Some confusion at the butcher - Day 3.

I like routine.  I find it keeps me both sane and comforted against the onslaught of life, by nature random and relentless, especially with a two and half year old.  So imagine if you will, my level of internal chaos when, in the hour before dinner last night, I had in my possession three pounds of cubed round steak I did not intend to buy, three pounds of sirloin steak cut into uneven slabs roughly the thickness of a piece of roast beef, and a menu plan gone right out the window.  Also, I stopped at the Italian Market on the way home from the butchers to buy some milk for Little Eater.  They carry milk produced and distributed by a non-profit dairy cooperative whose practices and principles I wholly support.  But the market was out of milk until today.  It had not occurred to me that milk might ever be a hard to come by item in my lifetime, even if only for a few hours.  I was teetering dangerously close to the culinary edge.  The kind of culinary edge that involves me calling Uncle Eater and asking him to stop at the Italian Market to pick up some steaks I understood (on sale for $19.95 /lb!) on his way home.  Gathering my gumption and getting over myself, I decided to tackle at least half of the six pounds of meat I had just purchased.  And I did.  Woot.
Three o'clock rolled around yesterday and I had not figured out what I wanted to make for dinner.  This is something I typically have nailed down by the time I finish my morning cup of tea.  I love my morning ritual of pouring over cookbooks, deciding what looks good, and then getting to think about it all day.  So I decided, as I often do on those days, to make steak.  Grilled steaks, roasted taters, and steamed green beans, to be specific.  I had in mind a few thick sirloins and I thought it a perfect opportunity to revisit the butcher from a few days ago and, perhaps, ask after his ability to get me some more humanely raised and slaughtered meats.  The Little Eater and I were greeted warmly upon our arrival and, as I strolled the cases, Bar started chatting away with the butcher on topics ranging from baseball to a sudden overwhelming desire for a pizza bagel.  I found the sirloin.  It was unappealing - thin, small, and simply not what I wanted.  I thought then that I'd get some rib eye or strip steaks.  None of those either.  And just as I started to wrestle with the confusing and curiously bad feeling of walking out of the store without buying anything and away from that friendly face who was presently chatting up my son, I heard the butcher ask,
"Can I help you with anything?"
Here's what I meant to say,
"Why, yes, thank you.  I would like you to cut for me some nice sirloin steaks around an inch to inch and half thick.  These ones in the case are not quite what I am looking for.  Also, do you ever do custom orders?  I like shopping here and am hoping to find a reasonably priced source for ethically and healthfully raised meat and chicken."
Here's what I actually said,
"No thanks.  I just can't decide what to make for dinner."
I snatched up three packages of cubed round steak, paid the man $6.00, snatched Little Eater, who had just declared himself to be a "pizza bagel goat with a handle" and left.  On to the Brazilian butcher, the one that also sells bikinis, to see if I'd have better luck.
We are again enthusiastically greeted when we arrive.  It's a good feeling.  And they had a lovely slab of sirloin just waiting to be cut into steaks.  All seemed right with the world.  I asked the butcher for three pounds or so of sirloin, cut thick, and told him that I was going to grill them.  "Sliced," he asked?  I held up my fingers to indicate "an inch or so" thick and watched as he began to expertly trim off a bit of the fat on top.  At that moment, Little Eater began to ask for a lesson in the different bottles of sauces and seasonings on the low shelf.  I squatted down and we talked about the different ingredients, purposes, and level of spice in each of the colorful bottles.  I came back topside to see, piled before the butcher, that once beautiful piece of sirloin cut into what could only be described as strips.  "Cut in half," he asked?  "Um, sure," I replied.  He slid the whole pile into a plastic bag, tied a knot in the top, and handed it to me.  Off I went feeling confused and like a general failure at life.  How could I possibly be carrying home six pounds of beef I did not want, 27 pounds of toddler who I want very much most of the time but was feeling much less enthused about feeding that night, and still have to blog about it all.  Then there was the thing with the milk.
Menu scrapped and ravenous toddler at my feet, I did what any modern American mom would do and turned to Google.  Google search that I thought: "what the heck do they eat in Brazil that would make anybody ever cut sirloin like this please help me Google, this is a total disaster."  Google search that I entered: "meat" +"seasoning" +"Brazil"  Some hasty poking around and remembering the vast array of hot sauce Little Eater and I had been discussing earlier led to the following, entirely tasty recipe.  For sides, since potatoes and green beans no longer seemed to fit, I stuffed some pearl couscous, capers, tomatoes, and harissa into scooped out zucchini, because Bittman told me it would be good.  It was.

You see why I was confused, right?

"What the Heck Do I Do With This Steak" Steak

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
1 small head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
2 hot chili peppers, ribbed and seeded, I used birds eye chilies
2 bay leaves
2 Tbl salt, more or less to taste
3 lbs oddly butchered sirloin steak
olive oil
lime wedges for serving

1. Pulse bell pepper, onion, garlic, chili peppers, and bay leaves in a food processor until well processed and almost paste-like.  Stir in salt to taste.
2. Place meat in a large bowl pour pepper mixture over the top.  Mix thoroughly with your hands being sure to coat the meat.  Set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes or so.  I let it sit for about an hour.
3. Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil, heat over med-high heat until quite hot.  Scrape most of the marinade off a few pieces of steak and fry quickly on both sides, about a minute and a half total.  Remove from pan to a platter.  Scrape up anything burned in the pan, and repeat until you've fried up the rest.
4. Serve immediately with lime wedges for squirting on top.