Steak bun - nope, not a sandwich!

Looking for a cool dish for a hot day, I came across this recipe for a Vietnamese noodle salad in the newest issue of EatingWell.

It did involve a fair amount of chopping and prep at the front end. But nothing was complicated and I was able to get this together in about 35-40 minutes.

It turned out to be a good option for a warm day.

The recipe from Eating Well called for pan-cooking the steak. I opted to grill it. I think I made the right choice. First of all because it meant not having to clean that pan later. Also because I prefer grilled steak.

I also added a hit of Sriracha chili sauce to the dressing because I like a little heat. That is up to the maker, I suppose.

Here is my version.

Steak bun (Vietnamese noodle salad)

makes about 6 servings

1 tablespoon canola oil
2 large NY strip steaks (1-1 1/4 inches thick), trimmed of fat
6 ounces wide rice noodles (I used the Thai rice noodles from Trader Joe's since I had them.)
1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
4 cups shredded napa cabbage
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
1 cup thinly sliced radishes
1 cup slivered fresh basil and/or mint (I used a combination of these and it was good.)
1/2 cup finely chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
1 tsp Sriracha or chili paste (I started with a little and added until I got the heat level I wanted)
Salt and pepper

Heat grill over high heat.
Season steak with salt and pepper.
Cook, turning once, until cooked through to your liking. Let rest on a clean cutting board for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook rice noodles according to the package directions, until just tender. Drain the noodles and rinse under cold water.

Whisk vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and Sriracha to taste in a large bowl until the sugar is dissolved.

In a large bowl, toss the dressing with the noodles, cabbage, carrot, radishes, herbs and peanuts.
Then plate up your portions.

Slice the steak into thin strips and serve it on top of the noodle salad. (I cooked two steaks, but each portion only had about half a steak each sliced on top of it since they were big steaks. Then I had some left to eat later without any meat.)

Grilling the meat was the way to go. The EW version also mentions sirloin as a possibility.
I think this would be good with grilled chicken or shrimp, too. Or even just as a meatless option.

Crock-pot braised short ribs with mushrooms and carrots

Continuing in my attempts to make dinners that are easy but still amazing, I am trying to use the slow cooker a little more often.

I also am trying to save myself some time by buying things that are already prepped to some degree. So for this recipe, I bought pre-sliced mushrooms. I used canned tomatoes. For the side dish of sauteed greens, I bought a bag of mixed greens from Trader Joe's that are already cut and cleaned. The jasmine rice came from Trader Joe's freezer case and was nuked hot in just a few minutes.

Really, the toughest thing about making these braised short ribs was chopping an onion. Oh, and waiting all day at work to get home and eat dinner!

Crock-pot braised short ribs with mushrooms and carrots
(makes 4 servings)

8 boneless beef short ribs
kosher or sea salt
black pepper
1 cup beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
14.5 ounces canned, diced tomatoes (with juice)
4 bay leaves
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 small white onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
8 sprigs Italian parsley
8 carrots, peeled

Season the ribs with salt and pepper and place in an even layer in the slow cooker.
Add broth, wine, tomatoes and bay leaves.
Mix onions, mushrooms and garlic and add to slow cooker.
Layer Italian parsley sprigs over the top.
Arrange carrots on top of parsley.
Cook in crock pot on low heat for 8 hours.

Remove bay leaves and parsley before serving.

I served this over jasmine rice with some of the extra juice from the crock pot.
Also on the side were the mixed greens that I sauteed with some sliced onions and veggie broth.

This is like pot roast from my dreams. And it makes terrific leftovers.

Just showing off

When I make a steak that looks this pretty - restaurant pretty - the manfriend says I am just showing off.

So why not really show it off?

This was from last weekend.

I know grilling purists will not like to hear this, but it was cooked on a gas grill.

I use a grill pan similar to this over the regular grill rack.

It is a large cast-iron sort of pan with raised ridges.

These ridges are what make the lovely, lovely marks.

I get that thing as hot as possible then put the steaks on.

The steaks are seasoned simply with salt and pepper and rubbed with a little olive oil.

The key for the grill marks is to let the steaks really cook in one place for few minutes, then without flipping them over, turn them a quarter turn.

Let them cook another couple minutes and you get the crisscross pattern.

Then flip them to cook the other side.

Now me, if I get the pretty, pretty grill marks on the first side, I don't even bother with the other side. I just let the steak finish cooking.

Because making it perfect on both sides would really be showing off.

Grilled tri tip with smoked paprika mayo

Can it possibly be that I have not cooked anything since July 23, the date of the last post?

Well, no. Not exactly.

I have cooked, just nothing too exotic or new.

Plus there was that little matter of being gone on vacation for a bit longer than a week.

But I am back.

And I have cooked.

And I shall cook again.

I am thinking Monday will be a good day to really break out with something new since I am off work and can spend some time thinking about it.

But for now, I give you a recipe that I made once before going on vacation and once since being home: grilled tri tip with smoked paprika mayo.

I adapted this from another recipe, as I so often do.

The original recipe, which used tenderloin instead of tri tip was in the July 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine.

I used tri tip because it was waaaaaaaay less expensive than the tenderloin.

So, let's grill.

for beef:

2 large garlic cloves

1 1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp smoked paprika (there IS a difference between this and regular paprika. get the smoked)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tri tip, trimmed of excess fat

Mince garlic and then mash with salt. I use a mortar and pestle, you also can use the back of a spoon.

Stir in smoked paprika, cumin, pepper and oil.

Pat tri tip dry and rub with garlic-paprika mixture to coat.

You can cook it right away or let it sit. I let mine sit at least a couple hours.

Heat grill on high.

Cook meat on one side to get a nice sear and coating then flip it over to sear the other side.

Lower heat to medium and cook until done.

Meat should have a center temperature of 125-130 degrees with a meat thermometer.

This should give you a meat cooked to medium in the center. The ends will be more well done.

Remove meat from grill and let rest while you make the mayo.

Reserve any juices to use in the mayo.

for mayo:

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 large garlic clove, finely minced

Stir together all ingredients and then add in reserved juice from the meat if you want it.

I did one with the juice and one without when I cooked this.

Both times it was really tasty.

And the mayo will keep in the fridge for a couple weeks.

I used some of the leftovers on grilled portabello mushroom sandwiches. It was excellent.

to serve:

Slice the meat thinly and on an angle.

Serve warm or at room temperature with the mayo.

Leftovers of this are yummy and would make excellent sandwiches.

The second time I made it I used the leftover meat, chopped up, to make carne asada tacos.

Chevre and mango steak bites

This was from something I saw in Sunset magazine.
I lost that page somehow, but found this version online:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1654760

It seems to be exactly what I saw in Sunset.

I made the flank steak and cheese mixture two days ahead, sliced the steak a day ahead and rolled them up the day of the party.

I used two big flank steak from the Costco meat department. They came out great.