What's cooking at Jerk Castle . . .

Ropa Vieja

It is cold out which means an excuse to eat large bowls of beef stew . . .i normally get my fix at Sophie's with a huge plate of ropa vieja at lunch (although this is not good for any productivity as it is definite to cause a food coma) . . . my last trip to Sophie's inspired me to give the dish a try at home. . . 

i chose this recipe because it seemed do-able and although a project, less steps than some others. . .it came out really tasty and my husband and i, along with my sister in law and brother in law, finished off every last bit. . . 

http://latinfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/ropa_vieja.htm

tips-

*we found it difficult to shred the meat with a fork and resorted to our hands- we probably could have left the meat cooking in for a little while longer which would have made it even more tender (we cooked it for around an hour and a half -i would do two hours next time)

*it was a bit bland so i added some salsa verde just before serving which gave it a needed kick. 

*as you can see, we served ours with yellow rice and crusty bread.

also, on the cuban front, we are very exciting about the arrival of cubana cafe to park slope- cute place with good food that has been in soho for a long time. . . the chicken with mango salsa is delicious (i think it is #18 on their menu).

Send me some of your favorite stew recipes. . .the winter has just begun. 

Beef Lettuce Wraps

Not usually a fan of the magazine Cooking Light but had stocked up on magazines in the airport for a flight to LA and that was one of them. . . we found a few recipes that looked interesting- this was a lovely one- easy and quick and the sauce was sweet and vinegary-we also added advocado slices and some salsa- i'd recommend that.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1898540

tip: use bibb lettuce or other lettuces with large leaves- we bought the lettuce they had at our farmers market- which was fresh and local and all that stuff but wasn't the best for wrapping.

Grilled Hanger Steak with Sauteed Brocoli Rabe

It has been a hell of a week at work so i've been a delinquent blogger . . . i will have to catch you all up on our at home feasts this past week (fewer than usual as i often resorted to picking up food in our neighborhood)

We did stay at home this past saturday night and had a favorite of ours- marinated grilled hanger steak. . . we make this steak every once in a while with some type of potato and greens- this past weekend we had it with roasted potatoes and onions and sauteed brocoli rabe (using a really super easy and insanely fast recipe for the brocoli that we learned about from watching a foodnetwork show a few nights earlier- see below.)

The marinade for the steak is a concoction we actually came up with and particularly love- 

App. 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

App. 1 tbl spoon rice vinegar

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped

2-3 scallions, chopped

App. 1 tbl spoon toasted sesame oil

App. 1 tbl spoon honey

App. 2 tbl spoons brown sugar

And of course here is a pic of the steak grilling (along with some cloves of garlic we threw on there)- i find that the hanger steak is a wonderful cut to use with this marinade- because it is so thin a great crust forms when grilled. .

warning- as you can see, grilling the steak results in tons of smoke so frantically waiving a towel at the smoke detector may be required.

Now for the brocoli rabe-i really hardly ever eat brocoli rabe- i found it a bit intimidating due to its bitterness- but after following this easy blanching/sauteeing recipe and then adding some lemon juice - we were pleasantly suprised at the lack of bitterness and the crunchiness of the greens.

Here is the recipe we used and then added some lemon juice:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sauteed-broccoli-rabe-recipe2/index.html