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I don’t eat a lot of salads. In order for me to enjoy a salad, it has to have lots of good stuff in it. I can’t stand the thought of eating a plate of lettuce with some vinegar and oil on it with a stray cucumber here and there.

However, when you start adding things like grilled flank steak to a salad, I am interested. And this salad was really good. The steak is marinated in a mixture of lime juice, soy sauce, canola oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and red curry paste or chili garlic sauce. Yum!!! I was really impressed with this marinade and will definitely use it again.

For the salad part of this salad I used a spring greens mix and then added sliced shallots, basil, and some shaved parmigianno cheese for garnish. When you make the marinade the recipe says to reserve about half as a salad dressing. We thought we may not have enough dressing left over so I added some more lime juice, and that really mellowed out the dressing a little and it gave the salad a wonderful light flavor.

This was an awesome Craving Ellie in My Belly pick by Jen B.. You can find the recipe for this salad at the Food Network or on page 107 of The Food you Crave by Elie Krieger.

(Look at how perfectly my fabulous boyfriend grilled the steak while I was on my way home from a late night at work):

Perfection. Some people would be surprised to find out that within a 100 mile radius (or less) of most major cities one can find the absolute highest quality produce and meats, for the best prices around, directly from the farm. The above picture is a testament to the craftsmanship of what a small, local producer is capable of providing: perfection.

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Have you ever had Kobe beef? The real deal, straight from Japan, beer drinking, Sake massaged KOBE BEEF? If you answered “yes” to this question, you’ll have no problem with this one:

“If someone is giving me $250 to create a fabulous meal from starting ingredients of my choice, what should I make?”

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This week’s Craving Ellie in my Belly is Lamb Stew with Orange and was chosen by Farah of Confessions of a Novice Baker.

We are lamb lovers so I was happy to see this recipe picked, though you could absolutely substitute a stew cut of beef in this meal. This turned out to be a hearty comforting Sunday night meal. I used a butterflied leg of lamb from the butcher. I kept closely to Ellie’s ingredient list for this recipe, except that I left out the mint because I didn’t have any. I am also quite proud of myself for so successfully supreming an orange for this recipe.

However, I did change the process a bit. I seared my lamb cubes, but I then removed them from the pan and sautéed the vegetables separately. Then I added the cumin to coat the veg and deglazed the pan with the red wine before adding the remainder of the ingredients. This is the way I generally cook a pot roast and I think it makes sense to do it with a stew as well.

My stew cooked for almost 2 hours and the lamb was super tender. This was the first time I had beans in a stew and I was surprised at how they were buttery and tender without getting mushy. I served it with crunchy oven roasted potatoes. We loved this stew and I would definitely make it again. This was a great recipe picked by a wonderful blogger! Thanks Farah (and Ellie )

Chances are you’ve never seen a veal breast. I know I hadn’t up until recently, when my local supermarket found itself with some mistakenly ordered whole veal sides.

A veal breast is the same cut of the cow as a brisket. Since the veal is so much younger, it hasn’t had the time to develop quite the same marbling and fat layer that you would find on a brisket.

It is however, delicious. After contemplating a preparation for half a day or so, it struck me. A roulade. Jump with me to see how it’s done!

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Let’s take a short break from this weeks focus on lemons for this great Ellie Krieger recipe. This week’s CEiMB was Greek Style Stuffed Peppers and was chosen by Ali of The Healthy Hostess.

This was a great choice and something that I would have probably not chosen to make myself. These peppers are stuffed with lean ground beef, onions, zucchini, spinach, and bulgur and then sprinkled with salty feta cheese.

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I love pot roast. However, I have to admit that I don’t love the traditional additions of potatoes, carrots, etc. to the roast. I think this is mainly because I must eat pasta with a roast. It is a perfect accompaniment to the tender meat and the hearty flavorful sauce, but I don’t necessarily want potatoes and carrots in my pasta. A few years ago I saw Giada DeLaurentiis make a stracoto, which is basically an Italian pot roast with porcini mushrooms. Since then, I have been substituting mushrooms into my roasts.

My recipe and enticing pictures after the jump.

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Veal osso buco, is an all time classic dish, and one of my favorites and the recipe couldn’t be simpler. The completed dish contains so many different flavors and textures within the meat, that you’d think you were eating three different meals all at once. In what other preparation do you get a wonderfully flavored piece of mouth watering veal, a delicate and complex sauce and the pièce de résistance- a scoop of heavenly marrow. Osso bucco literally means “hollow bone,” and our slow-cooking technique will reward each diner with a quarter sized piece of perfectly cooked marrow with their dish. Is it expensive? Absolutely. It does however, make a lavish, restaurant quality dinner with very little effort.

How do you make osso buco? Well, it’s quite simple. First, go to your butcher and get some beautiful veal shanks like these:

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As Geoff said in our first Sunday Dinner Post Sundays offer the non-professional cook the ability to take time otherwise not available during the week for intricate preparations. For this Sunday meal I refrained from serving an ego-maniacal overly complicated and fussy dish. Instead we got the value-add out of the dinner by splurging on an absolutely spectacular ingredient: USDA Prime Bone-in Ribeye.

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Attention Ask.com User:

You were brought to this site yesterday through a web search at ask.com. The exact query was: “how many pounds of brisket to feed 75.” I sincerely hope that you found Geoff’s “Getting to Know Your Meat” post on brisket helpful - please see his post for specifics. You should require between 1 and 1.5 pounds (per adult) of pre-cooked brisket if serving as an entrée.

Please forward the following information to us at your earliest convenience:

1. What is the closest airport to this festival of brisket?
2. How soon do I need to make my travel arrangements?
3. Do you need me to bring anything?