This Week's Sunday Menu: Prime Rib Tacos and Chorizo and Eggs

Going Mexican this weekend with chorizo con huevos and prime rib tacos.

The breakfast is so easy I have to even call it a recipe. It's basically put chorizo in pan, cook, add eggs, and done.

The dinner takes a little more preparation but is still very easy. We're marinating some very good meat, carne asada style like they do in the carnecerias, and grilling on the barbecue.  I used the tiny tortillas (I bought to make chilaquiles with) so these are very much street style tacos but with prime rib instead of flank steak.

Two very tasty and very easy meals. Click on the links for the recipes

BREAKFAST: Chorizo con Huevos (Chorizo and Egg)
Almost too easy but very tasty and authentic.

DINNER: Prime Rib Tacos
Marinade is the key. After that, it's just grill, chop, and eat.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Chorizo con Huevos

...or chorizo and eggs for our English speakers.  This is so simple you'll be amazed that something this easy can taste so good.

Like a lot of meals, the big key here is to use the best ingredients. We skip the supermarket chorizo and head to a good butcher shop.  My favorite is the loose chorizo that is sold by Lockeford Meat Company, near Lodi, California. When I'm headed that way, I'll bring along an ice box to buy several pounds to take home and put in the freezer.

Also, just about any Mexican meat market...or carneceria...will have a good version made on premises. We like the sausage that they make at La Pradera Carneceria in Azusa, California.  In Los Angeles, Marconda Meats and Huntington Meats (both in the Original Hollywood Farmers Market) make very good versions, too.

The key is to get one that will not produce a lot of grease, like the versions usually sold in most supermarkets.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound chorizo (beef or pork...we like the pork)
5 eggs
6 flour tortillas

Get a flat griddle and put on low/medium heat.

In a 12 inch, non-stick skillet cook the chorizo. If you get the kind that come in links, remove the casing.  Keep chopping it into little bits with a wooden spoon. 

When fully cooked, add the eggs. 

Stir in with the spoon until the eggs are cooked and turn off the heat.

The griddle should be nicely hot by now. Heat up the tortillas, about 30 seconds per side. 

Store in a clean dish towel until all are done.

Put a couple of spoonfuls of your egg and chorizo mixture into a tortilla.  I like to add a little shredded cheese to mine.  Sprinkle on your favorite hot salsa.  I like Frank's Red Hot while my wife likes a homemade salsa that she makes herself.

Wrap up like a burrito and eat.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Taco Time: Prime Rib Carne Asada Tacos

While carne asada tacos usually use marinated flank steak, I'm using a rib steak cut off of a prime rib...basically a bone-in rib eye.

Marination is the key to this one.  Also, chopping the meat into little pieces, like they do at the taco stand, makes this one steak extend to feed three people easily.

INGREDIENTS
1 rib steak, (or rib eye or New York steak) about 1 1/2 pounds
2 cups orange juice
1/2 onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 small, hot, red chile peppers
cilantro

First put the steak into a sealable plastic bowl just big enough to fit it in.  Sprinkle little kosher salt and pepper on each side.

In a blender, puree the orange juice, chiles, garlic, and 1/4 onion (save the other quarter for later).

Pour the resulting mixture over your meat, completely immersing it. Seal the bowl and put in the fridge. Marinate anywhere from 6 to 36 hours...the more the better.

Finely dice the remaining onion and add chopped cilantro.  Put into a small bowl.

On a grill, cook the meat to your preferred doneness...I like medium rare. (See our Rib Eye Steak Recipe for tips on cooking to the right degree of doneness)

On a cutting board, chop up the meat into small pieces, the smaller the better. Put into a bowl.

Heat up some corn tortillas, fill with some meat. Add the onions and cilantro mix. Put in your salsa and maybe even a little guacamole if you have some.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Tuesdays with Letty: City Cafe - Azusa, California

Tuesday night is respite night for my wife and I. My mom comes over to sit with Tim for a couple of hours while we can get away and forget about caretaking and go out to dinner by ourselves...

While we have our tried and true Tuesday night favorites, we like to try new places once in awhile, too.  This week, it's the latest addition to the burgeoning restaurant row that is popping up around the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Azusa Avenue in Azusa, California.

City Cafe (not to be confused with the similarly themed and menued City Grill in nearby Covina) sits next to a weed-strewn vacant lot just a few doors down from Max's and Congregation Ale House.

The prices are reasonable for a very neat and plush little restaurant. There's also a very nice patio out back but we're sticking inside tonight.

My wife has the ahi tuna salad, an Asian tinged dish with very tasty fish along with the usual salad fixin's, beans, mandarins, and fried noodles.

I'm in the mood for a burger tonight so I go with a basic house cheeseburger with bleu cheese. It's very good, if messy, and the wonderful tomato bisque makes a nice substitute for the fries I'm avoiding.

Good place, good food, and reasonable prices. What more could you ask for?

This one will stay on our radar.

City Cafe is one block south of Foothill Boulevard at the corner of Azusa Avenue and 6th Street. Free parking in the back.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

This week's Sunday Menu: Pan Fried Pork Chops and Intercontinental Scramble

I know I said I mostly cook on the barbecue and then had recipes from the kitchen. Well, we'll be in a kitchen for a few weeks but I'll still go easy on you.

Pork chops...but no applesauce...are on this week's dinner menu. It's hard to find good pork these days but do the best you can. The sauce on this one will help make up for it. 

Breakfast is an intensely delicious item that I came up with, kind of a mix of chilaquiles and some of the French scrambles that I'd cook in France. 

They're both very good and pretty easy, too. Click on the links for full recipes.

DINNER: Pan Fried Pork Chops with scratch made mashed potatoes.

BREAKFAST: Intercontinental Scramble.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Tuesdays With Letty: Kara's Korner

Tuesday night is respite night for my wife and I. My mom comes over to sit with Tim for a couple of hours while we can get away and forget about caretaking and go out to dinner by ourselves.

This week, it's Kara's Korner, one of my favorites for comfort food.  It's a small Jewish deli in Glendora, California that's probably more of a diner.

When I have a cold, their matzoh ball soup is my favorite medicine.

Tonight, I am feeling fine so it's their wonderful rare roast beef sandwich for me.  While I've had better roast beef sandwiches in my life, right now this is the best I can get in the area.

On a soft, pillowy French roll with actual rare beef. Most other sandwich shops around here use well done beef, not nearly as good.  You have to remember to ask for the tomato which is not automatic on this sandwich.

My wife has this veggie omelete, which she described as delicious.

Kara's Korner is on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Glendora Avenue in downtown Glendora.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Super Sides: Creamed Corn

While corn on the cob is good, I have to admit I don't like eating with my hands like that.

Instead, I'll make a fresh corn dish that I can eat with utensils. You know...like a civilized person.

INGREDIENTS
3 cobs of fresh, sweet corn (1 for each person)
1 1/2 cups low fat milk
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup half and half

Remove the kernels from the cob into the bowl. Don't know how? Click here.

Boil the corn for 10 minutes.

Strain and put into a bowl for later.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan.

Stir in the flour thoroughly.

Add the milk, about a half cup at a time.

After it thickens a bit, add the pepper, sugar,  then the corn.  Stir it in.

Turn off the heat, stir in the corn and the half and half.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

This Week's Sunday Menu: Maui Jim Pancakes and Pasta Parma Verde

It's a bit cool this week in Southern California so we're cooking indoors for this week's menu. Some nice, light pancakes from Maui Jim to a pasta dish I came up with after a visit for inspiration to our local Italian deli.

Click on the links below for the recipes.

Breakfast - Maui Jim Pancakes

Using cottage cheese and no baking powder, these pancakes are light, fluffy, and delicious.

Dinner - Pasta Parma Verde

A mental block haunted me when trying to come up for something for dinner.  A trip to Claro's, a local Italian deli, and their helpful and friendly counter people, convinced me to buy some Parma ham to come up with this tasty and satisfying pasta dish.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Falling Through the Changes

With the summer growing season behind us, we look to the future of the garden.  

My son and I headed to the garden center to pick up some seeds for next year, wondering what Mother Nature has in store for us.

A large El Nino is headed our way, will that cure the drought? Will water rationing end next year? What should we plan on?

While we ponder those questions, we still have a fall and winter garden season ahead of us, which we think about as we do a sprinkler line inspection.

The roses aren't looking good but that's because we let them go over the fall to build their strength for next season.

It's the season of citrus and soon we'll be harvesting our citrus.

After that, it'll be time to prune the roses and till the ground for next year's food.

Stay tuned!

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Pasta Parma Verde

You know the dilemma...what'll we have for dinner? That one question causes so much stress for a family cook. What will I do for my family for dinner?

We all want to cook a great meal and not just serve the same thing, time after time...no matter how good it is.

That was my quandary this Sunday morning as I perused the freezer for something to thaw for dinner. At first, I pulled out a smoked ham hock but I just wasn't feeling it.

Before I resigned myself to ordering a pizza or going out for burgers, I went to Claros', our local Italian deli, to see if I could get some inspiration.

Claro's never lets me down, and today is no exception.  

With a package of some super premium Parma ham in my hand, I headed home to make the following dish for dinner.

INGREDIENTS

4 oz. egg noodles

4 oz. casarecce noodles

1/2 pound Parma ham, thinly sliced

half a bunch of spinach leaves

2 stalks of broccolini finely chopped

4 small,green onions finely chopped

1/4 cup quattro formagio or parmesan

1 ounce (quarter stick) butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup half and half

2 tablespoons soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Put water in a large pot (5 quarts or so) and start heating towards a boil.

Put a sheet of wax paper over a plate.  Hand-tear the Parma ham into small pieces and place on the was paper.

Spread the ham out evenly. Save this for later.

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan on high heat.  When hot, add the spinach.

Put the pasta into the boiling water. Cook until al dente (about 9 minutes)

Add the green onions and broccolini. Cook until the broccolini softens.

Turn the heat down to low/medium and add the garlic and quattro formagio. Mix in thoroughly.

Add the goat cheese.  

When the goat cheese is melted, add the ham and mix in very thoroughly.  

Turn off the heat, wait two minutes. Add the cream and stir in.

When the pasta is done, drain and mix into the sauce.

Darryl
Copyright - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved