Steak Night!

I love steak. I'm usually terrible at cooking it but I do love it. On a recent trip to BJ's Wholesale Club, of which I am a member (yay inexpensive food to feed an army!) I decided to pick up a few strip steaks. I have a grill pan, which usually smokes out the entire house when I use it, so of course I decided to try again.
Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls... we have success!! FINALLY! I can actually cook steak without burning it and/or leaving the center completely raw. My secret this time... I cooked the outside on the grill pan to give it the nice char marks, then put the whole pan in the oven at 400 degrees. I probably could have cooked it a little less but it was still quite tasty, and not burned, just over cooked in the center. I prefer my meat to be on the rare side of medium, these were on the well side.
I also did not marinate the steaks in anything, frankly a good steak should not need it. A little dry rub of salt and steak seasoning and you should be good to go. I am a big fan of McCormick's (I sound like an ad for them don't I? I should be paid for this, Hint Hint, GIVE ME A CALL! ;) Spicy Montreal Seasoning. It gave the steaks a nice kick without overpowering the meaty flavor of the strip steak.
One of the best parts is strip steaks are pretty inexpensive on the scale of steaks. I paid about $10 for 2 good sized steaks. Plus the flavor of a strip steak is outrageous. I love me a good filet for the smooth almost buttery quality, but a good NY strip is a dream on a Thursday night. Forget the steakhouses, I'll just learn to make it better at home!
I served my steaks with stir-fried peppers and onions, the contrast of the sweet peppers and onions to the peppery steaks was perfect! Nothing fancy but it sure made us happy.

Sweet Potato Gnocci Part II The tasting...

I made the sweet potato gnocchi. It’s pretty good for a first effort but I think I can do better. I found that because sweet potatoes are much more moist than potatoes I used a lot more flour, which in turn made the gnocchi more dense. Instead of light pillows of potato goodness I had the equivalent of a latex pillow, very dense, but good. I bet I can improve with a little tweaking. I need to figure out how to dry out the sweet potatoes a bit. I think if I slice them and bake them on a low heat for a longer they should end up dryer, then I can send them through the food mill or the food processor and see what happens!

The sauce was also a good first effort but by no means the end of the line. I used ½ bottle of pinot noir, ½ box of beef stock, 2 pats of butter, poultry gravy mix (I haven’t been about to pick up the beef gravy mix yet), ginger, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, basil, salt, and pepper. I definitely used way too much ginger. I had to work to counteract the gingery kick by adding the thyme and tarragon. I think there were a few too many flavors going on all at once. Next time I’m going to cut back a bit. I’ll take out the ginger and basil and see where that takes me.

I used a neat little trick with the pepper. I wanted a nice strong peppery flavor so I took some whole peppercorns and put them in a plastic bag and crushed them with a meat tenderizer. I suppose if I had a mortar and pestle I wouldn’t need to do that, but why waste the money on a mortar and pestle when I can smash things with a hammer?

After we ate dinner I realized how much stuff was floating in my sauce and decided that I needed to do something about that. Before I packed up the leftovers for lunch I strained the gravy through a mesh strainer to remove all the bits and pieces of spices. Now I have a velvety smooth sauce! The only thing I need to do now is figure out how to thicken it up a bit without adding cream or too much flour. Time for more brainstorming.

Beans and Franks

Have you ever had a night that you just don't feel like making dinner, but you don't want to go out to eat either? I feel like I have one about once a week. My go to lately has been baked beans and franks which is pretty awesome because of the variety of beans available it doesn't get old.

Recently I discovered/remembered something from my childhood that goes perfectly with beans and franks, brown bread. In fact, many families in the Boston area (read that, Stoneham) would eat beans and franks with brown bread on Friday or Saturday nights. The funny and somewhat baffling thing to people who have never had/seen brown bread before is that it comes in a can. That's right... bread in a can. It's an awesome concept when you think about it for storage and longevity purposes. It's fairly inexpensive, about $2 or $3 a can and you get about 7 or 8 slices out of each can. And if you can buy in bulk you might be able to get it for less than that.

Brown bread is basically a quick bread style molasses sweetened bread, often with raisins. I found it to be a little spongy the way I prepared it (in the oven at 350 degrees) I think if I toasted it the extra crunch would help take away some of the spongy texture.

My mom bought me a few cans last time I was in Boston because it's not sold here in PA. With it she also bought B & M baked beans which were surprisingly different from the most common brand sold here, Bush's. Bush's baked beans are sweeter with a very thick syrupy sauce. The B & M beans were smaller with a lightly tangy savory sauce which was a bit more runny. The beans were the dominant flavor, in the Bush's beans the sauce does most of the talking.

This is a very New England quick meal. The best part is if you keep all the parts stocked in your pantry you can have dinner on the table in about 15 minutes. AND... it's actually pretty good for you, low fat and high fiber!

What's your favorite fast meal?

I've figured it out!! I think...

I haven't tried it yet so bear with me...

I was challenged to make sweet potato gnocchi a few months ago. This should be pretty straight forward, same a regular potato gnocchi (I hope). Bake the sweet potatoes. Take off the skins and run the potatoes through a ricers or food mill. Add flour until the dough is not sticky. I also usually add nutmeg and probably still will for the sweet potatoes.

My biggest worry thus far has been what to serve it with. Normal red gravy or pesto wasn’t going to work, a cheese sauce would overpower the taste of the sweet potato but the normal topping for sweet potatoes might be a bit much (brown sugar and butter). I wanted to make a sauce that would complement and enhance the flavors of the sweet potato. I was inspired by the flavors of Outback Steakhouse. Normally when I go there I get a petit filet or the sirloin, green beans, and a baked sweet potato with all the fixings. So with that in mind I came up with an idea. Borrowing the steak flavor and the sweetness of the brown sugar I think I’ve nailed the sauce. I’ll need to tweak it when I actually put it together but here it is:

Red wine
Beef stock
McCormick’s brown gravy mix
Molasses (for the sweetness) with a tang
A little bit of worstershire sauce
Salt
Pepper

Mix the red wine, beef stock and molasses in a heavy sauce pan on medium/high head and cook until boiling. Whisk in the brown gravy mix. Add a little bit of worstershire sauce to taste. Continue to cook until the sauce thickens up a bit.

The plan is to make this on Monday or Tuesday. So I’ll report back on Wednesday and let you know how it goes!

Kensington Chicken

Last post I talked about adding more vegetables to my diet and I took the easy way out with salad. I know, I feel like a little bit of a sellout. But have no fear! Although I’m gnawing on raw carrots almost every day I have not turned into a bunny. I’m adding more vegetables to my cooked foods too! This week I’m working on a chicken dish with mushrooms, onions, and spinach. Initially I wanted to use cream of mushroom soup to make the sauce, however given my intention to get healthy I thought otherwise. I’ve decided to forgo the cream of mushroom for now and we’ll see how the whole thing tastes. If it needs it I’ll use it, but I think I’ve done well to work around it.

You’ll need:

4 chicken breasts

1 box frozen spinach; defrosted and drained

1 med/large onion

¾ lbs. crimini mushrooms

Flour

Chicken stock

1 cup of wine

A dash of lemon juice

McCormik’s poultry gravy seasoning

rice

So here goes: start by flouring your chicken. I’ve learned to love this method, not sure why it works, it just does. Add a little vegetable oil to a medium hot pan and throw in your chicken breast. Sear on both sides for about 2 minutes each side. Remove the chicken and set aside. Sauté the onions until soft, add mushrooms and sauté until browned. In a separate bowl mix gravy seasoning and chicken stock. I used about 2 rounded tablespoons of gravy seasoning and mixing it with 2 cups of chicken stock. Add the chicken stock to the pot, plus any additional chicken stock you want, I used almost 1 whole box. Add a squeeze of lemon and about a cup of white wine. allow to cook down and double check the seasoning. Add salt and pepper as required. Add the chicken back to the pot, cover and let cook down until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice and enjoy

I asked my husband what to call this, looking for a title for this post. His response: "Tasty!"

This also give the benefit of not being creaming, heavy, and rich. This is light and tangy while still filling. I hope you like it as much as we do!

New Year! More Vegetables!

Are you tired of the heavy decadent dinners and deserts of the holiday season? If you're not, is your waistline? I have hit my holiday goodie threshold. Actually I was really good this year. I’ve been trying to get back into shape. I started at THE WORST TIME during the year: right before Thanksgiving. Am I cruel to myself or what?? I had to fight off every food pusher, do gooder, and Christmas cookie cache. 

So now that we’ve past the season of eating it’s time to get back to the better things in life. Now don’t get me wrong the family time is amazing. I just wish there were less eating at family time; or maybe less cream and butter all at once. It seems like a terrible plan to have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in the same very short span of time. I guess we needed something to get through the winter? But it hasn’t really been winter here yet. I’m still waiting for it to snow more than a passing flurry. But I digress. 

To start the year off right (no resolutions here, just good intentions) I started eating more vegetables. I have to say I love baby carrots, they’re so easy to pack for lunch and I can sit and eat them at my desk without making a giant mess!  I have found however that making a salad tends to work out better than just eating a bag of carrots like a horse. I end up getting a better mix of vegetables AND I can add fruit and/or cheese! I love strawberries and oranges in salads or ham and cheese. Lately I’ve been going to the Reading Terminal Market at lunch (yay only 1 ½ blocks from my office) to pick up vegetables for dinner and to add to lunches. Frying peppers have been my favorite of late. It seems as though they are in season most of the year. Not sure how that works but I’m happy (I’m assuming they’re grown in a greenhouse). Actually all the peppers looked great today. I was tempted to pick up more but I think the6 frying peppers will do until I can get back next week. I’m trying to branch out a bit so I’m not stuck in my carrot and peppers rut. I picked up some mushrooms too. I’m hoping to add them into a chicken bake or something, more to come on that.

One of my favorite salads is as follows:

1 baked chicken breast

Spinach

Strawberries

Orange slices or mandarin oranges

Sliced almonds

Strawberry vinaigrette

Give me my Kindle and this salad and I’m happy as a clam for a lunch break.

The last time I made this salad (New Year’s Eve) I made my own dressing. This may have been more work than it was worth. I found it a bit glopy. It tasted great but it was a fair amount of work. I may start the search for a good vinaigrette. I’ll keep you informed on my search.

Breakfast casserole

As mentioned on New Years Day I made a casserole for breakfast after our New Years Eve traditional turkey dinner (it's tradition 8 years running). I decided to make it ahead of time and have it ready so all I had to do is throw it in the oven in the morning. I need to thank my sister for this idea. It made breakfast a joy instead of a chore after partying like rock stars.
This is an amazingly easy and awesome breakfast.
Frozen hash browns
eggs (many)
milk (some)
4 frying peppers (not hot but not bell peppers either, they're actually called frying peppers)whatever color you can find. I usually use green or red but they come in yellow and orange as well.
1 onion
2 packages of Brown and Serve breakfast sausage
salt
black pepper

Line the bottom of an aluminum baking pan with frozen hash browns and bake according to the directions. I used a two 1/2 sheet pan (1/2 the size used for a turkey). While that's cooking chop and saute the peppers and onion. I started with the onion and added the peppers once the onion softened. Also start browning the sausages Crack eggs into a bowl, I used over 18 eggs for the 2 pans. Add milk to your taste. I believe I used about 2 cups but I'm really no sure. Whisk until the whites and yolks are incorporated with the milk. Add the onion/pepper mix to the eggs and chop the sausages and add them to the egg mix. when the hash browns are crispy pour the egg mixture over the hash browns and return to the oven to bake for 45 minutes to an hour (or longer if the eggs are not set. I cooked mine at 400 degrees, however i think that may have been a bit too hot, I'd probably go for 375 or 350 in the future.

Once the whole thing was cooked I threw it in the refrigerator for morning/early afternoon 1/1/12. When I woke up I started the oven preheating at 350 degrees, made coffee (very important), pulled the casseroles out of the fridge. I warmed them for about 20 to 25 minutes until the centers were warm and cut and served.

In the past anyone who did not cook the New Years Eve dinner made breakfast. I am glad that this year no one really had to do too much this New Years Day. Plus my kitchen was no worse for the ware.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my friends!! What a year it's been! I started a new job. I got married!! :) Had an awesome honeymoon! And moved into our amazing apartment. All within 3 months... and spend the rest of the year recovering. So now that I've recovered from that it was time to start hosting parties in our perfectly designed for it house!
Our tradition has been to throw a pretty rockin' New Years party. Including a turkey dinner to rival anyone's Thanksgiving. This year like every year I learned some things.

1. More turkey is better
2. A balsamic reduction is a perfect drawing tool when served in a squeeze bottle
3. I can probably make less green beans and stuffing.
4. We don't need variety in drinks if we have one AWESOME punch. (maybe next year I'll do OJ ice cubes or something)
5. Preparing breakfast ahead of time is the ONLY way to survive the New Years morning.

The balsamic reduction was intended for bruchetta, and of course we used it on everything once we discovered it tasted great!

How to:
1:1 ratio of balsamic vinegar and brown sugar in a heavy sauce pan. Heat on medium/low heat for at least 45 minutes, until the reduction coats the back of a spoon. You'll want to get it out of the pot as soon as possible. It will get very sticky and make a damn mess if you're not careful but oh my is it worth it! It may also drive you screaming from the kitchen. If you've never cooked straight vinegar before you have no idea what I'm talking about however it can be a rather nasty smell. Just open a window, I know it's January but it's not that cold out. Actually it feels quite nice.

My friends new and old I wish you a very happy and prosperous new year!

P.S. Special thanks to Justin and Monisha, and Shaina and Mark for the Armatele platters. Paul and Joyce thank you for the casserole (perfect for green beans).
I am very grateful for the generosity of our family and friends this past year. I am truly overwhelmed by the wonderful people we are blessed to be related to and the family we've picked up along the way. I look forward to many more years of love, laughter, and Nerf warfare at NYE parties!