The Art of the Reverse Marinade

Atlanta chef Philippa Kingsley's recipe for Thai Beef Salad in the AJC caught my eye last week. I'm always looking for filling and flavorful salad recipes, but this recipe intrigued me mostly because of the marinade. You cook the meat first, marinate second. I just had to try it!

Before you begin, take note of Philippa's keys to success: #1 the long marinade time and #2 the cut of your meat. Philippa suggests 24 hours in the marinade, and since I had the awesome idea to prep this Sunday and eat it Monday, this is what I did, and I'm totally with her. As for the cut, she suggests top-notch beef tenderloin (filet mignon), but that was too rich for my wallet, so I used London Broil. I wish I'd spent a few extra dollars and gotten a bit of a nicer cut, as I think the marinade would've made filet absolutely melt in your mouth. The London Broil was still good - but let's face it. It's just no filet mignon.

Serves: 4

1 pound beef tenderloin
Salt
1 ½ cups fresh lemon juice (I used bottled, no way was I juicing all those lemons)
1 cup sweet Thai chili sauce (found in the ethnic isle of my Publix)
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped or torn by hand
1 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped or torn by hand (I omitted b/c Publix was out)
2 small to medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
½ European cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 head red leaf or green leaf lettuce, washed, separated into individual leaves and dried
Additional mint and cilantro for garnish (optional)


Set broiler on high. Rub beef tenderloin with salt and place in a shallow roasting pan or broiler pan. Cook each side for 10-15 minutes — until medium (just pink at the interior). A meat thermometer inserted at thickest portion of the tenderloin should read 135-140 degrees; the meat will rise another 5-10 degrees when removed from oven. (Chef's Note: you may also grill the meat.) Set aside to rest for 15-20 minutes, and slice. (Betty's Note: using a digital thermometer in the meat while broiling will result in complete and utter destruction of your thermometer probe, just so you know).

In a large mixing bowl, add lemon juice, sweet Thai chili sauce, granulated sugar and fish sauce. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Add the sliced beef, red onion, green onion, cilantro and mint. Cover and chill for at least four hours, or overnight. Or, 24 hours if you want to be like me.

One hour before serving, add cucumber and tomato to the beef mixture. Stir, cover and return to refrigerator. (I think skipping this step is no biggie).

In a large bowl or serving dish, make a circle of lettuce leaves. Spoon the beef mixture onto the lettuce and pour in the marinade. If desired, garnish with optional cilantro or mint sprigs.

The result: The flavor is really delicious, and this is healthy, too (nutritional info below). I consider the reverse-marinade a success, and think I might try the leftovers in noodle bowls tomorrow night for dinner. Yum!

Per serving: 310 calories (percent of calories from fat, 27), 32 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams fiber, 10 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 60 milligrams cholesterol, 117 milligrams sodium.

Cooking ahead

So, I'm traveling this week for work, so I went ahead and cooked two meals for the boys. Both turned out well, so I thought I'd share with three other working moms!

First, I made my mom's Shrimp Salad recipe:

1 or 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled

1 pound of pasta (usually use shells or tubes), cooked

6 eggs, hard boiled and chopped

2 stalks of celeby, finely chopped

Mazetti Slaw dressing

garlic powder

seasoned salt

pepper

Cook the shrimp for about 2-3 minutes. I usually cook in chicken broth to give some flavor. Add the shrimp, the pasta, eggs and celery to a large bowl. Stir in about 1/2 cup of Mazetti dressing. Stir well. Add about tsp of garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir well. Add another 1/2 cup of the dressing. Stir well. At this point, at more dressing, if necessary. The salad is even better the next day!

Second, I made a modified version of an Oven Chicken Risotto recipe that Heather Fleming gave me:

2 T butter

1 cup Arbiso rice

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup of broccoli

1/2 onion, diced

1-2 cups of diced or shredded chicken (you can use rotisserie chicken, Tyson shortcuts or boil some yourself)

6 oz fresh mozzarella

1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved

Preheat oven to 400. Melt the butter in the bottom of 9x13 pan. Add the rice, broth, broccoli, and onion, and stir to distribute. Bake, covered, for 35 minutes. Check towards the end if you need to add another 1/2 cup of water. I had to add a bit more. Once done, add the chiken, mozzarella and tomatoes and stir. Delish!

I love make ahead meals....

What's Been Happening In Betty's Kitchen

Dear Loyal Cook Club Participants and Readers:
We’ve hit a rough patch in our commitment to this little culinary club, and for that, I 100% blame summer. The heat, parenthood, summer block parties for some, vacation and the lack of structure of the summer months have kept a few of us out of the kitchen. But in an effort to keep this extremely popular and well frequented blog going (we’re probably going to be featured on Rachel Ray soon), here is an update on what culinary masterpieces I created in the kitchen in July. I cite farmer’s markets, and apparently, Southern Living magazine as my inspirations!

First up, I pseudo completed Sue’s challenge, and made these bacon pimento cheeseburgers from Southern Living.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906337
They were just okay for me – the pimiento cheese recipe made A LOT and I ended up tossing most of it after having a pimiento cheese sandwich or two. Not really my thing, but if it’s yours, this is probably a good recipe for your repetoire.

Mr. Focker did get in on the recipe fun and perfected his margarita recipe. These involve a little elbow grease as only fresh lime juice will do, but it’s well worth it. Just don’t throw a fiesta and invite all your friends over for batches of these bad boys – they are too labor intensive for a crowd! For a crowd pleaser, ask me for my Beergarita recipe. You’ll be so happy you did!
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1997552

By far, the two best new recipes I prepared in July focused on fresh, seasonal ingredients. I procured a few Heirloom tomatoes one Saturday morning at the Farmer’s market and made this deliciously-awesome-extremely-mouth-watering-fabulous Southern Tomato Vegetable Pie. Mr. Focker really liked it, too. Seriously, stop what you are doing and make this pie. It’s a little time consuming, but very, very worth it.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906309

Last, but not least, I entertained with this recipe paired with grilled chorizo and shrimp kabobs:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/summer-vegetable-casserole
This was super easy and really, really delicious.

And in case you are wondering, Baby Focker did not allow a single bite of any of these delicious dishes to cross her tiny little lips. Better luck in August? You’ll find out if you promise to share what you’ve been up to in the kitchen – both messes and successes! Maybe I'll be back with photos in August too - you don't know!

Are we still doing this thing?

I didn't really complete July's challenges. I am not going to lie! But before I throw one down for August, is anyone out there still playing?