Friday Food: Creative Bread Things, Much Mexican, and Fun with Cast Iron

Friday

Short version: Ribeye steaks, rice, green salad, A.'s stew

Long version: The steaks were pretty small and wouldn't have been enough without the stew. Good thing we still had two big containers of it in the freezer. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Saturday

Short version: Creative flatbreads with bacon and cheese, roasted sweet potatoes/bell pepper/onion, salad

Long version: When I made pizza for my sister, I made a double recipe as usual, but only needed half of it. But I still pre-baked both half-sheet pans full of dough. Then I cut one into quarters--the only way I can fit it into a big zip-top bag--and put it in the freezer.

I would've made a regular pizza, except I didn't have any mozzarella. Or rather, asadero, which is what we use now in place of mozzarella. So instead I just put diced, cooked bacon and grated cheddar on the crust and baked that. It was good.

But then, when is anything with bacon and cheese ever NOT good?

I'm sure you've noted there was nothing even vaguely Mexican about this meal to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, contrary to my usual practice. Ah, just you wait.

Sunday

Short version: Creative tuna stuff, green peas

Long version: I was baking bread--again--so I made the usual round loaf of garlic bread. But then, when I decided to make something with tuna for dinner, I had the idea of making tuna salad--tuna, diced onion and celery, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, dill, and pepper--and mixing in grated cheese and then stuffing the bread with this mixture. So I baked the bread until the center was done, then cut the top off, pulled some of the bread out of the middle, and packed the tuna mixture in there, replaced the top and baked it again until it was all melted.

When it was done, I sliced it into long sandwich fingers, and of course the filling squished out all over the place, but whatever. Everyone liked it.

I added some leftover rice to the rest of the tuna and cheese mixture and baked that in a cast-iron skillet as a kind of casserole. That was also good.

This also happened this day:

Not so good, though my fault for leaving the big package of paper towels on the floor of the dining room until I figured out where to store it.

Monday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, rice, sauteed mushrooms and onion, green beans

Long version: I always use my cast-iron griddle to cook hamburgers, as that's the only way I can cook eight at a time in one pan. The only problem with the griddle is covering the hamburgers when I add cheese, so the cheese melts. My solution to this problem is to squeeze as many cheeseburgers together as I can and cover them with an inverted cast-iron skillet.

Good thing I have such a large collection of cast-iron cookware to choose from.

Tuesday

Short version: Feliz Siete de Mayo! Mexican brisket, pinto beans, homemade corn tortillas. With avocado! And lime!

Long version: Okay! NOW we're ready for our Mexican feast. See, the avocados I bought on Saturday were rock-hard, so I didn't think it was worth it to make the all-out effort for Cinco de Mayo if I didn't even have ripe avocados. So I figured we would celebrate whatever day in May coincided with the ripening avocados.

Thus, Siete de Mayo was the celebratory day.

The brisket was "Mexican" because I dumped salsa verde and tomato salsa over it before I put it in the oven. Very authentic, I'm sure.

This time I made the pinto beans with nothing but salt and a potato. The potato was a small russet, and this is Miss Amelia's trick. It does indeed make the creamiest beans ever. Thank you, Miss Amelia.

And now we come to the tortillas. I have been resisting making my own tortillas for years now. I buy corn tortillas in packs of 60--yes, we eat that many corn tortillas--and I just knew that if I ever made my own I would finally know for sure how inferior the store-bought ones are. Because store food sucks, as I have mentioned before. But I already had the instant masa, so I finally decided I would try it.

I looked at a couple of YouTube videos to see what the texture of the dough should be (this one was the most helpful) and got to it. I used one and a half cups of masa and an equal amount of warm water, plus a teaspoon of salt. I had to add about a tablespoon more masa because it was too sticky, and I could have used a tad less salt, but otherwise it was fine. I kneaded the dough for a couple of minutes in the bowl and then covered the bowl with a wet cloth and let it rest for twenty minutes or so.

I do not have a tortilla press. But I do have a lot of cast-iron skillets. So I put my balls of dough between two pieces of parchment paper and bore down with the bottom of a skillet. It was kind of a pain. At least until I pressed (pun totally intended) A. into service. He has much stronger hands than I, is taller, and has more weight to press down with. He made good tortillas.

I cooked them on my cast-iron griddle pan. There is no fat in the dough and no fat on the griddle. I was certain they would stick like crazy, but they didn't. Not even a little. I did learn that the griddle has to be pretty hot--like about medium-high--for them to get the little brown flecks.

That one in the back left has the proper fleckage.

I also learned that this process will set off half the smoke detectors in the house. At the same time. Even with windows open. So annoying.

Anyway, after we started eating, A. said, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but these are great." And Cubby said, "This was SO WORTH IT."

And what did I say? "Well, I did read they freeze well. So I guess I could just do one really huge batch at once . . ."

I am so crazy.

But they really were so good. Dammit.

Of course there weren't enough and I had to share mine with Jack. But then, I sneaked a couple while I was cooking them, so I guess it all evened out.

Wednesday

Short version: Burritos at the school dinner theater

Long version: The school does this thing every year where the eighth grade students--this year, there are two--pick two of their older family members to interview about their lives and then create a series of highly embellished skits based on their stories. Before this, there's a dinner catered by the (singular) restaurant in the village. So we had flour tortillas with ground beef and pinto beans, plus a variety of toppings, and then both ice cream sandwiches AND cake for dessert.

The boys ate an incredible amount.

The performance was quite impressive, given that it's an entirely original script created every year and that only five students--the entire middle school--play all the parts for a two-hour performance. The problem is the "two-hour" part. It didn't even start until after 7 p.m., which meant it was over at about 9 p.m. This is too late for our early-to-bed family and waaaay too late for poor Poppy, who was up about three hours past her usual bedtime. She made it through, though, and the boys loved watching the skits. They were really funny, actually. And I did not cook or clean up a meal. Win.

Thursday

Short version: Lamb, leftovers, steamed carrots

Long version: Cubby and Charlie went on their school field trip this day, which involved six hours on a bus so they could go to a trampoline park and a museum. They left at 7 a.m. and didn't get home until 6:30 p.m.

They had a wonderful time. Better them than me.

Anyway.

I wasn't sure if they would be eating dinner at home, so the remaining four of us ate at our usual time of 5 p.m. I made the lamb mostly for A., who ate it with leftover rice and carrots. I made tacos for Poppy and Jack with some of the leftover Mexican brisket, and a salad for myself with the same.

When Cubby and Charlie got home, they requested food and got lamb, carrot sticks, and bread and butter.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?