¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

by Mara @ What's For Dinner? on May 5, 2009

in Guests for Dinner,Mexican/Latin,vegetarian

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The Spanish teacher in me wanted to make an all-out Mexican feast for dinner tonight. But, the scheduling gods decided that Adam needed to work until 9:30, and Me + TONS of Mexican food = Disaster! I went, instead, with a Latin-inspired meal with a very healthy twist on it.

We’ve been talking about making black bean burgers well, since I made them last time. Rather than going with the Asian hot sauce, sriracha, I went with some chili powder, red pepper, and some Tabasco for a more Mexican flavor. On the side was something I’ve never cooked with before: plantains!

When I lived with a Puerto Rican roommate, she introduced me to the amazingness that are tostones. Typically, tostones are slices of plantains, deep fried once, smashed, then deep fried again. Needless to say, I didn’t deep fry. I made my tostones in all of 2 teaspoons of oil and they came out just as well as the ones I’d eaten at restaurants!

Sorry for the weird colors... I took the pic outside and forgot to adjust my settings!

Healthy Tostones

Ingredients

1 large green plantain, sliced into 1 cm. slices

2 tsp. oil (I used olive), divided

salt to taste

Directions

Heat 1 tsp. oil in a large skillet. Place the slices of plantain into the pan, and cook until the slices are lightly browned on both sides. Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with paper towel and drain off the extra oil. Using a drinking glass, smash the slices of plantain until they are much thinner. Heat the other tsp. oil in your pan, and cook the smashed slices a second time. Salt while hot and enjoy!

For those of you who have never had a green plantain, you must. They look a lot like a big green banana (that’s what she said), usually speckled, but do not taste much like banana at all. They are more like a potato in texture, and hardly sweet. You must try them. There are also other varieties of plantains that are used in different ways, but these are my favorite.

I’m definitely having a second bean burger because I worked my BUTT off at Jazzercise today! Our teacher broke out some new routines and I was sweating a ton. Before I left the house, I called it “650 calories at least today.” That’s what I did! 653 Calories! Now mind you, I’m not rewarding myself with food… I’m HUNGRY!

Tonight’s guest for dinner is a fantastic cook I met on Twitter. Jeff is known as The Catholic Foodie and this makes today’s guest our first official cross-cultural foodie post! Jeff’s blog is fantastic, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you must. So, Catholic Foodie, pull up a chair, have a seat at my table, and tell us about your meal!

So I had a sirloin roast in my fridge… For two days.

I had no idea what to do with it, but I had a hankering for beer. Good beer. So I went to the grocery.

Browsing in the (upscale) beer section, I saw it: Murphy’s Stout. No, not to drink. This brew was for the roast!

To be honest, I did buy beer to drink too. Abita Abbey Ale, Abita Turbodog, and a Lobster Lovers Beer. What? Too much? I don’t think so! You gotta have something to sip on in the kitchen!

So I poured myself a cold one (or two!) and I got to work.

This is what I needed, and this is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 4 lbs. Beef Sirloiin Roast, at room temperature
2 to 3 tbsp Salt and freshly ground pepper, or to taste
1/8 to 1/4 tsp Ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 pint Beer (Stout), at room temperature
2 to 3 Russet Potatoes, cubed
3 or 4 Carrots, diced
7 to 9 cloves Garlic, sliced thickly
3 medium to large Onions, sliced length-wise
3 to 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, or to taste

Directions:

1. Make numerous small slits in both sides of the roast (space them evenly). Stuff the slits with the sliced garlic. I slice the garlic into small, thick pieces so that they will fit into the slits.

2. Liberally season the roast with coarse ground sea salt and black pepper. Rub it in well.

3. In a hot dutch oven or large pot, pour enough extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom. Brown both sides of the roast for several minutes. Then, transfer to crockpot.

4. Add a bit of water to the hot dutch oven or pot. With a strong spatula or large spoon, scrape the bottom to loosen up the debris. Add water and debris to the crockpot. Then add Worcestershire Sauce.

5. Pour 2 pints of Stout (I use Murphy’s Stout… not too expensive. About $1.50/can.) to the crockpot. At this point, the roast should be covered with liquid.

6. Add the onions, potatoes, carrots to the crockpot. You could also put some on the bottom the crockpot before you put the roast in.

7. Turn crockpot on high and let it cook for 3 or 4 hours.

8. Turn crockpot down to low and let cook for several hours (5 or more?).

NOTE: Just made this the other day. I cooked it on high for about 3 to 4 hours, then turned it to low and cooked it for about 8 more hours! Delicious and fall-off-the-fork tender.

Serve with rice.

Recipe By: Jeff Young – The Catholic Foodie
Serving Size: 10

I have to say… this recipe turned out fall-off-fork good! You gotta try it!

Thanks so much Jeff! This looks absolutely fantastic! I’m sure that the beer adds a real something special to a crockpot meal! Do you want to be my guest for dinner? Just send me an email to mara@imadedinner.net describing your dinner, with a photo and/or recipe, and I’ll post it!

On queue for tonight? The Biggest Loser Finale! It’s very interesting to watch this show after working my own tail off instead of while eating a pint of ice cream, like I used to…