Steak Pizzaiola

Yes, I think I have a food blog! Where the hell have I been?  Lots going on and unfortunately, this blog has not been a priority.

Anyway, tonight I picked up a Steak from Ferraro's. The butcher said it would be perfect for Steak Pizzaiola. He was right!

I sauteed onions in olive oil. Then I added the steak and seared it on both sides. Next, I added the tomatoes. Crushed tomatoes. Seasoned the pan with salt, pepper, oregano, basil and added a splash of red wine. I covered the pan and simmered the sauce for about 10 minutes. The meat was cooked perfectly and the sauce was amazing! 

Roasted Sausage, Potato, Shallots and Bread

Today was not Black Friday at our house. It was Flour and Sugar Friday. I mixed and froze cookie dough for 6 cookies. There are 2 more that need to be made. I will bake the cookies probably the weekend of the 15th. Needless to say I needed a hands free dinner for tonight. This recipe fit the bill perfectly. And there were no leftovers so I guess it was a hit! This was a twist on a Smitten Kitchen recipe. I think Chris was glad I did not add the Arugula!

I cut potatoes and shallots. I put them on a baking sheet and tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper. I roasted them at 425˚ for 10 minutes. Then I added sausage links, brushed with olive oil, and some cubed ciabiatta bread. The pan went back into the oven for 25 minutes. I adjusted the salt and pepper and it went directly on the table where it quickly disappeared!!

Fresh Market Chicken Pot Pie

This was the best Chicken Pot Pie I have had in a long time. It has been a while since I have made one of my own but damn this was so good! It may have been that it had the top and bottom crust that gave it the over the top taste. Next time I will try it on my recipe. This was not bad at all for a store made meal.

Mom's Baked Macaroni

The best. Just the best Baked Macaroni recipe ever!

The recipe -
Boil 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
Grease Pyrex loaf pan.
Alternate layers of macaroni and American cheese starting with the macaroni.
Break 3 eggs and pour over macaroni. Fill baking dish with milk to almost cover macaroni.
Top with bread crumbs, and parsley. Bake 350 degrees until set, usually about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Honestly that is the way the recipe was given to me.
It is pretty forgiving. Just boil macaroni and add cheese. I have used what ever cheese I have in the house. Mom used American. It is a good basic recipe you can build to fit your taste.

Steak Marinara

On a Tuesday night!! Yes! This is an under 30-minute meal. Delicious! I found the recipe on the All Recipes site. Rave reviews from the chorus. And easy as pie.

Your cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your steaks. Serve with noodles and a nice bottle of red wine.

Steak Marinara

Ingredients-
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 top sirloin steaks, not too thick
1 1/2 cup chunky pasta sauce
1/4 cup red wine
salt and pepper

Method-
Salt and pepper both sides of the steaks.
Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the steak, turning so that all sides get browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce, red wine. Reduce heat to low for 5 minutes, or until the steak is cooked through.

Classic Osso Buco

Yesterday I was out shopping with my sister and on the way home, we stopped at Ferrarro's Meat Market. I was hoping to pick up sandwich steaks for tonight's dinner. What I got instead was Osso Buco. Wow! What a fantastic dinner! I found an easy recipe on the Cooking with Nonna site. So good!

Classic Osso Buco from Rossella’s Cooking with Nonna.

Ingredients-
4 veal shank steaks approx 1 inch thick
2 cups tomato sauce
1 cup red wine
3 carrots diced
2 potatoes diced
2 celery stalks diced
1 large onion diced
3 bay leaves
all-purpose flour for dredging meat
salt and pepper


Method-
Preheat oven to 350˚F
Dredge shanks lightly with flour and fry in olive oil until browned on both sides, place in a roasting pan.
Saute all veggies in the same pan until slightly soft approx 8 minutes.
Add sauce and wine and cook an additional 5 minutes
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pour veggies over veal shanks in roasting pan and add the bay leaves.
Cover and place in oven for approx. 1 hour.
Remove cover and roast for 25 minutes.
The osso buco should be fork tender with a thick sauce and tender veggies.

I made Roasted Brussel Spouts and Aborio Rice as sides. Perfect dinner!

For breakfast, I made Brown Sugar Apple and Cinnamon Chip Scones. Loved these!! I have been looking for Cinnamon Chips at every local store I go into. I can never find them. Until I checked Amazon. Yup. Found them!

I was going to make just Cinnamon Chip Scones but then I noticed the apples on the counter. What happened next resulted in the best scones I have ever made.

Brown Sugar Apple and Cinnamon Chip Scones

Ingredients-
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda, sieved
0.5 tsp salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 c diced apple
1c cinnamon chips (see note)
1 egg, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c buttermilk
raw sugar for dusting

Method-
Combine the flour, baking powder, and soda, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the cinnamon chips. Stir in diced apple. Combine the egg yolk, the vanilla, and the buttermilk; stir this into the dry ingredients until just combined. Turn the dough out onto a lightly flowered surface and knead for 6-10 turns. Divide the dough in half and pat each half into a 6-7 inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Brush each circle with lightly beaten egg white, dust it with sugar and transfer the wedges to an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack; after 5 minutes, cover loosely with a dish towel until completely cool.

My Favorite Saturday Night Dinner

I love breaded Pork Chops. First into egg wash then coat with a mixture of plain breadcrumbs and panko breadcrumbs seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, sage, and parley. I brown them up in a saute pan and finish cooking them in the oven. The breading is crisp and the meat is moist. Bone-in is the way to go. All you need is applesauce. Next time I will try to make some homemade applesauce.

Scallops with Fettuccine

Happy Anniversary! 27 years. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers at work and chocolate covered strawberries. Oh My!!! Shari's Berries are the bomb!

Back to dinner. Chris has a friend who got us some freshly caught scallops from Stonington, CT, right off the boat. I found a recipe for Pan Seared Scallops. Chris said he would like them with homemade pasta. Yes, I have homemade pasta in the freezer. 

I followed the recipe for Pan Seared Scallops closely. Scallops are a high anxiety dish. I sauteed the scallops 2 minutes per side and put them on a plate covered with foil while I made the sauce. I added a little more butter and wine and some pasta water to the saute pan than the recipe called for.

I can not tell you how really good this was. The scallops were cooked perfectly and combining them with the sauce and the pasta was sublime. The flavors melded together perfectly.

This could become an anniversary tradition. We enjoyed dinner with a lovely bottle of wine from the owner of the company where I work. Delicious!!!

Zucchini, Onion, and Red Pepper Tart

I love tarts, quiche, pot pie. Just anything that has a crust and I am in love. This recipe was inspired by the post for Sweet Pepper, Zucchini and Onion Tart. My version is not gluten-free. The crust is the usual Pate Brisse. For cheeses, I used feta instead of the chèvre. Close enough. 

Here is the recipe for constructing the tart with my changes -

I made the crust and blind baked it.

Cut the peppers lengthwise. Carve out and discard the stem portion and the seeds and ribbing inside. Cut each half in half crosswise and finally slice each piece into short ribbons no wider than 1/4 inch.

Trim zucchini top and bottom, quarter lengthwise, then cut into 1/8 inch.

Warm up the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion to the skillet, stir to coat and let cook on medium-low heat for a couple of minutes.

Five minutes after you started cooking the onion, add the peppers, stir and continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes later, add the zucchini, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover and cook on gentle heat until the peppers are of the desired tenderness (20-25 minutes). Every few minutes uncover and stir.

When the peppers are ready, sprinkle the salt, adjusting the amount to your taste and stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Let cool, then add the goat and stir well to distribute it evenly.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Transfer the filling on the prepared crust and distribute it evenly. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top.

Bake for 30-32 minutes. Take out of the oven, slice and serve right away.

Frittata Night

We have not had a frittata in a while.  I use to make the frittata on the weekend and serve it later in the week for dinner. Now with the job closer to home, I can cook one up fresh for dinner. It does taste better. Tonight we kept it simple. Zucchini, onion and red pepper. Oh yes, there was also the prosciutto.