.filet mignon with madeira sauce.

*rubbing hands together*

I have to tell you all, this steak was FANTASTIC!  The filet was so tender, you could cut it with the side of your fork!  The only bad thing?  We were so full from eating salad and crab cakes we could only eat a very small bit of our steak and potatoes before we had to stop. LOL

If you don't have a grill, or it's just too cold to grill, you can use a skillet.  I bought a grill pan for this and it worked great.... except for the stupid $200 Viking hood that ISNT HOOKED UP.  Yep.  I turned on my fan but as soon as I put the steaks on, the house started smoking up.  I checked and there is no vent tubing taking the SMOKE OUTSIDE.  So I need to contact the builder and have him come fix that.  What a nuisance.  Grrrr... but the steaks were fabulous and the Madeira sauce was the perfect companion for the meat and potatoes.  I know you will agree.

You really do need to use Madeira wine.  You will not get the same flavor if you use something else, but if you really need to use something different, I suggest a port.  Port wine reduction works for steak, right?

Put 1 1/2 cups Madeira wine and one chopped onion in a saucepan.  Turn on medium to medium high heat.  Let this cook down.

See how reduced down that is?  Doing this intensifies the flavor and the alcohol cooks out.  It has now been infused with the onion so there's a lot going on here.  Once it gets to this point, turn the heat to very very low.

Once the Madeira has reduced, put 3 Tbsp butter in a skillet and saute up 1 cup mushrooms (can be omitted).  Saute until they are nice and brown.

Sprinkle 2 Tbsp flour over the mushrooms and cook the flour for a minute, while whisking.

Now pour in 1 1/2 cups beef stock.  This will begin thickening up almost immediately.  Make sure you keep whisking so you can work out any lumps. After a minute, pour in the Madeira reduction.

Taste and season with salt and pepper.  

At this point I transferred the sauce to an oven safe bowl, put a piece of foil over the top and held in a low temp oven to stay warm.

Remember when cooking steak... let it sit out for about 30 minutes before grilling.  This relaxes the meat, which ensures it will be very very tender.  Again, we're using Filet Mignon, which is pricey, so make sure you don't destroy it by overcooking.

Before putting on the HOT grill, I seasoned well with salt and pepper.  I did put a little oil on the pan before putting the steaks down to ensure they don't stick.

Grill on one side for 3 minutes, then flip over and sear the other side for 3 minutes.  Then flip *back* over, putting it on another diagonal to give you criss cross grill markings.  Grill again on that side for 3 minutes, and repeat for the other side.  That should be enough for a perfect medium rare steak.  If you want your steak done a little more, then cook a little longer on each side.

When these were done grilling (and all the smoke was cleared out of the house. LOL), I put them on a plate and held them in the oven to "rest" and stay warm.

Serve with a helping of roasted garlic mashed potatoes and put some of that delicious Madeira sauce on top.  Visual presentation is just as important as flavor, so when plating, stick a little sprig of fresh thyme in the mashed potatoes (see picture at top).  You will really impress your Valentine with all your cheffy skills!!!

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_140hc3fdvc9

.cajun chicken pasta w/ roasted red pepper sauce.

I received an email the other day asking if I had a cajun chicken pasta recipe that I would be willing to share. Well, I didn't, but I am *always* looking for new dinner ideas and thought this would be a good one. I didn't want to do a basic cream sauce so I took it one step further and made a roasted red pepper cream sauce that was out of this world! A little kick and oh yah..

This recipe doesn't take that long to make. You just have to remember to make your rub and coat the chicken the night before so it has enough time to marinate. You can have this on your table in under an hour!


In a large ziploc, put 4 Tbsp paprika, 2 Tbsp salt, 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp black pepper, 2 Tbsp onion powder, 1 1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper, and 2 tsp thyme. Shake it up to mix everything together.

Put two chicken breasts in the bag and shake to coat. Seal well and hold in the fridge overnight.


Before grilling, scrape off some of the rub so it's not all caked on. Grill on high to sear each side, then lower the temp and cook through. Once cooked, pull from the grill and bring inside.


Once the chicken has rested for a few minutes, shred using two forks. I left the pieces in bite sized portions. I didn't want it *too* shredded. Set aside.


Mince one shallot.

Mince 3-4 cloves garlic.


Take a jar of roasted red peppers and drain completely. Roughly chop the peppers.


This is the pasta I used. You can use fettuccine or any kind you want.


Bring salt water to a boil and cook the whole box of pasta for 12-14 minutes. Once cooked, drain well.

While that cooks we're going to make the sauce.


Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.


Add the shallot, garlic, and peppers. Cook over medium heat and let them sweat for about 5 minutes. You don't want the heat too high. Sauteing (like I usually do) seals in the flavor. Sweating the garlic and shallots releases and mellows the flavor. That's what we want!


Season with a little salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Don't use too much pepper! You want a little heat, not too much.


After those 5 minutes, put everything into a blender. Put the lid on and start blending.


Make sure you're careful with this step! Slowly add a pint of cream through the top hole. Make sure you keep the cap on and drizzle that cream in because it will shoot up at you.


Pour the sauce back into the skillet and put over low heat to reheat a little.


Grate about 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.


Add the cooked pasta and parmesan to the sauce and toss everything together well.


Add the shredded chicken. Toss well.


Chop a little parsley and add to the pan. Toss well again.

Plate up and garnish with a little more grated parmesan and a sprig of parsley.

Thank you Celeste for the email and I hope your family enjoys this dish as much as we did. It's definitely going to be made again and again here! If you're low carbing like I'm doing, you can just leave out the pasta on your plate. The chicken and sauce are great by themselves.

Serve with salad.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_107dr5m2mcg

.goldenrod eggs.

When I married my husband, I learned there were certain foods that he grew up with, that I needed to learn to make and incorporate into my repertoire.. as limited as it was back then. One such dish was a breakfast meal of hard boiled eggs, white sauce, and toast. I'm not a big fan of hard boiled eggs, so we don't have this very often.

But last weekend I was feeling bad for being a neglectful wife and thought he would really enjoy this. Come to find out my oldest daughter really REALLY loved this. So I'm sure I'll have to make it more often now. LOL


Put some eggs in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and turn the burner off. Let sit there for 10 minutes. Drain and then put under a cold tap. You need to cool these down enough to cut up.


Peel the eggs then cut out the yolk centers. Put the centers in a bowl or plate.


Chop up the egg whites.


Mash up the egg yolks with a fork. You don't want them too smooshed. You want them fluffy.


In a saucepan, put 1/4 cup butter. Melt.


Add 1/4 cup flour and stir in. Keep stirring with a whisk while the flour cooks into the butter. This is called a roux (pronounced "roo")


After the flour cooks for about 3 minutes, add 2 cups milk. Make sure you whisk while you add or else you could end up with a lumpy sauce and we can't have that!


Season well with salt and pepper.


Keep cooking over medium to medium high heat, stirring constantly until it becomes thick. Not *too* thick, but thick enough to coat a spoon or the blades of the whisk.


Add the chopped egg whites and mix in.


Pop some bread in the toaster.

Now you can leave your bread in whole slices, or you can break it up like we do.

Ladle some of the white sauce over the top.

Sprinkle some egg yolk over the top.

Serve immediately!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_89frnj89df

.lettuce wraps.

I know my friend, Heidi, won't like this recipe because she got sick on lettuce wraps at P.F. Changs way back when. Me on the other hand.. LOVE THEM!


I was at Chili's last week having lunch with my girlfriends and I had some lettuce wraps. I thought it might be fun to find a recipe and make them for my family.


This is kind of a mock up of the Chili's recipe. I added and changed a few things and I must say the results were awesome. This is a spicy dish. If you can't tolerate spice, omit the chili oil and red pepper flakes. I didn't think it would be as hot as it was, but after taking a few bites, I took the plate away from my daughter and let her have chicken nuggets.


This dish might seem time consuming. The sauces can be made the day before and then heated up prior to serving. It took me about an hour and half from start to finish.
Let's start with our sauces.



Make them all at the same time. Put three saucepans in front of you. In the first one, we're going to make the Stir Fry Sauce.



In a small bowl, put 1/4 cup cold water and 1 tsp cornstarch. Mix well with a fork.

In the saucepan put:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. rice wine vinegar
1/3 c. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp chili oil
1/2 tsp grated ginger

For the ginger, prep a bunch of it so you don't have to keep grating it.
Just peel some fresh gingerroot and use the fine grate. I love fresh ginger. The flavor is out of this world!
Put the saucepan on the stove and heat over medium. Bring to a boil and add the water/cornstarch. Let reduce down until a little thick. Turn off the heat and set aside.



Chop a little parsley. Put in saucepan #2.
We're going to make the Sesame Ginger Dipping Sauce now.
Using the same bowl you made the water/cornstarch. Do it again. Put 1/4 c. water and 1 tsp cornstarch in the bowl. Mix well using a fork.

In the saucepan you put the parsley, add:
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. rice wine vinegar
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp minced garlic
1 dash red pepper flakes



Put this pan on the stove and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil and add the water/cornstarch. Mix while it boils and it will thicken. Remove from heat. Set aside.


Now for the final sauce. Peanut Dipping Sauce.



In saucepan #3, put:
1/2 c. peanut butter (creamy)
1/3 c. water
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp chili oil
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp brown sugar


Put on the stove over medium heat. Let it cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.



These are water chestnuts. They are yummy and crunchy. They'll add a nice contrast in texture.
Drain the water from the can. We need 1/4 cup chopped up. Put in a small bowl or on a plate. We'll need them when it comes time to fry.

Cutting on a diagonal, cut 6 green onion. The asian countries sure like their veggies pretty in their food. You could cut these straight, but why? Might as well have some fun with it! :D

See what I mean? They look so pretty even sitting in a bowl!
Put these in a bowl or on the same plate as the water chestnuts.



I forgot to take a picture of this step, but chop up some cilantro. (about 1/4 cup)
Put that on the plate or in its own bowl.



Cut up three boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You don't want the pieces too big otherwise they'll be too big for the lettuce leaves.
















Grate 2 carrots. If you want, buy the pre-shredded carrots at the store. It'll save you a few minutes from peeling and grating by hand.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat.

Add the chicken and stir to cook all the sides.

When all the sides are just barely white, add half of the stir fry sauce. Stir to coat the chicken.

Add the water chestnuts. Cook with the chicken for 5 minutes. At this time, add the rest of the stir fry sauce.

Add the green onion. Mix in and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the cilantro.

Now add 1/4 c. peanuts. Toss everything together.

Keep cooking this for another couple minutes until the liquid has become slightly thickened. Remove from the heat.
















If you made your sauces the day before, pull them out of the fridge and heat in the microwave for a minute. Put them in serving bowls.









On your plates, put Bibb lettuce leaves in a fan-like fashion to one side. It's all about drama folks. Let's make our food pretty!
















Put a handful of carrots on the plate and spread out on the other side. Spoon some of the chicken on top of the carrots. Serve immediately!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_58mc3tr2ds