Rolled flank steak

Discovering new food blogs is always an interesting thing. I love going through their archives, checking texts, recipes and photos, getting to know a little about that foodie – who will probably become a blogger friend.

One of my latest “findings” is packed with beautiful photos and delicious recipes, and the girl behind it is a huge Martha fan, like me. I’m talking about Mimi.

She is hosting an event called “Martha Mondays” and I really liked her idea. One of the rules was to cook a recipe from this gallery and, to please my dear husband – who has been eating tons of chicken and fish lately because of me – I chose a beef dish.

If I keep making dishes like this, Joao will end up joining the Martha fan club as well. :)

Rolled flank steak

680g (1½ lb) flank steak - I used a different cut
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ cup (57g/2oz) shredded mozzarella cheese – I used the yellow mozzarella we have here, made from cow’s milk
4 scallions, sliced
¼ cup (57g/2oz) roasted red peppers, cut into thin strips
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 230ºC/450ºF with rack in center. Between two sheets of plastic wrap, pound steak to 1.25cm (½-inch) thickness with a meat mallet or heavy skillet. Using a sharp knife, score the steak on one side in a cross-hatched pattern. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, and garlic. Place the steak inside and marinate at least 20 minutes or up to overnight.

Remove steak from marinade. Lay steak on cutting board, scored side down, with a short end facing edge of work surface. Cover steak with cheese, scallions, and peppers, leaving 1.25cm (½-inch) border on the long sides and 5cm (2-inch) border at the far short end. Season with salt and pepper. Starting from closest side, roll up tightly. Using kitchen twine, tie steak crosswise.
Season with salt and pepper.

Place, seam side down in a lightly oiled baking dish or on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast until juices run clear, 35 to 40 minutes for medium rare. Let rest 10 minutes, and remove string before slicing.

Serves 4 – I used a 400g steak and my husband ate 80% of it. :)

Rolled flank steak

Parmesan-stuffed chicken breasts

Ever since I bought this book I’ve been meaning to make every single recipe from it – the food looks delicious!

These chicken breasts were good, but not what I expected - I truly believe that marinating the chicken for a couple of hours - instead of seasoning it right before baking it - would do wonders in the flavor department. Not sure I’d give this a go again, though.

I reduced a little balsamic vinegar just to decorate the plate.

Parmesan-stuffed chicken breasts
from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
¼ cup plain dried breadcrumbs
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
grated zest of 1 lemon - about 1 tablespoon
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
4 bone-in chicken breast halves - about 1,350g/3 pounds (the ones I bought were much too large, I guess the chicken was a mutant or something)

Preheat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF. In a small bowl, mix the parsley, breadcrumbs, parmesan, and zest. Season the mixture with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
Divide the parsley mixture into 4 mounds. Carefully loosen the chicken skin with fingers, tuck the parsley mixture under the skin – I needed to use a couple of toothpicks to secure the stuffing inside. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place in a greased 22x33cm (9x13in) roasting pan.
Bake until the skin is crispy, the chicken s cooked through and an instant-red thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat register 73ºC/165ºF, about 30 minutes – I baked mine for 1 hour.

Serves 4

Roasted tomato salad

For this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by the lovely Sher - a wonderful cook and my fellow Daring Baker - I chose this delicious and easy to prepare salad, a recipe taken from Delia Smith’s website.



I’ve made three changes: I didn’t skin the tomatoes, I pitted the olives before adding them in the end and I also scattered the tomatoes with some capers.

Although I had it in room temperature – and it’s a warm day here, 28ºC - I think this would be wonderful served as a warm salad in cold days.

Roasted tomato salad

12 large tomatoes
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
12 large fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

To garnish:
fresh basil leaves
24 black olives
1 cup capers

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400°F.
Oil a shallow 40 x 30cm (16 x 12 in) roasting tin and set aside.

Skin the tomatoes first of all by pouring boiling water over them and leaving for 1 minute, then drain and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins. (Protect your hands with a cloth if necessary.)
Cut each tomato in half, around the middle rather than vertically, and place the halves in the roasting tin (cut side uppermost) and season with salt and freshly milled pepper. After that, sprinkle on the chopped garlic, distributing it evenly between the tomatoes. Follow this with a few droplets of olive oil on each one, then top each one with half a basil leaf, turning each piece of leaf over to get a coating of oil.

Place the roasting tin in the top half of the oven and roast the tomatoes for 50-60 minutes or until the edges are slightly blackened. Then remove the tin from the oven and allow the tomatoes to cool. All this can be done several hours ahead.

To serve the tomatoes, transfer them to individual serving plates, then whisk the oil and balsamic vinegar together and drizzle this over the tomatoes. Finally top each one with an olive and garnish with basil leaves. Lots of crusty bread is an essential accompaniment to this.

Serves 4-6 as a starter

Salt-baked fish stuffed with onion farofa

I’ve posted several beef recipes because those are the dishes I usually cook for João. This time I’ll post a delicious recipe of something I love so much – fish.
My mom cooked fish at least once a week – she used to say that it was good for the brain. :D

Flipping through a cookbook I found this beautiful fish, made in a very unusual way – I immediately knew I had to try it. I know my grandmother roasts rump this way, using this huge amount of salt, but doing the same with fish was something totally new to me.

On the original recipe, sprigs of dill are placed inside the fish before baking it. I went for a Brazilian touch and filled the fish with farofa. You can use dill if you want to.

I knew I had achieved tremendous success when my beef-and-potato eating husband asked me when I would make this recipe again. ;)

UPDATE: Many of my dear readers asked my about farofa - it's a very traditional Brazilian dish. It may have different flavors and sometimes it's great to use leftovers that have been around for a while. Click here to know more about farofa and here to see the delicious carrot farofa I made a while ago.

Salt-baked fish stuffed with onion farofa
from Kitchen: The Best of the Best

1.5kg whole snapper, gutted but not scaled - I used "namorado", a fish with a firm and white flesh
1.5kg coarse-grained sea salt

Farofa:
1 large onion, finely sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
50-70g manioc flour
salt
freshly ground pepper

Start with the farofa: heat olive oil in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until golden – stir every now and then so it won’t burn.
Add the parsley and the manioc flour, mix well. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Set aside to cool – the farofa has to be completely cool before you fill the fish with it.

Prepare the fish: Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Rinse the fish and pat dry with paper towels. Open the cavity and gently start to stuf the fish with the farofa:

Secure with string or toothpicks.
Put approximately 1/3 of the salt on the bottom of a roasting pan to just cover the metal. Carefully put the fish on the salt and then pack the remaining salt around and over it. Using your hands, sprinkle some water over the salt, just enough to lightly dampen it. Press the damp salt with your hands to firm the packing around the fish.

Bake the fish for 30 minutes (I baked mine for 50).

Remove the pan from the oven and crack the salt encasing the fish. Carefully remove the salt from the fish, using a pastry brush to brush off any loose salt. Using a sharp knife, cut the skin down the center of the fish and pull it away from the flesh. With a spatula or large knife gently remove the flesh from the fish and place on a serving platter. Serve with a baby leaf salad, lemon wedges and lemon sauce or lemon mayonnaise.

*The scales prevent the fish from absorbing the salt so it’s essential that your fish isn’t scaled when you purchase it.

Serves 4.

Steak with maître d’hotel butter and roasted new potatoes

Jeff once wrote in one comment that you can’t beat meat and potatoes – João totally agrees with that. :)

I saw this steak recipe and then the new potatoes recipe on the same book - 140 pages apart - and decided to make both and serve them together.

João loved it so much I’ve made it twice already.

Steak with maître d’hotel butter and roasted new potatoes
from Family Food

90g (6 ½ tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
lemon juice
4 steaks, about 1,3cm thick – I used 2cm thick tenderloin steaks
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
ground black pepper

Potatoes:
600g new potatoes
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons thyme leaves – I used rosemary
2 teaspoons coarse salt

Cream the butter in a bowl, using a wooden spoon, then beat in a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and the parsley. Add about 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, a few drops at a time. Let the butter harden in the refrigerator a little, then form it into a log shape by rolling it up in waxed paper. Put it in the refrigerator until you need it.

Make the potatoes: Pre-heat the oven to 205ºC/400ºF. Cut the potatoes in half and place them in a roasting pan. Add the oil, thyme/rosemary and salt and mix well all the potatoes are coated.
Roast for 30-40 minutes or until they’re golden and cooked through.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and, when it is very hot, add the steaks - here, I added one small red chili finely sliced; it's totally optional. Cook them for 2 minutes on each side for medium, and 4 minutes on each side for well done. The cooking times may very depending on the thickness of your steaks – if they are thin, give them a slightly shorter time and if they are thick, cook them for longer.
Cut the butter into slices and put a couple of slices on top of each steak. The heat of the steaks will melt down the butter.
Serve with the potatoes, vegetables or salad.

Serves 4.

Gremolata crusted lamb racks

My dear readers, believe me: although not very nice looking, the lamb was very good - I don't eat red meat but tasted it out of curiosity. It was tender and juicy.
I was very disappointed with my butcher - and told him that - because the piece of meat he sent me wasn't what I was expecting. I had to bone it in order to serve it - I couldn't separate the cutlets

It was easier to get over the faux pas after the guests' compliments. :D
I served the lamb with a parmesan and black olive risotto, but there wasn't any left to take a picture...

This recipe was taken from this book - but I bet you saw that coming!

UPDATE - I made this dish again, with a really good piece of lamb. It was delicious!

Gremolata crusted lamb racks
from Modern Classics 1

30g chopped flat-leaf parsley
25g chopped mint - I omitted because my husband wouldn't eat it
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed and chopped - I used capers in brine
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
80ml olive oil
2 x 375g trimmed racks of lamb*

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Mix the parsley, mint, lemon rind, capers, salt, pepper and oil until well combined. Press the mixture onto both sides of the lamb racks and place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.
Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the lamb is cooked to your liking.
Serve with crispy roast vegetables or a simple salad.

Serves 4.

*Ask your butcher to French trim the lamb racks, which involves removing all the fat from the bones.
I bought frozen racks, so I had to trim them myself. :S