polenta layered with beef

This creation was the result of a friend's text: "tired of thinking of dinner, have lots of food, but no ideas - what should i do with these?!" I sent back 3 menus for her, proof of the fact that we work better in teams. Plus, I love the challenge of an almost-blank canvas.

A friend asked me recently, "So, you love to cook; what do you love to cook the most?" I was stumped at first, because I'm a person who can MUCH more easily come up with a Top 20 than a single favorite. Then I remembered the text challenge & the menus that resulted, and I realized... I love having seemingly random ingredients thrown at me and finding ways for them to come together for a good dinner.

Which brings me to this: first, a once-in-a-while column where readers send in their this-is-what's-left-in-my-fridge ingredient lists, and I publish a recipe that would incorporate them. Hopefully, we'll all learn more about how things go together, which spices add certain nuances to a dish, and how we can become more confident in the kitchen.

Also, a CONTEST: I'm too small-time to offer actual prizes, but once per quarter I'll publish a reader's ingredient list and let you all have at it. My favorite recipe will be published here, and if you have a website, I'll happily link everyone to that website so they can get to know you a bit better. Rotating themes (quick & kid-friendly, exotic, romantic, etc.) will spice things up a bit, too. CONTEST starts next week, so get yourselves ready!

Now, for a surprisingly simple dish that tastes anything but simple:

ultimate burgers

May gray left, and it's been warm & toasty by dinner time, which means one thing - lots and lots and lots of grilling! To kick off the start of summer, this week is all about the grill. First, the ultimate burgers. A bit of seasoning with some Worcestershire sauce, cheese on top, and bacon. If I hadn't just finished this for dinner, I'd be drooling over my computer.

Regular burger buns are fine, but an open-faced burger on toasted bread, with mixed greens, feels like an urban grill with white linens and industrial decor and funky plates and mango iced tea. Right?

street tacos

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!
The beauty of street tacos is that they can be filled with just about anything because any kind of meat tastes good inside a corn tortilla & topped with cilantro, onions, and tomatoes. In fact, I'm pretty sure there are street tacos in TJ that are filled with stuff that wouldn't even qualify as meat in the States.

But sometimes you want real, honest-to-goodness, marinated steak street tacos. And that's why I copied this recipe from Mission Tortillas (don't get me started on how cheesy it is to copy a street taco recipe from a gringo company like that - but it's honestly a really good recipe). I didn't follow the directions for cooking the meat; my process is below. But the marinade was perrr-fect.

beef stew

After years of making stew that was sometimes delectible, sometimes just decent, my husband finally forced me to write down exactly what I'd done one night when the stew came out perfect. Even my can't-follow-any-recipe-exactly-to-save-my-life disease doesn't interfere with it now, because it comes out perfect every time, just as it is. I learned that lesson the hard way. The one exception that is allowable, if absolutely necessary, is for the red wine: use 2T red wine vinegar plus enough mild juice (like apple) to make 1/2 cup.

tamale pie

Warning: this dish is only as good as your cornbread. So choose your recipe carefully...
I vary this recipe by switching out the meat or changing up the veggies I include. It's a perfect, hearty addition to a potluck and makes great leftovers. I wish I could get it to freeze well, but alas, the cornbread+juicy meat just doesn't do well all wrapped up for a few weeks. Oh well. More to enjoy this week!

beef tips over rice

Super simple with a short list of ingredients, this recipe belies the fact that this is one of the tastiest beef crockpot dishes I've ever had. It was given to me by a family friend as a going-away-to-college gift because I'd requested it a number of times when I'd had dinner at their house.