Balsamic-Glazed Flank Steak with Fall Fruit Salsa

In my cooking experience, I've noticed that the ratio of deliciousness to effort remains relatively constant. For instance, my dad's Shreveport Gumbo recipe or traditional red beans and rice take a great deal of time/effort, but they are amazing. Meanwhile, hot dogs in the microwave take very little time/effort but leave me feeling sad. (Nothing against hot dogs; I enjoy them greatly...maybe for lunch.) Generally, the more effort you are willing to put in, the better tasting the dishes will be. For another example, consider the difference between mashed potatoes made from using actual potatoes and mashed potatoes made from the box (or whatever the hell KFC serves up).

Colonel Sanders: "Try my pile of wrong-tasting mashed potatoes. Now made with 20+ ingredients [not joking, see KFC's ingredients]. Ask the friendly drive-thru cashier to just lob a spoonful directly into your cupholders for your convenience." 

Where was I? There are notable exceptions for which little effort is needed to make something fantastic! When it comes to the deliciousness-to-effort ratio, this one is sky-high. (I may be a little biased since I love anything involving steak.) This dish was very easy to make. The title pretty much says it all. Basically flank steak and fruit, but you can pass it off as fairly fancy-pants. I even got a chance to cut the diamond pattern in the steak like I've seen only in Outback commercials:

The fruit salsa was ridiculously simple but amazing! If you can chop apples, you too can eat this delicious salsa.

Our steak was heavier than the 1 lb the recipe calls for, but it also seemed thinner. It cooked a lot faster than the oddly specific 16 minutes dictated by the recipe. Luckily, I've never used the broiler on this oven, so I watched it like a hawk.

The picture in the book showed the steak by itself with the salsa in a bowl next to it. We suggest serving the steak with the salsa on top. Also, we thought the salsa would have been even better if it were warmed somehow prior to serving. I'm not exactly sure the best way to do that. Perhaps heating it on a stove in a saucepan but I'd worry it would end up mushy.

Makes 4 servings

1 lb beef flank steak
Salt and black pepper
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/3 cups chopped red and/or green apples (2 medium) (we used one large Gala)
1 cup chopped pear (1 medium)
1/4 cup dried cranberries (aka craisins)
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1) Preheat broiler. Trim fat from steak. Score both sides of steak in a diamond pattern by making shallow diagonal cuts at 1-inch intervals. Sprinkle both sides lightly with salt and pepper. Broil 3-4 inches from heat for 16 minutes turning once. Brush both sides of steak with 1 tbsp of the balsamic; broil for 1-5 more minutes or until medium doneness. Cover with foil, let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

2) For salsa, in a medium bowl combine apples, pear, cranberries, remaining 2 tbsp balsamic, sugar, and cinnamon. Thinly slice steak; serve with salsa.

Fettuccine Alla Carbonara

I have time for one more post tonight. About a week ago, we tried this recipe from the pasta section of BHG. It's a pretty easy, basic pasta recipe that resembles fettucine alfredo, but with a ton of pork product added. 

There were a couple things we liked about this recipe. First, it was very easy. Second, it involved cooking with white wine. Everything I've ever made ever that involved cooking with wine was AMAZING!! And you have an excuse to drink some wine. It also included prosciutto which I had never used in a recipe. 

The end result was delicious. However, it was very very fatty. In case you couldn't tell how unhealthy this dish is by looking at the ingredients (8 slices of bacon and 1.5 sticks of butter!!!!), it reminds you after you eat it by leaving a filmy residue in your nasal cavities. Perhaps I could have done a better job of draining the bacon. 

We did not take a picture of this delicious pasta, but I found this on the google. 

Makes 6 servings

1 lb dried fettuccine

8 slices bacon

4 oz sliced prosciutto

2 tbsp finely chopped onion

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1 tbsp snipped fresh parsley

black pepper to taste

1) Cook pasta; drain

2) In a large skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to plate with paper towels to drain. Crumble and set aside. Chop prosciutto into 1/2 inch pieces.

3) In a medium saucepan, cook onion in hot butter over medium heat for 4 minutes or until tender. Add prosciutto. Cook and stir over medium heat for 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Carefully add wine.

4) Return saucepan to heat and bring mixture to boiling. Boil gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in bacon, cream and milk. Bring to boil; boil gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes. 

5) Stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan and parsley. Pour sauce over pasta and sprinkle each serving with remaining Parmesan. Season with pepper.

Potato and Ham Bake

Yesterday, Steph picked out a list of recipes for us to try this week, all of which come from BHG. Among the list was a dish from the casserole section called Potato and Ham Bake. You had me at Potato and Ham. Upon further reading, I discovered that the recipe also contained a substantial amount of asparagus. ONE POUND for a 4-serving casserole! Those who know me well know that voluntarily eating a quarter-pound of asparagus is quite the accomplishment. However, I was promised ham, potato and what sounded like a fine cheese sauce in return so I guess I'd deal with it.

In this dish, you slice and cook some potatoes until just tender and then layer them in a casserole dish with ham, asparagus and a cheese sauce. This will then bake for about half an hour. We lazily used the pre-cubed ham. The cheese sauce is cream cheese with milk, Parmesan, pepper and tarragon. I have never cooked with tarragon before. I had only subconsciously heard of it and I thought it sounded a little like a character from Game of Thrones or something.

The Great Lord Tarragon shows no mercy! 

(Disclaimer: I've never seen/read Game of Thrones. I don't know who this is. I googled "Game of Thrones Lord" and this stoic fellow came up. He looks like he could be Lord Tarragon.)

Well anyway...I thought the tarragon in this recipe was noticeable and amazing. It made the dish quite flavorful. We used fresh tarragon, not the dried stuff. Steph and I loved the dish! We both had seconds. We actually have some leftovers for tomorrow; this is probably because Connor wasn't as enthusiastic about dinner as he was last night. He enjoyed the ham and potatoes, and while he gave the asparagus a chance, he eventually spit it out. Here are two mouth-watering shots of the casserole...one before baking and one after.

Makes 4 servings

1 lb sliced potatoes (I peeled ours)
1 8-oz tub light cream cheese spread with chive and onion
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp snipped fresh tarragon or
   1/2 tsp dried tarragon, crushed
8 oz cooked boneless ham, cut into bite-size cubes
1 lb fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 2-3 inch pieces

1) Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease 1 1/2 quart or 2 quart baking dish. In a medium saucepan cook potatoes, covered, in a small amount of lightly salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes or just until tender. Drain; transfer to medium bowl.

2) In same saucepan, combine cream cheese, milk, 2 tbsp of the Parmesan, and the pepper. Heat and whisk until smooth and cheese melts. Remove from heat and stir in tarragon.

3) Layer half of the potatoes, ham, asparagus, and cheese sauce in baking dish. Repeat layers with remaining potatoes, ham, asparagus, and cheese sauce. Cover with foil.

4) Bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil, add remaining Parmesan and bake uncovered another 10-12 minutes until heated through.

Whole Wheat Bread

Like any living, breathing human, I absolutely love the smell of freshly baked bread. I also love the taste of freshly baked bread. Recently I thought about how cool it would be if I could bake bread a couple of times a week rather than buying it in the store. Wishful thinking probably, but I'm gonna try. I've ventured into the world of baking a couple of times. Bread can be particularly tricky. I consider myself not a chef but more of a direction follower. A recipe tells me exactly what to do and I nod politely and carry out those orders. Bread recipes are frustrating to me because the recipe will tell me to add flour until the dough "looks right" whatever that means. Over time, I've been able to figure some of these things out, but it's a nonstop quest for improvement. 

Yesterday morning I baked white bread using a recipe from the BHG cookbook. The bread loaves ended up smaller than I expected. (Though I'm positive I killed the yeast.) The bread ended up much denser than I wanted, but delicious nonetheless. It turned out to be ideal for dipping in vinegar & oil. 

This morning, I baked a whole wheat bread (recipe below) from the same book. It rose a lot better than my first attempt, but it still didn't fill the pan the way I expected. Again, it turned out denser than I'd like but very very good. Everyone in the house loves it.

I may try again this weekend using a recipe out of our mixer cookbook. Bread recipes in that book are tailor made for those with a Kitchenaid mixer, like us. Also, that book usually requires you to let the dough rise a lot longer than the BHG recipes. 

Makes 2 loaves

3 3/4 to 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 package active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups milk

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp butter

1 1/2 tsp salt

1) In a mixer bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and the yeast. In a saucepan, heat and stir milk, sugar, butter and salt just until warm and butter melts. Not too hot (less than 125) or you'll kill the yeast like I did on Thursday. Add milk mixture to the flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low for 30 seconds then on higher speed for 3 minutes. Mix in remaining flour (1/2 cup at a time, starting with whole wheat flour) until it becomes a smooth elastic ball. Knead 6-8 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise in warm place until double in size (45-60 min). 

2) Punch dough down. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Cover, let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly grease two 8 by 4 by 2 inch loaf pans. 

3) Shape each dough half into a loaf by patting or rolling. Place the shaped dough halves in the pans, seam sides down if rolled. Cover and let rise in warm place until nearly double in size (about 30 minutes). 

4) Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 35-40 min or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. If necessary, cover loosely with foil the last 5-10 min to prevent over-browning. Remove bread from pans and cool completely on wire racks. 

Chicken Kiev

This gem from the BHG caught my eye the first time I cracked the book. It did not disappoint. I was especially thrilled to use our new meat mallet Steph picked up a few days ago. Essentially, you start with chicken breast halves, pound them flat, then lay butter, parsley, garlic and green onion on top. Wrap up the flattened chicken, bread it, then cook. Now I always seem to have issues when cooking with chicken breast halves. I get the impression that the chicken breast halves used in recipes is much smaller than the chicken breast halves I buy in the store. So, I used two chicken breast halves, cut them in half and pounded those. Otherwise, we would have ended up with flattened chicken the size of pillowcases.

That said, I think the resulting flattened chicken we had was a little too small. When it came time to wrap the ingredients (see step 2 below), the final result wasn't as nice in the picture in the book. They, of course, had four perfectly wrapped masterpieces. They looked like breaded twinkies. Mine looked like this.

Those are some sad looking twinkies. Not a huge deal though, this isn't Hell's Kitchen. It was harder to seal the ends of mine, so some of the butter leaked out while cooking. This is ok, since the recipe tells you to spoon drippings over the chicken after baking anyway.

So when all was said and done, this is what we had. Credit goes to Steph for the perfect photos!

We really enjoyed the dish! If we could change anything, we would increase the amount of green onion, parsley and garlic in each one. Also, we might add some cheese in there (parmesan, monterrey jack?). Otherwise, it was delightful. Connor really liked it too. He ate almost a full one. Then he ate a hot dog. Then a peanut butter sandwich. The boy is an eater.

Makes 4 servings

1 tbsp chopped green onion
1 tbsp snipped fresh parsley
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 of 1/4 lb stick of butter
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (see rant above)
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil

1) In a small bowl, combine green onion, parsley, and garlic. Cut half-stick of butter lengthwise into four sticks. In another bowl, stir together egg and water. Place flour in another bowl. Place bread crumbs in yet another bowl.

2) Pound chicken in between two pieces of plastic wrap until about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Divide green onion mixture equally among pieces. Place butter stick in each one. Fold in side edges, then roll up from bottom edge (see rant above).

3) Coat rolls with flour. Dip in egg mixture. Coat with crumbs. Dip in egg mixture again, then coat with crumbs. Coat ends well. Place chicken in 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Cover; chill for 1-24 hours.

4) Preheat oven to 400. In large skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter over medium-high heat. Add oil. Add chicken rolls, seam side down (see picture below). Cook about 5 minutes, turning to brown all sides (see picture below). Return rolls to baking dish. Bake uncovered for 15-18 minutes until chicken is no longer pink. Spoon any drippings over rolls.

Orange Scones

This was one of the first things I saw in the Breads section of the BHG cookbook. I thought it looked easy enough and we had pretty much everything for it so I gave it a shot. I had literally never had scones before so this was a new experience. They turned out very much like biscuits but obviously much sweeter. The icing was a fantastic addition. 

I've made a lot of bread-type recipes but this one was different in that there was very little kneading and mixing involved. The dough was a little sticky prior to kneading but smoothed out nicely. Definitely much much better right out of the oven. Connor, Steph and I all loved them. They were not as good the next day. Connor and I split one the following morning after I microwaved it for a few seconds...still tasty, but a little crumbly.

Makes 12 scones

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter, cut up

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup whipping cream + more for brushing

1 1/2 tsp finely shredded orange juice

coarse sugar (like sugar in the raw)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp orange juice

1/4 tsp vanilla

1) Preheat oven to 400. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of flour mixture.

2) In another bowl, combine eggs, whipping cream, and orange peel. Add egg mixture into well of flour mixture. Using a fork, stir just until moistened.

3) Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until dough is nearly smooth (10-12 strokes). Divide dough in half. Pat or lightly roll each dough half into a 6-inch circle. Cut each circle into 6 wedges. 

4) Place dough wedges 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush wedges with whipping cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 12-14 min or until golden. Remove from baking sheet.

5) For icing, combine powdered sugar, orange juice, and vanilla. Drizzle over baked scones.

Welcome

Hello!

Steph and I cook a lot for ourselves and we've decided to start documenting some of the meals we've attempted. Mostly, I thought it'd be a nice way for us to keep track of what we've made. (What was the recipe? How did we like it? Would we change anything about it?) However, we would love to share our experiences with our friends and family! 

I realize we are starting this at the beginning of the new year, but this was not a New Years' resolution for either of us. Honestly, I've been thinking about writing these things down for a while. For Christmas, Steph got me one of those ubiquitous Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks...the ones with the checkerboard cover. I thought it would be nice, as we make our way through those recipes, to note what we liked and what we didn't. We won't limit ourselves to recipes found in this book though. 

We hope to eventually include pictures for each meal, but getting good pictures of food is easier said than done. We're working on that. 

Anyway, we hope you enjoy following along...

Ken