano
dried basil

Too many variables (plus this is supposed to be fun) to list actual amounts. Just go free-for-all.

Make dough into pizza form you want. Place sauce on dough and spread with tablespoon or larger spoon. Don’t over do it. Spread some mozzarella, light, not as much as a regular pizza. Rip slices of American cheese and place on top. In frying pan, pinch off pieces of ground meat, make small, larger than a pea, smaller than a lima bean. Pinch, roll between thumb and forefinger, place in pan and cook. Do not overcook, keep moist, this is going to cook further on the pizza remember. Add tiny bits of American cheese on top a minute before done. Place atop pizza. Add spices to taste. Squirt small streaks of ketchup here and there. 350°F for 14-16 minutes.

Peach Ricotta Dessert Pizza
©2007 Harry Kenney

pizza dough
can of peach halves
Ricotta cheese
Apricot preserves
cinnamon

Make dough into pizza form you want. Spread out ricotta cheese, then preserves, put on peach halves, dust with cinnamon. This cooks a bit faster than a traditional meat pizza. Keep and eye on it. 350°F for 10-12 minutes.

This is one of those delicious dishes I haven’t had for so long. The very first time I had it was many years ago when I actually made it. Yes, it was a recipe and it was during the days when I was all into The Frugal Gourmet, my first television chef inspiration. Braciole (pronounced bra’zhul) was one of the dishes featured on his PBS show and in one of his very first books. Really though how could a guy in his twenties having seen this being made on the TV screen not instantly fall in love with the idea of braciole? I mean: It’s like a jelly roll made of steak!!! Obviously the same Olympus god who created beer surely must have had his hand in the making this as well.

The second time (and the third and the fourth) I had this dish was in the best place on Earth or at least in North America I can think of to have it, namely in Little Italy in New York City. Luna’s on Mulberry Street to be precise. Huge portions, so juicy, so …. scrumptious. Really it was as they say “to die for”. And here I am once again faithfully revisiting a past delight.

I have no idea right now how I made the first one. Somewhere in this house I’m sure my old tattered copy of Jeff Smith’s hardback must surely reside (despite a few housing moves between then and now), but I can’t put my hands on it. I have no idea what kind of beef I made it with either, though traditionally it’s either a round steak or a flank steak, the former of which is how I made it this particular time.

Ok, I have to get into two things here. What “traditionally” means and what steak I actually used. I will however forgo explaining what the definition of “is” is.

First, traditionally in Italy braciole, also referred to as braciola, can mean different things in different areas of the country. It doesn’t even have to be beef; apparently, it can also be veal and sometimes even pork. It’s sometimes a cutlet and not always rolled up either. Some places it’s served with sauce and in others it’s not. And of course, the stuffings can vary as well. I’ve seen it with ingredients such as copacola and raisins in it, and several times chopped hard boiled eggs. And in still other cases the cheese used can vary too. I’ve seen this often made with pecorino romano. And a couple of times with mozzarella (though I woudn’t use that one for this specific dish, personally). So, I use the word traditionally somewhat loosely. As far as I’m concerned, if it’s good enough for Little Italy (using beef, rolling it up, etc) then it’s good enough for me.

Back to the meat. Well, this is what got me into making this dish the other day. I was looking through my freezer and my eyes ended up resting on the slab of London Broil before me. And I started to wonder what I could do with it that would be different. Then I recall reading that basically sliced London Broil was flank steak. (Which is and isn’t a misnomer or, as you’ll see, possibly two misnomers.) What get’s things confusing for me is there’s on the one hand what recipes say and on the other hand what actually exists or doesn’t exist at the super market.

I constantly see flank steak, skirt steak and similar ingredients listed in book recipes and mentioned on television cooking shows, yet in real life these are elusive creatures for I have never once seen either of these, not in passing nor even a comprehensive search for them at the super market. Not once. So recently I did a little research and found out that London Broil is supposed to be a method of cooking, not a type of meat. I dunno about you, but my area super markets are totally oblivious to this fact, for they indeed sell what is labeled London Broil. Doesn’t matter to them that every television chef and culinary school that’s impossible, the fact remains they do. And not a single super market, they all do, without fail.

Ah, you’ll recall I said something about two misnomers, well the second thing is, the cut they sell at the markets can actually come from either of two totally different sides of the beast. It could be a slab from the flank or it can be top round. (Mine turned out to be two pounds of the latter.) In any event, I took my so-called “London broil”, and sliced it down through three times, making a formerly one-inch thick cut of beef into four long 1/4 inch cuts. And then I pounded each even thinner still, making them even more tender before cooking.

That done, I thought, so, just what shall I do with this now? And it came to me … Steak roll, baby! Ray Barrone, eat your heart out.

  

Braciole
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

stuffing:

2 slices potato bread, toasted then crunched into bread crumbs
(you can substitute roughly 3/4 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs)
4 tbsps minced garlic
10-12 unpitted kamala olives, minced (or green olives, or optional)
1/3 cup grated parmegen
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
salt
pepper
3/4 tbps dried oregano
1 1/2 tbsps parsley flakes
olive oil (see below for amount)

2 lbs top round (or flank steak or “London broil”), sliced into 1/4 inch thickness and pounded thin
1 28 oz jar Classico Carernet Marinara (or similar marinara or tomato sauce)
1.5 cups Merlot (or any find dry red wine)

Take your slab of beef, cut thinnly to about 1/4 inch thick. Take your cooking pounder or meat tenderizer and using the “textured” not the flat side, place each slice of meat on the counter between two sheets of plastic wrap, and pound thin and out towards the sides. Then reserve on a plate.

To make the stuffing or paste, take bread crumbs, garlic, olives, onion, parmegan, and seasonings, mix together and add olive oil until you achieve a not too thin, moist consistency. Take each slice of steak, spread out on a cutting board, season with salt and pepper, then spoon the stuffing lightly across the entire steak. Take the smaller side (if you ends are uneven) and carefully wrap up into a roll. Using toothpicks or kitchen string, bind the roll so it retains it’s shape and so stuffing doesn’t fall out of the ends. Repeat the procedure using up the rest of the stuffing and steaks.

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a skillet — preferably one you can place in the oven — place olive oil and brown all four sides of the steak on high heat. If it sticks, leave it until the pan tells you (yes, tells you) when it is done and you can have it. This will take 12-20 minutes.

Take steak rolls out of pan and place on plate. Add wine to the frying pan to deglaze (get the delicious brown bits out of the bottom of the pan). Once this is done, you have two choices. If your frying pan is able to be put into the oven, place your steaks back into the pan with the wine in it. If your frying pan is not able to be placed in the oven, this is the time to get out your oven dish or pan that you will be using, and place the steak in that and add the wine from the pan.

Now, in the vessel that contains the steak rolls and wine, add the marinara or sauce you will be using. Place the pan (if it’s not a pan, fine, I’ll be calling it a pan from now on though) in the oven with the lid on. Every 20-25 minutes come by and turn the rolls over 180 so the top gets sauce. After your second time doing it (roughly 40-50 minutes into the baking, take the lid off the pan and let it resume. At about 70-75 minutes, check your dish for the proper or desired meat temperature, and it should be done. Reminder: If you didn’t use string, do not forget to remove the toothpicks.

Suggest serving with the wine-enriched sauce on top, and along side a small helping of fresh spaghetti. Have a glass of the same red wine you used in the sauce as the perfect accompanying beverage. Makes 4-5 servings.

I’ve made brisket of beef before several times and each time it was made the same basic way, maybe a bit more “American” standard roast a few times, maybe a bit more “Italian” flavoring once or twice, but I was definitely in the mood for something more robust and different. Only one way to go then, BBQ-style, and when it comes to beef and BBQ, that means Texan. Actually, not, it seems.

I thought Texan, but I missed by a few states. Seems Texas does love it’s brisket big-time, but a little research turns out they’re not much into the sauce masking the meat taste. Seems when it comes to sauce as well as ingredients like cinnamon, brown sugar and a tomato base, and beef instead of pork, we’re talking more towards Missouri.

Hey I may be a Northerner, and I might get the flavor of my states wrong once in a blue moon, but baby, whatever it is and wherever it comes from I can still cook. So I might not be the Alton Brown of cooking — which is cool, cause we got one of those already and he does a fine job — and I might not get my facts about the origins correct 100 percent of the time, but I still say you’ll be back for seconds and maybe even thirds!

My occasionally confused geography knowledge out of the way, you know I’ve discovered something. That as I do more and more cooking, I am surprised to find I never do a single rub or one (only) BBQ sauce. I guess that’s good, but it’s very surprising. You see, after I made one that I considered “my master” sauce (as well as the rub) I figured at the time “Great, this is the one I will stick with”. And it turns out, I don’t.

Again, that’s probably a good thing. Not only am I constantly making variants according to, what may just be my whim of the moment, but perhaps I am also altering the sauce and the rub each time to go better with the component ingredient at hand. In this particular case, especially with the rub, I went a bit sweeter … we’re talking lots of brown sugar and some cinnamon. To counterbalance that I also went a tad hotter than normal with the other ingredients (it still balanced at the end, that’s what always counts)

And in the case of the sauce, very tomato-y (I was using up some bruschetta and some extra cherry tomatoes I had left over instead of using ketchup as my base.) I often add some lemon or lime towards the end for acidity, thing is I was over acidity this time, didn’t need it. Also, since I had diced tomatoes and cherry ones I used a blender for the first time, instead of just mixing with a spoon. Again, a bit diff than usual, but worked out nicely

I sometimes like looking at other folks recipes before doing my own. It gives me a direction, and sometimes a side influence. See what others do, what I like and don’t like. Then no printing of their recipes (do print and use mine though!) … just something to keep in mind before I start and go on my own trek, my own way. And I’ll tell you something, what I consider a big tip. Looking about for different recipes I kept seeing people putting in BBQ sauce and water, or BBQ sauce and either chicken or beef stock. And this is my advice.

Some important words — and my philosophy — when it comes to thinning something out, or adding more liquid … If you need to add something too thin or because your reduction is going to fast (and you can’t alter the heat setting), here is how it works with me. If something says water, well … that’s it, it is water, as in watering down. Most of the time, adding water means “taking away from”. Unless the sauce or whatever is super thick (and well-spiced). So if you have to add something, at the very least add stock instead — this will give something to the dish, albeit subtle it is still adding not subtracting. So if the choice is between water and stock, go with stock.

However, there is one much better way to go, the next order of magnitude, if the choice is water or stock, don’t go with either of them — go with wine. A totally new, deeper level will be added, naturally more so if it’s a red wine, and something a bit more subtler (though not as subtle as stock) if it’s a white wine. When do you add which? You should know by feeling. If it’s light and delicate, let’s say a spinach and cheese sauce, white wine. If it’s a hearty, spiced out, beefy, tomato-y BBQ sauce — red wine, baby.

Oven-Roasted BBQ Beef Brisket
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

2 1/2 lb – 4 lb brisket of beef

dry rub:

3 tblsps light brown sugar
1 tblsp cinnamon
3 tblsp chilli powder
1 tblsp red cayenne
2 tsps cilantro
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tblsp cumin
2 tsps garlic powder
2 tsps onion powder
salt
pepper

sweet and hot BBQ sauce:

to taste:

16 oz. diced tomatoes (or crushed or ketchup)
vegetable oil
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes (I had these on hand)
lots of soy
lots of worchestershire
honey
molasses
minced garlic
dijon
cumin
cayenne
salt
pepper

1 1/2 cups of a full bodied red wine (I used Chianti)

Make many light scores with knife through the fatty bottom side. Mix rub ingredients together well and now “rub” onto all sides of your brisket. Place in either in large gallon-sized zipper bag or on plate covered well with both plastic and aluminum foil. Let sit in refrigerator as long as possible. An hour at the least, or even overnight.

When ready to cook, get a pan hot, then add oil and brown and sear brisket on all sides. I find tongs help do this best without letting out the blood that forks would. This takes two to five minutes. Now either you have done this in a pan or pot that is able to be put into the oven, or if you hadn’t, now place in dish or other oven vessel, fat side upward.

Place in preheated oven at 375 degrees. No lid nor covering. Meanwhile combine ingredients to make the sauce, using blender or food processor to mix and get tomatoes down to a finer pulp. After the brisket has been in the oven for 45 minutes, place entire sauce over and on the sides of the brisket along with the wine. Now cover. About every 30-45 minutes mix sauce around sides and take some and baste over the brisket. On at least one of the there intervals, actually turn the brisket over so the fat side is on the bottom, remember next time to turn it again fat side up and leave it that way for rest of cooking. For a 2.5 pound brisket this is going to take roughly 2 to 2-1/2 hours. For a 4 pound brisket about 3 to 3-1/2. hours.

Sauce you have reduced down into a thick blackish red after about 2.5 hours. You do not want this to burn or it will give a bitter and burnt taste to your brisket. If necessary, add some more wine or some water and mix. This is especially true for if you have the larger and weightier slab. When temperature gets to 160°F and looks like part of it is flaking, the brisket is done. 2 1/2 lb brisket will get you 4-5 servings, a 4 lb one will make you about 7-10, depending how you slice it.

Mac? As in “Mac and Cheese”. In any event. that’s what I finally decided to call this dish (… after having ten other names along the way.) Yep, this one was tough because it reminds me of so many different combinations of things. It’s down-and-basic super comfort food. It’s so easy I thought not to include it, until a few friends said “gee, I never thought of that”. It’s so easy you could make this in your sleep. It’s so easy a caveman … yadda yadda.

This puppy is part homemade “Hamburger Helper”, part cheesburger meets pasta, part Sloppy Joe Italiano, part pizza meets macacroni and cheese. Whatever you call it, you have to call it: Yummy! Kids will adore it; and that’s kids all the way up to 90 years old!

Seriously though, speaking of children, this is a great meal to do with your kids, esepcially the older ones. This could be their first introduction to actually cooking a meal (under your supervision). Who knows? Start them out now, and in twenty years maybe an old and gray Gordon Ramsey will be cursing at them on national television. LOL!

Pizza Burger Mac
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

2 pounds pounds ground beef
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 8 oz boz mac and cheese
1 28 oz jar spaghetti sauce (meat or garden style)
greated parmesan cheese

to taste: salt, pepper, garlic

In one pan, your favorite cooking oil, fry up some chopped onions to the translucent stage, add minched or powdered or fresh garlic (unless the kids hate it), then the ground meat, season and brown up.

In your large pot, grab your favorite box of macacroni and cheese and make that according to directions. Meanwhile on a third pan heat up your sauce. When all, start placing mac and cheese in until you have the desired mix. (You can either toss it all in or do this as above so that you can have some mac and cheese lefover).

Do likewise with the spaghetti sauce, add until you achieve your desired mix. Stir up and toss some grated parmegana on top, stir some more. Serve (preferrably with toasted garlic and parm bread or rolls.) Depending, should make four to six servings.

Did this one with a decidedly Moroccan influence in the marinade. Yes I know, when you see in the list below I’ve used soy sauce, you’ll surely recognize that isn’t exactly at the top of the list of ingredients for Rabat. Point is it works (and why I say the marinade was “influenced” as opposed to straight out “Moroccan”.)

Btw, you might also think lamb more than beef when considering this North African country, and you’d be correct that lamb, goat and such are high on the list. But beef is a close second to lamb there these days. That said then, do feel free to substitute lamb if you wish. I just can’t give a 100% guarantee that the amounts of spices in the marinade would work without making adjustments or not. Right now, every thing is calculated for the stronger beef flavor. If you try it with lamb, my instincts tell me to half the cumin, and to then add the same amount you just subtracted with the same amount of dried mint. If you have fresh, all the better.

Mistakes. Got to make at least one and share it with you so you don’t do the same.

First time I made this I thought I could do a bit of cost-cutting by buying stewing beef. The thinking behind this was that the combination of the marinade before cooking, along with the “raw” fire from the grill would be plenty enough to break down the fibers of the cheaper cut. Sadly, it wasn’t enough. I ended up with something amazingly flavorful but overly chewy. (Told you about the mistake, but not the fix: Ended up cutting the pieces to every thing smaller, added to a pan, put in water and red wine, then carrots, mushrooms and some pieces of other leftover veggies. Stewed for an hour and a half and served atop egg noodles.)

True, one might think that a longer stay on the grill would have a difference, and it may have, but it would also have definitely burned the veggies on the skewers to a char. (In short, that wouldn’t have worked either.) This next time I made it, I took care of that “mistake” from the very start of the process: Purchase a nice slab of beef and then cut to cubes yourself. Nothing expensive, nothing too cheap, in this case the “Goldilocks” middle works out nicely. Another advantage by doing this, the precut stewing beef in the case doesn’t try to be unform; makes sense as it’s not as important in a stew. When it comes to kabobs though, the more uniform each cut of meat is and keeping the chunks of veggies on the skewers similiar sizes, makes for the best cooking.

Beef Shish Kabobs
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:
2 pounds beef, precut into chunks
2 medium red onions, chunks
1 red pepper, chunks
1 green bell pepper, chunks

marinade:

2/3 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tbsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp tumeric
2 tbsp minced garlic
salt
pepper
lemon juice

Marinade in fridge for at least one hour. Longer the better, if you can do two to four hours, fantastic. You can keep the marinade to baste while on the grill, but I did not find that necessary.

Alternate onto metal skewers: beef, onion, red pepper, beef, onion, green pepper.

Place on grill. Keep turning sides as necessary, about every two minutes. Should be done in 10-12 minutes for medium doneness.

Btw, here’s “ye olde temperature chart” for beef: rare 120°F-125°F, mediium rare 130°F-135°F, medium 140°F-145°F, medium well 150°F-155°F, well done 160°F and over.

To keep this recipe with its Moroccan theme intact, suggest serving kabobs with or over couscous; second choice: saffron rice. That said, any nice rice will do. The marinade is so very flavorful even a regular, unadorned, slightly buttery long-grain white rice will be perfect.