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.

Rosemary Walleye Pike and Au Gratin Potos

Even though I haven't posted lately, I've been cooking! We relocated six months ago and in the process, posting has fallen off the radar. Not any more, I miss this too much, so buckle your seatbelts...

Tonight's menu was morphed from my dear friend and second mom Dorothy who served me Walleye Pike last week while I was in Mpls. It was so yummy I determined to make it in my new town for my hubby and son, but alas this fish is not available in Iowa. So hubby drove it down special.

Here's the menu:

Rosemary Au Gratin Potos (begin 1 hour and 20 minutes prior to desired eating time):

- Thinly slice 3 lbs red potatoes, cover and bring to boil with 5 diced garlic cloves. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer til tender but not mushy. About 8 more minutes.

- In oblong baking dish and using slotted spoon, layer half the poto slices. Cover with fresh pepper and sea salt to taste. Pour 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream over all.
Sprinkle 3/4 cup each of shredded Gruyere and Fontina cheese over this layer. Repeat. On top layer, add an additonal 1/4 cup of a shredded hard cheese (Parmesan, Manchego) and sprinkle a few pieces of Rosemary over all.

- Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Keep warm til Walleye is ready.


Dorothy's Walleye Pike Prep while potos are baking, takes 10 minutes to fry:

- Dip Walleye fillets in 1 beaten egg, then crushed saltine crackers (we used 1 gallon zip-lock bag for 1 sleeve of saltines to cook 4 fillets)

- Fry fish with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) in medium high skillet til medium brown on both sides. Sprinkle with more Rosemary.

Serve with a half lemon on the side of your plate for personal flavor. A side salad and some crusty bread would make this complete. We were distracted by watching the new series on the History Channel called THE BIBLE, so the latter items weren't included.

Spot gives this no paws cuz she runs when things sizzle. My "boys" love it!!

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.

Congratulations on the World's Best Banana Bread!

One of my favorite people is Buddy the Elf. I love when he runs into a NYC Cafe and jumps up and down yelping "Congratulations! You did it! You did it!!" All because he saw the sign out front: World's Best Coffee. Well, jump some more, Buddy. This is the world's best no-fail banana bread.

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two glass loaf pans, be sure to get the corners.

1. In mixing bowl, cream together:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 beaten eggs
2 cups bran cereal

2. In a medium size bowl, mix:
3-4 cups rip bananas with 3-4 tsp. vanilla extract

3. In a third bowl, mix:
3 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2+ cups chopped walnuts

4. Combine:
Add flour and banana mixtures alternately to the main bowl in 3 equal parts, mix well between additions. Stir til blended.

Pour evenly into pans and bake for 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

This is moist and delicious! Eat one and freeze one til later. Or if you have a teenage son, just leave them on the counter, they'll be gone in a couple of days.

Spot gives this 4 paws, silly dog.