Weekend Brunch: Lomo al Jugo

Lomo al jugo is the typical Saturday or Sunday brunch my mom used to make for us growing up. At my grandparents', this was a typical Sunday night small meal. My mom also made this for a dinner meal by pouring it on top of rice and beans. Having said that, don't let the weekend brunch title limit you with this dish. Its very easy to make and you can eat it in many ways.

Lomo in Spanish is the most tender part of the cow, and "al jugo" means juiced. The juiced part makes reference to the juice of the tomatoes.

I cooked this for brunch today. I made what seemed to be too much food for us (but we ate it all) so we weren't hungry until 4pm or so. I baked some frozen bread to go with it and my husband made some freshly squeezed orange juice. The amount of ingredients serve 2 hungry people :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb of skirt steak (cut in cubes)
• 4 roma tomatoes (cut in 4 pieces each)
• 1 tea spoon of red wine vinegar
• 1 spoon of soy sauce
• 1 tea spoon of aji amarillo paste or half of a jalapeno pepper if you don't have aji amarillo (optional)
• Salt, pepper, and cumin
• 2 spoons of vegetable oil

How to make it: Put the oil on a frying pan or wok (if you have it) in high heat. Add salt, pepper, and cumin to the meat. Once the oil is hot, start frying the meat in the pan. The meat doesn't have to cook all the way just yet. All you want to do at this point is to sear it. (approx 2 minutes). Add the vinegar and the soy sauce. Stir and let the meat soke in all the flavors added. If you would like for this to have a little kick,  add the aji amarillo or the jalapeno (sliced). Otherwise, you can ignore the hot pepper. Add the tomatoes. Stir and mix the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients and cover the pan with a lid. Lower the heat to medium and let the tomatoes release their delicious juice. This will take approx 5 minutes. Make sure you check it every now and then. If you let it cook for too long, the juice of the tomatoes will start to dry up and you will end with just lomo and no "jugo" ;)

Once most of the tomatoes have disappeared and released all their juice, taste it and add more salt and pepper if needed. In my family, when we eat this dish for breakfast, we dip the bread in the tomato juice. Oh, and you are better off eating this dish with a spoon.

Buen provecho!

Peruvian Minestrone or Menestron

Today I decided to cook Peruvian Minestrone. Peru is a combination of many cultures, and so is its food. Minestrone is an Italian dish, which Peruvians have adapted deliciously.

I haven't had this dish since I moved to the US, probably more than 10 years ago. I have been craving this dish for over a week, but kept putting it off because I had no clue how to make it. I finally decided to look it up on google and found tons of recipes. To my surprise, I had all the ingredients in my pantry!

After reading several recipes this is what I decided to go with, based on the ingredients I had at home. The measurements here are for reference only. You can add more or less of each ingredient based on what you like. But, always keep in mind the proportion of each.
Ingredients:

• 2lbs of bone in beef (small pieces) or boneless beef in cubes
• 2 large Yukon potatoes (peeled and diced)
• 2 cups of mixed frozen veggies (corn, peas, carrots)
• 4 corn cubs
• 1/2 of a can of Lima beans
• 1/2lb of farfalle pasta
• 1/2 cup of rice
• 1 tea spoon of pesto or basil
• 1/2 of a can of spinach
• 1 cube of queso fresco (found in the Mexican cheese section) 
• 1 cup of Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 a cup of vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• Salt and pepper

How to make it:
In a large pot, put 3/4 water to boil. Salt and pepper the beef and once the water starts boiling add the beef and potatoes. Once the meat gets brown (about 15 to 20 mins), add the veggies, pasta, beans, rice and corn. Turn heat to medium and let it cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. While the soup cooks, put the spinach, pesto, cheese and oil on a blender or food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. This should be a green sauce. Add more spinach if your sauce is not green enough. The taste of this sauce alone should be yummy. Add half of the sauce to the soup and stir. Taste and add the rest of the sauce and salt and pepper if needed. Make sure all your veggies and pasta have cooked. At the end you can add Parmesan cheese to taste and crack two eggs into the soup... and it's ready!!

If it looks complicated, think of it this way...Minestrone soup is like a regular soup (water, meat, and veggies), except that this one is green and thick. The green will come from the pesto and spinach and the thickness will come from the starch of the potatoes.

Today was the first time that I made this meal and it was, as my husband likes to call it, a success! We each had seconds. We couldn't help it.

I hope you enjoy it!