Mother’s Day weekend found us enjoying a relaxing two days filled with food this year.  Big surprise, right?  To be fair, it all began with a visit to Little Italy’s Mercato — more for a Saturday morning downtown than the possibility of what we might purchase.  And purchase we did.  The sole market bag we brought didn’t quite hold what we ended up with — most of it chosen for either dinner that night, or breakfast the next day.

We don’t often venture downtown, but when we do, we’re left questioning why we don’t go more frequently.  It’s fairly quiet on the weekends, and with more and more residents occupying the high-rise condominiums, the sidewalks are dotted with dog-walkers, those who have stopped to have a latte with the morning paper, and lots of farmer’s market shoppers holding bunches of flowers and bags overflowing with weekend cooking possibilities.

In much the same way we do when traveling, we pause in front of a real estate office and scan the photos of “For Sale” properties in the area, imagining ourselves living there instead of where we currently live.  It’s a pleasant pastime we’ve entertained ourselves with seemingly forever — especially in the years when we could barely afford to dream.  What is it about being able to walk just about everywhere one needs to go in a day’s time?  Could we actually get along with only one car?  Might we adjust to living without much of what we own, trading it in for a spectacular view and convenience?

Maybe — but it’s all a game of wondering that takes second fiddle to the marvelous array of fresh offerings we sampled and purchased that day.  The jacarandas were in bloom, the weather was perfect, so why not relax and enjoy the possibilities.

Pasta and a salad?  Or maybe stuffed French toast.

What about all three?

Fresh Italian Herb Pappardelle with Sausage

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lb. mild Italian sausage, sliced into rounds

1 lg. shallot, sliced

4 lg. cloves garlic

freshly cracked pepper

sea salt

4 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated

1/4 c. wild arugula

1/2 c. flat leafed parsley

1 lb. fresh Italian herb pappardelle

Put 4 qts. of water over high heat for the pasta.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the sausage and shallots, stirring occasionally, and cook until the sausage begins to brown and the shallots are softened.  Add the garlic and stir, cooking until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Add a few good pinches of kosher salt to the boiling water, then add the fresh pasta a bit at a time, stirring gently to make sure the pieces are loosely cooking.  Cook for 3-1/2 to 4 minutes at most.  Pour cooked pasta into a strainer placed over a large bowl or other container to reserve the pasta water.  Pour off all but about 1/4 c. and set aside.

Add the pasta to the reserved sausage mixture and gently stir.  Pour in the reserved 1/4 c. pasta water and mix.  Add the wild arugula, parsley, and half of the grated Parmesan to the mixture and lightly toss.  Season with salt and cracked pepper to taste.

Serve immediately with more of the grated Parmesan as needed.

For the salad…

mixed greens to include pea shoots and basil sprouts, and any other leafy, tender veg you have on hand

toss in some avocado

squeeze on some fresh key lime juice

sprinkle basil oil over

splash on a bit of very nice sherry vinegar

season with Fleur de Sel and cracked pepper

toss and serve

Farmer’s Market credits go to:  Belen Artisian Bakers, Lisko Imports, and Da-Le Ranch.  Wild arugula and parsley is home grown in my very small herb box.

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Something happened to our Sunday dinners this busy season.  They’re usually what I manage to hang on to after watching our weeknight dinners dissipate one by one from thoughtful, healthy salads and planned entrees, to a quick forage through the wilted inhabitants of my veggie bin for something to saute with rice or pasta.  Throw in some garlic and it’s dinner, right?  Hardly, but it can be eaten in a bowl, sometimes as late as 9:30 p.m. while we’re huddled in our dimly lit family room in front of a recorded show and making weary attempts at questioning one another about the day.

It’s no wonder that looking forward to uninterrupted time in the kitchen draws my attention to the weekend where the result is pleasant time together over a meal that is special — read:  is served on a plate at a reasonable hour.  The idea of “special”  seems to be part of a process to me;  a recipe catches my eye and lingers on the periphery of the minutiae that accumulates in my head, and somehow I manage to remember the main ingredient while on one of my less than stellarly organized grocery shopping trips.  The remembered ingredient is then wedged into my freezer, which just might contain the very same ingredient somewhere in its depths, as a reminder that Sunday dinner is a possibility.  Hopefully, this classifies me as an optimist.

Time goes by.  Other ingredients are collected in other stop-after-work trips to the store for the cat food or laundry detergent I forgot on the previous trip, and because those ingredients are often perishable, they become part of a different meal (see above).  It’s a vicious cycle.

Finally, the day arrives as it does each year.  Busy season ends, and glimmers of a normal life surface.  The long-awaited day in the kitchen and meal are planned and the big question looms:  Will it have been  worth the wait?

Absolutely.

(And this has nothing to do, of course, with the fact that Chef Voltaggio not only took the time to comment on my effort, but put a shout-out about my speck in the food universe on his site, Voltaggio Brothers in “Food Writing.”)

A gracious and hearty thanks to Michael Voltaggio!

Michael Voltaggio’s Indian-Spiced Short Ribs

1/4 c. coriander seeds
2 T cumin seeds
1 T black peppercorns
1 T ground ginger
1 T ground cardamom
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
3 bay leaves, crumbled
2 T canola oil
4 boneless short ribs (10 to 12 ounces each), trimmed of fat
Salt
1 lg. sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 heads of garlic, halved crosswise
2 cups dry red wine
1 quart chicken stock or broth

Preheat the oven to 325° F.

In a cast iron skillet, toast coriander and cumin seeds slowly over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Transfer seeds to a spice grinder and add peppercorns, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, crushed red pepper and bay leaves.   Pulse to a powder and set aside.

In a large casserole pan, heat the oil. Season meat with salt and cook over high heat until browned and crusty on all sides, about 15 minutes. Remove to a platter and set aside.

Add onion, carrots and celery to the same pan and cook over medium until softened and lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic and 3 T of the spice mix.  Cook until tomatoes begin to fall apart, about 3 minutes, then add wine, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  Bring to boil and reduce by half.  Add stock and bring to a simmer. Add the browned meat and juices to the vegetable mixture and season with salt. Cover with foil or a lid and place in the oven about 2 hours or until just tender but not falling off the bone.

Remove meat to a baking sheet and pour the rest of the mixture through a strainer into a saucepan. Press against the solids with a spoon to extract more juice before discarding. Boil the liquid over high heat until reduced to 1 cup.

While the sauce is reducing, preheat broiler placing a rack about 6- 8 inches from heat. Brush meat with sauce, then sprinkle lightly with some of the remaining spice mixture.   Broil briefly until sizzling.

Serve short ribs with some of the sauce spooned over.

We enjoyed this recipe with Aloo Gobi, a spicy Indian cauliflower and potato dish flavored with green chilies, cilantro, and turmeric which was also fabulous.

Notes:

• This fabulous recipe can be found in the April 2010 issue of Food & Wine and is one created by last season’s winner of Top Chef.  He and his brother Bryan have a great food forum at Voltaggio Brothers.
• The spice blend is a type of garam masala.  Ingredients for this blend vary from one recipe to another, and I’ve found it’s fun to try a variety.  This one is much different than others I’ve tried as it contains both cinnamon and cardamom.  The cloves are also an addition I’m not used to.  For the spice in my blend, I chopped up half of a red serrano chili, seeds and all.
• I rarely make a recipe as written but was fairly close with this one because it is so much different than any short rib recipes I’ve tried. I was intrigued from the start.  When I make short ribs, they’re always smaller than what is described in recipes of this nature and a couple make a nice individual serving.  There’s no way to slice anything off of the bone and arrange it as I might another cut of meat that’s been braised.
• This was almost a one-pot recipe.  I used my Mario Batalli orange enameled cast iron lasagna pan for this.  (And no, I’m not selling them.)  It works great on the stove top when I want a high brown that will be deglazed, then the whole recipe popped into the oven.
• I used hot-house tomatoes because I had them on hand.  A jammy Rosenblum Cellars California Zinfandel was used in the braise– about $12.
• This is truly an excellent recipe that seems like a lot of work, but isn’t.  Many parts can be made ahead if need be — like the garam masala.  This recipe makes enough for the short ribs and leaves a scant 3 T left over for other recipes.
• We liked this so much that I’m going to try it with a larger cut of meat just to see how the incredible flavor holds up.  I’m thinking that finishing it on the barbeque would be great.

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Have you ever made tamales?  No, not tamale pie.  My mother used to make that and as much as I enjoyed her cooking, tamale pie would not have been one of my favorites.  From what I can remember, it was noticeably sweet, and comprised of hamburger, corn, and canned tomatoes.  I’m not going to blame this on my mother, because I know it was the recipe.  Tamale pie could never compare to homemade tamales.

The only source of comparison I have is that of local women who tempt office workers with their once-a-week offerings, wrapped in foil, and still piping hot.  They’re amazing and so of course it’s a challenge to not eat one before taking them home to share for dinner.  I’d say that’s a fairly good model to work from.

Often, tamales are made with dried corn husks, the masa, or corn meal and filling spread on the inside of a dried corn husk, or fresh banana leaf before steaming.  The filling can be anything imaginable, and often is depending on who traditionally makes the tamales, and what region of Mexico or the Southwest U.S. they’re from.

If you’ve been studying Mexican cooking like I have the past few years, the idea of banana leaves wrapped around a savory filling is quite tempting; it sounds so exotic! A glance out my patio window focuses in on the not so big non-fruit bearing variegated leaf banana plant I’ve been nurturing as a possible source.  No, I’d have to depend on a local market, which shouldn’t be a challenge in San Diego considering the influence of Mexican cooking, but it is.

When I first happened on to the lone 4-lb. package of huge sections of banana tree leaves recently, I grabbed it knowing I’d procrastinated long enough and could now make my own homemade tamales. I knew I didn’t need four pounds of leaves, so attempted quite unsuccessfully to separate them.  Unfortunately, the leaf strips were enormous and all folded together, so my efforts in trying to avoid waste ended up creating something worse.  The leaves began to split, making them useless for the next shopper’s tamales.

Thankfully, my first attempt at tamales was a success thanks to the help of a very good friend.  Between the two of us, influence from a few good recipes, and a make-shift steamer, a few split banana leaves caused very few problems.

Tamales with Pibil-Style Pork and Guajillo Sauce

For the guajillo sauce…

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
16-20 dried guajillo chilies (1 4-oz. pkg.)
1 tsp. dried Mexican oregano
1/4 tsp. freshly cracked pepper
pinch ground cumin
3-2/3 c. broth
1-1/2 T olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 T sugar

For the pork…

1 medium onion, quartered through core
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup achiote paste (see notes)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
1 4 1/2- to 5-pound bone-in pork shoulder roast (Boston butt)

For the tamales…

1 lb. banana leaves
1 lb. masa fine for tamales or 1-3/4 c. masa harina for tamales + 1 c. hot water (see notes)
1/2 c. (4 oz.) vegetable shortening or lard
2/3 c. cool broth
3/4 tsp. salt

cotton string

Directions

For the pork…

Place the onion and garlic (skins on) in a dry skillet over medium heat.  Cook about 15 minutes or until fragrant and with black spots appearing on the skins.  Allow to cool, then peel and put in a blender or food processor with the citrus juice, achiote paste, vinegar, salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano.  Pulse to puree until smooth.

Dry the pork with paper towels and then coat exterior with citrus puree.  Place in a sealable plastic bag or wrap well with plastic.  Refrigerate for about 4 hours, or, overnight.

Cook pork in an oven or using the indirect heat grilling method at 350 degrees F or until it is extremely tender, about 3 hours.  Allow to cool, then shred, or cut into very small pieces.  Set aside.

For the guajillo sauce…

Cook the garlic as described above.

While the garlic is cooking, cut the stems from the guajillos, cut each once lengthwise to open, and remove them along with the seeds.  When the garlic is done and cooling, lay each chili in the pan.  You’ll have to press on them with a wooden spoon to toast them.  You’ll know they’re ready to be turned when you see a puff of smoke, but not a second longer.  Turn and repeat with each chili.

Place the toasted chilis in a bowl and pour enough hot water over them to cover.  Allow them to sit at least 30 minutes.  Expect to save the water for another use, if you prefer.  It can take the place of all or part of the broth in the recipe as long as it is seasoned.

When the 30 minutes has passed, using a blender or food processor, add the peeled garlic, oregano, pepper, cumin, and 2/3 c. of the broth along with the chilis and puree until smooth.  Pour into a fine meshed strainer positioned over a bowl, and using a rubber spatula, rub the puree through the strainer, scraping the bottom to collect the sauce.  Continue until only small piece of the dried guajillo skin are left.  Discard.

In the same dry skillet used to roast the garlic and chilis, pour in the puree all at once.  Stir constantly over medium-high heat about 5-7 minutes until it thickens to a paste, deepens in color, and smells pungent.

Stir in the rest of the broth and simmer, covered partially, until the consistency of cream, about 30 minutes.  If it becomes too thick, then add more broth.

To finish, taste and add to your preference, salt and sugar.

Use as part of the pork filling, and as a sauce to serve over the completed tamales.

To prepare the pork filling…

Place the shredded or cubed pork in a skillet and pour over about 1/2 cup of the guajillo sauce, making sure to coat all.  Allow to simmer on very low heat while preparing the masa and banana leaves.

Make the masa batter…

Beat the shortening or lard until it is light and fluffy, less than a minute.  Add the masa (purchased fresh, or reconstituted) in several additions, beating well between additions.  Add only enough of the cool broth (1/2-2/3 c.) while beating to create a soft batter that is slightly pourable.   To test for readiness, drop a teaspoon full in a cup of cold water.  If it floats, the batter is read to be used.  Season with salt according to your taste.

For the tamales…

Cut about 20 squares of the banana leaves — each about 8×8 inches.  To prepare them for the filling, use tongs to hold them over a gas burner until they soften and become quite shiny.  It helps to have one person doing this, and another on the receiving end, but is not necessary (just more fun).  If you don’t have gas burners, then you can steam them one at a time until they’re pliable.

Spoon about 1/4 of the masa batter onto the banana leaf, positioning it in the center of the square.  With the back of a spoon or offset spatula, spread the mixture to the right, forming a rectangle.  Stop about an inch from the edge of the banana leaf.  Spoon a bit of the chili-pork mixture on the extreme left of the masa rectangle.  Then fold the entire right side of the banana leaf toward the center, which folds the masa over the pork.  Fold in the bottom and top sides to the center, then continue to fold the remainder toward the original direction — left.  Use a piece of cotton string to tie around the package and make a bow.  Set aside and repeat until all the banana leaf squares are filled.  You’ll have left over pork.

To cook the tamales…

I used a large roaster pan with offset baking racks set inside.  I placed the roaster over two burners on my stovetop and once the tamales were placed in a single layer on the baking racks, poured water from the tea kettle into the pan, being careful to not pour it on the tamales.  With the heat on low, I covered the roaster with foil and allowed the tamales to steam about 1 to 1-1/4 hours.  You’ll have to pull back the foil occasionally to make sure there’s water in the bottom of the roaster, so make sure you have a kettle simmering to add hot water when it’s needed.

To serve, unwrap the tamales and pour on some extra sauce.  They’re delicious.  I promise.

Notes:

• I relied heavily on Rick Bayless’ book Mexican Kitchen, his website, Frontera Kitchens, and Epicurious for these tamales.   The guajillo sauce is from Bayless’ book, but is a staple so can be found in a variety of places.  Once you learn that onions and garlic are always roasted in their skins in a dry skillet and the chilis follow, there’s not much to it.  The pork recipe was found at Epicurious, and originally used when it appeared in Bon Appetit a couple of years ago.  The masa mixture and directions came from a few places — courtesy of Bayless and various packages of masa harina and masa fina.
• Pibil pork is simply slow roasted pork.  In this case, it’s made with a citrus-based marinade to which spices and achiote are added.
• I’ve researched achiote before and was surprised to find there’s not much to it.  It’s an ingredient with ancient Mayan roots that seems to be more of a coloring than anything else.  If you’re as curious as I am — inquisitive, not odd –  then you can learn more about it here and make your very own!  I haven’t made my own yet, but I’ll get there.
• For the pork:  I’ve made this on the grill, in the oven, and in a crockpot.  The superior way to cook it is on the grill after it’s marinated overnight.  No contest.  The flavor is very good using the other two methods, but the consistency is perfect coming off a grill.  If you do use the oven like I did this time, you will have a high brown on the exterior.  Just check the interior temp, looking for 170 degrees, and you’ll be fine.  You can make this ahead like I did, and wrap well to store in the fridge overnight.  It’s worth the effort because outside of preparing the marinade, there’s no effort involved.
• I used two large portions of pork shoulder for this recipe.
• Guajillos are a type of chili.  They’re spicy, but not “hot.” I find them bagged in the section of your grocery store that features Mexican spices.   I’d double this recipe because it’s that good, and you can refrigerate or freeze what’s left over for later use.  My friend considers it “gold” for the amount of processing it takes to create.  It’s delicious.
• You can find masa harina in the flour section of your grocery store.  It usually states that it’s for tamales.  Basic directions for how to make tamales will be on the package.  If you’re lucky enough to find prepared, or fresh masa, it usually comes in 2-lb. bags.  The purchased masa is the same as what you’d mix with water from the masa harina.  Create the tamale batter from this point with either to add the fat and salt.
• While we’re on the subject of fat — or in this case, lard — it’s personal preference.  Bayless lays it all out and makes complete sense with respect to lard, and I’ve tried it.  But I’m not used to the flavor and prefer the shortening.  You may be horrified by the addition of fat, but if you look at just how much masa is on the outside of each tamale, then you know that eating one or two is clearly a good thing, and not the 5 or 6 you’d like to if no one is looking.
• You can make the pork and go without adding the guajillo sauce to it, but what the heck?  It’s amazing sauce, so why not?  But I hope you can see that if you can pull this together, then you can put whatever you’d like in a tamale, just like those who have made them traditionally for centuries — in fact thousands of years.

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I think I’m the last person on the planet who has had the Vietnamese sandwich, banh mi, added to her food radar. The first time I saw anything about them was in one of my food magazines about a year ago. Anything with bright veggies gets my attention — especially if it’s salad. But a salad in a sandwich? This had to be good. Pickled carrots, cucumber with cilantro…and pork? I’d never heard of this particular kind of sandwich before. It was interesting that it was on a French baguette, too. An easy search led me to Battle of the Bahn Mi and then to White on Rice for some amazing renditions of this sandwich.

My first attempt follows.  After much procrastination, I’ve finally joined the ranks of those who love this sandwich.

Now, I need to find a local place that makes them.

I could eat them every day.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi

Recipe source:  Bon Appetit

The recipe can be found here.

Notes:

• We wanted to eat the meatballs before we made the sandwiches.  The aroma was amazing,
• You knew how lean pork was, right?  Here’s the deal:  there are a few more calories compared to ground chicken or turkey, but ultimately the calories from fat are significantly less:  half.  That’s quite the difference.  I used  California natural extra lean ground pork and doubled the quantity (2 lbs.).
• I used quite a bit of basil.  I couldn’t help myself.  I had a package that needed to be used and got carried away, so added about 1/2 cup to the mix.
• If you don’t have Sriracha, you don’t know what you’re missing but you could substitute any hot sauce you like.
• There was no daikon at my market.  Go figure.  I sliced radishes and added them to the carrots to pickle.  They were most likely a tame version of what the daikon would have been.
• I didn’t have jalapenos.  I couldn’t believe it.  I always have jalapenos.  Honestly?  If you used the Sriracha liberally, the extra heat isn’t needed.  The balls and the sauce are spicy enough.
• On the sauce:  I hate to mention this, but have to.  I couldn’t get my husband to consider eating anything with mayonnaise in it, so I made the sauce with ranch dressing.  Don’t get me started.  It was fine.  Don’t tell anyone.
• I used a store-bought baguette and cut it into three pieces to make our banh mi.  For the amount of meatballs I had, I could have fed 6-8 with small portions.  Great party food.

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You’re wondering what peposo is, right?  Or perhaps you know what peposo is and you’ve already wondered how it ended up in a sandwich.  If you’re like me, you may even just want to take a big bite of it right now because it’s dinnertime and it would be much easier to have a savory Italian sandwich magically appear instead of needing to make dinner.  Oh, how I wish that might be so tonight.

This sandwich has quite a long story behind it, so I’ll share it soon — along with the recipe for the peposo, the roasted pepper salad, and the focaccia.  But it’s Wednesday, and I’m supposed to be wordless — or nearly so.

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I don’t often see skirt steak at my market so when I happen onto a package or two, I snap them up knowing that in the vast jumble of recipes waiting to be sampled that is my brain, I’ll surely find a good use for it.  The unfortunate aspect of this “plan” is that often I confuse skirt steak and flank steak.  What’s the difference?

Actually, they both come from the same area of the animal — either the short plate or flank which is on the underside in the center.  Both benefit from rubs and marinades to break down or tenderize the muscle, but skirt steak, a much more thin cut often needs to be either scored or pounded to further tenderize it.  Skirt steak is often used for fajitas.

When it came right down to it, I just needed a thin cut of meat, so skirt steak it would be.  I’d seen a succulent recipe for “Braised Beef Braciole Stuffed with Basil and Fresh Mozzarella” in a recent issue of Fine Cooking and had to try it — or a version of it since I didn’t have all of the required ingredients.  It didn’t matter because I can’t imagine that it would have been any better had I followed the recipe exactly.  Perfect for a special dinner, the possibilities are endless.

Basil Cheese Stuffed Skirt Steak

2 lb. skirt steak

1 c. Parmesan, freshly grated

1/2 c. sharp Provolone, freshly grated

1 piece dry sourdough bread

12 lg. basil leaves

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 lg. sweet onion, chopped

1/2 c. dry red wine

28 oz. canned tomatoes, chopped

2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes

1.5 oz. assorted dried mushrooms

If the steak is thick, slice it horizontally, then open it like a book.  To make this easier, make sure the beef is slightly frozen.  Use a meat tenderizer or plastic covered rolling pin to flatten it as much as possible.  Season both sides of the beef with salt and freshly ground pepper.

To make the stuffing, pulse the dry sourdough in a food processor until fine crumbs are achieved.  There’s no need to remove crusts.  Add the grated cheese and basil, then pulse to combine well.  Cover the tenderized meat completely with the bread crumb mixture.  Tightly roll the meat from the long end and secure with kitchen twine.

In a large skillet, heat half the oil on medium high heat.  Add the beef roll browning it on all surfaces.  Remove and let sit on a large plate.

In the same skillet, heat the rest of the oil and add the onion cooking over medium heat.  Add a couple of pinches of salt and stir occasionally until the onion is softened and a caramel color, about 8 minutes.  Pour in the red wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom.  Allow to cook until the wine is nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Add the dried mushrooms and dried red pepper, stirring well to hydrate the mushrooms.  Lower the heat.

Nestle the meat into the tomato sauce and spoon sauce up over the roll.  Cover the pan and cook gently until the meat is tender, about 1 hour.  Remove from the sauce when done and allow to sit for 15 minutes covered, then slice and serve with some of the sauce.

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for flank steak which would have been easier to work with.  Maybe.
• If you don’t have kitchen twine, then toothpicks would do the trick.  Just make sure the roll is secure or you’ll lose the fantastic tasting stuffing in the tomato sauce while the meat is cooking.
• This was an excellent dish.  The flavors are perfect together.  The cheese is flavorful enough that you can taste it in each bite.  The original recipe called for mozarella, and as much as I enjoy it, I think the flavor would have been too mild for this.
• I always have dried mushrooms in my pantry.  Although I normally hydrate them first before adding them to a dish, the cooking time for this dish was long enough and the tomato sauce wet enough that the mushrooms would be able to release their intense flavor right into the sauce.  It worked out perfectly.
• We enjoyed this over a bed of fettuccine.
• If you’re not thrilled with the idea of the beef, tenderize some boneless chicken breasts and prepare the rolls the same way.  The cooking time will be less than an hour, however.

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