Every family has its secrets.

Apparently my family also has “secret” recipes, some of which I am giving away on this blog. Shame on me.

I say it’s good food, so why not share? Like a lot of us, my mom likes to try new foods and recipes often, so it’s only the really great (and relatively simple) recipes that have become regulars in my family. If you’ve been reading this blog, so far this includes German pancakes and plum cake.

This delectable grilled steak recipe is from a college friend of my mom’s, so it goes waaaaay back. You gotta grill this steak. No pan searing and finishing in the oven, so that makes this dish summer food, unless you are ok braving bad winter weather.

The unusual combination of aromatic nutmeg, salty soy sauce and sweet pickle sounds weird, but is really delicious. The more stuffing (studded with crunchy almonds) you get with each slice of meat, the better. If you don’t have time to marinate the meat overnight, you may want to season the stuffing and steaks with a little salt and pepper before grilling.

Stuffed Flank Steak
-Serves 6 hungry people -

2 flank steaks (1.5 lbs each)
½ c red wine
1/8 c olive oil
¼ c soy sauce
1 tsp nutmeg (freshly ground is best)

Mix and marinate overnight in a Ziploc bag (turning over a few times) or as long as possible.

Stuffing:
1 ½ c minced green pepper
2 onions minced (about 2 cups)
1 c minced celery
¼ c blanched almonds (chopped or slivered)
3 T butter
4 c  white bread (like Italian or French bread – don’t use Wonder Bread here!), cut into 1” chunks
2 T sweet relish

Sauté onion, pepper, and celery over medium-high heat in the butter until onions are translucent. Turn off the heat and add the remaining stuffing ingredients (almonds, bread, relish). Stir well to coat bread. Cool slightly.

Carefully cut a pocket into each steak along the long edge, careful to not cut through the top, bottom, or opposite side. Stuff and skewer closed. Grill 10-12 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and let rest 10 minutes. Serve sliced across the diagonal.

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I never had sloppy joes growing up, but I do remember watching commercials for Manwich. Remember Manwich?

My Bay Area California sensibilities prohibit me from buying such a thing as Manwich, so it’s homemade sloppy joes for this household. You might also notice that I served it with a side of roasted broccoli. The one in the below photo is a little bit on the dry side. I usually add water and tomato paste, but ran out of tomato paste and got lazy about the water. Don’t be like me.

Sloppy Joes!
- serves 2 -

1/2 lb. lean ground beef (I use 93% lean)
1/2 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small bell pepper, diced
kosher salt
ground black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder, or to taste
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp tomato paste
1/8-1/4 cup water
canola or other neutral cooking oil

hamburger buns, toasted, for serving

1. Heat 1 Tsp oil over medium heat in a medium skillet until hot. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, then add onions. Cook onions until soft or until desired tenderness. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Add a little bit of oil to pan if necessary and add ground beef. Add a pinch or two of salt and brown ground beef. Discard any fat that has been released from the beef.

3. Add the onion/garlic mixture to the beef, and then add black pepper, chili powder, ketchup, brown sugar, tomato paste, and water to pan. Mix well. Lower heat to medium low and cook gently for 10 minutes.

4. About 2 minutes before the beef will be ready, check seasoning and adjust. Throw in the bell peppers and mix. Cover and cook for remaining two minutes.

5. Spoon meat over hamburger buns and enjoy your sloppy joes!

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I had been eyeing an oxtail recipe in Judy Rodgers’ The Zuni Cafe Cookbook for a while now, so when Prather Ranch was having a sale on oxtail the other week I gleefully bought a 3 lb. bag. Yes, gleefully. Oxtail might be my favorite cut for braising. With far more gelatin than, say, short ribs or cheeks, there’s a rich, luscious, creamy quality to it. I don’t recall ever having eaten a dry piece of oxtail but I’ve unfortunately had chewy, dry short ribs.

My previous experience with cooking oxtail a while ago was so very sad. My impatience got the better of me and rather than letting the oxtail thaw completely before splitting a piece in to smaller segments, I tried to hack in to one while still partially frozen. The result? A chipped cleaver blade. Oops. I couldn’t find the chipped piece anywhere and ended up throwing away the oxtail for fear that it was stuck somewhere in the meat. Don’t worry about the cleaver, though. It was still under warranty and the manufacturer replaced it free of charge. Woo hoo! But I digress.

Back to the bag of COMPLETELY THAWED oxtail segments. The recipe takes a long time, but the bulk of it is spent unattended in the oven and it is so very worth the time. Also, I made this the day ahead and let it sit in the fridge overnight for the flavors to marry. Since you’re basically reheating the day you’re serving, this would be fantastic for a dinner party or maybe even for a Super Bowl party. You could cook up a big vat and let folks make their own sandwich.

Braised Oxtail with Egg Noodles
Adapted from Judy Rodgers’ The Zuni Cafe Cookbook
- serves 4 or 5 -

3 lbs oxtails
4 cups beef stock
1-2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 small head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig thyme
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 stalks of celery, leaves trimmed and stalks cut into 2-inch chunks
1 medium onion, cut into thick wedges
1 cup diced tomatoes
10 black peppercorns, barely crushed
Kosher salt
Parsley leaves, chopped, for garnish

Egg noodles for serving

1. Season the oxtails with 2 tsps of salt. Do this up to 3 days before you plan on cooking the oxtails. Salting a few days in advance improves the flavor of the oxtails.

2. When you are ready to cook the oxtails, wipe them dry. Pick an ovenproof saute pan that is large enough to hold all of the pieces of oxtails in a single layer with the vegetables piled and crowded in between. I used a 10″ saute pan and it was perfect.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

4. Heat the saute pan with the canola oil over medium heat. When hot, brown the oxtails on all sides, approx. 5 min per side. I end up with 4 “sides” for each piece of oxtail. Do not crowd the pan; brown in batches if necessary.

5. While you are browning the oxtails, prepare the braising liquid. Place the stock in a saucepan and simmer gently to reduce by about half.

6. When the oxtails are browned, transfer the meat to a plate and discard the oil in the pan. Add approx. 1 cup of the reduced stock to the pan to deglaze. Reduce heat to medium-low.

7. Add the oxtails back to the pan and arrange in a single layer. Distribute the bay leaves, garlic, parsley, thyme, black pepper, carrot, celery, onion, and tomatoes, filling in the nooks and crannies between the chunks of meat. Add enough of the reduced stock to come to about 1/3 of the way up the sides of the meat.

8. Continue to cook over medium-low heat. When it starts to simmer, cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and place the pan in the oven.

9. Cook until the oxtail is tender and has just begun to pull from the bone, about 3.5 hours. At 2 1/2 hours, check the doneness of the meat. The vegetables will have released a lot of moisture, so after you’ve checked the doneness, leave the lid slightly ajar so that the liquid reduces a bit. Keep checking the meat every 20-30 minutes until ready.

10. When the oxtails are ready, remove the pan from the oven and flip the oxtails over to remoisten the drier face. Allow the oxtails to cool for at least 30 minutes, up to an hour, while still in the braising liquid. I left the lid half off.

11. When cooled, separate the meat on the oxtail from the bone and place in a bowl. I also take apart any chunks of fat that I can and discard. Discard the oxtail bones.

12. Strain the braising liquid into a separate bowl, discarding the vegetables and herbs. Ideally, you’d strain into one of those fat separators. If you don’t have one, strain into a bowl and skim off the fat layer on top. Pour a couple tablespoons of the de-fatted liquid over the meat. Keep the remainder of the de-fatted liquid in the separate pan. Cover and refrigerate the meat and the liquid.

13. When ready to serve, start a pot of boiling water for the egg noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

14. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

15. Add all of the meat to a saucepan that can hold the meat in a 1-2″ layer and bring to a simmer over medium low heat. Make sure that there’s a small amount of liquid at the bottom of the pan. If not, add up to 1/3 cup of water or beef stock just to coat the bottom of the pan. When it starts to simmer, transfer the saucepan, uncovered, to the oven and cook until meat is warmed through, about 20-30 minutes. By transferring the saucepan to the oven, the top of the meat will get nice and brown.

16. While the meat is reheating, place all of the de-fatted liquid into a saucepan (if there’s a layer of solidified fat on top, skim and discard). The liquid will have gelled overnight in the fridge. Simmer and reduce the liquid until it has the right sauce-y consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.

17. To serve, place a serving of egg noodles on a plate. Top with the oxtail meat, sauce, garnish with the parsley and finish with a pinch of sea salt. Because the oxtail meat is so rich, a little goes a long way.

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Ponzu is like soy sauce, but has some citrus added; if you don’t have ponzu, you could probably use soy sauce and a little lemon or orange juice. The sherry has a mild flavor and helps to tenderize the meat; if you have another mild-flavored alcohol or a dry white wine, that also would work. Sriracha is a flavorful Thai chili paste.

I served the tri-tip with a side of sweet potatoes – the sweetness was good with the slightly salty-spicy meat.

Miso-Marinated Tri-Tip
- serves 4 -

4 T Aka miso paste
½ T Ponzu sauce
½ T amontillado sherry
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ T Sriracha
approximately 2 lbs. tri-tip

Mix together ingredients aka miso through sriracha into a paste. Smear on all sides of meat and refrigerate in a pyrex (glass) dish covered with saran wrap for at least three hours. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Take the meat out of the fridge and wipe off the marinade/paste with a paper towel. Discard. Cook on the grill, or, like I did because it’s DARK by 4:30 p.m., sear on all sides on the stove top and then pop in the oven and cook to desired doneness (about 15 minutes for medium-rare). Before slicing, let rest on a board for 10 minutes.  Slice thinly across the grain.

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Turkey and tofu. I know what you’re thinking: two boring flavors, together at last. This spicy Szechuan dish will change your mind. It’s very similar to mapo tofu, but without the black beans. It’s easy to make, and after you try it once, you’ll be craving it again.

It’s fair to say that I do most of the cooking in our house, but my fiancé came to the party with a small, but excellent set of dishes she has perfected. Turkey Tofu is one of those dishes, and it’s become a staple in our house. It was a staple in her family before we ever met, and the greasy, beat-up copy of The Chinese Cookbook is proof. Set it on the table, and it automatically falls open to the recipe for Spicy Pork & Bean Curd, the ancestor of Turkey Tofu. In our copy, “pork” is crossed out, and “beef” is written in by hand, but my fiancé swears it’s been made with ground turkey since day one. Who am I to argue?

Pork, beef, or turkey?

Turkey Tofu
- serves 4 to 6 -

2 14 oz. packages of firm tofu
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 Tbsp. chili paste with garlic
1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. finely minced ginger
2 Tbsp. finely minced garlic
3/4 C. chicken broth
1 tsp. ground, toasted Szechuan peppercorns
1/3 C. minced scallions, green part only.
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
Chopped cilantro for garnish.

Turkey Tofu Ingredients

1. Mix the ground turkey, chili paste, dark soy suace, and sugar, and set aside to marinate.

2. Bring a pot of water to boil with a pinch of salt. Boil the 2 blocks of tofu for 4 minutes. Drain and cool.

3. When the tofu is cool, cut it into 1 inch cubes.

4. In a wok or large skillet, heat the tablespoon of oil. The original recipe calls for 1/4 C of oil, which is simply unnecessary. You can even just use a generous coat of spray oil.

5. Add the turkey and chili paste mixture and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly to break the meat up.

6. Add the ginger and garlic, stir, and cook for 30 more seconds.

7. Add the chicken broth and cook for another minute.

8. Add the tofu and stir gently, trying not to break it up too much. Cook for two minutes, then mix in the Szechuan peppercorns and scallions.

9. Mix the cornstarch and water. Add the mixture to the wok, give it a quick stir, and let the dish cook just until the sauce thickens from the starch.

10. Transfer to a platter for serving and drizzle the sesame oil over the top.

Serve with rice or noodles. Sprinkle the chopped cilantro on top.

Szechuan Peppercorns

The Szechuan peppercorns are the key to this dish. Apparently, they were illegal in the U.S. for a while, but you can get them at Asian grocery stores now. Sometimes they’re labeled as “Chinese prickly ash.” They start as little red berries. Toast them in a dry skillet for a minute or two until they turn dark brown, just shy of burnt. Then grind them in a spice or coffee grinder. Like any spice, they’re best right after you toast them, but you can toast and grind a few tablespoons and keep the leftovers in an airtight container. After you’ve made the dish a few times, you’ll probably end up using more than a teaspoon every time any way. We use nearly triple!

Speaking of Asian groceries, one of my favorite aspects of this dish is the cookbook it comes from. First published in 1972, it’s loaded with helpful suggestions, like finding esoteric ingredients such as ginger and tofu in Chinese markets or by mail order. How far we’ve come.

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Enjoy!

Coffee & Chili Rub

2 cups finely ground coffee
1 cup chili powder
1/2 cup garlic powder
2 Tbsp. cinammon
Salt
Pepper
Pinch of Sugar

Depending on how intense you want your meat to taste, feel free to increase the ratio of coffee to chili powder in the mix or vice versa. Regardless of how your palate is skewed do not forget to include the pinch of sugar as it will really make the cinammon flavor come through.

After pan searing the tri-tip in butter, I finished cooking it in a 4oo°F oven until the meat reached 120°F.

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