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Category Archives: Dinner

Getting Back to Basics – The All-American Burger

I am pretty sure I could just survive on sandwiches and hamburgers. Sure, it may not be the best thing for my health overall, but what is not to love about wither one. I guess when you think about it the burger is really just another form of a sandwich, but to me burgers seem to stand in a class all of their own. There are so many different things you can do with a burger. You can use any type of ground meat or vegetables to make a burger, use all different types of bread or rolls and the toppings are virtually endless. Burgers can be made any time of the year as well, even though they taste a lot better when they are made over a grill. I make burgers about every ten days or so for dinner because it is an easy meal and we all enjoy them, but you need to do something once in a while to change things up. So today and tomorrow I will be posting recipes where I changed up the burger idea slightly to try something new. This first recipe is from Cook’s Country for their All-American burger. I adapted it to be made indoors, but you can easily do this out on your grill for that great flavor.

All-American Burger

1 1/2 pounds 80% lean ground beef

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

8 strips cooked bacon, chopped fine

4 teaspoons yellow mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Break the ground beef into small pieces in a medium bowl. Add the cheddar cheese, bacon bits, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Using a fork, toss the meat and ingredients until everything is evenly distributed throughout the meat. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and lightly pack the meat into 1-inch thick patties.

With your thumb, make a small indentation into the center of each patty. Heat a grill pan or large skillet over medium heat and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place the burgers on the grill pan or in the skillet, flat side down, and cook, without pressing on the burgers, for 3 minutes. Flip the burgers over and continue to cook them until your desired doneness without pressing on the burgers, about 3 to 6 minutes. Remove the burgers from the grill pan or skillet and allow them to rest for 2 to 3 minutes before placing them on a bum. Serve with any toppings you desire.

The indentation does serve a purpose. This will help prevent the burgers from rising in the center and leave you with a flatter, more even burger when your are done. These burgers have great flavor (though I didn’t put cheese in mine). Michelle and Sean loved the mix of the bacon and cheese inside the burger and you didn’t have to worry about anything falling out. I loved the Worcestershire sauce and mustard inside the burger for some great added flavor to the meat. I actually made a new homemade onion rings recipe to go with the burgers that I will share with you on Monday.

That’s all I have for today. Check back tomorrow for another take on a burger recipe. The next one will involve a pork burger and I think you will like it, so check for that one .Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on March 1, 2014 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Grilling

Tags: all-american burgers, burger recipe, Cook's Country All-American burgers, hamburger recipe, hamburgers

Who Needs Take Out? Homemade Mu Shu Chicken

26 Feb

As much as we all love Chinese takeout, let’s face it – it can get expensive if you eat it too often and there are times that even when you get food from your favorite takeout place that the meal seems less than inspiring when you eat it. With that in mind, why not try to make some of your favorite meals right at home? Very often they are a lot easier to do than you think and even with all of the ingredients may cost less than what it would cost to get it from a takeout place. When I saw this Guy Fieri recipe for Mu Shu chicken, I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off since it involves making your Chinese pancakes, which are basically like crepes. As intimidating as the thought was, the reality seemed much easier and I wanted to give it a try.

Mu Shu Chicken

1/3 cup hoisin sauce, plus more for serving
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 red pepper, seeded, membrane removed, julienned
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 medium head green cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 medium head purple cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 cup julienned carrots
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/4 cup shaved bamboo shoots, drained
1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts, drained
4 eggs, beaten
2 recipes Chinese Crepes, recipe follows
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, optional
1 small bunch scallions, finely sliced, optional
Fresh cilantro leaves, for serving, optional
Sriracha, for serving, optional
For the Chinese Crepes:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 eggs

For the Mu Shu chicken: Whisk the hoisin, soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, garlic and ginger in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sliced chicken thighs and toss them to coat them evenly with the marinade. Marinate the chicken, covered, at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

Once 5 minutes of marinating time remains, heat a large skillet over high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil to heat. Using a slotted spoon, strain the chicken and add it to the very hot skillet. Cook, allowing the chicken to brown, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and the onion slices, allowing them to soften, and cook for another minute. Next, add the cabbages and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until just browning, about 2 minutes. Push the chicken and vegetables to the side of the skillet and stir in the mushrooms, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside, keeping the contents warm.

Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the beaten eggs to the skillet, allowing them to scramble, about 2 to 3 minutes. Once cooked, break up the eggs with a rubber spatula and add them to the chicken. Toss the mixture to combine.

Spread about 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce on each Chinese Crepes. Top with some mu shu chicken, sesame seeds and scallions. Add the cilantro leaves if desired. Roll up the crepe and serve with Sriracha if desired.

For the Chinese Crepes

:
In a medium glass mixing bowl, whisk the flours, salt, 1 cup of water, the sesame oil and the eggs; the batter should be smooth and free of lumps.

Heat a 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Very lightly coat the skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle in 1/4 cup of the batter. Gently rotate the skillet for a few seconds, swirling the batter to create a thin, even layer over the bottom. Cook the pancake until the underside is pale and just firmed up, about 1 minute.

Flip the pancake over and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove it from the skillet and transfer it to a plate and cover with a kitchen towel. Continue with the rest of the batter until all the pancakes have been made. Keep the pancakes warm until ready to serve.

This was a very tasty dish that was easy to make. Granted, there are a lot of ingredients involved and you need to leave yourself some time for some prep work to get everything together and ready to go so you can just cook. This is what you should do for every stir fry dish anyway because the actual cooking time is pretty small, usually smaller than the prep time. The taste of the sauce is fantastic and really adds to the chicken and there are tons of great vegetables in this dish. The crunch from the cabbage and the water chestnuts go great with the carrots and mushrooms and the chicken. As for the crepes, they were not hard to make at all. I only tore one in making them, and it was the first one I made. After that, I got the hang of it and make sure you let it cook the full minute before you try to flip it to make sure it flips nicely. Guy actually adds some sliced scallions to his crepes while they cook but I left them out this time since I was just trying to get them cooked successfully. I think they came out well and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I would definitely try making this one again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another great recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 26, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Vegetables

Tags: Chinese crepes, Guy Fieri, Guy Fieri mu shu chicken, mu shu chicken, mu shu chicken stir fry

Eat Your Peas and Carrots (Risotto)!

25 Feb

I have a lot of arborio rice on hand, which is the rice you want to use for risotto, and we all love risotto here, but it can be a bit of a chore to make. You need to commit to the constant stirring and adding of stock and then more stirring to make sure it comes out correctly, so it is not something I make very often. That being said, when I came across this recipe from Kitchen Daily the other day it seemed too good not to try and I liked the idea of it. The original recipe is for a fresh carrot risotto that makes use of carrot juice. Now, I don’t have carrot juice on hand nor do I have juicer. Remember, walk-in closet in my bedroom is as big as my kitchen, and neither is very big. So I decided to make a little bit of a change and call it a peas and carrots risotto. I swapped out the 2 cups of carrot juice for 4 large carrots instead and made it that way. I’ll include both options in the recipe so the choice is yours.

Peas and Carrots Risotto

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups fresh carrot juice (if using)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

4 large carrots, peeled and finely diced (if using)

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cups dry white wine

2 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 tablespoons butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup frozen peas

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the chicken stock and carrot juice, if using, to a simmer. Keep the pan warm.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the shallot and carrots, if using, and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the shallots are softened and the carrots are crisp-tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the arborio rice and cook, stirring the rice, until it turns slightly milky colored, about 1 minute. Add the white wine and 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the hot stock mixture, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly and adding more stock once it has been absorbed, about 20 minutes in total; the rice should be al dente and suspended in a thick, creamy sauce. Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and 1 tablespoon of the butter, season with salt and pepper to taste and stir until the mixture is creamy.

In a medium skillet, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the peas and season them with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat until the peas are warmed through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of white wine vinegar to the peas, then fold the peas into the risotto. Serve.

Admittedly the stirring is something of a pain but the end result is very worth it. You get a nice creamy risotto and this one has the great flavors of the peas and carrots. I can imagine that using the carrot juice would add even more flavor to the risotto. Since I didn’t use the carrot juice, I used 2 cups of stock in its place to make sure there was enough liquid to get the texture I wanted and we all really liked the taste with the peas and carrots. This one is definitely worth making again and you could certainly just eat the risotto as a meal on its own, but I served this with the glazed pork tenderloin that I posted the recipe for yesterday to make a really nice meal.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe as there is plenty still to come. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 25, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Rice

Tags: arborio rice, fresh carrot risotto, Kitchen Daily, peas and carrots risotto, risotto

Easy Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Pear and Thyme… Sort Of

24 Feb

When I had bought pork tenderloin a couple of weeks I froze one of the tenderloins, as I usually do, so we can make one for another meal on another night. I decided to use it the other night after I had seen this recipe from Williams-Sonoma, but I wanted to make a little change to it. The original recipe is a glazed pork tenderloin with pear and thyme, but since I am the only one who really likes to eat pears in out house (the other two just kind of tolerate them when I cook with them), I decided to change it up just slightly by using some apple instead. Apples go so well with pork anyone that it just seemed like an easy and smooth transition for this recipe. This one is very simple with just a few ingredients and can be done in about 30 minutes total, making it even better.

Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Pear and Thyme

1 pork tenderloin, about 1 pound, trimmed of excess fat

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 red onion, cut into 1/8-inch wedges

4 pears, cored and each cut into 8 wedges

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Leaves from 12 fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Season the pork tenderloin well with salt and the freshly ground black pepper to taste. In a ovenproof saute pan or cast iron pan set over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil until it is shimmering. Sear the pork tenderloin, turning it occasionally, until it is well browned, about 6 to 8 minutes total. Transfer the pork tenderloin to a plate.

Add the red onion and the pears to the pan and saute them for 1 minute. Return the pork to the pan and drizzle it with the honey and balsamic vinegar. Scatter the thyme leaves in the pan. Transfer the pork to the oven and roast it until the juices run clear when the pork is pierced with a knife, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Transfer the pork to a cutting board, cover it loosely with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Cut the pork into slices about 1/2 an inch thick. Divide the pork, pears and onion wedges among the individual plates, drizzle with the glaze from the pan and serve immediately.

As I noted early, I substituted 2 golden delicious apples that were cored for the pears and cut the apples into wedges and cooked the pork with them. While I think the dish would be great with pears, I think it turned out just fine with the apples instead. The mix of the honey and the balsamic vinegar made a great glaze for the pork and for the apples and the flavor was fantastic. The best part – it was done in 30 minutes and all I needed to do was add a couple of side dishes and we were good to go. Easy to make and a fast clean up.

That’s all I have for today. Check back tomorrow when I will go over one of the side dishes I made that was fantastic – a peas and carrots risotto. It’s a good one so you will want to check for that one. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 24, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Pork

Tags: glazed pork tenderloin, glazed pork tenderloin with apples, glazed pork tenderloin with pear and thyme, pork tenderloin, williams-sonoma

Martha My Dear – Martha Stewart’s Braised Chicken Thighs with Winter Vegetables

21 Feb

When I was looking for something to do recently with some of the chicken thighs that I had purchased, I was searching around for a new recipe and I came across this one from Martha Stewart. I don’t use a lot of her recipes very often but this one fit in perfectly with what I wanted to make and actually made use of the exact ingredients I wanted to use. I had some cabbage on hand along with some apples and I wanted to try to find a way to incorporate it all into my meal. This recipe, for braised chicken thighs with winter vegetables, is the perfect one pot meal to get everything done in one pan for easy clean up while still having great flavor.

Braised Chicken Thighs with Winter Vegetables

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

4 skinless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), patted dry

Salt and ground black pepper

3 slices bacon, diced medium

4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1 onion, cut into 3/4-inch wedges

1 russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

4 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 small green cabbage, cored and thick ribs removed, cut into 1/2-inch strips

1 apple, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large ovenproof pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and cook until they are browned on both sides, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Reduce the heat to medium and add the bacon and garlic. Cook until the bacon fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, potato and carrots and season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and stir in the cabbage, apple, red pepper flakes, chicken broth and Dijon mustard. Add the chicken thighs, nestling them into the vegetables and return the pan to the oven. Bake the chicken and vegetables until the chicken is cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into one of the chicken thighs registers 165 degrees, about 20 to 25 minutes. Stir the vegetables halfway through the cooking time to ensure they cook evenly.

The great thing about this meal, besides that it is all in one dish, is the great flavors that all work together in this one. You get a touch of smokiness from the bacon to go along with the great flavors from all of the vegetables, especially the cabbage. The apple also adds a nice tartness to the meal as well and you get just a hint of heat from the red pepper flakes. Best of all is you do not have to make any other side dishes to go along with the meal and you only have one pan to clean when everything is done. I don’t make enough use of cabbage and it is one of favorite vegetables so I hope to be using more of it in more recipes. In fact I just bought a red cabbage and a green cabbage today and have a plan to try a Mu Shu Chicken meal this weekend, so we’ll see how it goes. Anyway, this one was certainly a winner and you could just as easily do this with chicken drumsticks or breasts if you wanted to, though if you use bone-in breasts you may need to alter your cooking time slightly.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. There’s still lots of good stuff to come. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 21, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Vegetables

Tags: braised chicken thighs, braised chicken thighs with winter vegetables, cabbage, chicken thighs, Martha Stewart, one pot meals, winter vegetables

Time for Some Pork – Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apricot-Orange Glaze with Black Bean and Corn Relish

19 Feb

I love to make pork tenderloin because they can be made pretty quickly and easily during a weeknight and it feels like you are eating an elegant meal. I try to buy them when they are on sale, take one tenderloin out(they are almost always two to a package) and freeze the other for another night. When I went to make this one recently, I found two recipes I actually liked so I ended up combining their ideas into one singular recipe. I took a recipe idea from America’s Test Kitchen along with one from Every Day Health and came up with this roast pork tenderloin with an apricot-orange glaze and black bean and corn relish.

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apricot-Orange Glaze with Black Bean and Corn Relish

1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup apricot preserves

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup dried apricots, quartered

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups frozen corn kernels

1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup red onion, diced

1 small red, yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pat the pork tenderloin dry with paper towels, then season it with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat until it is just smoking. Brown the tenderloin on all sides, reducing the heat if the fat begins to smoke, about 10 minutes. Transfer the tenderloin to a plate and set it aside.

Combine the apricot preserves, orange juice, dried apricots and lemon juice in a bowl. Pour off all the fat from the skillet that held the tenderloin. Add the apricot mixture to the pan. scrape up any browned bits and simmer until the mixture is slightly thickened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Return the tenderloin to the skillet and coat it well with the glaze on all sides.. Roast the tenderloin in the oven until the center of the pork registers 135 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 15 to 18 minutes, turning the tenderloin halfway through the cooking time.

While the tenderloin is roasting, in a small saucepan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Add the red onion and the pepper and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 2 to 3 minutes.Add the black beans, frozen corn, garlic and drained tomatoes and bring the mixture to a simmer. Heat just until the corn is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Toss in the chopped parsley and mix and the refrigerate the relish for 30 minutes to blend the flavors.

Remove the tenderloin from the oven and transfer it to a cutting board. Tent the tenderloin with aluminum foil and let it rest until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 145 to 150 degrees before slicing, about 10 minutes. Slice the tenderloin and place it on a serving platter and then drizzle it with any remaining glaze that may be in the skillet. Serve the tenderloin with the black bean relish.

This is a very easy dinner that you can make in under an hour and it tastes great and looks like you put a lot of work into it. The glaze on the pork is super with the apricots and orange juice. I even added an apple to the glaze and baked it over the pork for some extra flavor. We all loved the black bean relish as well. It had incredible flavor and would be perfect as a side for a summer barbecue with ribs, hamburgers or even just as a great side for some Mexican food or even sandwiches. We ate the leftovers several times with other meals. You could use fresh corn for this as well and not cook anything in the recipe and simply combine all of the ingredients until they are well mixed if you wanted it that way or even give it a little heat by using hotter peppers in the relish instead of bell peppers. I also made some asparagus and rice to round out the meal.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. As usual there is always plenty more to come. If you ever have any recipes you might like to share, feel free to drop me a note in the comments section, send me an email at IguanaFlats@msn.com or send me a message on Facebook or Twitter. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 19, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Pork, Sauce, Side Dishes

Tags: americas test kitchen, apricot-orange glaze, black bean and corn relish, black bean relish, Every Day Health, pork tenderloin, roast pork tenderloin, roasted pork tenderloin, roasted pork tenderloin with apricot-orange glaze

Romance in the Air and On the Plate, Part 3 – Rib-Eye Steak with Pan Jus and Broiled Lobster Tails

17 Feb

On to the entrees! I made a pretty simple entrée for Valentine’s Day that you can make any time you want a nice steak for dinner, whether it is a special occasion or not. This simple recipe comes from Williams-Sonoma and makes a great steak with a nice pan sauce using some of the wine we had with dinner. I also added in a couple of lobster tails and I will share that recipe right after this one for the steak.

Rib-Eye Steak with Pan Jus

1 rib-eye steak, 18 to 20 ounces and about 1 1/2 inches thick

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 fresh rosemary sprig

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup beef or chicken stock

2 small fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Season the steak generously with salt and pepper. Pick the rosemary leaves from the stem and press them into the steak. In a ovenproof skillet or saute pan set over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Let the oil get quite hot but before it starts to smoke, sear and brown the steak on one side for about 1 minute. Turn the steak over and sear the other side for about 1 minute. Use tongs to hold the steak upright and sear the sides, about 1 minute per side.

Transfer the pan to the oven and roast the steak for 10 to 12 minutes for medium-rare, or until it is done to your particular liking. Press the center of the steak to gauge doneness; it will have some give for medium-rare, more firmness for medium. Transfer the steak to a cutting board, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let the steak rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the wine, stock and thyme sprigs to the drippings in the pan and place the pan over medium-high heat. Be careful not to burn yourself on the hot pan. Deglaze the pan, stirring with a wooden spatula to scrape up any browned bits, and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs.

Using a sharp knife, carve the steak across the grain into thin slices. Arrange the slices on warmed plates and spoon the pan juices over the top and serve.

Admittedly, a steak this size is pretty darn big and not something you are going to buy very often, but for a special occasion it is a nice treat. Also, using a big, thick steak like this does help you cook things perfectly so it comes out just right and will not disappoint. You will likely have leftovers (we sure did, even with 3 of us eating) so you can use them for a variety of other meals afterwards. There is nothing quite like a really good steak with a simple pan juice, and this one came out just perfectly.

As an added bonus for the meal I had picked up some frozen lobster tails that were on sale and thought we would have them as well. Sean had never had lobster and wanted to try it, and I didn’t really want to buy whole lobsters, so this was a good compromise. Frozen lobsters are not always great and sometimes turn out rubbery so you need to be careful in thawing them and re-heating them for a meal, unless you are planning to use them for something like a bisque. Take them out of the freezer the day before and let them thaw in the refrigerator so they won’t be tough. I did a simple broil with a quick little marinade first for some added flavor.

Broiled Lobster Tails

3-4 frozen lobster tails, about 5 ounces each

1 medium onion, sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon paprika

Wash the lobster tails and careful cut through the center membrane along the belly of the lobster to expose the meat.Place the sliced onion, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and paprika in a bowl and mix well. Place the lobster tails in the mixture and toss with the mix. Refrigerate the lobster tails in the mix in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Preheat the broiler for 10 minutes.

In a broiler safe dish, place the lobster tails with the hard shell facing down and pour half of the marinade over the lobsters. Broil the lobster tails for 4 minutes. Turn the lobsters so the shell is facing up and broil them for another 5 minutes. Turn the lobsters again, add the remaining marinade over the lobster tails and broil for 3 more minutes and then serve.

These were a nice treat and the marinade helped to add some nice color and flavor to the lobster meat. They were just the right size for the meal and did not come out overcooked, which I was worried about. They were quite tasty and Sean really enjoyed it for his taste of lobster, so I’ll have to look for when they are on sale again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. I still have some dessert that we had for the night to share with you. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on February 17, 2014 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Holidays, Seafood

Tags: broiled lobster tails, frozen lobster tails, frozen lobster tails broiled, rib-eye steak, rib-eye steak with pan jus, williams-sonoma

Romance in the Air and On the Plate, Part 2 – Garlic-Thyme Smashed Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach with Garlic

16 Feb

A nice romantic meal needs some good side dishes, but you also want to keep in mind that you want the meal to be elegant but easy too. It’s not much fun if you have to spend hours in the kitchen cooking and then by the time you eat you are too exhausted to enjoy it. That’s why these sides were great to make. They go perfectly with the beef we had for the meal (recipe to come tomorrow) and both were made very easily. The first is for garlic-thyme smashed potatoes that you can do simply on the stove top with just a few ingredients.

Garlic-Thyme Smashed Potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound baby Yukon Gold potatoes, each about 1-inch in diameter

1 cup water

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

In a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the potatoes and water and season the potatoes generously with the kosher salt and ground black pepper. Cover the skillet and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and smash the potatoes lightly with a spatula or potato masher. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and cook, uncovered, until the potatoes are beginning to brown underneath, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and cook, stirring constantly, until the herbs are fragrant, about 1 minute. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and serve.

The potatoes get a great crust on them that make them nice and crunchy and the taste of the garlic and thyme goes perfectly with the rest of the meal. You can make these any time and I think they would go perfectly with any beef, pork or poultry meal.

The next dish was a very easy sautéed spinach with garlic. We make spinach pretty often and this is probably my favorite way to have it. You can cook this in under 5 minutes and have it on the table and it is a great, fresh alternative for a vegetable that night.

Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, trimmed and washed

Kosher salt, to taste

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil until it is shimmering. Add the sliced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the spinach in batches and cook until it is wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt to taste and serve.

A couple of things about the spinach. Make sure you wash it in a salad spinner or rinse it off before you cook it. Even the stuff that comes in a bag and says it is washed can still be gritty, so it never hurts to give it an extra rinse and dry it off. You also want to make sure you stir the garlic well when you put it in so it does not brown, burn and get bitter. It might not seem like all of the spinach will fit in one pan but spinach cooks down very quickly so you should have no problem. Spinach and garlic go together really well so this is the perfect side dish any night of the week, and is a classic side dish with steak or beef.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. I’ll be highlighting the main point of our Valentine’s Day dinner, the rib-eye steak and the broiled lobster tails. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 16, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Holidays, Potatoes, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Tags: garlic-thyme smashed potatoes, sauteed spinach, sauteed spinach with garlic, smashed potatoes, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day menu

Romance in the Air and On the Plate, Part 1 – Roasted Beet Salad

15 Feb

Even though the weather around here has been absolutely atrocious this week, I had planned Valentine’s Day dinner late last week, of the ingredients I needed last week or early in the week and I was completely prepared to make everything. I even put extra hours of work in so I could be sure I had enough time to cook everything and spent the better part of the afternoon preparing everything. We had a nice, elegant meal for the three of us, something we do not do too often and it tasted great and was fun. I’ll be sharing the recipes I made over the next several days, so we may as well start off with the salad. The original thought for the recipe comes from Williams-Sonoma, but I actually ended up changing quite a bit of it because Michelle is not a big fan of a couple of the ingredients, so I did switch some things around for this roasted beet salad. I’ll give you the original recipe and then let you know what I did to change it around.

Roasted Beet Salad

3 golden beets, trimmed and washed

6 red beets, trimmed and washed

1/2 cup olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

5 tablespoons creme fraiche

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

2 teaspoons minced shallots

4 cups baby watercress

4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

1/3 cup toasted chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the golden and red beets on a baking sheet. Coat the beets with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and season them well with the kosher salt and black pepper. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil and roast until the beets are fork tender, about 1 hour. When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel the beets and cut them into 1-inch wedges.

Meanwhile, combine the lemon juice, creme fraiche, the remaining 5 tablespoons of olive oil, the dill and the shallots in the blended or food processor. Blend or emulsify the ingredients until they are well mixed and season the vinaigrette with kosher salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange the beet wedges in a layer on a platter and top them with the watercress. Garnish with the goat cheese and toasted walnuts. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and serve.

Okay, looking back at this I made quite a few changes to the recipe. First, I could only find red beets in my area so that is what I used. I would have loved to have the golden ones too, but it just wasn’t happening this time. Next, I omitted the goat cheese and the toasted walnuts. Michelle doesn’t like either one of them so they both went out. I also couldn’t locate any creme fraiche in the area so I had to make my own using equal parts of sour cream and heavy cream and mixing them together. It turned out just fine and was perfect to use. Finally, I hated to waste the beet greens so I decided to use them in the salad with the watercress. One thing to not about beet greens – they are very dirty and need extensive washing and spinning in the salad spinner if you have one. Also, they can be quite bitter when they are raw so if you don’t like the bitter flavor you can try blanching them or even wilting them a little in a saute pan for a few minutes. They are too tasty to waste though and make a nice addition to the meal if you can use them. We all loved the beets and always forget how great roasted beets can taste. I really need to buy them more often to make them. I really enjoyed the dressing as well with the shallots and dill adding some great flavor and I can see how the goat cheese and walnuts would add a lot to this salad. It was good as we had it, but the additions would make it even better. The picture I took does not have the dressing on it yet and you can really only see the beets and beet greens so it doesn’t do it justice.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for the next part of the dinner menu. I’ll be going over the two sides we had with the meal – sautéed spinach with garlic and garlic-thyme smashed potatoes. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on February 15, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Dressings, Holidays, Salad

Tags: creme fraiche, creme fraiche vinaigrette, roasted beet salad, roasted beets, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day meal, Valentine's Day menu, williams-sonoma

A Quick Week Night Meal – Stir-Fried Beef with Onions and Ginger

13 Feb

As I have written about before, I make a lot of stir fry dinners. They are a great way to do an easy weeknight meal in a flash and you can use just about any ingredients you happen to have on hand to make a good combination for a meal. All you need after that is some rice and you can have your dinner on the table in under 30 minutes if you time everything right. You can even make things easier for yourself if you want and keep a bag of frozen sir fry vegetables around just for such an occasion. For this recipe, which I got from Mark Bittman, I used a company of some fresh with some frozen even though his original recipe doesn’t really call for any vegetables at all. it is a quick beef stir fry with onions and ginger that you can make yourself and will taste better than any takeout that you can get that will cost you even more. I did alter his original recipe by marinating the beef for a bit first. I was using a London broil and wanted to break it down some and impart some flavor, so that is what I did. You can always just use the beef on its own if you prefer and ignore my marinating instructions.

Stir-Fried Beef with Onions and Ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup red wine

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon honey

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 to 2 1/2 pounds top round London broil or flank steak

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large or 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh or frozen vegetables, cut to bite size

1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced or grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup beef or chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce or soy sauce

To marinade the beef, mix together all of the ingredients except for the meat. Place the meat in a shallow dish and cover it with the marinade. Cover the meat with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but no more than 24 hours.

Remove the meat from the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature before cooking.

Slice the beef as thinly as you can, across the grain. It’s easier if you freeze it for 15 to 30 minutes first. Cut the slices into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat a large skillet over high heat until it smokes, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the onions. Stir immediately, then stir every 30 seconds or so until the onions soften and begin to char slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle the onions with salt and pepper, then remove them; keep the heat high.

Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the pan and then add the vegetables. Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are heated through and crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set them aside.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, then the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the ginger; stir and immediately add the beef. Stir immediately, then stir every 20 seconds or so until it loses its color, just a minute or two longer; stir in the onions and the vegetables. Add the stock, hoisin, and remaining teaspoon of ginger; let some of the liquid bubble away and serve immediately, over rice.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make it all very quickly and it tastes fantastic. if you don’t want to use beef, you can just as easily use pork, chicken or shrimp or even just make all vegetables if that is what you prefer. You will still get great flavor from the sauce to help things along. I make about one stir fry a week because it is so easy and very often just use whatever leftover protein I have along with some leftover vegetables and put together a sauce of whatever I feel like having that night.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. If you are in the middle of this blizzard like we are, stay warm and safe. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!