Fajitas

Serves 6

3 pounds skirt steak or boneless chicken

1/4 pound mushrooms, sliced

1 large onion, sliced into half-moon strips

1 teaspoon olive oil

1. Cut steak or chicken across the grain into strips 1/2 inch wide and 2 inches long. The slices should be sliced as uniformly as possible for even cooking, and no thicker than 1/8 inch. It may be easier to do this with partially frozen meat.

2. Place the meat in a bowl and pour the marinade over it. Toss so that it covers the meat evenly. Cover and marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

3. Add the mushrooms and onions. Mix well, cover and refrigerate 1 hour more.

4. Pour the meat, mushrooms, and onions through a sieve or colander into a bowl, reserving all excess marinade. Put the marinade in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Keep it hot until serving time.

5. Over a high flame or setting, heat a fajita pan (flat, oblong skillet), or a cast-iron frying pan until very hot. Add the olive oil and spread to coat the pan (if your pan is small, divide the mixture and use 2 pans). Add the meat mixture and stir fry for about 3 minutes, or until all the meat is cooked and tender. Remove from the heat.

6. Set a hot pad or trivet on the table and place the fajitas pan on it. The meat is customarily wrapped in warm flour tortillas and served with any of the following: rice, refried beans, salsa, fresca (chopped tomato, green chiles, onion, lemon juice, salt, and pepper), green or red salsa, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, guacamole or sliced avocado. Serve the hot marinade in a pitcher on the side.

From Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe by Br. Peter Reinhart

Fajitas Marinade

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup (Lea & Perrins) Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

12 large cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion

2 medium green bell peppers, seeded and diced

2 tomatoes

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl. You may marinade up to 3 pounds of meat, poultry, or assorted non-leafy vegetables in this mixture.

From Sacramental Magic in a Small Town Cafe by Br. Peter Reinhart

Greek Hamburgers

Makes 10 - 12 hamburgers

3 pounds hamburger, very lean

4 Tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tablespoon)

1/4 cup red wine

1 Tablespoon oregano

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Fried onion for topping

Lettuce

Tomatoes, sliced

Mix ingredients together and form into hamburger patties. Fry or grill.

Recipe adapted from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine by Jeff Smith

Market Street Meatloaf

Makes 3 meatloaves with 8-10 portions each

This is the best meatloaf recipe, ever!, but it does take quite a bit of prep work. To justify the effort involved, Roy and I would triple it, bake one loaf and freeze the other two. The measurements here are for our tripled version.

Saute in butter for about 10 minutes then chill in icebox for at least an hour:

8 Tablespoons of butter

2 cups finely chopped onions

2 cups finely chopped scallions

1 1/2 cups finely chopped carrots

3/4 cup finely chopped celery

1 1/2 cups finely chopped bell pepper of various color

2 Tablespoons of minced garlic

Combine in mixer and beat well:

Salt, to taste

1 Tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg

9 eggs

1 1/2 cup ketchup

1 1/2 cup half & half

Add:

6 pounds of lean ground beef chuck

3 tubes of Jimmy Dean ground pork with sage or plain (12 ounces each)

2 cups of bread crumbs, toasted

1. Knead in mixer or by hand for 5 minutes. Divide meat evenly into 3 portions. Put into plastic freezer bags and flatten for convenient freezer storage.

2. To cook: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Form the mixture into an oval approximately 17 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches, resembling a long loaf of bread.

3. Place meatloaf in a baking dish, and place the dish inside a larger pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the baking dish. I know this is a pain in the neck, but we tried to skip this "bath" and the result wasn't pretty!!!

4. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

5. Remove the dish from the water bath and let the meat loaf rest for 20 minutes before slicing.

Recipe adapted from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. Their recipe was from 72 Market Street in Venice, California. This restaurant was founded by Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli, among others and closed in November 2000. I suppose the meatloaf recipe will live on forever!

Brother Peter's Beef Brisket

beef brisket, whole (4 + pounds)

2 packets of onion soup mix

1 cup of water

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Place a whole brisket (4 or more pounds) in a roasting pan. Cover the top with any commercial dry onion soup mix and put 1 cup of water in the bottom of the pan. Cover the top of the pan with foil, making sure it is sealed all around the edges to keep the steam in. Roast for approximately 2 1/2 hours or 35 minutes for each pound.

2. When finished cooking, allow it to sit in the covered pan for an additional 20 minutes before removing the foil.

3. Slice the brisket thinly, saving all the juice, occasionally basting the brisket slices in the juice. Simmer slices in the pan juices for 30 minutes. The beef should begin to fall apart, soaking up the juices.

4. To serve, place a few slices of beef on a slice of French bread, and ladle warm barbecue sauce all over.

Adapted from Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe by Br Peter Reinhart

Hearty Beef Stew

2 pounds boneless beef chuck-eye roast, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1 cup of flour seasoned with salt and pepper
5 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups onions, sliced
1 cup of carrots, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce (Hunts is best)
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
3 cups of water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon sweet basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 Tablespoon sugar
8 medium Yukon potatoes, cut in large pieces
1 cup of frozen peas
1 cup of frozen pearl onions

1. Toss meat with flour mixture and brown in 5 Tablespoons oil in Dutch oven. When meat is browned, add onion and carrots and cook on low for about 30 minutes.
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
3. Add to Dutch oven tomato sauce, tomato paste, minced garlic, water, salt, pepper, bay leaves, basil, oregano and sugar. Bring to simmer, cover, transfer to oven, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Take pot out of oven and skim excess fat off. Remove bay leaves and then add potatoes, peas, and pearl onions and return to oven for 45 minutes until potatoes and vegetables are tender.

Serve with buttered noodles, green salad, and crusty French bread or rolls.

Adapted from Rosine's Cuisine by Renee Davi and the Cooks Illustrated website