This is definitely a multi-step meal. It's one of those recipes that only seems manageable if all the stars align. Apparently they did, today.
One of my children is allergic to garlic, so when I had a bunch of tomatoes that needed to be used, fresh garlic-free salsa seemed an obvious choice. I bought fresh cilantro and lime juice for the recipe, which sparked the idea for the rest of the meal...
Salsa: Fresh Tomato Salsa - I omitted the jalapeños. I made this in the a.m.
Meat:
Roast Beef* seasoned to taste with cumin, dried oregano, a bay leaf, salt & pepper.
Rice:
Basmati rice, cooked as usual, with an added bay leaf.
After cooking, squirt lime juice over rice (to taste). Add finely chopped fresh cilantro. Fluff rice with a fork.
Black Beans:
Open can, warm.
Fajita Veggies:
Green pepper and onion, sliced and sautéed in olive-oil.
(Not normally something I'd bother with, but what else do you do with a leftover 1/2 a green pepper?)
Put everything on the table and assemble in your own bowl! Sour cream, shredded cheese and chopped lettuce were available to add as desired.
This was a huge hit, especially with the kids since they never get the real deal from Chipotle. My garlic-allergic child was over the moon about "her" salsa!
*Roast Beef:
I had previously crock-potted a 3 lb. beef chuck roast overnight on low, with a bit of beef stock, a couple bay leaves, salt & pepper.
In the morning I divided the roast into 6 wide-mouth pint-size canning jars (3/4 full), distributing the juices among the jars.
I put these in the chest freezer for later use.
To use: run lower part of jar under hot water for about 30 seconds. The frozen meat/juice then slides out easily to be thawed/warmed in a covered pan over low heat, stirring occasionally. At this point, you can add whatever seasonings you like to make the beef suit your meal.
Why a canning jar? - No plastic flavor!
For this recipe I used 2 jars for 2 adults and 3 young children. This was more than enough; in the future I'll stick to 1 jar.
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