Meat and Potatoes

In our family, we grew up on starchy staples and meat for every meal. Though I cook very differently than my mother, I still enjoy such a meal every once in a while. Okay, every day.

Not really.

When I was a kid my mom fixed, "cracker meat". It was cube steak heavily breaded in Ritz crackers. It was a crumbly buttery mess of flavor. My version is a bit lighter but just as tasty.

Here's what you'll need:
Cube steak (1 per person)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
bread crumbs, home made or store bought
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions:
place the eggs in one shallow bowl and the bread crumbs in another. beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are combined. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper to the bread crumbs. Coat each piece of meat in the egg and then press it into the bread crumbs, coating both sides.

In a frying pan (or an electric skillet) heat about 4 tablespoons of olive oil until it sparks when you sprinkle some water over it. Add the meat to the hot oil and cook each side for 5-8 minutes depending on the heat and how crispy you want the outside.

Serve with green beans, potatoes, salad, or grilled asparagus.

Quick Cheese Steaks

Okay, some background. I love cheese steak sandwiches. Really love them. My love for them didn't really develop until the first time I ate a cheese steak at the Dairy Cottage in a suburb of Philadelphia, Penn. At the Dairy Cottage you either ordered a 12 or 24 inch sandwich and they didn't really recommend sharing.

That sandwich, featured in the above picture was divine. I've been to Philly several times and eaten lots of steaks, but this one takes the cake over all others.

(Admittedly not the best picture. Sorry)

We regularly have a homemade version of a cheese steak for dinner.  It's fast and easy to prepare and makes everyone happy.  I've experimented a lot with different meat (deli meat, cube steak, steak thinly sliced) but I think I found the right combination of steak and cheese (we always use provolone but last night I used Swiss) and marinade and they were pretty awesome last night.

Here's what you'll need:

Good rolls - 2 per person if they're small.  We like the Ciabata rolls from Harmon's

Stir Fry beef already cut into strips.  Buy it that way at the grocery store or see if the butcher can do it for you.

1 large sweet onion

1-2 red peppers

For the Marinade:

salt

pepper

garlic or garlic salt (depends on your tastes)

1 tbsp soy sauce

2-4 tbsp worcester sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

First, place your strips of steak in a zip lock and add the marinade ingredients.  Let it stew for 10-20 minutes.  

Slice the onion into rings and the red pepper into very thin strips.  Place the onion and pepper into a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil.  Cook the veggies to your liking....I like them black and caramelized.

Take the onion and pepper out of the skillet and cook the meat.  Because of the thin strips it will cook fast.  Give it about 3 minutes and toss.  Then add the onion and peppers back into the mix for another 3-5 minutes.  

Once everything is good and juicy and smells like heaven then add your cheese.  Last night, we used Swiss.  Let the cheese melt into the meat and then serve to family and friends.  The whole process takes about 20 minutes and everyone will walk away full and happy.

Valentine's Day Dinner for Two

My VD gift this year?  A quiet house.  I spent all day cooking, dumped the kiddos at grandma's house at 5:00, came home cleaned up and ate dinner with my husband in a quiet house.  Then we looked at pictures on the internet.  Then I read a book and he went to pick up the boys.  Other Valentine's present?   The boys came home asleep - no bedtime fights.  Awesome.

For our dinner I wanted to do something nice - real grown-up food with out chicken nuggets or mini pizzas in sight. I also decided for the most part, do do something traditionally French because when all else fails, go French or go home.

Le Menu:

Homemade Croissants (started at 6:30 am and pulled them out of the oven at 4:30 pm.  Not my best effort but they were tasty.)

Roasted Garlic Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes

Beef Bourguignon (ala Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa - I totally DID NOT USE COGNAC...the wine is up to you.)

How was dinner?  Tres Magnifique!  My husband in fact, in the middle of his second helping confessed, "This may be the best meal you've ever fixed."

Perfect timing - I want a new iphone.

Beef Bourguignon (Ina Garten, Food Network)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 8 ounces dry cured center cut applewood smoked bacon, diced
• 2 1/2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
• 2 yellow onions, sliced
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
• 1/2 cup Cognac
• 1 (750 ml.) bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir
• 1 can (2 cups) beef broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pound frozen whole onions
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

For serving:

• Country bread or Sour Dough, toasted or grilled and rubbed with garlic clove
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.

Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned. Set aside.

Toss the carrots, and onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac, stand back, and ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices. Add the bottle of wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. Add the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.

Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions. Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.

Vietnamese Steak Sandwich

We've had these a couple of times in the last few weeks.  These sandwiches might be one of our most favorite dinners.

I've followed the recipe exactly except that I've marinated the steak all day instead of just 30 minutes and both times I've forgotten the cilantro.  It's still yummy though.



Ingridients:
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon water
2 carrots, grated
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
4 hero rolls
1 pound sliced Flank Steak with Lime Marinade

Directions
In a small bowl, stir together garlic, sugar, red-pepper flakes, vinegar, and water.
In another bowl, toss together carrots, scallions, and cilantro leaves. Toss with half the vinegar mixture.
Split and lightly toast hero rolls; dividing evenly, layer with carrot mixture and sliced flank steak. Drizzle with remaining vinegar mixture, if desired.

Lime Marinade:
1/3 cup (about 4 limes) freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 scallions (about 1/3 cup), thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced, peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 1/2 pounds flank steak
Vegetable oil, for grates
Coarse salt and ground black pepper

Directions
In a resealable plastic bag, combine lime juice, soy sauce, scallions, ginger, and red-pepper flakes. Add steak, and seal bag (place in a dish to catch any leaks); marinate in the refrigerator, turning occasionally, up to 1 hour.

Heat grill to high; lightly oil grates. Remove steak from marinade, letting excess drip off (discard marinade); season with salt and black pepper. Place on grill; cover. Cook, turning once, until meat reaches desired doneness, 6 to 8 minutes for medium-rare. Let rest 10 minutes before slicing thinly.

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart

Beef Empanadas

Another yummy recipe from the Mad Hungry cookbook.  Seriously, go and buy it today.  You'll thank your self later.

This recipe was really pretty easy, but much more time consuming than I normally would go for on a week night.  But, since my husband is a work-a-holic and we've been eating dinner an hour later than normal, I had the time.

Anyway - for the first time, it took me two hours from start to finished and on the table.  Was it worth it?  Oh yes.  So worth it that I might make them again next week - but actually figure out how to make a side dish, too.  Not that these babies need anything else.

First, you need to make the pastry.  At a minimum, the pastry needs to chill for thirty minutes.  Mine chilled for about 8 hours and then needed to sit on the counter for a good 15-30 before it was ready to roll out.

Cream Cheese Pastry
8 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp
4 oz cream cheese at room temp
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 and 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt

cream the butter, cheese, and cream with an electric mixer.  Add the flour and salt until incorporated.  Split the dough into two equal sections, form into two disks and wrap each one separately in plastic wrap.  Place dough in the fridge.

Beef filling
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 small green pepper, chopped fine
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp ground cumin
3/4 cup olives, chopped (green or black)
3/4 cup raisins (I didn't use these)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
dashes of hot sauce to taste
2 eggs, separated

Chop the onion and the green pepper and start to saute them in a very hot pan, in the olive oil.  When the onions are starting to get translucent, add the beef.  When the beef is almost 100 % cooked, add the olives and raisins (if you like), the honey, the cumin (I didn't have cumin so I just used a whole butt load of different seasoning salts), the honey, salt, pepper,  and hot sauce.  Let cook until the beef is completely finished and turn off the heat.

The beef needs to cool completely in the fridge.  After it has cooled completely, stir in the egg whites from your two eggs.

While the beef is cooking, get out your cream cheese pastry so it can warm up a bit.  Once the beef is in the fridge to cool, it's time to roll out the dough.

Work with one disk at a time and roll it out like you would for sugar cookies.  Make sure you have a clean, well floured work surface and a good rolling pin.  Roll the dough pretty thin and then use a medium bowl (about 5 inches across) as your dough cutter.  Place the bowl on the dough and with a knife, cut around the edges.  Repeat the process, only re-rolling each piece of dough once.

If you do it right, you should end up with 10-12 circles of dough.

To assemble the empanadas, place a couple small spoonfuls of meat filling onto one half of a dough circle.  Wet the outer edge of dough with some water and fold it over, pressing each edge together gently.  Then with a fork, crimp the edges together.  Do this for all of your dough circles, making little half moon pies.

Once all are finished, place them on a cookie sheet and stick them back in the fridge while the oven heats up to 375 degrees.

Once the oven is hot, take the empanadas out of the fridge and poke some holes in them with a fork.  Then, take the two egg yolks, mix them with 1 tbsp of water and give each empanada a quick egg wash.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Let them rest for about 7 minutes before you devour them.  They will still be super dooper hot.

So yummy, so yummy.

Enjoy!

The Pioneer Woman: Easy Enchiladas

We tried another PW recipe last week - her beef enchiladas.  Now, I make a mean chicken enchilada and some pretty good sweet pork with green sauce enchiladas but I've never made beef.  We're not huge fans of ground beef in enchiladas and who has the time to cook and shred beef, though that would be tasty too.

No, I used the PW recipe and they were decidedly good.  Good enough that I actually ate the left overs the next night.

Of course, I modified things a bit.  I didn't have onions, but I had shallots so those went into the mix.  I didn't have time to fry and dip my corn tortillas so I just microwaved them individually so that they were hot, soft and pliable.  Also - no olives, but lots and lots of green chilies and cilantro.

Yum, yum, yum.

Photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman

The Pioneer Woman: Favorite Sandwich

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, is my new favorite food person.  I bought her cookbook and am really in love with quite a few recipes.

Last night for dinner we had the sandwich called, Marlboro Man's Favorite.  It was delish.  One of my new favorites as well.  I mean, anything that involves a ton of butter and a three year old will willingly consume scores a gold star in my book.

Try it yourself tonight.

Photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman

Quick Marinade

It wasn't THE most tasty thing in the world, but for a quickie invention, it wasn't bad.

We had steaks for dinner, but not much else.  And, I'm sick so I needed something more flavorful than the average.  And, there is no gas in my grill so I was stuck cooking inside.

To marinade the steaks, I did this.

balsamic vinegar
olive oil
rosemary
roasted garlic - minced
dijon mustard
capers
salt and pepper

Use quantities you're comfortable with.  I love garlic and balsamic so I went heavy on those.  If you've got two small steaks like I had, you'll want about half a cup of marinade.  Because it was a last minute thing, my steaks only marinated for about 10 minutes.  They could have used at least 30 minutes, maybe a couple of hours to really soak up the flavor.

When a friend gives you peppers

It's already Wednesday and we haven't been to the grocery store this week.  We went on Saturday for Father's Day Feast supplies, but the basic weekly staples are elusive.  In fact, I don't even remember what we ate for dinner on Monday night.  How crazy is that!

The other day, a good friend whose got produce connections, set me up with a giant bowl of peppers.  Ooooohhhhh, peppers!  We'll be eating them for the rest of the week for sure but last nights' dinner with them was pretty tasty.

Like I said, we haven't been to the store.  All I really had int he fridge was a piece of meat (Tri-tip steak), some shallots, cilantro, and oh yeah, the peppers.

We settled on steak fajitas.  The steak was grilled and sliced thin.  The peppers were sauteed with the shallots.  Cilantro was sprinkled on top as a finishing touch.

The end result turned out pretty tasty.

Smokey Shredded Beef Tacos

Another Martha Stewart recipe that makes a regular appearance in our dinner rotation.

I don't follow the recipe exactly, but it always turns out pretty darn good.

Start with a big oven safe dutch-oveny sort of pot/pan.  Make sure that you actually have the lid because you'll need it.

In the pan combine the following ingredients with a whisk.
1/2 c. ketchup (gross, I know but it works)
1 c. water
2-3 tbsp. chilies in adobo sauce (this is where the smokey and the spicy come from)
3 tbsp. minced garlic
couple shakes of onion powder
coarse salt
pepper

Next, add the meat.  You'll want a medium sized pot roast for this.  Cut it into four equal sections and set it down into the mixture in your pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about two and a half to three hours.  Once cooked, shred the meat and put it back in the pan so it can soak up all the juices.

Enjoy with whatever you like to eat tacos with: rice, salsa, chips, sour cream, cheese, etc.

Korean BBQ Beef Wraps

When we bought our house a little over 5 years ago my husband insisted on using a realtor. I wasn't a fan of the decision. In fact, I'm still not today. The only thing I enjoy(ed) out of the situation is that every month when she sends us a postcard in the mail, it has a recipe on it. A few months ago the recipe was for these wraps. They are divine in a "I love meat" sort of way.

Because I don't have the recipe card in front of me, I'm going to do a little guestimation on the actual ingredients. Give it a try though - your tummy will thank me for it later.

Korean BBQ Lettuce wraps:
rice
romaine lettuce
1 flank steak
1 kiwi

Cut up and smash the kiwi. Smear the kiwi all over the flank steak and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

While the steak is steeping, make the marinade.

1/3 c. soy sauce
3 tbsp red wine
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp corn syrup (Karo syrup, etc.)
3 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 c. brown sugar

Mix the marinade. Place the steak and marinade in a zip lock bag. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes. I prefer all day long.

Once everything is ready - cook the steak (grill, frying pan, etc. It's all good) and slice it up as thinly as you can.

While the steak is cooking, boil the remaining marinade (get rid of the kiwis) to make the sauce for the wraps. Also, cook some white rice and get some romaine lettuce leaves ready for wrapping.

Serve the wraps with green onions, thin carrot strips and toasted sesame seeds.

Note: A medium to large flank steak should serve about 8 people. It doesn't go that far however in our house of large carnivores. Don't plan on any leftovers and if you are having guest over for dinner - maybe double everything.