Cuban Beef Picadillo

Cuban Beef Picadillo

I cut this recipe out of the newspaper some years ago, long before my nouveau-foodie-ism. I'm really not sure why. I just noticed now that the recipe is actually reprinted from a Williams-Sonoma book -- that authenticates it.

I had to make a few changes though. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of chili powder, a strong flavor I'm not crazy about, so I cut it back to 1 tablespoon. I didn't have enough beef broth, so I filled the gap with vegetable broth. I left out the raisins, since any form of fruit, dried or otherwise, instantly nixes the already slim chance that my husband will like it.

I really, really liked this. It's easy to make, has no unusual ingredients, and has a Mediterraneany-spice aspect to it that I love. I think that's the allspice, my new favorite flavor. This, to me, finds that sweet spot between flavor and heat -- that is, really tasty without being spicy-hot.


But, my opinion matters for zip around here. My husband was "so-so" on it and left most of it on his plate. My older son wouldn't even try it, and my flexible younger son was persuaded only after I picked out all the red "potamos" and promised him chicken parmesan if he really tried it.

To me, this is the best ground beef gets, but I'll have to shelve this one until I find like-minded allspice enthusiasts.

Cuban Pork Chops with Mojo

Cuban Pork Chops with Mojo

It's hard to be convincing that I don't like some Food Network shows when I keep using their recipes.

Usually I'm not a fan of Guy's Big Bite, but I was trapped on a treadmill last weekend and couldn't take any more politics on CNN, so Food Network it was. But it wasn't long before I was intrigued: Latin-style pork chops with ingredients I could pronounce. Then when he marinated the pork chops in orange juice, it was too much. I had to try it.

My life being what it is, I split the preparation across two days, so the chops hung out in the fridge for a day with the dry rub on them. From there, the cooking was easy. I'd never used a red onion in a regular saute preparation, and though it was strong on my eyes, it added a lot of color and was wonderfully sweet.

The result was intensely flavorful and complex, and I don't say that lightly, since I don't have a particularly developed palette. My husband was surprised that they weren't too spicy for me (pepper on salads is too much for me), but they weren't spicy per se, just very very flavorful. The dry rub could stand a little less garlic powder, but that's a nit.


My sons were predictably so-so on it, as they're not used to such zingy flavors. My husband liked them, though still fell short of a rave. I thought they were absolutely wonderful, and authentic...though like Guy, my visa for Havana hasn't come in either, so what do I know?

Guy also made a delicious-looking sofrizo mashed potato dish to go with the Cuban pork chops, but I'd pushed my luck far enough for one night.

Spicy Beef Curry Stew

Spicy Beef Curry Stew

Beef stew. Nice concept. Especially since stew meat is pretty inexpensive compared to most other beef.

Hoping to make something in the slow cooker that was flavorful, I searched for "beef curry" on allrecipes.com and came across this altogether reasonable-looking recipe. Curry, fresh ginger -- now we're talking. (I glazed over the jalapeno, I can't imagine even touching one.)

So I prepared the stew at night, tossing in some cut-up red potatoes, and started the slow cooker on Low the next morning. The house smelled great when I got home from work.

But that was the best it ever did. My sons tried it only under duress, meaning, I won't make them anything else to eat unless they really try something. And they did try, and they really didn't like it. I'm not surprised; so far they've never liked anything with curry. But I have to keep trying.

My husband, who stiffens visibly at the mention of any traditional American beef stew ( a holdover from his Midwestern upbringing), made an effort, but it was still too Dinty-Moore-ish (my term) for him. The sauce did have that distinct "beef stew"ness to it, despite the very present ginger and curry. Maybe it's the beef broth, I don't know. In any case, he ended up supplementing his dinner with an old bachelor standby: Ramen and Tyson chicken. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree: my older son earned himself some TJ's chicken nuggets as an alternative.

Too bad, it's a nice idea, and easy to make. But I need a new angle on "beef stew" if it's ever going to fly around here.

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin and Shalloty Green Beans
(scroll to the end of that link for the recipe.)

I snagged this one from The Kitchen Illiterate. The description "pretty darn simple" was just too good to pass up.

And indeed, it was easy. Except for the fact that I don't know what marjoram is, and would have to make a special trip to find it. So to stay true to "herb-crusted", I tossed in some dried oregano, having some vague memory that I'd heard the word marjoram in the context of oregano once.

I'm not sure it made much difference; the overwhelming majority of flavor comes from the bread crumbs. That's not a bad thing exactly, but supposed you wanted to actually taste the herbs? I keep seeing Japanese panko bread crumbs come up in recipes or on cooking shows, and they're supposed to be lighter.

I loved the green beans though. I've made lemon and garlic green beans before, but the shallots were much better and cooked up nice and sweet. I took the author's advice and made the green beans in the same pan as I'd browned the pork, and that worked great. However, I did have a timing issue, as it took about 45 minutes to cook the tenderloin through, and the green beans were ready long before then.

The score: 3 out of 4. Literally. Both my sons finished all of their pork and green beans. Now there's an accomplishment! I even got a much-coveted "This is really good, Mom!" And, I liked both, though I'm not picky. My husband....not so much. He's always the weak link. I didn't take any chances with the youngest member of the family, who happily gobbled up a hefty portion of leftover Trader Joe's rice pilaf mix, with cauliflower chopped in.


I'm going to be making this again, for certain. Especially when the baby is past the "I refuse to try this JUST BECAUSE I CAN" phase, there will be one more mouth to outvote Dad.

Steak and Zucchini

Score one for me. The grill pan and I made peace tonight, with the help of some steak and zucchini.

Introducing new things around here, even new preparations of old standbys like steak, is tricky. So the rest of the family got their steak salted, peppered, rosemaried, and broiled, as per usual. Mine broke new ground on the grill pan.

And you know, I came out the winner on this one. It was a lot easier keep close track of how quickly it was cooking, and I think it was different cooking one side and then the other, rather than being in an overall ultra-hot oven as with broiling. It was just shade rarer in the middle, perhaps because of less carry-over cooking?

Then the vegetable. Kids got the broccoli standby (and let me acknowledge my gratitude that I can consider broccoli a staple), grownups got salted and grilled zucchini. Welcome to my new favorite way to prepare zucchini. I think I turned off to zucchini for a while after a steaming phase. But grilled, there's nothing mushy about it; indeed it's got a nice crisp aspect to it.

I still have to scrub the darned thing though.

I'll have to try Georgette's Greek Zucchini next time. And according to that recipe, zucchini is a low-carb vegetable. Good news for diabetics and dietetics alike!