BBQ MEATBALLS

My friend just moved into a new apartment. Since this is her first weekend in the new apartment, I made her a batch of these BBQ meatballs to welcome her. This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman.

Here is what you'll need: ground beef, oatmeal, milk, ground black pepper (I changed my mind later and decided to use white ground pepper), finely chopped onion, onion powder.

In a large mixing bowl add the ground beef and the oats.

Add the finely chopped onions, milk, salt, ground white pepper, and a pinch of onion powder.

Mix until well combined.

Form the meatballs and place them on a cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes. You can make the BBQ sauce while the meatballs are in the freezer.

Put 1/2 cup to 1 cup of all purpose flour on a plate and dredge the meatballs.

Preheat the oven to 350˚.

Heat some canola oil in a pan and brown the meatballs. (Do not cook them completely, only brown them.)

Place the meatballs in a baking dish and pour the BBQ sauce over the meatballs. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes.

You won't believe how great your kitchen will smell.

To make the sauce you will need about 6 tablespoons finely chopped onions and add 1 cup of ketchup.

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Add 3 tablespoons of vinegar.

Add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire and 2 teaspoons of honey and mix.

You will have tons of BBQ sauce so place it in a container for later use.

MEATBALLS

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds ground beef
• 3/4 cup instant oats
• 1 cup milk
• 4 Tablespoons, finely chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Dash of ground white pepper
• Dash of onion powder

To Cook the meatballs

• 1/2 cup to 1 cup all purpose flour
• Canola oil

BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
• 6 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons honey

Preparation

For the meatballs

1. In a large bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients.
2. Roll the meatballs and place on a cookie sheet. (I like to small appetizer size meatballs.) Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
3. Dredge the meatballs in flour.
4. Preheat oven to 350˚.
5. Heat canola oil in a frying pan and brown the meatballs.
6. Place the meatballs in a baking dish and pour the BBQ sauce over the meatballs.
7. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes.

For the BBQ sauce

1. Combine all the BBQ sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Bistec en Cazuela - Braised Steak

This dish was inspired by a recent dinner at my friend's Y's house. I made the original recipe, similar to what I ate growing up. You need to allow some time for the meat to marinate.

You will need: palomilla steaks, onions, sour orange juice, minced garlic, salt, cooking white wine, onion powder, garlic powder.

Place the steaks in a shallow dish. Place the sliced onions over the steaks. Combine the sour orange juice, cooking white wine, minced garlic, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder and pour over the steaks. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.

Heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Remove the steaks from the marinade and fry them until they are lightly browned.

Pour all the liquid and the onions over the steaks and lower the heat to low. I also added 1/4 cup tomato sauce at this point and a bit of water to cover the steaks. Cover the pot and cook the steaks slowly until the meat is very tender.

It will look like this after about half an hour. Remove the lid from the pot and raise the heat to medium to cook off some of the liquid.

Serve with some white rice. Fried sweet plantains would also be nice.

Next time I hope my friend shares her recipe with me so that we can try her version of bistec en cazuela. Hers included potatoes, raisins, and olives.

BISTEC EN CAZUELA - BRAISED STEAK

Ingredients

• 1 lb palomilla steaks (or top round steaks, thinly sliced)
• 1 onion, sliced into thin rings
• 1/4 cup sour orange juice (or 1/8 cup orange juice and 1/8 cup lime juice)
• 1/4 cup cooking white wine
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation

1. Place steaks in a shallow pan. Place the sliced onions over the steaks.
2. Combine the sour orange juice, cooking white wine, minced garlic, salt, ground cumin and pour over the steaks. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
3. Heat olive oil in a pot and fry the steaks until they are lightly browned..
4. Pour all the liquid, the onions, and the tomato sauce over the steaks. Cover the pot and lower the heat. Cook slowly until the meat is very tender. Add a little water if necessary.

Picadillo - Meat Hash

Today I am cooking up Picadillo. It is one of my favorites and easy to make. My daughter loves it with white rice. She, of course, thinks it is chicken and who am I to tell her any different. This version has raisins and the olives. I love getting a bite that has a raisin and an olive in it. There is just something absolutely delicious about the sweet and salty mix. I don't like olives, but somehow they just taste divine in this dish. It is the only time you will ever catch me eating an olive.



Some Cuban restaurants add potato cubes, but I don't. You can also fry up a sunny side up egg and place it above the Picadillo and rice. That is called, Picadillo Al Caballo.

You will need ground beef, garlic, raisins, a small onion, white cooking wine, tomato sauce, olive oil, olives with a pimiento center, ground cumin, ground oregano, and Sazon Completo.

Finely chop up the onion. You should get about 1/2 cup. By the time I was done chopping the onion, I looked like I had just finished seeing the hospital scene when Debra Winger dies in Term of Endearment. I was a mess.

Finely mince about 4 cloves of garlic. You should have a well rounded tablespoon of garlic. I love garlic!

Now you are going to make a Sofrito. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan over medium heat. When the olive oil starts heating up, add the onion and cook until it starts to get translucent. Then add your garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add the beef and use your wooden spoon to break up the pieces.

Add ground oregano, ground cumin, Sazon Completo, and white wine. Mix it all together.

Add the rest of the tomato sauce and mix it all in. Cook until the meat starts to brown. About 10 minutes.

Add the raisins.

Add the olives. Mix it all together. Cover the pan and lower the heat to medium low. Allow the flavors to blend.

I like to eat the Picadillo over a bed of white rice. Enjoy!

PICADILLO

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef (I use ground sirloin)


• 2 tablespoons olive oil


• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 small onion)


• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (about 4 cloves)


• dash of ground oregano


• 1/2 scant teaspoon ground cumin


• 8 oz can of tomato sauce (divided)


• 1/4 cup raisins


• 1/4 cup olives with pimiento, halved


• 2 teaspoons Sazon Completo


• 1/4 cup white cooking wine

Preparation

• Heat olive oil in a pan at medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to get translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce and cook for about 2 minutes.
• Add the ground beef and break up any large pieces with a wooden spoon.
• Add the wine, the Sazon Completo, ground oregano, ground cumin and mix together with a wooden spoon.
• Add the remaining tomato sauce and blend together. Cook until the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes.
• Add the raisins and olives. Cover and lower the heat to allow the flavors to blend.
• Serve over a bed of white rice.

Ropa Vieja - "Old Clothes"

Everyone has their own sense of what comfort food is. For me, comfort food is Cuban food. I love Cuban food…Arroz con Pollo, Vaca Frita, Ropa Vieja, Carne con Papas, Picadillo, Boliche, and Frijoles Negros. A steaming bowl of white rice and Cuban black beans will cure whatever ails you. I was raised by three wonderful Cuban women: my grandmother (Mima), my aunt (Tia) and my mother (Mom). Unfortunately, they don’t know how to cook. My grandmother did all the cooking in our home when we were growing up. She has often told me that she had never stepped foot into the kitchen until she married. She only cooked out of absolute necessity. My grandmother does not enjoy cooking at all. I started thinking about what we ate for dinner when I was little and can think of only a few dishes that made frequent appearance at our dinner table: 1) arroz con bistec en salsita, 2) masitas de Puerco, and 3) pollo en salsita. [Translation: 1) White rice and steak with an onion sauce, 2) pork chunks, 3) chicken in sauce] The most surprising thing is that although I was raised by these women with a culinary disability, I have always loved to cook. I love trying new recipes. I love cookbooks. I love to cook for family and friends. I love buying kitchen gadgets.


So while most of my friends have mothers and grandmothers who pass down recipes that have been in the family for years. My family has no recipes of our favorite dishes. If any recipe ever existed, it was abandoned long ago in Cuba. Although I have been cooking since I was 7, I never attempted to learn how to make any Cuban dish other than white rice, Cuban black beans, and Picadillo. So now as I am fast approaching 38, I have decided to start to learn to cook Cuban food.


I am going to attempt to prepare one of my favorite dishes, Ropa Vieja. The literal translation is “Old Clothes”, but it is actually a shredded beef dish. I asked my grandmother if she knew how to make Ropa Vieja, but I got her standard response: “No se. A mi no me gusta la cocina.” [Translation: I don’t know. I don’t like cooking.]

Here is what you will need.

Chop up the carrots.

Chop up the onion. It does not need to be finely chopped because you are only using it to boil it with the meat. Onions always make me cry. My mascara was running all over the place while I was chopping this onion. I wish someone would let me know if they know of some way to avoid crying while chopping onions. I have tried the glass of water, burning a candle, and even the onion goggles, but nothing works. And you end up looking a little foolish wearing the onion goggles.

Thinly slice 1/2 of a green pepper, lengthwise. Don't forget to remove the seeds and the membranes. (Trust me on this one. My Tia has forgotten to do that in the past and the seeds are not particularly tasty in your food.)

Crush 4 or 5 garlic cloves.

Place the meat, onions, carrots, green peppers, and garlic in a pot. Pour about 2 quarts (roughly 8 cups) of water over it and boil for about 15 minutes. The reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for about 2 hours or until the meat is well done and is fork tender.

When the meat can be pulled apart with 2 forks, remove the meat from the pot and reserve the stock.

When the the meat is cooled use 2 forks to shred the meat into thin thread-like strips.

While the meat is cooking you can be making a "Sofrito". I made a homemade version that uses the ingredients above. My Tia has always preferred to buy the pre-made "Sofrito". You can buy it in the Ethnic aisle of supermarket, depending on where you live. My Tia would put the pre-made Sofrito in just about everything she made, she called it her secret ingredient.

Chop up an onion and 1/2 a green pepper. Once again the waterworks were on. I was a mess by the time I finished with the second onion.

Heat 1/4 cup Spanish olive oil in a pan. Add about 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. (I took the easy way out and used the bottled minced garlic.)

Add the chopped onion and the green pepper and cook until the onions are translucent.

When the onions are translucent add about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce (about 1/2 of an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce), 1/8 teaspoon of ground oregano, 1/4 teaspoon of salt to taste, and 2 teaspoons of vinegar. Cook on a medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

To finish the Ropa Vieja place the shredded meat in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil, about 1 3/4 cup of the Sofrito, 1/2 cup of the meat broth (water reserved from cooking the meat), 1/4 cup cooking white wine 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. Salt to taste and cook for about 5 minutes.

I love Ropa Vieja with white rice and tostones (fried green plantains).

ROPA VIEJA

Ingredients

1 pound flank steak (falda)
2 quarts water

1 carrot, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 or 5 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced lengthwise

1 3/4 cup Sofrito (recipe follows)

1/2 cup meat broth (water reserved from cooking the steak)

1/4 cup white cooking wine

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt to taste

Preparation

Place the meat, onions, carrots, green peppers, and garlic in a pot. Pour about 2 quarts of water over it and boil for about 15 minutes. The reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for about 2 hours or until the meat is well done and is fork tender.

Remove the meat and allow to cool. Reserve the cooking liquid. Shred the meat with 2 forks until you have thread-like strips.

Place the meat in a pan with the sofrito, broth, wine, and garlic powder. Salt to taste and cook for about 5 minutes.

Sofrito

Ingredients

1/4 cup Spanish olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/8 teaspoon ground oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vinegar

Preparation

Cook garlic, onion, and green bell pepper in olive oil until the onions are translucent.

Add the tomato sauce, ground oregano, vinegar, and salt to taste. Cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

I hope you enjoy it.