Chimichurri with beef

So i love to marinate cheap meat bought from the store and turn it into something delicious.

One of my assured recipes is to take the meat, slice it into your desired sizes. I tend to grill, well, most anything; so if it was a piece of flank or chuck, i would cut it in half, such that you end up with sheets of meat. Next i place it into a a large freezer bag, then add a thinly sliced onion. Now i must also add that i am very particular about slicing anything as thinly as possible. Maybe its because in high school physics the only concept i truly understood was surface area, such that any increase in it (dependent on HOW many times you can slice a veggie/fruit) will inevitably lead to an increase in its contact with your marinade/meat etc. Or maybe its because i think my knife is a badass and i just love slicing things as thinly as possible. but whatever. the point is, i cut the onion as thinly as possible. Include one lemon squeezed lemon per 1-1.5lbs of meat, then enough soy sauce such that the meat is just covered (don't douse it with soy sauce). Another way of determining your ideal proportion is to mix the lemon and soy sauce separately, and mix it dependent on taste (to each his own, right). add a little pepper, and sometimes I also add garlic, depends on how you feel!

Let sit overnight. in the morning, invert the bag.

Now 1.5hr before food goes on the grill, prepare the chimichurri rub. if you look this up on the internet, you will see tons of versions, styles. it is an incredibly versatile marinade, although after testing it, ive found it works fantastic with beef, not so much with chicken, and decent with pork. but i would definitely call this a beef rub.

2tblspn of:
oregano
basil
thyme
(parsley, though i've never used this, AHEM kath :)

1tblspn of:
summer savory
paprika
garlic
kosher salt
crushed black pepper (i use a little less of this, mainly because i reserve most of my spice in the form of cayenne pepper. which is just MAGICAL)

1tspn of:
crushed red pepper
and maybe half a tspn if cayenne, be liberal!

mix quickly, then add 2:2 tblspn of vinegar:water and let the mixture rehydrate for 15' RT. make sure to mix what little liquid you add-in thoroughly. i am usually anti-vinegar, but in the end it is all about solubility. you add in a mixture of water (wherein some spices/flavors are soluble) and vinegar (same concept) and by letting the rub rehydrate, you are pulling out of the spices a liquid mixture of their flavors. after 15', add in 3tblspn of olive oil (wherein even more flavors insoluble in the previous two solvents come out!) mix throughly. I will then generously rub the mix onto the meat. and i mean GENEROUSLY. Let sit for one hour in the fridge.

During grilling, try to avoid pouring beer on the meat. it is one of my favorite things to do while grilling, maintains the moisture of grilled meats, but in this case you end up just washing off the seasoning. The beauty of this rub lies in that it burns, and burns really easily. however, if packed generously on top of the meat, you end up burning mainly the rub, and not so much the meat. thus what you end up with is charred carne asada with all the smoke and flavor of the rub but with the tender moisture achieved by the overnight marinade not to mention two very different flavors on the inside and outside of the meat.

suggestion: most definitely GO.

my favorite quiche recipe, shamelessly stolen from epicuriousdotcom. but then hey, is any cooking idea ever truly original? i have learned most of my dishes from other people then added my own personal touch to it. in the end, all that matters is that it tastes good!

Filling

• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup chopped shallots (about 2 medium)
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 5 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 2 large eggs
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of ground black pepper
• 2 green onions (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons finely grated Gruyère cheese - Ahem. feel free to indulge
  

For filling:
Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté until soft, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and sauté until liquid is absorbed and mushrooms are tender, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with 2 1/2 teaspoons thyme and cook 1 minute. Transfer mixture to plate. Cool mushrooms completely.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cooled crust in pan on baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining 2 1/2 teaspoons thyme. Drain mushrooms, if needed. Scatter mushrooms over thyme. Whisk cream, eggs, salt, and pepper in medium bowl. Pour egg mixture over mushrooms. Sprinkle with green onions and cheese.

Bake quiche until custard is set, about 25 minutes. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

N.B. i just use store-bought pie crust. i won't even pretend that i can bake. oh also, be a little more liberal with the gruyere. i add to pie crust, with the filling, then even on top of the egg. it is delicious after all.

roast cornish game hen:

coat with summer savory, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt, hint of pepper and cayenne and a light cover of dill weed.

roast in oven, raised if possible (i.e. not touching your collectin pan) 375-400 for 1:30h. Check with meat thermo for whens it ready. while its cookin, every 10-15m , or so, check on it and douse with chicken broth, low salt. this keeps the chicken moist and unfortunately increases the cook time a good half hour. but i promise you the crispy skin will be well worth it.

finally, at around the 10m till mark (or basically when the meat thermo read 170-175 (roughly 10 min till ready) prepare onion and garlic sauteed (med-high heat) in olive oil. after the garlic has been on for `2-3min, until you smell them cooking, and while making sure your oil is hot! add in two handfuls of spinach and keep stirring in wok until you see them soften and turn the dark green color. add on a sprinkle of sugar to caramelize, then the kicker: using the squirt thingy you use to wet the chicken in the oven. yeah, thats right, i don't know what it is called. squirt on to the spinach a decent amount of the chicken grazy that has collected on the pan.

enjoy.

suggestion: GO

Welcome!

Hi folks,

first off, if you have any problems with punctuation, proper Capitalization and loose limits on when semicolons may be used, it may be best for you to move onto the next random thing. secondly, thank you for stopping by. this will by my foray into the random, tilted towards food and places i have tried, want to try and will try at some future point. every once in a while, i will likely post about my latest irritation or joie de vivre, which are not mutually exclusive.

once again, hello, welcome and i hope you enjoy.