Baby's First Dish

As you all know, it's always been my goal to engage my child in cooking, food and nutrition.  As soon as she was old enough, I've had her in the kitchen.  Starting at things like pushing the buttons on the food processor, to measuring ingredients, mixing stuff up and even some beginner knife work.  But, tonight was the culmination of it all...my baby COOKED!

She's ready to roll!

 That's right.  She cooked an entire dish all by herself.  Of course I was standing right there overseeing, and I did all the prep work (chopping) but she cooked all by herself!  We decided to go with a Chinese flair tonight, so I worked on beef with broccoli while Viv worked on the veggie fried rice.  

So, this is onion, carrot, broccoli and ginger (which I think is nectar of the gods!)

I was so proud of her.  One: because she actually listened to and followed all of my directions.  Two: because she was talking constantly about her observations and her technique of stir-frying the veggies.  Three:  she sloped the rice up the sides of the wok like I told her and scrambled the egg down in the center. She did it all and we ended up with a great batch of fried rice. The real joy of it all was, of course, her pride in her creation and the excitement of being allowed to work with the stove and just do it.  Like all cooks though, at the table she kept insisting that my dish was better than hers while Neil and I insisted that the rice was the best.  

The beef with broccoli did turn out well too.  I used a flatiron steak, sliced really thin. Marinated in soy sauce, a little flour, a tiny bit of sugar and sherry cooking wine.  Stir-fried broccoli then cooked the steak with its marinade, which creates the sauce. 

I can't ever give Viv the plate that was chipped by the dishwasher. Ever.

  I may have said this to you all before, but I'm going to say it again. The beauty of Chinese cuisine is quantities.  Over dinner, we talked about this.  People walk into a place like Longhorn and order a 12 oz. steak.  That's a hell of a lot of meat.  That's more meat than a person is supposed to eat at any given sitting. Our dinner tonight was made with 8 oz. of steak and it was more than enough for the three of us.  What the Chinese know and have known for thousands of years is that you can take a little bit of a lot of things and make a satisfying meal.  


Think about this for a minute.  Fried rice is loaded with vegetables and tiny cubes of pork, chicken, tofu, or shrimp, right?  But, it's plenty for you.  MooGooGaiPan is thin slices of beautiful white chicken surrounded by tons of veggies.  Sweet and sour pork uses about 8 oz. of meat and the rest is all veggie.  And for those people who always say after eating Chinese food, they are hungry an hour later...all I can say is vary your selections.  You can't eat a wheelbarrow-load of fried rice, fried wontons or egg rolls and escape the carbohydrate coma and hunger that comes quickly.  You simply must treat this cuisine like any other.  Incorporate a salad, a main dish with protein, a veggie side and yes, carbs too.  But don't lump all Chinese in with your starch/MSG stupor and subsequent hunger.  Don't do it, I say!

My happiness tonight isn't stemming from the fact that I made beef and broccoli that Neil, the Vivver and I loved, but rather from the fact that my baby got in the kitchen tonight and OWNED  it!  I've waited for this day. Having her cooking alongside me, not having to worry about her getting hurt or spilling some hot something all over herself.  It was wonderful! If you have kids, bring them into the kitchen.  It will prepare them, in many ways, for their future life but also will bring so much joy to the here and now.  For you both.

Red Meat-o-Rama; Part 1

I stopped by my lovely little Publix on the way home today to pick up something (anything!) for dinner.  The Vivver and I had just come from what she termed "girls night out" at 5pm to the dollar store.  She had 6 bucks just burning a hole in her pocket.  So, after the exhilarating experience of being able to choose whatever she wanted (really mommy?  EVERYTHING in here is just a dollar??) we had both worked up an appetite.

If you ever read my post about flank steak, you know how much I love that cut of meat.  Today, I found a really good looking one and it wasn't an arm and a leg.  So, in the cart it went.  Then, one of the "mystery cuts" that I read about all the time but have never actually experienced in real life, caught my eye.  Flat iron steak. I've read about it hundreds of times, I've seen it on menus, but I've never eaten it or cooked it or known anything about it, nor have I ever noticed it in my local grocery stores.  But, there it was.  

I picked it up.  I studied it.  I scrutinized it.  Hmmmmmm.  
Then, I spotted Marty, my Publix meat man.  I took the flat iron steak to him and basically said something like, "What is it, what do I do with it, what's it like?"  Marty is a great meat guy.  He stops whatever he's doing to answer your questions, find what you're looking for, and in this case, a little mini-seminar. So, he explained to me where the cut comes from, how it relates to other cuts and how it is best cooked.  Awesome!  As I thanked him, I nonchalantly mentioned something to this effect:  "yeah, and I keep hearing about this California tri-tip thing but I've never seen it in a store around here."  Color me stupid as Marty points to a piece of meat right in front of my face and says, "well, there's one right there."  Another mini-seminar ensued.  

Long story short:  I bought the flank, the flat iron and the tri-tip.  It's meat-a-palooza Chez Akre this week!

For dinner I decided on the flat iron.  Marty had advised me to simply season it and grill it.  Since it's the temperature of the sun here in beautiful South Carolina right now, I opted to use my grill pan indoors.  

Yeah, I got fancy with the grill marks.

I cooked it for 8 minutes per side, let it rest about 5 or 6 minutes before cutting.  I served it with baked potatoes and "Sicilian style escarole." 

Sicilian style escarole, baked potato and perfectly medium-rare flat iron steak

My biggest steak fan in the house is the Vivver.  You ask her anytime what her favorite food is and she'll tell you it's steak.  She's been saying that for years now.  She loved this one!  It was amazingly tender, flavorful and all I put on it was a little salt and pepper,  so the meat's real, true flavor came out and it was delicious.  It reminded me of the "old days" when I'd go to my Aunt Jennie and Uncle Tommy's house in the summer.  On Friday night, we'd always have grilled steak, baked potatoes and salad.  This steak tasted so much like my memory of those Friday nights in Spartanburg...and that's a good thing.  Frankly, anything that reminds me of Tommy is a good thing.  I miss him so much.  But, alas, that's another story.  In fact, I could probably write a whole other blog about my Uncle Tommy. 

I want to share this escarole recipe with you, but I realize I'm getting a bit long-winded this evening.  So, I'll try to get back to it tomorrow.  It was a great use of escarole and I would happily make this one again.  Stay tuned...