Meat and Potatoes with a Kick!

So apparently, Seeley and I were both thinking about Mexican meat this week.  The truth is, I had a flank steak in the freezer that I pulled out to thaw, and really had no clue what I was going to do with it.  Basically with flank, you have two options.  You can cook it hot and fast or low and slow.  Anything in the middle is going to be stringy shoe leather.  Well, as it happens, Elise and I recently went on a bit of a shopping spree at Penzeys. 

If you have a store near you and you’ve never been in.  Go.  Seriously.  You can smell every spice in the store, and it’s an amazing experience.  If you don’t have one nearby, you can order from their website, which is great, but not quite the same.  So obviously I won’t be using all of those spices for this one meal.  These are the ones I decided on. 

So here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 Tablespoon oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Flank steak (mine was probably .75 lb.)
• 1 Tablespoon oil (yes this makes two, but they’re used separately)
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder 
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
• Juice of a lime
• ½ cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 medium russet potatoes
• 1 medium tomato

The first step is to sear the meat.  Salt both sides well.  Then put it into a very hot pan with 1 Tablespoon of oil.  Ideally, you’d like it to be a bit darker than this, but I had a bit of a brain fart and used a nonstick pan rather than a stainless one.  Why is this a problem?  Well, Teflon gives off toxic stuff if it gets too hot, so I didn’t want to put it on high.  Just use stainless and you won’t have to worry about it. 

Once you’ve seared both sides, remove it from the pan and put it into your crock pot. 

See those tasty bits left in the pan?  That’s one of the reasons for searing the meat, so we can’t waste them.  Also, a bit of heat will really wake up your spices. 

Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan (I had already added it in that picture) and stir in your chili powder, cumin, and cayenne. 

Spices can burn really easily in this process, so give them only about 30 seconds or so, then quickly add your minced onion, oregano, garlic and onion powder, and pour in the lime juice and water. 

Add 1 teaspoon of salt.  Stir and simmer that for about a minute, then just turn off the heat.  It should look something like this:

Peel and dice your potatoes.

Stir them into the spice mixture as you go so that they don’t oxidize. 

Then pour the whole thing over the top of your waiting flank steak. 

This was about the time I looked over and saw the beautiful tomatoes that I had picked up at the farmers’ market.

So I diced one of them up and threw it in.  If you want to make it easier, just stir it in with the potatoes before adding them to the pot.  Otherwise, you can just stir them in afterward, like I did. 

I like to start my slow cooker on high for the first hour, just to get things going a bit, then turn it down to low for the duration.  This went for a total of about 5 hours.  Look at those potatoes.  Can you just imagine how much flavor they must have?

You’ll know it’s done when the potatoes are nice and soft, and the meat is fall apart tender.  No, I didn’t just put the meat on my countertop.  It just looks like that because it’s on a glass plate.

Now the tricky part, cutting the tender meat into chunks.  Sure, you could just shred it, but I think chunks are better for this particular dish.  Cut across the grain first. (see, glass plate)

Then it will be easy to cut the strips into small pieces.

Put the meat chunks back into the crock pot and stir so that everything is nicely coated. 

Spoon the mixture into tortillas, top with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of green onion, and you have serious taco goodness. 

You might not find carne y papas tacos at your local restaurante mexicano, but meat and potatoes cooked in a similar fashion to this are actually very traditional Mexican cuisine.

What’s on your list of spices to buy and/or use?      

Remember the Lime Sugar?

Here’s the fabulous recipe I promised putting it to good use.  Lime, coconut, and white chocolate bread pudding.  Elise Logan and I were working together in the kitchen again.  Her writing partner, Emily Ryan-Davis, had some bread pudding at a farmer’s market and loved it so much, she asked if we might be able to recreate it.  Of course we said yes.  How do you say no to lime, coconut, and white chocolate bread pudding?  We put our heads together and created this recipe, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but we hit it out of the park. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 ½ cups lime sugar
• 2 cups half & half
• 1 cup milk*
• ½ cup cream*
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup finely shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1 cup white chocolate chunks or chips
• 1 loaf challah
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¼ cup coconut oil

*Feel free to substitute 1 ½ cups whole milk or half & half for the milk and cream.

Cut your bread into 1 inch thick slices and set it aside. 

In a bowl, measure your butter and coconut oil.  Elise decided her piles resembled little houses and gave them contrasting roofs.  Have I mentioned how much time we spend laughing when we’re together? 

Stir those until they’re thoroughly mixed together. 

Using some of that mixture, generously grease a 9x13 pan. 

Then spread a thin layer on each of your slices of bread.  You won’t use all of the coconut butter, but I can personally vouch for how great it is on toast, especially if you sprinkle on a little lime sugar.  I know, you’re thinking I’ve lost my marbles over this lime sugar stuff, but once you’ve made it, you’ll totally understand.   

Take your buttered slices of bread and cut them into chunks.

Pile the pieces somewhat haphazardly in the pan. 

Sprinkle on the white chocolate.  On the subject of white chocolate… it’s become rather difficult to find good white chocolate these days.  A high quality white chocolate will have cocoa butter as like the second ingredient.  Most of the stuff you’ll find in the grocery store is made from palm oil.  Trust me when I say it’s worth tracking down the good stuff. 

Next comes the coconut.  Just sprinkle it over the top. 

Now set that aside and we’ll start on the custard.  Crack your eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the lime sugar. 

Whisk those together thoroughly. 

Add all of the dairy stuff and the coconut milk and whisk some more.  Don't worry about the little bits of coconut milk.   

Pour that mixture over your bread.  You’ll think it’s not all going to fit in the pan, but it will.  At least, mine did. 

Press the bread down so that it all gets a chance to absorb that fabulous custard. 

Cover it and refrigerate it for at least an hour or two.  Overnight would even be fine.  When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 350°.  Uncover the bread pudding, place it on a sheet pan, and put it into the oven.  Bake it for 60 – 75 minutes.  It should be browning nicely on top and a knife inserted in the middle will come out clean.  Clear moisture on it is fine, but nothing that looks custardy.  You can see why I put it on a sheet pan. 

Allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.  I used a round cutter to cut this piece, but you can just scoop it with a spoon or cut it into squares.  Top it with freshly whipped cream, preferable sweetened with some of that leftover lime sugar, and enjoy.  It’s a perfect balance of lime, coconut, and white chocolate with a luscious creamy texture. 

What have you eaten recently that you’d like to have a recipe for?