Tag: meat

Ropa Vieja in the FoodiNinja

I have great friends who support this shit show of a blog. One sent me a tricked out FoodiNinja and has expected a post about using it for months now. 

I attempted Ropa Vieja (as you can guess from the title).

What you need:

Big hunk of meat, flank steak is traditional but you can use a shoulder or butt

Onions – sliced

Bell peppers – sliced

Garlic – smashed up or chopped

Diced tomatoes (I recommend a can or two because I hate chopping) see my salad post

Tomato paste

Spices: paprika, cumin, oregano

Salt and Pepper

Chicken broth

Orange juice (or any citrus juice) either from a fruit or from a cartoon. You do you.

White wine for the pot, not just to drink, I mean you get to drink most of it.

What I did:

The FoodiNinja has a saute setting so I started with that on high.

Salt the meat.

Brown the meat on all sides

Add sliced onions and bell peppers and garlic and get them soft.

Cover in spices, more is better.

Once you’ve got a nice smell coming out of the pot add the tomato products.

For the chicken stock and citrus I took about a cup of broth, juiced two small oranges and one lime topped off with white wine till I had 2 cups of liquid.

Dump that in and stir it all around.

Cook on low for as long as you can.

One thing I like about doing this in a pot or slow cooker is that the house smells amazing all day. The FoodiNija has a wicked seal on it so I didn’t get to make the house smell nice. 

I ran up against dinner time. And the shoulder wasn’t shreddable. I switched it to pressure cook and BOOM in 10 more minutes I had shredded meat. Given how my biggest challenge is often timing with dishes having backup pressure cooking is my biggest reason to use the FoodiNinja. 

chefmckean

Enchiladas

Nothing fancy here.

What you need:

Several cans of beans – you know your family’s appetites, I don’t.

Spices. Cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and anything else you like. It really is up to you.

Cheese, medium cheddar or less (sharp is oily as fuck) or get the “Mexican” mix – get stuff that tastes good for the love of god.

Tortillas – how many do you want to eat?

Green salsa – yes I know it’s not the enchilada sauce in a can but this tastes way better and is a little spicy, we like Herdez Salas Verde, mild. Yes, even my kids who don’t like spicy like it.

Once again this is about how much your family eats. Mine eats about 10 tortillas worth (2 adults, 3 kids). This is also about 3 cans of beans and a large block of Tillamook Medium Cheddar. The whole block!

Mix the beans, spices, cheese together. Save some cheese. Spread on tortillas and fold the damn things up. Put them in a large glass baking dish, and dump the salsa on top. Top with the rest of the cheese . Bake at 3500F till you see bubbles and the cheese is melted.

Eat your hearts out.

I hate leftovers but the kids will eat enchiladas for days so I always try to make enough for a lunch or two of leftovers. Then I don’t have to think about those meals. Sometimes I get so fucking tired of thinking of meals for everyone. Why cant they just eat cheese and crackers and salami? Nooooo we have to have veggies and other things.

chefmckean

Meatloaf; or meat cake – It’s all about thickness

I meant to make a loaf but it got so big it became a cake.

What you need:

Meat – It doesn’t fucking matter what kind; get several and mix them together you crazy MoFo!

Onion

Garlic

Carrot

Eggs

Spices – basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder

Worcestershire sauce

Ketchup – make yourself feel good and get the organic, sugar free kind that tastes like crap…just kidding. This is for the top of the meat creation so get a tasty one.

What you do:

Sauté the onion, carrot, and garlic until there is no liquid in the pan (you want them to cook off all their liquid). Otherwise you’ll have soggy meat.

Mix the spices, eggs, Worcestershire sauce and meat(s) together.  Let the sautéed veggies cool a bit before you mix them in or it will hurt/burn (this would be experience talking). I mean it wasn’t a 3rd degree burn but it definitely involved me cussing up a storm in my Mother-in-law’s kitchen (who, unlike you, my wonderful reader, doesn’t appreciate some goddamned strong language).

Put it in a pan, or baking dish, or make little personal cupcake-sized cute meatloafs, or whatever you like.  Squirt ketchup on top in a fancy pattern.

Put it in the oven at 3500 F for an hour.

Feel free to enjoy the imagery of my Mother-In-Law (MIL) telling me how this was not the way she learned to do it. You know how MIL’s talk…

“When I did this or that it was so much better.”

“We never used that kind of language.” (Have I mentioned she’s not a fan of the blog?)

And that she “hopes it turns out ok.”

“Won’t it take 2 hours because yours is so big?” (Is this an inuendo?) No; it takes an hour because science (it’s the thickness that matters (“that’s what she said”)). I put mine in a baking dish and made it flat like a cake. So, yeah, I made meat cake. An hour was just right for meat cake.  Depending on your thickness your meatloaf may take more or less time. Use a thermometer if you’re really worried.  

It was really good! Even the picky eater ate it. When I do it again I’ll add pictures.

chefmckean

BBQ chicken

I remembered to take a picture!

My dad likes to stock up on meat over the winter when he knows we are coming to visit in the summer…sorry(don’t want to be a Karen) story after the recipe.

Chicken – it doesn’t matter what kind. Get what you like. No skin, bones are fine.

BBQ sauce. See Best Fucking Ribs for a tirade on BBQ sauce.

Put chicken in a large pot (best is cast iron, like Le Creuset or Staub) with a lid. Add ½ a jar of BBQ sauce. Cook at 2500 F for 3 hours.

Let it cool off before you shred it. Then eat it on buns or with a fork or store it for the next day. Slaw also goes well with it. I tend to avoid slaw because it involves chopping…and my husband has a strong aversion to mayo so we don’t do store bought. Sometimes I have the “right” leftovers and I can make it work.*

As for my dad and his hording of meat: we are a family of 5 so yes we eat a lot of food. The kids keep growing (I can’t wait till they hit the teenage years and those food costs). My dad looks for meat on sale over the course of the year and freezes it. Which means that when I get here, I go through the freezer to figure out what we are eating for the next month. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I can finally fit frozen waffles or a pizza in the damn freezer. This year I have two exceptionally large packages of chicken thighs with the skin and bones. However, my kids are currently on a chicken strike. I have to “trick” them into eating it and I’m often not successful. I think it’s a texture/in-their-head thing. So, for the massive packages of like 9 thighs I pulled all the skin off and threw it in the Staub with BBQ sauce. My dad then shredded and de-boned it and put it in the fridge. Tonight, I’m reheating and boiling off the excess liquid and we will try BBQ sandwiches.  

*I also took the leftover spring roll veggies (carrots, cabbage, cilantro, green onion and celery), chopped them up (have I mentioned how much I love chopping?) and mixed lime and olive oil and salt into them. That is the extent I will do slaw. (My husband adores this, non-creamy slaw. Like, it’s kind of creepy how much he likes it.)

Update:

I’m so pleased. The oldest loved it and has now eaten the BBQ chicken for several meals. The other two hate life as we know it when they are forced to eat this. As I’ve said before, I’m a great mom.

chefmckean