And Then There Was Salad

Last night's dinner leftovers became tonight's salad.

Sheet Pan Steak and Potatoes

Skirt Steak is one of my favorite cuts of meat. When I saw it was on sale this week and a recipe popped up that was pretty close to a 30 Minute meal I was delighted. The recipe was from EatingWell.com.

I marinated the steak before I left for work. When I got home I was able to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes. I think this is going to be made more quite often.

Ingredients-
3/4 pound potatoes, cut into ½-inch wedges
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
¾ teaspoon salt, divided
¾ teaspoon ground pepper, divided
2 cups Green Beans
1 pounds skirt steak, trimmed
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

Method-
In the morning, marinate the Skirt Steak in Olive Oil, salt, pepper, and fresh Rosemary.

Take the steak out of the refrigerator when you get home.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper in a large bowl. Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes.

Toss Green Beans with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper in the bowl. Stir into the potatoes on the baking sheet.

Place the steak on top of the vegetables. Roast until the steak is cooked and the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes more. Transfer the steak to a serving platter. Stir blue cheese into the vegetables and serve with the steak.

Veal Stew with Potatoes, Tomatoes and Oregano

This photo does not do this dinner justice. 

This meal was prepared yesterday. I was going to follow the recipe and bake it in the oven. But suddenly it was summer again. The air conditioning went on, and oven cooking not happening. 

But we have the slow cooker. I browned the veal and the onions on the stovetop and then everything went into the slow cooker.

Yesterday being a football day I made Pizza Roll-up as an appetizer. No, I did not take a photo. Too bad as they were quite good. After devouring them we did not want dinner. So we had the stew tonight.

Tonight we reheated the stew and Wow!! Really good. The meat was so tender. The only thing is I should have increased the salt and pepper. 

This recipe is from a 1997 issue of Bon Appetit that I was holding onto. It was the Italian Countryside Edition. I remember my mom made Veal Stew quite often when I was little. I have never tried making it. When I was flipping through the magazine I notice this recipe. The plus was that it was from the Campania Region.

On a side note, I have been subscribing to Bon Appetit for a number of years. My question is where have all the recipes gone? This is a photo of this months recipe list and the recipe list from May 1997.

Veal Stew with Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Oregano

Ingredients-

1/4 cup olive oil

2 pounds veal stew meat, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces

16 boiling onions, peeled

1 1/4 pounds large red-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 1 tablespoon dried

1 1/2 12-ounce baskets cherry tomatoes, stemmed, halved

Method-

Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle veal generously with salt and pepper. Add veal and onions to pot. Sauté until veal is no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Mix in potatoes and oregano, then tomatoes. Bring stew to simmer. Cover pot; transfer to oven. Bake until veal and vegetables are tender, about 2 hours. Season stew to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle stew into shallow soup bowls and serve.

Slow Cooker Method-

Heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle veal generously with salt and pepper. Add veal and onions to pot. Sauté until veal is no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Season stew to taste with salt and pepper.

Put potatoes and oregano, then tomatoes in the crockpot. Add veal and onions.  Cook on Low for 4 to 5 hours, I went for just 4 hours.

Ladle stew into shallow soup bowls and serve.

Taco Casserole

Thank you for this recipe Martha Stewart!

I got home at 6pm and had dinner on the table by 6:45pm. One frying pan and one baking dish. Taco Casserole from Martha Stewart recipe can be found here.

I did make a couple of changes the recipe. I sauteed the beef, peppers, and onions together. All at the same time. No harm is done.

And for the next time, do not use Nacho Chips. Use Fritos. Yes, Fritos.

Rye Bread

First Bread of the Fall. Sandwich Rye Bread. Recipe from King Arthur Flour. Dill pickle juice! I was hesitant but what the heck. The result was a very tasty bread. The dough was easy to handle and when baked the crumb was perfect.

This is my version of the King Arthur recipe -

Ingredients-
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast or active dry yeast
2/3 cup to 7/8 cup lukewarm water*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup dill pickle juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard
3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 1/3 cups Rye Flour

Method-
Combine all of the dough ingredients, and mix until clumps form; the dough may seem dry at this point. Let it rest for 20 minutes, for the flour to start to absorb the liquid.

Knead the dough—by mixer to make a stiff, but fairly smooth dough. It'll take about 7 minutes in a stand mixer at second speed, using the dough hook. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl; if it doesn't sprinkle in a bit more all-purpose flour. It is not recommended to knead this dough by hand, as it's hard to develop the gluten sufficiently.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise till it's puffy, about 1 to 2 hours. It may or may not have doubled in bulk, but it definitely will have expanded.

Gently deflate the dough, and shape it into a log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan (for a stiffer dough), or 9" x 5" loaf pan (for a slacker dough). Press it to the edges of the pan, and flatten the top.

Tent the pan with greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaf to rise till it's crowned about 1" to 1 1/2" over the edge of the pan, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 20 minutes. Tent it lightly with foil, and bake for an additional 20 minutes. When done the bread will be golden brown, and its internal temperature will register 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.

Remove the bread from the oven, wait 5 minutes, remove it from the pan, and allow it to cool completely on a rack before slicing. Store for up to a week at cool room temperature.

Breaded Pork Chops and Three Apple Slaw

The fall menu is here!
First up. One of my favorites. Breaded Pork Chops. These were not that thick so I was able to cook them in the pan on the stovetop. Dredge in flour, next in egg wash and then coat with a breadcrumb mixture of panko breadcrumbs, chopped rosemary, thyme and parsley (from our deck garden), and salt and pepper. A little olive oil in the pan and brown the pork chops.

For a side dish, I tried something new. A Three Apple Slaw. I found this recipe on Food and Wine. 

I used sesame seeds in place of the poppy seeds. This was not a bad dish. One side of the table was more excited about it than the other side. I think the apples should have been cold. That may have helped it.

Chicken Parmesan

A damn good dinner if I do say so myself. 

I had taken the prepared Chicken Cutlets out of the freezer this morning along with a small container of "The Sauce". The dish was assembled and heated in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375˚. The chicken was perfectly moist. The breading was crispy and the sauce, well that is always spot on.

I also had some zucchini fritters in the freezer. They were the perfect side dish. The recipe is an oldie from the Martha Steward Magazine. I think I first saw it in the '90s. Luckily I found it online.

Breakfast Time

Noticeably cooler yesterday and today. Seemed like Cinnamon Scone weather. I absolutely love this recipe. It is from 101Sweets.com. I think that is the original post. This is the link that I found it on, Click Here. I did make a couple of changes from the original recipe.

I did not have buttermilk, I usually make a substitute of milk and lemon juice for buttermilk. But this time I used plain yogurt.

Maura, the woman who cuts my hair, said when she makes scones she freezes the butter and then uses a food grater to shred it into the flour. I was intrigued. I tried it and love the results.

I decided to make smaller scones, not using my scone pan. This time I used my food scale and measured 16 pieces out and shaped them into circles using a biscuit/cookie cutter.

This is my version -

Cinnamon Chip Scones -
(makes 16)

Ingredients-

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar, plus additional for dusting
1 stick butter, freeze before using
1 cup cinnamon chips 
1 egg, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain yogurt

Method-
Combine the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and sugar. 
Shred the butter using a grater. 
Mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. 
Stir in the cinnamon chips. 
Combine the egg yolk, the vanilla and the yogurt; stir this into the dry ingredients until just combined. 
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6-10 turns. 
Divide the dough into 16 pieces. I used a food scale for this. 
Shape each piece into a circle, here I used a biscuit cutter.
Brush each circle with lightly beaten egg white, dust it with sugar and transfer the scones to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

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.

You can freeze what you do not need, unless you want to eat them all!

End of the Week Pasta

Tonight for dinner I used up a few things that we had leftover and made a most delicious dinner. Chris commented that it was quite good.

I started off sauteeing some sausage. When that was cooked I added zucchini, sliced in 1/2 moons. Next, I added a little white wine and cooked that down. I had leftover sausage and peppers in that delicious Marcella Hazan sauce. That was stirred into the pan. The seasonings were adjusted, a little salt and pepper. 

Meanwhile, the pasta was boiling...

When the pasta was done I added it to the saute pan along with a knob of butter and a little pasta water. I served the pasta with a little bit of burrata cheese on top.

Just delicious! And only 2 pans to wash! Perfect start to the weekend.

Homemade Fettuccini with That Sauce

Homemade Fettuccini, recipe from Tide and Thyme, the only recipe I will ever use and the sauce is Marcella Hazan's Tomato, Onion and Butter Sauce. It does not get better than that.

On Sunday I made a pot of "the Sauce." Have a couple of containers in the freezer. With the abundance of amazingly delicious tomatoes, it seemed like the right thing to do.

It was a damn good dinner. I had to force myself not to go back for seconds.

Nothing better than freezer food.