Cabbage and Meatballs

Every year around Succot I make a giant pot of my mother’s stuffed cabbage recipe (with some small tweaks) and distribute it to my in laws and parents.It disappears off plates faster than I can blink. However the rolling and stuffing make this a one time a year deal. The At Home Gourmet, as well as several other cookbooks, tried to solve this dilemma by creating the same flavorful dish WITHOUT the need to neatly package the meat inside the cabbage.

This cabbage and meatballs recipe was trotted out recently on a WEEKDAY night much to the shock and awe of my family. Not only was it not Succot it wasn’t even Shabbos! That’s how easy this recipe looked – I didn’t wait for a special occasion.

Ingredients: ground beef, matzo meal, egg, salt, pepper, garlic powder, shredded cabbage, ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, water

The Process: I mixed the beef, matzoh, egg and spices in a bowl. The rest of the ingredients were dumped into a pot over a low flame. When the sauce and cabbage began to boil I formed the meatballs and dropped them in. Everything cooked for 1.5 hours while I went about my business as usual.

For a cheaper but more work version you can slice your own cabbage instead of buying the pre-shredded bag.

The Results: This too disappeared before I could blink. Bowls of meatballs and cabbage were being fought over by family members. A huge hit and very easy to make. However you cannot scrimp on the cooking time – your cabbage will be raw!

I still like to make the pretty cabbage rolls for Succot (this recipe looks like it is depicted – a stew like mix). If time was short though, this would be a pretty good substitute.

Asian Steak Salad

Steak Salad is one of my favorite foods. When the steak is marinated properly it becomes a juicy and filling addition to your salad.

This Asian steak salad recipe really looked like a flavorful twist on an old favorite. I typically like to use a thick juicy piece of meat, like London Broil, for steak salad but this recipe from Kosher by Design called for a thinner skirt steak which cut down on cooking/prep time.

Ingredients: olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, peanut or olive oil, red onion, skirt steak cut in thin strips,

yellow pepper, red pepper, mixed greens, sesame seeds

Substitutions: I have used peanut oil but have also substituted with olive oil when peanut allergies became an issue

The Process: First I browned the ginger and garlic in olive oil. The soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, vinegar and mustard where pulsed in the food processor and then mixed with the ginger and garlic to form the dressing.

I then heated the peanut oil and cooked the steak in it for ten minutes. When it was done I removed it from the skillet with a slatted spatula and set it aside. I placed the red onion and bell peppers in the pan to saute. When they were almost done I added 2-3 tablespoons of dressing cooking and removed it from the heat. The dressing is then added to the green and the peppers and steak are placed on top with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

 

The Results: This salad is amazing. It tastes wonderful and is a big hit with company. It is not quite as colorful as the one in the photo unless you under cook the peppers – which tastes the change of the salad and I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

 

Blackened Steak and Asparagus Salad

Spice Rub

I like to think of steak salads as “gateway salads”, a way to initiate people who do not usually like salad into the ways of lettuce eating. What better way to trick a carnivore into consuming lettuce than by putting  a piece of meat on top of it? This salad from Kosher by Design Entertains has the added bonus of including asparagus.

 

Ingredients:

onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, white pepper, black pepper, paprika, dried thyme, dried oregano, dried basil leaves, London Broil OR filet, olive oil, asparagus, white wine vinegar OR apple cider vinegar, fresh parsley, lemon juice, fresh garlic, dried basil, crushed red pepper, dried oregano, mesclun lettuce

Spice Rubbed London Broil

 

The Process: 

Blackened Steak in the Sautee Pan

The large list of dried spices gets mixed together to form a rub for the meat. The recipe gives you the option of rubbing both sides but I opted for only putting spice rub on one side. I then seared the meat for ten minutes per side and allowed it to rest for ten minutes. There was a hilarious incident where a sizzle of oil full of cayenne pepper made my eyes water but otherwise this was uneventful and went exactly as described.

I then cut the meat, although I couldn’t quite achieve the paper thin slices the recipe asked for. I added additional olive oil to the pan and seared the asparagus. They did look bright green as described.

 

I then whisked the dressing ingredients together, tossed them with the meat and asparagus and served the dish. I was careful not to put the dressing on until immediately before serving so as not to have mushy wilted lettuce.

Cooking Green Beans

The Results:

London Broil is excellent for this type of dish: it comes out moist and flavorful. The cooking was easy it was a crowd pleaser. I will say it can be a bit spicy for kids. The recipe also specifically calls for mesclun mix that contains radicchio. I elect to not include this as I find radicchio extremely bitter. As mentioned above and seen in my photo it is difficult to get the meat “paper-thin” like the photo in the book.

Bonus: kosher for passover.

Blackened Steak and Asparagus Salad