My First Pepper Steak

Yes, I do get a lot of my food ideas from some of my fav foodie shows and this recipe is no exception. As typical of my ADD, I tweaked and made what my eating men love-love-loved! We served it with packaged parmesan pasta on the side. Yum!!

INGREDIENTS:
4 sirloin steaks, marinated in kosher salt and ground pepper with a splash of bourbon at least 4 hours
2 TBSP unsalted butter
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
White pepper
Bourbon
1/2 sweet onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced
2 shallots, diced
3/4 cup Half & Half
2 generous dollaps of dijon mustard
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

STEPS:
1. In a large cast iron skillet, melt butter over medium heat. While skillet is heating, genrously salt and even more generously pepper with both peppers, each side of sirloins.
2. Pan sear meat about 5 minutes each side without moving it around. (When I flipped to second side, I sliced each steak in half to be sure it wasn't raw) Move cooked meat to platter and cover with foil.
3. Using same skillet on slightly lower temp, cook garlic and onions. Scrape skillet. Add 1/4 cup bourbon and sizzle everything. Drop in dijon and stir. Whisk in Half&Half and bring to boil. Stir and remove from heat.
4. Pour over steak on platter, top with parsley and serve.

Spot gives this 4 paws and loved tripping me often while I cooked. This is great man food! It goes on our two week rotation and is fast 'n easy to make.

Gourmet Mac N Cheese

This is a recipe I morphed off a cable talk show recipe that my son really digs. My hubby has even come to like it. A variation of mac n' cheese (using blue cheese) and sliced tenderloin or steak.

While your choice of meat is on the grill, prepare your mac:

Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

2 TBSP unsalted butter

3 cups heavy cream

1 TBSP minced garlic

1 lb hollow pasta (I use Ditalini or mini shells)

3/4 cup blue cheese (at least)

2 TBSP fresh chopped parsley

Melt butter with garlic, briefly cook. Add cream, heat and then simmer 20 minutes, covered. Stir in blue cheese, whisk til blended and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm until ready to use.

Cook pasta al dente. Toss with sauce and serve with slices of steak or meat. Sprinkle with fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

This also makes a great party dish - serve it in martini glasses for fun. Of course Spot loves this one, meat is involved and no onions sizzled.

Our New Fav Side Dish

How do you spell Side Dish? One or two words? The other day I watched a show new to me called "Restaurant Impossible". The host is Robert Irvine. Not only does he help restauranteurs evaluate their use of space, he upgrades their menus when needed.

We are all in love with his recipe that we tried tonight along with marinated BBQ T-Bones. I tweaked it a little, but all the credit goes to Robert.

Blue Cheese Spinach Orzo Side

INGREDIENTS:
3.5 TBSP unsalted butter
3 TBSP flour
1 cup low-fat milk
1 pound orzo, cooked and cooled (drain in cold water, fluff to keep from sticking)
2.5 cups crumbled blue cheese
1 TBSP kosher salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 big handfuls of fresh spinach
1.5 cups diced tomato


DIRECTIONS:
In medium skillet over med-high heat, melt butter. Lower heat and whisk in flour. Once fully combined, reduce heat all the way to low and whisk in milk. Stir and cook til thickened. Then add the blue cheese, one package at a time. Be sure fully combined before you add the next pkg. Season with salt and pepper, blend and remove from heat.

Now stir in the orzo. Then add the spinach and tomatoes, again combine well. The orzo will warm with the sauce and the spinach will wilt.

Start to finish this takes about 30 minutes. Serves about 8 people with one-cup servings or the 4 of us with refills. Chef says this will keep 5 days. Not in our house!

Spot was not around for this part of the meal. She was only interested in the T-Bones on the BBQ and is now enjoying her reward.

Mac N Cheese N Meat!

"Mom, this crap -- I mean stuff is really, really good," said our 16 year old son tonight. And it truly was a compliment.

Here's a variation on the traditional Mac N Cheese if you take just 20 more minutes. And dig Blue Cheese...

INGREDIENTS
1 box interesting open tube short pasta, cooked al dente
1 cup+ blue cheese, crumbled
2 TBSP unsalted butter
3 cups heavy cream
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
1 generous TBSP minced or squished garlic
1 petite top sirloin per person, salted, grilled and sliced in strips

COOKING
1. Melt butter and garlic in medium skillet, cook slightly about 2 minutes. Add cream, whisk. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Stir often.
2. Heat coals.
3. Bring 3 quart pot of water to boil, add pasta, cook al dente.
4. Season meat, go out and grill!
5. Add cheese to skillet, whisk til smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm til everything else is done.
6. Toss cheese mixture with pasta, serve with yummy meat!

The blue cheese gives this an unexpected nip. This recipe can serve 6 with 1-cup pasta servings...although my boys had more! In the past I have added fresh Italian parsley to the pasta, but it was the nasty Daylight Savings day so I rebelled.

Spot? She is so self-serving! She only gives this 4 paws because when we slice the meat, we toss tidbits into her bowl