First night of Brazi

Salad:  Sliced hearts of palm and tomatoes dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  Not sure where I found this.

We couldn't find a recipe for broccoli, and we have a lot of it. We cooked 2 strips of bacon until crisp, then tossed in some steamed broccoli.  It tasted more like bacon than broccoli.  A little juice from the resting steak plate too.  This was originally a recipe for Brazilian Collard Greens.  We just substituted broccoli.

Brazilian Black Beans (from the joy of cooking) and rice.  These were really good.  I never would have thought to add orange juice to my beans.  Cook 2 cups rinsed black beans with 4 cups water and simmer 1 1/2 hours until tender.  (I had to add more water after about an hour)  Poke a few slits in one hot italian sausage.  Put in pot and cook another 45 minutes.  Remove sausage, cut into slices and return to pan.  Meanwhile in a saute pan add 1/4 cup olive oil.  Saute 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped bell pepper and 4 minced cloves of garlic until soft, but not browned.  Add 1 tsp cumin, 3/4 tsp red pepper flakes, 3/4 tsp cardamom.  Cook one minute, then add to beans.  Cook beans another 1/2 hour.   Add 3/4 cup orange juice, 1/4 dry sherry and 1-2 tsp salt and pepper.  Cook another 15 minutes.  We made the rice by heating olive oil in a pan and adding 1/2 small diced onion, 4 minced garlic cloves.  When softened we added the rice.  Saute for a minute or so.  Add enough water to cover by an inch or so.  Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to steam for a little while.

Steak:  Here's another recipe that I found online that we adapted.  The original recipe called for 2 pounds top round.  We had a giant T-bone, so we used that instead.  We marinated it in 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 tsp tequila, 1 tsp crushed red chiles, 1 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 tsp oregano and 2 tsp garlic.  We let this sit for about 6 hours.  The original plan was to grill it, but it's Missouri in December, so it was cold and dark.  Instead we cooked in a smokin hot cast iron skillet.  We let it rest 15 minutes, then sliced it across the grain.  Super tender and tasty!  One of the best steaks I have had in a long time!