Meaty Matters

Though I don't eat lamb or veal so I'm only able to use half the book, Bruce Aidells' The Complete Meat Cookbook is one of my all time favorites. The book is filled with great information about buying, preparing and cooking meat. His recipes are great and he offers plenty of ideas for leftovers. And the man really knows how to season food. Do you know how sometimes you put a marinade or a rub on a piece of meat but when cooked you can't really taste it very much? That will not happen with Mr. Aidells' recipes. He is not shy about adding bold flavor with recipes calling for loads of garlic and generous use of spice. These recipes are not for the tender-tongued. I love that. Some of my favorites from his book are the Nogales Steak Tacos, the Teriyaki Flank Steak and the Cuban Roast Pork with Mojo Sauce. The latter will leave you with leftover pork to make a divine Cuban Pork Sandwich. The recipe I made today is Priscilla's Marinated Beef and Black Bean Salad. The salad recipe calls for jicama, but unfortunately, I couldn't find it at my corner market, so I used corn instead. I used a 1 1/2 lb piece of top sirloin - enough for 4 dinners easily.

We cook the steak medium rare, slice it thinly and serve it with the bean salad and something green. I recommend grilled pita bread on the side. It is reasonably healthy if you don't eat too much and the next day, it makes great leftovers. Dear husband did an admirable job with the grilled red onions, they were super sweet.


Priscilla's Marinated Beef and Black Bean Salad



Southwestern Spice Rub

1t ground cumin
1t chile powder, preferably Gebhardt's
2t salt, kosher
1t freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 t light or dark brown sugar
1/2t cayenne pepper
2t minced garlic
1t minced shallots or green onions

1 1/2 lbs. boneless top sirloin, flank steak or NY strip (personally, I wouldn't use this good a steak for this preparation)

Black Bean Salad (I halve this, for just the two of us)

3c cooked black beans or 2 cans, beans rinsed and drained
1c jicama, peeled, diced
1 roasted red or yellow pepper, diced
1/2c finely chopped green onions
1/2c coarsely chopped cilantro
1/4 c flat-leaf parsley (no big deal to leave out)
2c diced seeded ripe tomatoes (canned, not recommended)

Vinaigrette (I halve this too)

1T dijon mustard
1/4c fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 c olive oil

Rub half the spice mixture on the steak. Let the steak marinate for at least 2 hours at room temp or cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Combine the rest of the spice rub with the vinaigrette ingredients, whisk

If the steak was refrigerated, remove it from the fridge 30 to 1 hour before cooking. Prepare a grill. Grill the steak over med-hot until done to your liking, 130* for med. rare. Let rest before slicing.

Meanwhile, put the beans, jicama, pepper and green onions into a large skillet and set over med. heat. Stir in the vinaigrette and mix well to coat the beans. Cook until beans are warmed through, 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro, parsley and tomatoes.

Spoon the beans onto a plate. Slice the steak diagonally into 1/4 inch thick slices and arrange over beans. Garnish with cilantro, if you like.