Category Archives: CSA

I had the best of intentions of taking a picture of last night’s dinner.  I really did.  The camera was out, I turned on extra lights, and I even cleared the counter.  Okay, I shoved the papers on the counter to make a clear spot, but that’s mostly the same thing.  I think what happened was that I started making brownies when the steak was ready and T came in and plated our food and then whisked off to the coffee table and before I knew it I was eating.  Hungrily.  Sorry.

Quite a long time ago, we had a chance to go by Iowa Meat Farms when they were having their anniversary/birthday/annual celebration and people come out with spices and sauces and sausage and grilled food.  It’s all free and you walk through a corridor of samples to get into the store.  We happened to taste a piece of tender but tasty meat that was covered in some sort of bbq sauce.  Maybe it was the one made from Dr. Pepper.  We asked what cut of meat he had used and he said “flap meat”.  Until that point, I had never heard of flap meat.  I’m not even sure I saw it inside the store, so I thought maybe he had said “flat meat”, like skirt steak or something else cut thin.  At this time, we were happily grilling Costco filets or ribeyes and gave no further thought to this funny flat steak.  I chalked it up to a crazy old man trying to make his sample seem fancier than it was. 

And then I actually saw it.  At Costco.  If Costco was calling it flap steak, it must be legit.  It’s a thin flap of meat, with strong grain lines and good marbling.  It looks like a tasty piece of meat.  We typically just grill it to medium-rare and slice it across the grain.  It’s chewy, but in that beefy texture way, not in a tough and tasteless wat.

So, last night, I pulled a piece of flap steak out of the freezer (trying to clear out the freezer and all) to defrost and decided we’d have CSA green beans to go with it.  I had also considered making a salad, but with the whisking of the food I had no time.

The steak had a large piece and a small piece in the package.  The small piece was rubbed with some random homemade Texas bbq brisket rub and the large one just got salt and pepper.  I like simple seasonings on steak.  The meat just sat there, absorbing flavor until the grill was ready to accept it.

The green beans were blanched for 2 minutes in boiling water and then sat in an ice water bath until the steaks went to the grill.  Then I dumped them in a hot pan (after draining, of course) with some sesame oil until they were warm and starting to get a little browning color.  By this time, the steaks were done (they cook quickly), salt was sprinkled on the beans and the whisking away was happening.

It’s a combination of T liking steak sauce and also wanting to decrease the amount of various condiments taking up a whole shelf in the refrigerator.  A Jack Daniel’s  steak sauce accompanied his piece of steak; sea salt and sesame oil was my dipping sauce of choice (like at the Korean bbq, yum yum!)  The spice rubbed steak was eaten as is, and it was good.  Since flap steak has marbling, some bites have more fat to them than others.  But it’s the melty beefy fat, the kind that melds with the meat to let you know it tastes really good and is probably not very healthy.  T did a good job of not overcooking the steak, so it was still juicy and tender, easily cut into pieces, and devoured in minutes.  The green beans did their part as obligatory green vegetable-on-plate.

Not all Costcos sell flap steak.  It’s not sold at the Costco in Las Vegas, but the Sam’s Club in Vegas has it.  It’s not always at the Poway Costco.  So, if you come across one, I encourage you to try it.  We’re always very happy with the quality of meat from Costco.  Mmm…. steak…

This is what happens on Monday nights, when it’s really hot outside (and inside), you don’t really want to cook, you don’t want to go out, you definitely don’t want to get on the elliptical, you know there is CSA produce that needs to be eaten and you still want a somewhat good meal.

I had made coconut brown rice one night when we had tuna for dinner.  I thought tuna and coconut would go well together, I just forgot that it doesn’t work as well with brown rice as it does with Japanese rice.  I ended up with slightly coconut-fragranced hard brown rice.  Mmm… boy, does that taste healthy!  I decided to revive it (and hopefully pump moisture into it) by making tomato rice.  Like Spanish rice but without the kick or spices.  I took the cup of leftover rice and tossed it into a pot with 3 small diced tomatoes (skin and all), salt, and some garlic powder.  I wanted the garlic taste but without the kick that you get with fresh garlic.  Does that make sense?

Of course, we had no black beans in the pantry.  Garbanzo beans up the wall, but no black beans.  We did have kidney beans and T declared that was just as good (or at least a better option than chickpeas), so we ate kidney beans and tomato rice.  I just could serve rice without beans.  It isn’t done.  Unless you’re Japanese, of which half of me complies.  So I guess it’s fair to say that half the time, I do serve rice without beans!  I’m sorry… it’s late and I’m not making sense.  Because the other half of me isn’t Hispanic, which is good because tomato rice and kidney beans would be so laughed at.

Last week, before we headed to Idyllwild, I tested out another recipe that actually came out much better than I thought.  In hindsight, it really wasn’t much of a recipe except for the rub.  It’s a paprika based rub that you spread under the skin of a roasting chicken and then all over the outside.  Roasted at 425 for 1 1/2 hours with some potatoes crisping in the goodness under the chicken and you have a nice meal.  Once you add a salad.  Made with CSA lettuce and tomatoes, of course.  So, we had some chicken meat leftover.  What do you do with leftover chicken meat?

You make tacos! (see above photo)  Now do you see the connection (as faint as it is) with the beans and rice?  I also made some salsa with the CSA salad tomatoes and an Anaheim pepper from my garden, but we ate it with chips before dinner so we had to top the tacos with jarred salsa.  All in all it wasn’t too bad.  Not the best meal I’ve made, but it didn’t require too much cooking and it also included minimal fat.  We didn’t eat a salad like I had planned, but some lettuce did get put into the tacos.  At least, into my tacos.

I wish I had taken pictures of the roasted chicken when it came out of the oven.  Or the fried green beans I made along with this green mayo (that I made from scratch for the first time ever!):

I mean, those would have been impressive dishes to write about!  All I have here so far are my mediocre, in-a-rush weekday dinners.  I’m just going to have to work on this better.  Post notes to remind myself to take pictures of food, stuff like that.

That was my dinner Tuesday night. A salad made of my CSA tomatoes and lettuce and a radish sandwich made with CSA radishes, Double Devon Cream butter, and sea salt. When it was just me and I didn’t have anyone else to cook for, a lot of my dinners looked like this. Well, actually, they didn’t even look as good as this. I didn’t eat salad and I wouldn’t have bought radishes. It would have been a grilled cheese sandwich and maybe a peach if I had bought some earlier. Sometimes cinnamon toast and edamame. Sometimes, rarely, an ice cream sundae. I mean, I cooked for myself and occasionally put together a good balanced meal. I really did eat healthy, in between all the trips to the gym I had time for. But it’s just not as much fun planning a meal when no one else is there to be wowed by it.

Tuesday night T worked late and came home just as I was finishing my sandwich and the most recent Big Love (love my DVR!). He’s a good guy to cook for and I don’t think he’s ever complained about a meal I’ve made for him. Of course, how could I possibly ever make something not wonderfully tasty? So, for him I make stews and braised short ribs, chicken in cream sauces, salmon baked in parchment paper, roast chicken, pork chops and roasted vegetables, pasta dishes, steamed mussels in white white, chicken milanese, garlic shrimp, risotto, and pulled pork. He’s also been a good sport through all the recipes I test out on him.  I put effort into the dishes, throw in a little extra butter and garlic, and don’t mind the hot kitchen in the middle of the summer. For me? Simple, fast, easy, but still tasty. Fancy alone food would be orzo salad.

Still, my simple Tuesday dinner was pretty good. If I had cut the crusts off the sandwich it would have been like little tea sandwiches. If I had topped the salad with a poached egg, it would have been something worthy of California Cuisine. Had I finished the bottle of white Merlot, it would have been nice meal at home for one. But I didn’t do any of those things… I just ate my little dinner in front of the tv and then was very happy when T came home.

If you haven’t had a radish sandwich, on bread buttered with the best butter and sprinkled with crunchy sea salt, I highly recommend you try it. I sliced the radishes with a vegetable peeler because I didn’t want to get the mandoline out for such a small job, but I wanted thinner slices than a knife would accomplish. The thin slices help cut down on the bite from the radishes so you just get crunchy and slightly sweet with a hint of radish heat. Yum.