Filet w/ Turnips & Braised Kale

How is everyone's week going so far?!  It's been pretty crazy around these parts.  I'm in the process of transitioning between jobs... AGAIN. 


Working at Milkwood has proved to be a great learning experience, but the downside is that I've put in VERY long hours, and little time with my husband.  There's a lunch position (hello Monday-Friday work week!) opening up at the restaurant I used to work at, Jack Fry's, and I've gladly accepted that job.  Which totally means I'll be on the same schedule as Andy and be able to have somewhat of a life again, and not sacrificing on the quality of food that I prepare. 

It's been a whirl-wind, but I think it's all for the best.  Andy and I will just have to learn how to hang out with eachother on a regular basis again.  I'm sure we won't have any trouble with that =)

On my day off this week, I ended up making this for dinner and it was so so good.  Definitely a step up from your normal "steak and potatoes" type of dinner.

Ingredients:

2 6-8 oz. beef tenderloin filets
salt and pepper, to taste

Turnips:

1 large turnip, peeled and small dice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup veal or chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste

Kale:

1 large bunch of kale, ribs removed (about 1/2 lb.)
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 cup bulgur wheat, cooked
salt and pepper, to taste

The kale will take the longest, so you'll want to start with that first. 

In a medium stockpot, add the brown sugar and regular sugar.  Cook under medium low to medium heat until the sugar turns to an amber caramel.  Carefully deglaze the caramel with the vinegar and chicken stock.  Add red pepper flakes and bring mixture to a boil.

Add the kale and carrots to the pot.  Simmer for at least 30 minutes, then add bulgur wheat and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the turnips, melt the butter in a medium saute pan under medium high heat.  Add turnips and cook until edges start to caramelize.  Add stock and cook until almost evaporated and turnips are tender.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the filet, season both sides with salt and pepper.  Cook to desired temp (we grilled these babies to a perfect medium rare) and in desired manner. 

To put together, place a decent amount of the kale mixture and turnips in the center of the plate.  Top with the filet, and dig on in!

Definitely something that comes together fairly quickly and looks like you ordered it in a restaurant!  Have a great weekend, everybody!

Steak Roulade w/ Caramelized Onions, Bacon, & Cheese

It's Friday!  Woohoo!

I don't have another day off until next Thursday, but at least it's one day closer to that!  Thinking positive, right?

My poor little Mocha dog is going through some allergies and is puffy and swollen all over.  I feel bad for the little girl, but the vet said all we can do is wait it out and keep giving her Benadryl like we have been.  Still don't like my little girl feeling like she does!

Anyway, we're gonna keep it low key this weekend, probably, so nothing exciting to report.

Andy did say that this dinner was one of the best he's had in quite some time.  Always a win in my book!  You can really stuff the roulade with whatever you fancy, I happened to have some onions in the pantry, some bacon in the fridge, and some nice Cocoa Cordona goat's milk cheese in the crisper (it's dusted with cocoa powder and is out. of. this. world.)

Ingredients:

Sauce Brune:

1 small carrot, peeled and diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1/4 cup country ham, diced
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons flour
6 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
10 parsley stems
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper, to taste

Roulade:

1 lb. flank steak, pounded to about 1/4 inch thickness
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 pieces of bacon, cut into 1/4 inch thin strips
 1/4 cup cheese, shredded (I used Cocoa Cordona, but feel free to use whatever cheese you fancy!)
4 tablespoons stone ground mustard
salt and pepper, to taste

You'll want to get your sauce started first.  It takes a little while for it to reduce and develop flavor. 

Heat a large saucepan under medium high heat and melt the butter.  Add the carrot, celery, onion, and country ham.  Do not skip the country ham.  I think it really gives the sauce a depth of flavor that you don't get with just plain mirepoix.  However, do watch your salt - since the ham is cured, it's pretty salty to begin with, so you may not even have to season with any additional (I didn't).  Cook the vegetables until they are starting to become tender and the onions are translucent.

Stir in the flour to make a roux.  Cook roux for about 10 minutes, or until it begins a nice nutty brown color.

Slowly stir in your beef stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps.  Add tomato paste, parsley stems, bay leaves, and thyme.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Leave partially covered and simmer for at least an hour to develop flavors.

Skim off any fat or scum as you see fit.  When the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, strain the liquid of the solids.  Season to taste and keep warm until ready to use.


While your sauce is simmering, you can caramelize your onions and cook your bacon.  Melt the butter in a large saute pan under medium heat.  Add onions and cook under low to medium heat until caramelized and golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Don't rush the onions, the slower they cook, the sweeter and tastier they'll be.  You don't want any browning, so be sure to stir them every so often.  Place onions in a medium bowl to cool.

Heat a small skillet under medium heat and add your strips of bacon.  Cook until crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon, transferring to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.  When bacon is dry, add in with onions.  Reserve about 3 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat from the pan.

Add shredded cheese to bowl with onions and bacon and mix well.  Taste for seasoning.

Place the flank steak horizontally in front of you (so that it is widest).  Spread the mustard atop the steak.  Place an even layer of the filling over top of the mustard.  Roll the steak up, like a jelly roll, keeping it as tight as possible.  Cut in half and tie each roulade like a roast with some kitchen twine.  Season the roulade with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Heat a large oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and add reserved bacon fat.  Add the roulades and cook until all sides are golden brown and caramelized.  Transfer the pan to the even to finish cooking, about 15-20 minutes, depending on your desired doneness.  Let roulades rest for at least 5 minutes before removing kitchen twine and slicing.

Remove kitchen twine with kitchen scissors and cut roulades into 1/2 inch slices.  Serve atop sauce brune and with desired vegetable or starch.  You've got a fancy meal that's simple and delicious!  And any leftover sauce brune you can freeze - that way you'll have a tasty sauce at the ready next time!

Have you ever made a roulade?  What do you like to stuff your roulades with?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Beef Tenderloin w/ Espagnole Sauce

Wow... I've been M.I.A. for quite some time!  It's been even busier around here, and it's hard to even wrap my head around what I've gotten myself into!

The restaurant is going quite well.  I was on the pantry line (salads & desserts, a few cold and hot appetizers) for a bit of time, and last week I started training at the grill station.  I'm having tons of fun, and learning a hell of a lot!  Which is the whole point of all of this!

Did everyone (who celebrated) have a good Thanksgiving?!  I know we did.  My whole family went down to Andy's family's Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and it went quite well.  I'm glad that our families could get together on a day like that and get along so well.

Anyway, I know everyone still might have turkey on the brain, but in honor of me training on the grill station, I thought a nice, juicy steak felt like just the thing to post.  Hopefully I'll be back sooner next time, instead of going on a three week hiatus, but who knows what the next week of life has in store for me!

Ingredients:

2 6-8 oz. cuts of beef tenderloin
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut medium dice
spinach, optional
Espagnole sauce, recipe here
salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil, for rubbing and drizzling

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Rub each steak with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Season your steaks with salt and pepper, on both sides.

Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Toss well and spread into one even layer.  Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat.  Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. 

Add steaks and cook until desired doneness (I think a medium rare is perfect, about 6-8 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your cut).  Let rest on a cutting board for about 5 minutes.

Warm up Espagnole Sauce, if needed.

To plate, place a good amount of sweet potatoes on the center of the plate.  Top with steak and drizzle Espagnole sauce over top.  Serve with a side salad of spinach and some fresh bread.

This brings "meat & potatoes" to a whole new level.  It was a simple enough dinner to be ready in no time, but also one that is sure to impress dinner guests, as well!

And on a side note, a reader had asked in the comment section of the Espagnole Sauce recipe about a proper way to make a Demi Glace. 

By definition, a demi glace is half brown sauce (Espagnole), half brown stock (beef stock), reduced by half.  Easy enough right?  So for 1 cup of demi glace, use 1/2 cup of Espagnole Sauce, 1/2 cup of beef stock... bring to a boil, then let reduce until the whole mixture is 1/2 cup, or until desires consistency.

Hope to see you guys sooner than later!  And thanks for sticking around with me =)

Grilled NY Strip w/ Vegetables & Olivada

Can you believe that before this meal, I haven't had a bit of red meat in over 2 months?  And you know what?  It made this meal all the better!

It was simple, but elegant.  We had our friend Terry over and he straight cleaned his plate.  That's always a sign that the meal is good, right?!

While I'm not usually a big fan of olives, this olivada (very similar to a tapenade - but easier!) was a winner in my book.  Intermingled with the vegetables and on top of the steak, it was a great condiment and rounded out the dish well.

So the next time your in the mood for a steak dinner - this is where it's at!


Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine's recipe

1 red onion, cut into thick slices
1/2 cauliflower, cut into 2-inch florets
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
1 yellow bell pepper, cored and cut into strips
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for brushing
salt and pepper, to taste
3 12 oz. New York Strip Steaks

Olivada:

1 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon capers
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

To make olivada, combine olives, capers, garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, and olive oil in a small bowl.  Let sit for about 20 minutes for flavors to meld.

Meanwhile, combine onion, cauliflower, asparagus, and bell pepper in a grill pan  Toss with 1/4 cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill under direct heat until vegetables start to char - about 10 minutes or so.  Toss vegetables with about half of the olivada.  Set aside.

Brush the steaks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill steaks on direct heat, turning once, about 8-10 minutes for a medium rare.  Cook a little bit longer if you want them more done.  Let rest on carving board for about 5 minutes.

Serve steaks alongside the vegetables and top steaks with additional olivada, if desired.

Seriously, if you're a carnivore, this is sure to please ya!  I don't know if it was because I hadn't had meat in so long or what, but this meal is definitely a keeper!  See you guys tomorrow - have a great rest of your Wednesday!

Chili Lobster Surf N Turf

Ok, so this past weekend I discovered that Louisville was home to a Clearwater Seafood Distribution Center. So what do I do? I order two fresh live lobsters to be delivered to my home.

Who knew that this would be the most gratifying and traumatic experience I've had in a long time.


The little critter moved! I've never had my food move! Of course they're gonna move, Peggy, they're alive. What would make me think that it would be easy.

So as I opened the cooler box that they came in, I could feel my body tremble with fear. I'm bigger than these guys and they scared the heebie jeebies out of me! What a wuss I was. I frantically called Andy about 4 or 5 times while trying to kill these babies. He just laughed and said he would do it when he got home from work. But no, I needed to step up to the challenge. I couldn't just give up and let somebody else do it, especially Andy because I would never be able to live it down.


So first I needed a bigger pot. The pot that I had definitely wasn't big enough. So I left the house to go to the store to buy the needed equipment. This made things a tad bit easier. So while waiting for the water to boil in my giant pot, I tried to regain composure. By then, Andy came home and asked me if I wanted him to do it. I had to at least do one of the two lobsters. So I grabbed one of them with a paper towel and as it was flailing it's claws I closed my eyes, dropped the sucker in the pot, and quickly put the lid on. And just silence. No screaming lobsters, no fight, just silence. What a relief.

By then, I was relaxed and felt a new appreciation for chefs that do this on a daily basis. And I let Andy throw the other sucker in there because I had done enough lobster killing for the day. Anyway, had a pharmacist friend, Mike, over for dinner yesterday. He has been my food guinea pig at work for quite some time, so thought I'd treat him to a little surf n turf meal with my new cooked friends.

Chili Lobster Ingredients:

3 head of baby bok choy
2 1 & 1/2 lb live lobsters (or if you don't want to go through the trauma you can just buy cooked lobster meat)
1/8 cup vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons sambal oelek (chili sauce)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 red bell pepper, sliced into 1 inch strips

In large pot of boiling water, cook baby bok choy until bright green. It just really needs a quick dip in the pool. Then take out with a slotted spoon, pat dry, and set on rimmed baking sheet and cover with aluminum foil.

Allow water to come back to a boil and add lobsters, one at a time. Cook each for about 7 minutes, when lobster looks bright red all over. Let lobsters cool on baking sheet. Crack claws from body and chop tail off and remove meat from both. You can save the head and upper body for a flavorful broth, but you won't be using them for their meat. Chop meat up into small bite size pieces, but don't over do it. Put on top of bok choy on baking sheet and cover lobster meat with damp paper towel. Then cover tightly with aluminum foil. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In skillet, heat up the oil. Add the garlic and cook until light golden brown. Then add chicken stock, ketchup, and chili sauce and simmer over high heat for a couple of minutes. Add the egg and keep stirring until sauce is thickened and egg is incorporated throughout. Remove from heat, salt to taste and place in serving bowl.

Bake covered lobster and bok choy for about 7 minutes, until heated through. Serve lobster on top of bok choy, top with sauce, and garnish with red pepper slices.

Sirloin Steak (Turf) Ingredients

1 large sirloin steak (about 1 - 1/2 lb), cut into 2 medium sized steaks
1/2 cup red wine (like a cabernet savignon)
1/2 cup beef broth
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon flour

In large stainless steel pan, cook steak to desired consistency. I like mine medium rare, so it was about 5 minutes or so per side. Let steak rest on cutting board.

Meanwhile, add garlic and flour to pan with sucs (those delicious brown bits from steak). Cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant. Then deglaze pan with wine and broth, making sure to scrape the sucs from the pan so they're incorporated in the liquid. Reduce liquid until desired consistency.

Cut steak into strips and top with sauce. Pair with lobster and there you have a delicious surf n turf!!