Good Eats

Strog This - Beef Stroganoff

my kids don't like mushrooms.  not at all but they really love my beef stroganoff. 

i have a confession.  i have a strong aversion to cream of mushroom soup.  and so no can comes near this recipe.  I use the real deal and if I am feeling adventurous, I use portabella ones.

so here's what you need at 1st:

1 1/2 pounds of sirloin steak, sliced thin
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
a little bit of olive oil
a dash of kosher salt
a dash of lemon pepper

Put a little bit of olive oil in the pan (about 2 T) and put your garlic in it.  Heat the oil to medium-high heat (not too hot or you burn the garlic and that's yucky).  As your garlic begins to brown. throw in the meat, season it with a dash of kosher salt and lemon pepper and brown your meat.  Put your meat on a plate and set aside.

Now you need:

some more olive oil
1 pound of mushrooms
1/2 cup sherry cooking wine
1/4 cup water
1/2 small white onion, fine chopped

Add a bit more olive oil to the pan and saute' your mushrooms and onions in the oil for about 5 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup sherry cooking wine, 1/4 cup water and boil and reduce until there is about a 1/4 cup of liquid in the pan.  Add the meat back to the pan.

Now you need:

1/2 cup sour cream
2 T beef bouillion granules

Mix the granules in the half cup sour cream.  Pour sour cream mixture into pan and heat through until the mixture thickens - about 5 minutes.

Serve up on egg noodles ( i use the No Yolks kind) or hot rice.  Garnish with some parsley.

Churrasco - South American BBQ

melts in your mouth like chocolate except it's steak.  succulent, tender, juicy, flavorful steak.

it's sweet w/ a bit of a spicy kick.  and the kids and the husband seriously LOOOOOVVVVVVED IT!

i wish you could smell the smells coming off the grill.  i served it up with my quick no-brainer mexican rice which is basically a couple of cups of long grain rice with some tomato seasoning (you can find it next to the mexican food spices) throw in the rice cooker with some fresh fine-chopped cilantro and a little olive oil mixed in and some fried corn tortillas, pico de gallo, and guacamole.

it's super simple too.  just slice the meat, throw it up in the spicy marinade, skewer it (makes sure you soak your skewers first if you are using wood ones), and grill it and voila', it's good grub time.

the trick to this is to pick up some good meat.  Tenderloin is a little pricy so I used flank.  You slice the flank steak in thin strips across the grain.  I bought a package of 2 flanks.

Here's the spicy marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 can of tomato paste
1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T sugar
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of red pepper flakes
kosher salt and pepper to taste

just mix it all up.

I used spicy pico this time but if you scroll down and find my mango salsa recipe, the contrast of the fruit and spicy flavors will be off the hook.  I promise.

For those who have a little trouble with the spice, leave out the red pepper flakes.

Beef Bolognese

this recipe is so good, my kids will skip the noodles altogether and just eat the sauce like right out of the bowl.  it is flavorful and has a slight kick to hit thanks to some red pepper which is one of my favorite things to throw into recipes because most foods need a little spice.

The Good Stuff That Goes IN:

1 lb lean ground sirloin or chuck
1/2 lb Italian sausage (mild or hot, depending on your taste - i like the hot)
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 carrots grated
1/2 cup celery
1 cup Merlot
1 can crushed tomatoes (the normal size can, not the big one)
1 can of tomato paste
1 cup heavy cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
Red Pepper flakes, to taste
Kosher salt to taste
Lemon pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste

The 411 on how to:

In big pan, I like to use my wok because it's plenty big, pour a tiny bit of olive oil and heat. Throw garlic in the oil and saute for a 30 seconds.  Add the beef and crumble the Italian sausage into the pan.  Brown meat on medium heat.

Add the onions, celery, carrots, and tomato paste and saute until the onions appear kind of translucent (see-through) - maybe 5-7 minutes.

Add the Merlot, making sure to scrape the bits of meat and veggie that may be sticking to the pan (in short, deglaze).  Bring everything to a boil and then reduce until the liquid is almost gone.

Stir in the tomatoes and the heavy cream.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring ever so often.

Now hear comes the part that leads to experimentation.  Season with red pepper flakes, lemon pepper, kosher salt, and Italian seasoning to taste - for me that is like a dash of each.

Simmer on low for 10-15 more minutes to get the flavors to really blend together - your house should smell pretty darn good right now, making everyone wonder what is going on in the kitchen.

Serve over your choice of pasta or over polenta.  If you can't find polenta at your grocery store, just use regular ol' Quaker Corn Meal.  You cook the POlenta in broth, and milk and stir in some parmesan.  I like the Parmesan-Reggiano blend at Sam's.

I guarantee lots of flavor.  Bland.  I think not!

testing 1..2..3...

not food-related.  sorry. just playing 'round with some settings.  just trying to see how big i can go.

Simple and Delicious Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus

I modify almost every recipe I make just because I believe a good tweak here and there make good recipes even better.  This is recipe #326 out of Rachel Ray's cookbook No Repeats.

It is flavorful and my kids raved about it when I've made it.

The Good Stuff That Goes In It:

3 T extra virgin olive oil

6 boneless chix breasts

1 T thyme (it says to use fresh but i used bottled and it came out fine plus i added a little more to suit my taste)

2 T butter

6 red potatoes sliced very thin

1 med yellow onion thin-sliced

1/2 C white cooking wine

1 T Jack daniels Honey Dijon mustard

1 1/2 cups chicken stock (i just made this with bouillion)

1 pound think asparagus trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

chopped parsley (for garnish - i used bottled)

and the 411 on how to make it:

eason chicken with salt, lemon pepper, and thyme.  Cook chicken in 2 T extra virgin olive oil over medium heat about 5-6 minutes on each side (until cooked through).  Remove chicken to plate and keep warm.  Add the other T of olive oil to pan and the 2T butter.  Add the potatoes and season with salt, lemon pepper, and thyme.  Cook until lightly browned.  Add sliced onions and cook for about 3 minutes.  Then add wine, mustard, and chicken stock and bring to a bubble.  Then add asparagus.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook until potatoes and asparagus is tender.  Pour potatoes and asparagus into serving platter and serve the breasts on top.  Garnish with parsley.

Brie Quesadillas and Mango Salsa

i love cheese, especially ones with good flavor.  Brie is one of those cheeses.  You need to let it stand to room temperature and yes, you can eat the rind and all.  Bad brie that is overripe will smell like ammonia.  Brie is especially good baked into souffles and other pastries as well as yes, quesadillas.  Combining the tasty brie with a fruity mango salsa makes for a delectable appetizer.

Ingredients:

one wheel of brie, how much depends on how much you want to make
crushed pecans
1 mango
1/3 of a papaya
1 serrano chile
cilantro, chopped fine

How to:

Slice the brie thinly.  Place slices on a tortilla and sprinkle with crushed pecans.  PLace other tortilla on top so that the brie is sandwiched between.  Warm the tortillas through in the oven or if you have one of those cool quesadilla/sandwich warmer appliances use that. Cook until cheese is melted through.

To make the salsa, chop up mango and papaya and mix in a bowl.  Fine chop a seeded serrano chile and toss in with the mango and papaya. Fine chop some cilantro and mix in well. You could also add some fine chopped purple onion if you want.

Serve salsa on top of the quesadillas.

Enjoy :)  these are beyond yummy!

Chicken Tortellini Soup

this isn't your same ol' boring chicken soup.  this has a ton of flavor!

Olive Oil
2 cups diced yellow onion
2 cups diced celery
1 cup sliced carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced (i just use my garlic press)
2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 T dry sherry (i use the cheap stuff you find in the salad dressing aisle)
6 cups chicken broth (i just make it using chicken bouillion cubes)
2 cups shredded chicken (i just bought one of those roasted chickens that are already cooked in the deli section of the grocery store.  i got the lemon pepper one.  i peeled the skin off and shredded all the meat.  i used roughly half the chicken and the other half i made into chicken salad for sandwiches)
2 cups cheese tortellini (i didn't use the fresh Bertoli kind.  there is this dry stuff sold at Sam's by the pasta sauce that comes in a huge bag.  i have made 3 different unique meals out of it so far)

Pesto Blend:

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves fine chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley fine chopped
1/4 cup Parmesan-Romano cheese grated (not the processed stuff by Kraft, the real deal)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 T slivered almonds
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp kosher salt or a little bit more if needed
1 tsp lemon zest (use fresh, the stuff in the bottle doesn't taste as good)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Blend ingredients for pesto in a food processor and set aside.

Pour a little bit of olive oil in the bottom of a large pot (one big enough to cook 8 cups worth of soup in) and heat on medium.  Add garlic, onions, celery, and carrots and saute for 5 minutes.  Add sugar, seasoning, and kosher salt.  Stir occasionally so you don't burn your veggies.

Deglaze your pot by pouring in the sherry and reduce til liquid is evaporated. 

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer about 15 minutes.

Add chicken and tortellini and cover.  Cook on medium to low heat until tortellini is al dente.

Dish out individual servings in soup bowls (i dished mine into some cute handled ones i found at Taipan Trading for 91 cents a piece - what a bargain!).  Scoop about a 1/2 tsp of pesto blend into each bowl and stir.  Garnish with a little bit more of the fresh parmesan romano. 

Serve it up with some Tuscan Boule or Rosemary Bread w/ a little bit of flavorful olive oil for dipping and a fresh mixed greens salad w/ Balsamic Vinagrette and it makes a great meal!

a little experiment

confession.

i love to cook.  i get a kick out of mixing things together and doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that and voila - something yummy.

i am really big on trying different things and learning how to make new dishes.  while i believe that the classics are important: lasagna, baked chicken, chili, tacos, etc. etc., i also believe that you should change things up every now and then and try something new.  i am always looking for a great recipe.  sometimes i may fool with it a bit to get things a little tastier (i am huge on flavor) or i may discover it is perfect the way it is. 

doesn't the saying go, that everything you need to know in life, you learned in kindergarten?  i am pretty sure you get the basics.  like you should share stuff.  and i guess, this is what i am trying to do here.  a little experiment on sharing stuff.   i know i share all kinds of things on my main blog, but i figure it would be much easier to be able to find recipes all in one place, rather than trudging through old archives.

so for now, we'll try this and give it a go.  because after all, we all have to eat and shouldn't it be good?

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testing.