Rainbow Foods

While shopping at Sahara Mart last week, I found some organic produce that I just had to buy. Then I just had to figure out how to prepare this different food as well as what I would serve with it. Decisions, decisions.

A quick expedition into my freezer yielded a flat iron steak. That will work. Then it was off to the computer to find a recipe for this cut of beef.

Well, this recipe sounds like it would be right up Sandra Lee's alley. With a name like Drunken Flat Iron Steak, it seems like a natural. Oh wait, there are no seasoning packets or extracts used in the recipe. I guess Sandy wouldn't like it after all.

Here I have the ingredients for the marinade: garlic powder (how can I be out of garlic and onion?), kosher salt, black pepper, red wine (I have Shiraz wine on hand) and Dijon mustard along with the flat iron steak.

Since this recipe was developed for the restaurant industry, I had to cut the recipe for the marinade down roughly by a factor of 24 (give or take a bit). That translates to 1/2 cup red wine, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (I would have used an entire clove if I had one) and a pinch of kosher salt.

The next part of this recipe is the Soy-Balsamic Reduction. Again, I had to cut down the amounts. I reduced 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup sugar in a small pan. Just before I pulled the pan off the heat, I added 1 tablespoon Less-Sodium Soy Sauce. This is a personal preference as I don't like to reduce soy sauce as it concentrates the salty flavor of the sauce.

Thick and rich and delicious.

Hmm, maybe a bit too thick. This is a sauce that needs to be kept warm.

I opted to skip the fruit salsa from the recipe, and as I didn't have any onions on hand, obviously I wasn't going to be making any crispy onions either.

And now, on to our featured item on the menu...

Certified Organic Rainbow Bunch Carrots. Aren't they cute? My daughter didn't believe me when I told her what I had found. "They make purple carrots? No way!"

Yes, way.

This lovely bunch of carrots only cost $1.99. Not bad for organic Rainbow carrots.





So the inside of a purple carrot is white. Interesting. I have four different colors of carrots here.

I preheated a grill pan for the steak. Flat iron steak should be cooked rare to medium.

This is starting to smell wonderful.

While the steak continued to cook, I heated some canola oil in a small pan before adding the chopped carrots. I like my vegetables tender-crisp, so this didn't take long at all.

A sprinkling of kosher salt and a whisper of honey was drizzled over the top after the carrots were taken from the pan.

The flat iron steak is cut across the grain after it has rested for a few minutes. It is usually at this point that I have to put some of the meat back on the heat for my husband who doesn't like to eat rare or even medium-rare meat.

My dinner is ready now.

I made a Broccoli, Bacon and Cranberry Salad to accompany this meal.

The carrots were tender-crisp with just a hint of sweetness.

The meat was moist and flavorful. My husband liked it even without the Soy-Balsamic Reduction.

This was a very good meal and my husband asked me to put the meat dish into the menu rotation. I love it when a plan comes together.

To Recycle or Not to Recycle

Ah, that is the question, isn't it? Monday dawned bright and clear, so I decided that I should head out to the grocery store, with a stop first at our local recycling center. As the recycling bins at home have been overflowing, this seemed like a very good idea.

Okay, the back of the car is loaded. Sadly, this is only a portion of recyclables that need to go out.

Well, what do you know? The recycling center is now closed on Mondays. I tell ya, there's nothing like getting the word out. Oh wait, this was nothing like that. So now I have to drive around with a full cargo area. Rats. And here I thought I was avoiding all of the obscure holidays that the center seems to observe. National Pet-A-Wet-Chipmunk Day?*

*Okay, not really, but you get the idea.

Oh well, but since I am in the area, I think I'll make a stop for a photo op.

The bridge for the Clear Creek Trail is beautiful against the brilliant white snow and the azure sky.

One of the nice things about Bloomington is that people from all over the world come here because of the university. As I have documented from time to time, our community has many ethnic restaurants. That diversity carries over to ethnic grocery stores. One of the larger ethnic markets, Sahara Mart, recently opened a second store near where I shop. I thought I'd stop in while I was out this time.

It was very interesting to just wander around, reading the labels of the different products. This store has everything; from olive oils from Turkey to an entire aisle devoted to bins of coffee beans. They even carry horny goat weed powder and dragon blood chunks. The first is rather self-explanatory, while the second can either be used to cleanse the blood or in voodoo love spells.

As the television ads promised, the entire back half of the store was reserved for wines. Again, I had fun just reading the labels.

And it looks like I brought home some interesting things from the store.

Here I have a bottle of Tvishy wine from Racha, Georgia and a Rosso Barbera D'Asti from Canelli, Italy. I also found a Vanilla Balsamic Cream from Italy and I picked up a package of tabbouleh and a mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich.



This is a big sandwich. Fresh mozzarella pairs beautifully with the sliced tomato and the aromatic basil.

And the tabbouleh was bright and refreshing.

I'm glad I decided to stop in. I know I'll be going back.