Cooking International: Peruvian Steak-Frites and Shrimp Fried Rice

I subscribed to Food and Wine magazine on a whim last summer, and I've got to say, it was a great decision. A lot of these types of magazines don't exactly provide useful information; wine out of my price range, restaurants thousands of miles away, that type of thing. Don't get me wrong, that stuff is in Food and Wine, but there are also a lot of extremely useful features!

In May this year, they had a travel issue. It's great that they make me dream about traveling (and eating!) everywhere, but more importantly, they gave some simplified recipes for some international type dishes. The one that I made was the Peruvian dish. It's basically a steak stir fry with french fries tossed in. It's called lomo saltado. Here's the recipe (from the magazine).

Peruvian Steak and Potato Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

1. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
3. 1 teaspoon ground coriander
4. 1 garlic clove, minced
5. Salt and freshly ground pepper
6. 1 pound skirt steak
7. 1 red onion, halved and slivered
8. Vegetable oil, for frying
9. 8 ounces frozen french fries
10. 1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapeños
11. 1 large tomato, chopped
12. 1/4 cup cilantro
13. Hot sauce, for serving

In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, cumin, coriander, garlic and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper. Cut the steak into 4-inch pieces; slice the steaks across the grain 1/2 inch thick and add to the bowl along with the onion. Let marinate for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1/2 inch of oil until shimmering. Add the french fries and fry over high heat until golden and crisp, about 3 minutes; drain on paper towels.

Heat a large griddle until very hot. Add the steak and onion along with the pickled jalapeños and stir-fry over high heat until the meat and onion are cooked through and lightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomato and cook until softened and beginning to char, about 1 minute. Add the french fries and cilantro and flip with a spatula to combine. Serve right away with hot sauce.

In a related, but not actually from the same recipe at all, I had my first attempt at making Fried Rice this last weekend. It's from here.  I wanted to make something with shrimp, and foodgawker revealed shrimp fried rice as an option. So check that out there! The cabbage smelled so delicious when it was in the wok. I didn't take any pictures because, well, I forgot. And I think I'm just going to go ahead and focus on the other recipe. Just follow the recipe that I linked! The only thing I changed was that I added some peanut sauce in with the shrimp, and added red pepper flakes to both the shrimp and the end product.

Hors D'oeuvre for Dinner

Seeing as I spend enough money on cooking for two as it is, the chances I will ever have a dinner party fully catered by me are slim. (Wait, didn't I do that last fall? Pork loin with a tapanade, stuffed mushrooms.....) Anyway! A couple weeks ago I went through a greasy, snack food, hors d'oeuvre type dinner mood.

I'll admit that the reason I have recently fallen in love with chicken and ranch is because one day this winter my boyfriend forced me to agree to Wendy's instead of McDonalds when we ran out for fast food. On some sort of whim (since I don't like their burgers or chicken nuggets) I ordered a Spicy Chicken sandwich. It's what my brother always used to get. I came home and found it to be REALLY spicy, but luckily it came with a nice cooling ranch dipping sauce. Mmmmmm. From there I found the wonders of ranch and chicken!

This dish is pretty simple, actually. So simple, I'm not going to even write it out all formally like. Cook some bacon. Maybe 5 pieces? Cut a couple thin cut chicken breasts into small pieces and saute that chicken with delicious things in the bacon fat (while reserving the bacon, of course). I used about half an onion, two cloves of garlic and some red pepper flakes. I wish it had been more spicy, so if I were you, I'd saute it in some jalapeno or add more red pepper or hot sauce or the like. Now, grab a can of Pillsbury biscuits and divide each one in half (you should have about 20.) In the center of a biscuit round, put a couple pieces of chicken, some bacon, and as much cheese (I went with a mexican 4 cheese mix) as will fit. Stretch the biscuit dough around the filling. Repeat! Cook for as long as the package of biscuit dough directs. Serve with buttermilk ranch as a dipping sauce.

The next thing I did was inspired by a starter we had when we went out for St. Patrick's Day. They were called Armadillo Eggs. However, when I looked up what exactly Armadillo Eggs were (jalapeno poppers, except encased in sausage...) I realized that we had simply had jalapeno poppers, which have a significantly less entertaining name. Still, absolutely delicious! So, I set out to make an Armadillo Egg inspired meal. Jalapeno poppers with sausage biscuits.

I'll be honest. The picture makes them seem like a significant less failure than they were. Basically. Hollow out the inside of a jalapeno. Mix together cream cheese and cheddar and stuff that in the dude. Dip it in milk, then flour, then milk, then panko. Drop into hot oil. Voila!

Yeah..... so here's the problems I encountered. The jalapenos were too tough. This was because I should have baked them for a while after hollowing them out. I also should have made them as thin as possible, throughout the whole thing (so the end wasn't super hot!) I should have also repeated the milk-flour-milk-panko process a few times, making the breading more awesome. I should have fried the jalapeno poppers longer, or perhaps twice fried them.

Another thing: Make sure your biscuit is not expired when you make drop biscuits. Otherwise, the results will taste like chalk and stinky baking soda. As a result, your sausage and jalapeno poppers will be too spicy and woe! The straw that broke the camel's back. The point here is...... Don't follow my footsteps for jalapeno poppers with sausage biscuits. Only madness lies that way.

Following up this post on greasy, buttery snacky food, I'm going into a week of cooking healthy food! On the plate for the week: Basil Pesto with homemade Pasta, Hummus Pita Pizza with spinach, olives, and tomatoes, and either Soy Glazed Salmon with Mango Salsa or a Seared Tuna Mandarin Salad.

Shrimp and Grits

Let's just start out by saying that never in my life have I actually even eaten grits before this day. Maybe my mother made me try a bite once when I was little, but believe me, I considered them disgusting. I'd been thinking about making them after seeing them featured at thekitchn.com and when I had the most (frighteningly) domestic conversation with my boyfriend's mother and grandmother about the various approaches to the recipe, I had to.

I mostly used the recipe here, although I never follow things perfectly. Here we go:

Shrimp and Grits
1 package of shrimp
1 cup chicken stock
Some lemon juice
4 slices of bacon
2 TBSP flour
pinch of salt
A bunch of red pepper flakes
1/4 green bell pepper
1 small onion
3 TBSP scallions
1 clove garlic

For the Grits:
1/2 cups Grits, water and salt, follow package directions (not instant! quick cook is what I used)
salt, pepper, garlic powder
4oz grated cheddar cheese

• Marinade the shrimp in lemon and red pepper flakes. Don't be afraid to be generous, it's just a marinade.
• Chop up all the vegetables (pepper, scallions, onion, garlic)
• Prepare grits: cook in salted water according to package instructions. After they are finished, stir in the salt, pepper, and garlic, then stir in the cheese until melted.
• Chop up the bacon then cook it in a skillet until brown (but not crisp or it'll over cook)
• Add the onions, garlic, peppers (but not the scallions yet!) Cook for about 5 min.
• Add scallions and sprinkle flour over everything. Cook 5 min.
  
• Add the stock and stir together for about 2 min, until it thickens. You're making a roux here.
• Add the shrimp and cook until they're opaque. (Standard shrimp doneness!)
• Serve over the grits!

The end result was delicious. I wasn't too big of a fan of the grits on their own, and I think the sauce to grits ratio could have been a little better (aka, more sauce) but then, you know my previous opinion on grits. With a chunk of bacon or a piece of shrimp, it was amazing. If I were changing anything about the recipe, I would add a lot more shrimp, and more bacon, so that I wasn't left with as much left over grits + sauce once the protein chunks were gone. I would say this is much more of a dinner shrimp and grits, rather than a breakfast one.

I know I usually write more than one recipe per post, but I think if I do it this way, I'll be more likely to update more often! Until next time.

Flakey Phyllo and Flambe!

Sorry for the disappearing thing again. Per usual, it was a case of losing my camera charger. And then my camera. Rather, it was exactly where it was supposed to be (the camera) but when I found my charger I somehow overlooked it. Don't you love it when stupid stuff like that happens.

But back to the food! I've made a lot of great things recently, some of which I managed a picture of. On my right here, I made homemade chicken pot pies! Here's what I did:





Individual Chicken Pot Pies- Phyllo Dough Style
Ingredients:
Phyllo Dough
Chicken Breast (1)
Onion (whole)
Garlic (fresh)
Carrots
Chicken Stock

First of all, a lot of chopping is in order. Chop up about 2 large carrots into small pieces. Do the same with half an onion. Chop up 3 cloves of garlic. (Oh, and pre-heat the oven to 350.)

In a large pot, into it place chicken stock, pieces of onion, four cloves of garlic, and a few pieces of carrots. Simmer for 30 minutes. Pull chicken out and shred meat when cool enough to touch. Keep stock simmering with onions etc.

Either line muffin containers with foil or spray ramekins with cooking spray. Prepare philo dough by layering it (at least 6 layers) with melted butter between each. Place philo dough on the inside to form a cup. Reserve some to place on top of the cup.

Next we're going to make a roux. In a skillet, melt some butter. The ratio you're going to want is 4 tablespoons butter to 4 tablespoons flour to 2 cups of stock. Add all the stuff you diced earlier (carrots, onions, garlic) to the skillet and allow to cook for about 5 minutes- but watch it to make sure it doesn't burn! Might be less than 5 minutes.

While this goes on, strain the stock mixture to get 2 cups of stock. Next, you want to add the flour to the skillet roux. Mix it in quickly to make sure it doesn't clump up. Once it is well mixed, pour the stock into the skillet and allow it to simmer until thickened. (Make sure you make the roux in the right order, I did it backwards and it was almost a disaster!) Then, add the chicken shreds!

Spoon the filling into the phyllo cups and place a reserved piece on top to cover the filling. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the phyllo begins to look crispy and done.

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Another delicious phyllo thing I made a while ago (so I don't completely remember what I did... though I'll give you an overview...) was pan-seared lamb with spanakopita and a tzatziki sauce, to the left here. The lamb is the simplest part... marinaded it in dill, garlic, olive oil, salt/pepper. Once the spanakopita were in the oven, just seared on the stove and stuck it in the oven until the temperature was appropriate.

The spanakopita involved three steps: 1- mix feta, and egg, and drained, defrosted frozen spinach. 2- Layer 4 sheets of phyllo dough. Brush a layer of melted butter between each. 3- Place a spoonful of the spinach mix in the corner of the phyllo sheets. Cut a strip of it off so that the filling is on a portion of the end of the strip. Fold the strip like a flag until the dough is thick on all sides. Put in the oven for a while... 20 min?

The sauce, well. I'm going to have a hard time remember all the stuff. So uh... you're going to want to look that up. But it's delicious. DELICIOUS. I'm so sad I failed to find another time to use it. It's basically dill, drained cucumbers, drained greek yogurt, and fresh garlic. In any case, the combo of these things was wonderful.

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Last but not least, we have the non sequitor! Banana's Foster! Really, I just can't wait to show this off. I'm happy that I didn't burn anything down (the back of the bottle of 151 told me vehmenently not to light it on fire, but I ignored it.)

Banana's Foster
Ingredients:
6 Bananas --- 151 rum
Brown Sugar --- Nutmeg
Cinnamon --- Butter
(Vanilla ice cream) --- (Waffles)

So quarter the bananas (once lengthwise, once across). Melt 5 tablespoons of butter. Mix in a cup of brown sugar, and do a fair bit of cinnamon and nut meg in there. Mix, then add the bananas and allow them to cook for a few minutes. Use this time to carefully measure out the 151 (1 cup!!)

Take the skillet off the burner and pour the 151 over it, making sure to spread it around the pan evenly. Using a long armed lighter, carefully light the skillet. A flame will appear but it will take some time to reach its maximum height and will burn for a while (about 5-7 minutes). When the flame dies, serve mixture. I did it over ice cream on waffles!

By the way, that recipe made 10 servings! So divide it into whatever!

Although the waffles/ice cream was just my way of how to serve it, amusingly, I received a serving suggest a few days after I made it that makes Banana's Foster related to the other two recipes! Line a ramekin or pie dish with puff pastry and then fill it with the bananas and sauce. Also sounds delicious... but less simple for a potluck!

The point is, I did my first flambe! That is incredibly exciting. Some parties were concerned that the paint on the wall would bubble, that I would burn wooden cabinets nearby, or that I would burn myself. But! Everything worked out perfectly! No property damage! Everyone liked it!

And on that note... signing out! (Just made Shrimp and Grits tonight, look for that in a post soon!)

Comida de Mexico

Over winter break, I went to east-central Mexico, mostly in San Luis Potosi state. I went in to the trip planning on following the traveling food guidelines to avoid Montezuma's revenge, but if I had, I would have missed out on street tacos! Don't get me wrong, there were some good things in the restaurants themselves, but you couldn't beat the bang for your buck (or the deliciousness) at taco stands!

There were taco stands everywhere! My favorite is pictured to the right. They took a chef's decision approach and served one type: tacos de res, beef tacos. Unlike the US, beef tacos aren't ground beef, it's small, thin cut pieces cooked and served outside out of a cart on the street. Here they gave us one option: cilantro and caramelized onions on the side? They were delicious, particularly with the salsa verde. (Us Americans learned quickly that the green sauce was almost always less spicy than the salsa that looks like what we're used to.) Another major difference is that everything is served with corn tortillas, not flour. They're smaller (so yes, order 5 tacos a person!) and have a different flavor. Enchiladas and gorditas, it made a difference, but honestly, tacos tended to be delicious either way.

Other taco stands offered more variety in terms of taco fillings. Chorizo and choriqueso, bisteck (steak cut beef), barbacoa (another favorite of mine), pollo, refried beans, and gringo (we wondered forever and found out that it has yummy avocado in it!) A couple places even offered flour tortillas, although this wasn't common. To eat, you go up to the cart and order, then sit down at a plastic table under a tent. You watch them cook your meal, then they bring you your stack of tacos at the table. The main accessories are cilantro and onion, although some places offered tomatoes. The best part, however, was that these delicious tacos cost 5-7 pesos apiece. This means that for a meal of 5 tacos and a drink, you can get a full lunch for less than $3.00!

The other main type of street food was gorditas, but I never actually ate them. Why eat gorditas when I could eat tacos! Mmm.... But anyway, so about restaurant foods. The standard offerings were a selection of meats and seafood, a selection of "mexican foods" and a selection of american or italian foods. One interesting, unique dish was cecina de res. "Cecina" technically means jerkey, but it's actually a flank steak marinated in deliciousness (some sort of soy based thing?) and yeah. Yummers. I also had a delicious chicken dish with a cheese sauce. Not something you would expect to taste good, very rich, quite amazing. As far as Mexican foods in restaurants went, everything was served with enchiladas. I made enchiladas a while ago, and they were nothing like what I had made. Small corn tortillas folded over manchego cheese! I also ate Fajitas at some point, and while they were delicious, they were so spicy I couldn't finish them. Pretty much, everything was served with tortillas, so. Everything was Mexican?

Okay. So here is the thing about American food in Mexico: everything is gigantic. Of course, every time we ate American food, we were so hungry that we reinforced the stereotype. After a day full of driving we stopped at a hamburger joint. The "chica" burger was the size of a whopper. The middle size was the size of a personal pizza. The "grande" was the size of a basketball! Me and my boyfriend split a grande with double meat, cheese and bacon. But some of the people I was traveling with got a grande on their own. Now that restaurant believes it is right about Americans eating gigantic amounts of food. Another place, we got gargantuan slices of pizza!

While we were there we mostly just ate at restaurants because we stayed in a lot of hotels. We camped on several occasions, but we still only did a limited amount of cooking. We did do a lot of eggs and pancakes and french toast on camp stoves. I was thwarted so many times by trying to make over easy eggs; either I'd break the yolk when I cracked the egg, or I'd nick it when I tried to flip it and it'd run all over the pan. One morning, we did add hash browns to the cooking experience. My favorite instance of cooking was when we camped at a place called The Phantasms. We had bought hotdogs and spent an hour tracking down a bakery for buns. We ended up making fries from the left over potatoes from hash browns, and actually ended up shoe stringing them, which means that they turned out great. The meal was ended with roasting giant marshmellows over the fire! The hotdogs could have been better, but they were turkey dogs since one of our travel companions didn't eat beef. Overall, however, the experience was excellent.

In any case, food in Mexico was pretty good! American food was so much more greasy/filling after all that good, relatively healthy(er) food.