Food Lush

Omaha Steaks: Worth the Price?

by Maura

Last month I saw an internet coupon for Omaha Steaks and decided to give it a try. I'd eaten Omaha Steaks before at my Grandmom's house; she raves about them. For $70, I got 2 bacon-wrapped filet mignons, 8 ground beef burgers, 6 top sirloins and 4 double-stuffed baked potatoes.

I didn't price out each item to see how it matches with grocery store prices, but it didn't seem like a great bang for my buck. I typically only buy steak when it is on sale and I cut small portions to get a lot of meals out of it. The sirloins are nice, but they are larger than I would serve normally and too small for two people to share. I had a hard time cooking the bacon-wrapped filet mignons. I seared the outside and popped the steaks in the oven, but the bacon still seemed undercooked. Also, as a personal preference, I think bacon hides the steak flavor.

I have to tell you, though, the potatoes are awesome and I love the vacuum-packed packages. We haven't eaten the hamburgers yet, but I appreciate not having to handle raw ground beef (ew). 

So what is my final review? I would buy them again if I had an internet coupon, and I certainly would not turn down a gift. However, I am not sure the value is there for frequent orders. 

Have you ordered Omaha Steaks? What was your opinion?

How to Make Delicious Taco Meat

By Dani

Tacos are the ultimate weeknight meal, as they are fast and easy with little advance preparation required. Because they are fast and easy, I find myself making them frequently, which gets a little ... redundant.

Never one to stay in a rut, one night I was feeling bored by my "ground hamburger + taco seasoning = taco meat" recipe, and starting throwing stuff in the pot left and right.

Let me tell you what, y'all - it was the best taco meat I've ever made.

Adding a sauteed onion, a can of diced green chiles, some sliced black olives and a tomato or two to a pound of ground hamburger adds color, flavor and variety to a plain weeknight dinner. If you have kids, it's a great way to sneak in some veggies (I've even added chopped zuchinni to my taco meat - you barely know it's there).

I love that I can make tacos and variations on tacos (using pitas, fried tortillas or wraps, depending on the mood) and get a unique flavor combination every time. I always use grass-fed lean hamburger, but another way to change it up would be with a different meat source (or even tofu!).

What do you add to your taco meat to make it distinctly "yours"? Anything I should try (or avoid)?

Kitchen Tip: An Easier Way to Drain Your Sautee Pan

by Caitlin

What I'm about to share with you is by no means revolutionary, and, hell, I didn't even think of it myself. It came to me as so many of my greatest food discoveries do: from my husband. It's just that it's so easy and so obvious I wonder why I didn't think of it before. I can't keep a tip like this to myself, even if I am the last person to know about it.

The thing is, I hate when a recipe instructs you to cook your sausage/ground beef/what have you and drain the liquid. It's messy, it's gross, and I don't want my drain clogged with grease. If I try to put a lid on the pan to hold the goods back while whatever undesirable liquid falls out, I inevitably end up with a facefull of beefy, greasy, steam (a beef facial! refreshing!) and/or a half a sink full of deciously browned sausage.

Over the weekend, my husband was making dinner. Which, can I just interject here for a minute (yes, I can) and say that after a Friday off of work filled with shopping and mani/pedis, my girlfriend and I (Hi Laur!) came back to the house and had dinner made for us and THAT is living, my friends. Marry a chef, if you can, and have a friend who also occasionally has Fridays in the summer off, and be sure you both enjoy doing wicked stereotypically girly things. That's my advice. You're welcome.

So Zach was making dinner, and dinner was some delicious, perfect, homemade Friday night pizza. As with Chinese food, there is a dearth of good pizza around us and Zach's perfected his from-scratch recipe. This particular time he was making pies with peppers, onions (for the love of god, sautee them both before you put them on your pizza!), and hot italian sausage. The sausage was crumbled in the pan out of the skins, and Zach was having me brown it while I drank my beer (hard work). He also wanted me to drain it and when I grumbled (because BEEF FACIAL) he showed me his trick.

Set a smallish colander over a smallish bowl, and let the colander do all the work. We do this for pasta, why didn't I think of it for everything else?

Sorry about that greasy spatula, but at least there are no beef facials. And aren't you glad we got all that grease out of there? Now your pizza is practically health food! An additional bonus is that it's also a lot easier to dispose of your grease by pouring it directly in your jar or can or whathaveyou, rather than trying to drain a full pan AND aim for a tiny little jar.

So there you have it! A trick I might be the last one to know about.

Also, I'm filing this under M for Mmmm Meat, but I love vegetarian fare (as I hope you know by now) and I think this would work well for a million other things, meat or not. COLANDERS FOR EVERYONE! (Oprah voice.)

Did you know this trick? Am I the last one?

Summer Dinner for the Grill-less

by Maura

Summer has always reminded me of cooking food on a grill, the smell of charcoal and the taste of a juicy cheeseburger. Unfortunately, living in New York City and Philadelphia for the past eleven years means I don't have easy access to the grill. While there are a million benefits to living in the city (walking to everything, public transportation, a ton of awesome restaurants), I still miss having a grill. Sometimes, you just want a juicy steak from the barbecue.

I've learned to live in this grill-less existence. I know where to get a good burger in the city and have embraced my broiler. The broiler is key, actually, since I am terrible at keeping cast iron pans in good condition. When I want a nice, juicy steak, the broiler is the way to go.

To cook a good steak, I have a few tips. First, bring your meat to room temperature and preheat your broiler. Season your steak with a little EVOO (I use a mister) and season generously with salt and pepper. To cook a steak that is between 3/4"-1", cook under the broiler for about 3 minutes. Flip and cook additional three minutes. Sprinkle some bleu cheese on top to hide the fact that there are no grill marks (bleu cheese makes up for that) and broil for an additional 1-2 minutes until the cheese starts to melt.

The second big tip is to let your steak rest on the cutting board for 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving. This allows the steak to suck back in (forgive the technical jargon) all of the delicious steaky juices. When you cut into the steak, they won't all run out onto the plate.

See how pretty it is?  A perfect medium.

To finish off this summer, grill-less dinner, steam some corn in a few inches of water and liberally apply butter, salt and pepper. Serve with a summer beer and then walk to the local ice cream place for dessert. You'll soon forget you're grill-less.

Any of you city-dwellers have tips for recreating summer in your kitchen?

Make This Now: Chimichurri Sauce

By Nora

We had some friends over for dinner the other night and decided to grill Argentinian Beef Skewers with Chimichurri sauce on the side. This was a recipe I had never tried from this awesome grilling cookbook (that i've written about before) and so I really had no idea what to expect. The beef was delish, but what really knocked my socks off was the Chimichurri sauce. Have you guys had this stuff? Have I been living under a rock? The only way I can describe it is it's like a South American pesto sauce, but the base of the sauce is parsley rather than basil (although there is basil in the recipe I tried). It was so delicious that I ended up mixing it in with the Mac and Cheese I served along side the Argentinian Beef. I also spread the leftover sauce on sandwiches, dipped tortilla chips in it, and put it in pork soft tacos. And look how pretty it is!

This was the second batch I made with all the leftover fresh parsley and basil I had. So now I have an entire tupperware container of the stuff waiting for me in the freezer for future use. YAY!

Chimichurri Sauce

1 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves and tender stems

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup finely chopped onion, rinsed

1/4 cup finely chopped carrot

1 medium garlic clove

1/2 tsp kosher salt

6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp rice vinegar

In a food processor or blender, finely chop the parsley, basil, onion, carrot, garlic and salt. With the machine running, add the oil and vinegar in a steady stream, using just enough pol to create a fairly thick sauce.

What's your favorite side sauce to serve with grilled meat? 

Great Steaks Without a Grill

By Erica

I love steak. Aged, marbled and perfectly cooked are my requirements. I prefer a filet, but when I don't have $200 to spend on a piece of meat a ribeye will do quite nicely, thank you. 

Historically, my husband has always been in charge of grilling our steaks. With it being winter and not exactly grill-friendly, I had the choice of giving up steak until more seasonable weather, or learning to it cook it indoors. I'm not about to go three months without my steak, yo.

After much experimentation, I've learned (what I think is) the perfect way to cook steak using your broiler. You will need: steak, a broiler pan, seasonings and real butter. 

A broiler pan, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

I've found that working with a room temperature steak is best. Try to set it out at least an hour before you're going to cook it. Once you're ready, liberally season both sides of the steak with your choice of seasoning. I prefer Cavender's and some wonderful smoked sea salt that fellow Food Lush writer Julie sent me. Once the steak is ready to go under the broiler, add a pat or two of real butter to the top.

Position your oven rack on the second-to-the-top position and broil away. The time it takes will depend on the thickness of your steaks and how you like them cooked. For an inch thick ribeye cooked to medium well, I go six minutes on the first side. Then flip it over, add another pat or two of butter and continue cooking for four to five more minutes. To test your steak for doneness, DO NOT CUT INTO IT, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Meat really does need to rest before you cut it so that the juices redistribute throughout the steak and not out onto the pan. The trick is to poke the steak with your finger. Quickly, of course, so you don't burn yourself. You want to see how firm it feels and then compare that to your hand by using these guidelines:

The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat

METHOD

Open the palm of your hand. Relax the hand. Take the index finger of your other hand and push on the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm. Make sure your hand is relaxed. This is what raw meat feels like. (Check this out the next time you have a raw steak to cook.)

Now gently press the tip of your pinky and your thumb together. Again feel the fleshy area below the thumb. It should feel quite firm. This is what well done meat feels like when you press on it. (Check this out the next time you overcook a piece of meat.)

Press the tip of your ring finger and your thumb together. The flesh beneath the thumb should give a little more. This is what meat cooked to a medium doneness feels like.

Gently press the tip of your middle finger to the tip of your thumb. This is medium rare.

Press the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb. The fleshy area below the thumb should give quite a bit. This is what meat cooked to rare feels like. Open up your palm again and compare raw to rare.

{Credit: simplyrecipes.com}

Let your steak rest for at least five minutes and then serve. Steak cooked under the broiler tastes just as good as steak cooked on a grill. The only drawback is that it does make your kitchen a little smokey, since butter has a pretty low smoke point. I just crack a kitchen window and turn on the ceiling fan before I start cooking it. 

Tell me, Food Lush readers, what's your favorite cut of steak and what do you like along side it?

The Perfect Beef Marinade

by Caitlin

This past Sunday my husband and I were playing an endless round of our favorite game: "I don't know, what do YOU want for dinner?" Other variations include "I don't know, what do YOU feel like?" and "Meh. What sounds good to you?"

We played a few rounds, stretched through the afternoon. We didn't feel like going out. We didn't feel like ordering in (Well MAYBE if you had better takeout, DC Metro Area). We didn't feel like going to the store. (Lazy Sunday!) We inventoried what we had on hand. We always have some type of beef (thanks to our annual cow share), and usually potatoes as well. So how about steak frite? I started paging through our copy of the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, and found a recipe for Classic Steak Marinade. Perfect. 

This marinade really does taste like a classic steak marinade. I wasn't sure what that meant when I read the description, but when I tasted it I thought "Yep. That's it." It's got a lot of great well-rounded flavor: salty, sweet, tangy, earthy, savory. The little bit of sugar helps carmelize the meat a bit as it cooks, and the reserved portion that you pour over the steaks really brings it home. This recipe couldn't be easier, and can probably be made from ingredients you have in your house. I was missing a few things and had to make substitutions and it still turned out great. We paired it with these fries (also a Cook's Illustrated recipe), and some roasted asparagus for a perfect Sunday Night meal. 

Photos: Me. 

Here's the recipe, with my variations.

Classic Steak Marinade

(Makes about a cup. Enough for 4-5 individual steaks or one 2 pound steak.)

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup extra light olive oil
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons packd dark brown sugar
2 very generous tablespoons minced green onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
2 generous teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Combine all ingredients except balsamic vinegar. Transfer 1/4 cup marinade to bowl and stir in vinegar: set aside. Place remaining marinade and steaks in 1 gallon ziplock bag, press out as much air as possible, and seal the bag. Refrigerate for an hour, turning halfway through to ensure even marination. Remove steaks from marinade, letting any excess drip back into bag. Discard bag & marinade. Grill steaks as desired. Transfer steaks to shallow pan and pour reserved marinade over top. Tent loosely with aluminum foil and let rest 10 minutes, turning meat at the 5 minute mark. Slice steaks or serve whole, pass with reserved marinade if desired. 

Blackening Seasoning: Big on Flavor, Not on Calories

By Caitlin

Okay! Brisk clap!

Well thank god THAT'S over. 

And by "that," I mean the trainwreck of crappy eating and too much drinking that's been going on, oh, about since the Halloween candy was out. Like everyone else in the world, I am now back into a healthy eating situation blah blah exercise blah blah my pants are too tight. 

I'm generally not one to lament the lack of tasty, healthy, low-cal whole foods out there, but like anyone I often have a hard time coming up with new and exciting ways to put them together. So what better way than crowd sourcing? I'm going to share with you one of my favorite ways of getting in a lot of flavor for not a lot of calories, and in return, tell me: What healthy stuff are you eating these days?

One of my favorite ways to spice up (no pun intended) a savory meal is to blacken the protein. There are many variations of it, but blackening seasoning can generally be made from a few simple herbs and spices that you probably have in your cabinet. Here is one version, and you can find others here and here. Most versions seem to have cayenne, thyme, paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic and onion powders in common.

I've had blackened chicken, salmon, and shrimp, and I'm sure it would also be great on tofu, pork, beef, turkey, and other types of fish. Once your blackening is prepped and ready to go, use it to coat your protein. If the protein is a little dry and it's not sticking, rub with a bit of olive oil to help it stick. You can grill it, pan sear it (cast iron adds an extra nice layer of flavor), or broil it. Versatility!

A few ideas for ways to eat your blackened protein:

- Make a ceasar vinaigrette, toss with romaine, a little strong Parmesan Reggiano (adds a lot of flavor, and you don't need much), and service with chicken, shrimp, or salmon. 

I'm ignorning those delicious homemade croutons and you should, too. 

- Check out this great list of vinaigrettes to get some more salad inspiration. How about blackened chicken with strawberries, feta, spinach, and strawberry vinaigrette? Or a southwest inspired salad with blackened beef, black beans, avocado, corn, greens and a little lime-cilantro vinaigrette?

- Serve with a fruit salsa and cilantro-lime rice or quinoa.

Blackened salmon, tropical fruit salsa, salad.

- A "burrito bowl" with brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, peppers, and salsa.

- Put it in a sandwich and pile it with veggies and even some hummus. 

- The shrimp are especially good with polenta or grits, and your favorite veggies.

 

Okay, your turn! What are your favorite healthy meals lately?  

PS - My favorite breakfast is still oatmeal with fruit and nut butters: protein, fiber, and whole grains a million different ways. There are some great healthy meal ideas in the comments of this post.

All photos: Me.

Rubios Street Tacos

By Elisabeth

Not long ago, I went crazy over a fried avocado taco I ate in Austin. Since then, I've sat around wishing and wanting that same taco every single day of my life.

While I haven't found a substitute for the avocado, I have been able to get my hands on some chicken and steak street tacos from my local Rubios.

Rubios seems to be the early Southwest Airlines of Mexican restaurants by only being located in the Western Southern states of the country.

What's great about their chicken, carnitas and steak tacos, besides how GREAT they taste, is their price. If you're wanting a little more than a couple of tacos, you can order 3 of them along with some refried beans and a drink with their street taco combo meals. They are served on a corn tortilla topped with fresh guacamole and a cilantro/onion mix.

Delicious!

{photo credit: rubios.com}

Easy Weeknight Dinner: Skillet Steak, Mushrooms, Peppers, and Onions

By Kristin

Most weeks I do my grocery shopping on Saturday or Sunday, and I make a big dinner on Sunday to last me the whole week. I live alone and a normal recipe with 4-6 servings will last me the whole week with an added bonus lunch thrown in sometimes. 

I realize most people don’t enjoy eating the same thing six days in a row, but I am not one of those people. 

On the odd weeks, when I don’t have a chance to get my shopping done over the weekend and have to instead go on Mondays after work, I am in a bind to find something quick and healthy that tastes good. 

Enter this Skillet Steak, Mushrooms and Onions dish from Skinny Taste. 

This was SO easy to make and it was also so flavorful. You can serve this on top of rice or noodles, or serve it in a pita or in tortillas. The possibilities are endless! I added peppers for some more bulk and you could really add any kind of veggie to it.