Spears For Fears

Just when I thought I was out of ways to use asparagus, I found an entire magazine article devoted to doing something new with it. A recent article in Food and Wine suggested using mayonnaise as a marinade--for asparagus. Not only had I never considered marinating asparagus, but it never even occurred to me that mayonnaise would be a worthwhile main ingredient for such an endeavor. As an ardent lover of mayonnaise (my all-time favorite burger and fries condiment) it's actually quite shocking that I never tried this out myself. I wasn't quite sure exactly what the mayonnaise would bring to the party that other, more common marinade ingredients didn't already, but I was certainly game to find out.

There were two recipes in the magazine, one of which called for a half a cup of mayonnaise, which despite my penchant for the delicious emulsion I found to be a bit excessive. The second recipe called for half the amount of mayo and equal parts grainy mustard, which seemed slightly more realistic. I ultimately went with a hybrid of both recipes (they weren't actually all that different, save for the spices), and added a few twists of my own, like using equal parts mayonnaise and yogurt to lower the fat count. I also added a dab of Dijon mustard, which didn't appear in either of the original recipes. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when the spears hit the pan covered in the thick marinade, especially since I didn't have a proper grill (as recommended by the recipe) and had to use a non-stick grill pan. But it turned out that the asparagus began to bubble and caramelize immediately, and in 5 minutes I had delicious, fully cooked asparagus.

The flavor wasn't exactly what I expected since my eyes had clearly convinced my brain that the marinade would make the asparagus taste creamy and cloying. But it didn't, and was in fact quite bright in flavor thanks to the lemon juice and Dijon mustard, and slightly smoky from the spices (smoked paprika and cumin). There was no thick sauce to speak of post-grilling, as the marinade dissolved nicely once heated, the only sign of it being in the yummy browned bits where it made contact with the pan. It was still juicy and crisp, and cooked even faster than when I roast it in the oven. The recipe called for 30 minutes of marinating time, but I went for just 10, with fantastic results. So if you're looking for a yummy barbecue side dish, this would be a great accompaniment to a grilled steak or some sticky ribs. And you can mix up the ingredients really easily, trust me. Next time I'll definitely play with heat, maybe adding some cayenne pepper, or letting a few fresh chilies sit in the marinade. After that I think I'll tackle a curry-esque mixture with lots of cilantro, or maybe a Moroccan style marinade with a mix of heady spices and topped with pomegranate seeds. Here's my mixed up recipe, but definitely experiment with other flavors, I know I will be soon.

Smoky Marinated Asparagus

1 lb fresh asparagus spears, ends trimmed
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I'm sure reduced fat would play well here)
1/4 cup yogurt (I used Greek)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cumin (I used ground, but whole toasted seeds would be lovely)

1. Whisk together all ingredients in a shallow bowl or tray. Add asparagus and toss to coat. Allow to marinate up to 30 minutes (10 should be enough).

2. Heat a grill or grill pan. Add asparagus in one layer and cook until tender-crisp and golden brown on all sides. Enjoy!

-Laura

The Big Freeze

It breaks my heart to waste food, especially when it comes to good ingredients. Sometimes it can't be helped--a long vacation leads to proteins being shoved in the freezer, or a few late worknights lead to fresh ingredients spoiling in the crisper. Still other times there is the inevitable pile of "stuff" in the freezer that is, of course, still edible, but not exactly as tempting and fresh as it used to be. I felt the pangs of guilt over possibly wasting food this weekend as I surveyed the contents of my freezer. I knew for a fact that this coming week would be a tough one, filled with late nights, and likely punctuated with several take-out orders and large pizza pies.

Since it'd be foolish to buy fresh ingredients for the week knowing that I wouldn't have time to cook, I decided to chip away at the ice, clear the frosted fog out of my face, and cook something that had been living in the deep freeze for far too long. In addition to your standard bags of frozen vegetables, I usually keep a few Cornish hens, chicken breast, minute steaks, thin cut pork chops, and frozen fish in my freezer. It's no surprise that spending most of the summer cooking with fresh meats and produce from the greenmarket left my freezer a tad bare. But there, in the middle of the freezer were two excellent (albeit lonely) rib-eyes from the meat market down the street. I'd bought the steaks with the intent of serving them seared and broiled, cooked about medium rare. They had, by this time however, lost their unctuous, ruby red gleam, but were still more than edible.

After mulling it over for a while I realized that I could for once, set my meat purism aside and actually infuse some flavor into this beef. In fact, tenderizing it with a marinade was probably the best thing for it. I figured while I was at it, I might as well use a few things that were dying a slow death in the fridge as well, so after finding a tomato, a head of iceberg lettuce and small homestyle flour tortillas, it was obvious that I should go for beef carnitas. Carnitas basically look like smaller versions of fajitas. They're usually filled with slow cooked pork and topped with a salsa fresca, but since I had this big rib-eye, I decided to marinate it, cook it medium rare, and then thinly slice it across the grain. That would keep it juicy and mimic the results you'd get from something like skirt steak, the cut most commonly used for fajitas.

I would normally have liked to top everything off with some avocado or tomatillo salsa and sour cream, but this meal was about making something good with what was around. So, I topped it with a red salsa that I found in the cupboard and called it a day. It turned out great, and the rib-eye made a great last minute substitution for a skirt steak. Here's the super simple recipe I came up with for the marinade:


Beef Carnitas/Fajita Marinade

Juice of 2-3 limes
zest of 1 lime
1 tsp hot sauce
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, smashed or roughly chopped
2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
salt

Season the meat you'll be marinating with salt and pepper. Toss into a Ziploc bag with the rest of the ingredients, close tightly and rub to combine. Marinate 20 minutes to 2 hours.

-Laura