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.

Yummy Porterhouse Steak & Sauce

Yesterday we wanted to serve a really special meal for our company. My hubby had been talking about Porterhouse steaks. I had never made them, so why not try? It's fun to not know what you are doing and combine experiences. The result was a fantastic meal!

Here's our Menu:

Brie with Rosemary wafers
BBQ Porterhouse Steak with Merlot Mushroom Sause
Fresh Green Beans
Feta & Broccoli Stuffed Potatoes (posted on New Year's)
Baby Green Salad with our lastest fav Dressing (posted 5/16/12)
Corn on the cob


INGREDIENTS FOR THE PORTERHOUSE AND SAUCE:
1 Porterhouse per person
Kosher salt
Ground Pepper
Newman's Olive Oil & Vinegar Dressing
3/4 - 1 cup Merlot wine
1 lb sliced mushrooms
2 cups beef broth
6 cloves garlic, minced
4+ TBSP Wondra flour
4 TBSP unsalted butter at room temp
2+ TBSP extra virgin olive oil

DAY AHEAD:
Marinate steaks in Newman's dressing. Season both sides well with kosher salt and ground pepper. Seal in ziploc with about 1/3 the dressing. Massage well and put in the fridge. If you think about it, massage again sometime and flip the bag.

THREE HOURS AHEAD:
Bring steaks to room temperature, set on work platter. Reserve juices in bag for BBQ.

GRILLING TIPS:
Salt each side again with more kosher salt. Grill each side about 5 minutes, moving from heated to cooler areas as usual. Press steaks to check for doneness. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

MERLOT MUSHROOM SAUCE:
While steaks are on the grill, prepare sauce. In medium skillet, saute 1 pound of sliced mushrooms and minced garlic in 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil til tender. Whisk in broth, bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Then add flour and butter to form a paste. Bring to boil again, then simmer. While simmering, slowly stir in Merlot in thirds. Add pinch of kosher salt, ground pepper and heat through. Stir frequently. Serve hot.

This was the moistest steak! Our company loved the buttery taste of the meat that just melted in our mouths. Grilled perfectly. The Merlot sauce was the perfect pairing. We couldn't stop praising the taste sensations. In fact, my hubby is having some leftovers right now.

Spot gives this 4 paws, a tail wag and a yip. Not only was she underfoot, she was under the table and was finally rewarded with her very own bone on a tea towel.

My First Caramelized Onions... with Steak and Fancy Potos

Yum yum! I have never tried to make caramelized onions before. (Although sometimes that has partially, accidentally occurred.) This recipe is inspired by a card I saw in the deli section of the Brookings, S.D. Hyvee grocery store back in September. I put the card "somewhere special" and just found it. Hyvee uses that famous TV Australian chef... Curtis? to promote recipes and merchandise. Anyway, I changed his stuff up a bit. The potato recipe I got while watching The Chew on ABC last week. Changed that one up, too. The result is yum city for our fam. Note: If you use the thin round steak, just watch carefully so as not to over cook. We discovered we would like even more onions next time.

Marinate Time: 24 hours
Prep Time: 15 Min.
Cook Time: 60 min.


INGREDIENTS:
1 – 2 pkgs beef round steak (2-3 steaks/pkg), marinated
Marinate overnight in 5 TBSP soy sauce, kosher salt, ground pepper and 2 TBSP Newman’s Oil & Vinegar dressing
3+ large red onions, diced
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
½ cup beef broth
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 pkg frozen broccoli, cooked and chopped into bits
8-10 large red potatoes (or more depending on eaters)
2 small pkgs reduced fat crumbled feta cheese
4-5 big squeezes of lemon juice

1. Marinate meat (could even be steaks) overnight in a Ziploc. Flip it over when you think about it in order to get all pieces saturated, no big deal.

2. An hour before you want to eat, wash potatoes and bake at 400 til fork tender.

3. 30 minutes before you want to eat, sauté onions with olive oil until brownish and tender. Add brown sugar, pinch of salt, then vinegar and broth. Cook until liquid is absorbed and set aside.

4. Prepare potato stuffing: In medium bowl, add broccoli, salt and pepper to taste, feta, juice. Mash this up really good.

5. When potos are done, slice the top 1/8 off each poto and discard. Using small scoop, scoop out middle of each potato and place scoopings in the bowl mentioned above. Now you have little potato vessels… get ready for yum! Mix potatoes with stuffing (#4). If mixture gets too dry, add more lemon juice. Fill each vessel to slightly overflowing and place back in the oven to keep warm til the meat is done.

6. 10 minutes before you want to eat, BBQ meat and brown 3 minutes each side. (Longer for bigger meats) Do not over cook. Once meat is done (Medium), spread blue cheese over each piece. Move meat to the side, cover grill and cook til cheese melts, about 2-3 more minutes.

7. To serve, plate meat topped with the onions and 2 potos per person.

Spot has no paw ratings because she was up in the loft watching TV, mourning the fact that her brothers went to their other home tonite