Latin Flair, Easy Dinners

Last night, prompted by the gorgeous ripe plantains at the local Mexican grocery, I made a Cuban dinner of Bistec de Palomilla, black beans & rice, avocado salad, and fried plantains (maduros). I think the plantains are best when the skin is completely black. I just slice them on the diagonal and fry them. They can also be baked. 

Bistec de Palomilla

3 cloves garlic

Salt & pepper

1/4 c. sour orange juice (or half regular orange juice, half lime juice, and a splash of olive oil)

1 lb. thinly sliced steak

2-3 tbsp. oil

1/2 c. finely-chopped onion

Finely-chopped parsley

Lime wedges 

Mash the garlic, salt, and pepper into a paste. Mix with sour orange juice. Pound the steak lightly and cut in 4. Marinate in garlic/orange juice mixture half an hour. Blot dry with paper towels & pan-fry in oil until golden brown on each side. Remove to paper towel-lined plate. Add marinade to pan and bring to a boil. Drizzle over the steaks & top each with onion & parsley. Serve with lime wedges.

Tonight, we moved significantly to the west of Cuba for a Mexican-inspired burger plate. I mixed half a cup of Newman's Own Farmer's Garden salsa with a pound of extra-lean ground beef, made it into 4 patties, and pan-fried them. I smashed an avocado with a splash of key lime juice and some garlic salt and served the guac with multi-grain tortilla scoops. The salad was romaine, black beans, diced tomato, and diced bell peppers (yellow, orange, & red). We had some salsa verde in the fridge, so I topped the burgers with that.