Friday, November 30, 2012

Foodie Pen Pals: November

Another month of foodie pen pals has arrived!  Every month gets better and better!

This month, my pen pal was Janna H. from Oklahoma!  I've never been to Oklahoma so I asked Janna if she would send me a little something from the Sooner State!  And she definitely delivered!


I ended up with this great salsa that I served at Thanksgiving during the day to snack on.  It was completely devoured! So good!

Then the prickly pear jelly - which I've been having with toast for breakfast!  To. Die. For.

And I saved the best for last.  The toasted pecan spread is out. of. this. world.  So so good!  I spread it on some cinnamon bagels and was in heaven!  I'm definitely going to find a way to incorporate it into a dessert!

Thanks Janna for giving me a look inside of the great food products that the Sooner State has to offer!

Just click the button below to find out more about Foodie Pen Pals and how to join!  It's definitely quite a bit of fun!

The Lean Green Bean

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Red Snapper w/ Pickled Pearl Onions, Bean Medley, & Fortified Fish Stock Beurre Blanc

 

"You can cook fish any time you want, baby."  The exact response I heard after Andy straight devoured this plate.  I was kinda iffy about the beans, and didn't know if he'd like them - but he ate every last bit of them! 

Not only is this just a plate of simple, humble foods - but it's absolutely gorgeous!  Or I think so, anyway. 

Dress up a fish stock, reduce it down, and whisk in some butter for a downright flavorful sauce that you can put on practically any fish, any time.

Ingredients:

Red Snapper:

2 - 6 oz. red snapper fillets 
salt and pepper, to taste
flour, for dusting
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Pickled Pearl Onions:

1 cup pearl onions (about 12-16), peeled
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon pickling spice

Bean Medley:

1 cup dried cranberry beans, soaked overnight (or at least 3-4 hours)
1 cup lima beans (I used frozen)
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Fortified Fish Stock Beurre Blanc:

1/2 cup fish/seafood stock
juice from 1 lemon
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
salt and pepper, to taste

You can use fresh cranberry beans for this too, if you can find them.  I just happened to have some dried sitting in my pantry, for what seems like forever, so I figured I'd use them up. 

Add chicken stock to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add cranberry beans and turn down to simmer.  Cover and let cook for about 30-45 minutes.  You can add water to the pot if needed, or if there is not enough liquid to cover beans.  Drain and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the red wine vinegar, sugar, and water to a boil.  Simmer until sugar is dissolved.  Place pearl onions into a small container with peppercorns and pickling spice.  Pour vinegar-sugar liquid over top of the pearl onions.  Place in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

To make the beurre blanc, combine the stock, lemon juice, and white wine in a medium saucepan.  Turn heat onto medium high and reduce liquid to about 2 tablespoons.  Turn heat to low, and while whisking constantly, add butter cubes one at a time.  Make sure not to add more butter until the previous cube is almost entirely incorporated/emulsified in.  When all of butter is added, stir in chopped parsley and season to taste.  Keep sauce warm until needed.  Be sure to watch it carefully, making sure it does not break on you.  (You can help prevent the beurre from breaking by adding heavy cream to the reduced liquid before whisking in the butter, but you don't necessarily need to do that.)

Heat a large oven-proof saute pan under medium high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan.  Season snapper fillets with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off any excess.  Add fillets to the pan and cook until browned on the first side, about 2-3 minutes.  Flip fillets over and transfer pan to the oven to finish cooking, about 3 minutes.  Carefully take pan out of oven and let fish rest for 1-2 minutes.

Heat a medium saute pan under medium high heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add cranberry beans and frozen lima beans (be careful - any residual water/ice on beans may cause butter/oil to splatter) to the pan.  Cook until warm and slightly caramelized around the edges.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To plate, place a mound of bean mixture on the center of the plate.  Top with snapper fillet and pearl onions.  Top with beurre blanc. 

Bam!  Art on a plate.  I loved this because it wasn't overly unhealthy (can't really argue with the beurre blanc being a healthy addition, but it's damn tasty) - but everything else on the plate is full of protein and nutrition!  I know it may seem a little time consuming, but a lot of the stuff you can pre-prepare ahead of time - like the beans and the pickled onions.



Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

NY Strip Steaks w/ Port Wine Shallot Butter


While blogs all over are showcasing turkey this, and turkey that, I thought I'd take a different turn.  Do something completely off the Thanksgiving track.  Steak and frites. 

Anyway, this is another simple, yet fancy meal that can be made any day of the week!

We make beurre blancs for a lot of things on our menu at Jack Fry's.  We do a country ham beurre blanc to go with oysters, a sage beurre blanc for the filet, and a tomato and chive beurre blanc for our salmon.  All of which are A-MAZING.  But I may be partial since I work there.

So it's almost second nature to me to present a dish with a beurre of some sort included as the sauce.  One of the easiest and tastiest sauces you can make, in my opinion.  I mean, really, who doesn't like something covered in butter?  Probably a health nut... but good for us, we're not of that population.

Ingredients:

2 NY strip steaks
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Port Wine Shallot Butter:

1/4 cup port wine
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 cup veal/beef stock
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F. 

Heat a large oven-proof skillet (a cast iron works great for this) under medium high heat and add olive oil.  Season steaks with salt and pepper on both sides and add to pan.  Sear until nice and caramelized.  Flip steak over and transfer to oven to finish cooking to desired doneness.  We like a good medium rare-medium in our house.  Let rest for about 3-5 minutes before serving.

While the steak is finishing in the oven, you can start your sauce.  Heat a medium saucepan under medium high heat.  Add red wine, shallot, stock, and cracked pepper.  Reduce mixture to about 2 tablespoons.  Turn heat down to low and whisk in butter, a couple cubes at a time, being sure not to add more until the previous cubes are almost fully incorporated.  Continue until all butter is added.  Strain sauce of solids, if desired.  Stir in fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Top steak with butter sauce and serve with a side of your choice - we did frites.  Dig on in!

This is definitely something so simple and quite delicious!  We don't indulge in red meat a lot in our house, but when we do, we do it right!


Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Red Snapper w/ Sweet Mustard & Spinach


It's only two days before the big Thanksgiving Feast, here in the states.  My family is all over the place this year, with my dad visiting my brother in Florida, leaving the girls and my mom to fend for ourselves.  My sister is taking care of the main attraction (the turkey!) and I'll be doing all the sides.  I even plan to bust out a from-scratch pecan pie.  So hopefully all runs smoothly for us!  But not too smoothly, of course.  We don't want to end up having to put on Thanksgiving every year.  Hehe.

How do you all plan on celebrating the big Thanksgiving day?!

So I ended up taking home a 6 lb. red snapper yesterday from Whole Foods.  It just looked SO good.  Then I realized, what the heck am I going to do with a 6 lb. red snapper?!  After breaking it down, I ended up with 8 4 oz. fillets.  That's more than enough to feed us for a bit!  So I decided to give 4 of them to a couple close friends.  And with 2 of them I made this fantastic pre-birthday dinner for Andy (whose birthday is indeed today!).  He gobbled it all up without a problem!

Ingredients:

2 4 oz. red snapper fillets
flour, for dusting
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Sweet Mustard Sauce:

2 tablespoons dijon mustard (I used the whole grain variety)
3 tablespoons boiling water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 lb. spinach, stems removed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
 salt and pepper, to taste

Caramelized Apples:

1 Granny Smith Apple, core removed and cut into 8 wedges
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Make your mustard sauce first.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the dijon mustard and boiling water, adding the water in small increments in order to create a smooth emulsion.

Slowly drizzle in vegetable oil, whisking constantly, until all is incorporated.  Stir in honey, soy sauce, lemon juice, and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Set aside, until needed.

In a medium saute pan, melt the butter with the brown sugar.  When the sugar is dissolved, add your apple wedges.  Cook until the apples start to soften and are warm.  Hold warm until needed.

Heat a large oven-proof saute pan under medium high heat.  Add butter and oil to pan.  Season both sides of snapper fillets with salt and pepper.  Dust with flour, shaking off any excess.  Add snapper to the pan and cook until browned.  Carefully flip fish over and transfer pan to oven to finish cooking, about 3 minutes was perfect on these.

During those 3 minutes you can quickly saute your spinach.  Add butter to a medium pan under medium high heat.  When butter is melted, add spinach.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook spinach until wilted.  I find it's easiest to keep the spinach moving, to create steam.  This helps the spinach wilt faster, but you don't necessary have to do that if you don't want to.

To plate, arrange half of the spinach on each plate.  Top with snapper fillet.  Arrange the caramelized apples around snapper.  Finally, drizzle the sweet mustard sauce over top of the snapper.  Enjoy!


This is definitely a keeper dish!  Andy loves snapper more than any other fish, and I'm glad we've got a couple extra fillets in the freezer for when his craving strikes next!  I'm off to finish baking Andy's birthday cake - hope you all have a great day!

Friday, November 16, 2012

French Fries w/ Herbed Mayonnaise


Mayonnaise and I have a love-hate relationship.  I can love her when spread thinly across a piece of bread in between a sandwich.  I can love her mixed in with chicken or tuna salad.  I can even love her when mixed as a salad dressing.

However, where I draw the line to loving her and start hating her, is when she's used as a dip - such as aioli (which is basically a garlic mayonnaise).  When she's hidden, she's fine.  But when she's just out in the open, I get kinda weird.  I know, makes no sense. 

But homemade mayo.  Now that's a different story.  It doesn't quite possess the "weirdness" that I'm afraid of.  It's a whole other breed of sauce to me.  Mixed with a few herbs, and all my fear suddenly goes away.  I can fearlessly dip fry after fry in the stuff and be okay.  Well, somewhat okay.  It's still mayo, at the end of the day, and we've got to watch our portions! 

Anyway, this one's a keeper, even for the mayo-haters out there!

Ingredients:

French Fries:

2 russet potatoes, battonet (1/4" x 1/4" x 2")
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Herbed Mayonnaise:

1/4 cup spinach leaves, stemmed
2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1/2 tablespoons dried tarragon
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon mustard
1 & 1/2 cups vegetable oil
 salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Toss the potatoes in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 25-30 minutes, flipping the potatoes once or twice in between.

To make the mayonnaise, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the spinach, shallots, parsley, and tarragon.  Boil for about 2-3 minutes, or until leaves are wilted.  Drain the herbs and run under cold water until cool.  Squeeze out excess moisture.  Chop the herbs finely.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until lighter in color and slightly thickened.  Whisk in red wine vinegar and mustard.  Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the vegetable oil, being careful not to add more until the previous amount is fully emulsified.  Continue until all of the vegetable oil is incorporated.

Stir in the finely chopped herbs and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve the french fries along side the herbed mayonnaise or condiment of your choice! 


This mayo is good enough that I put it on sandwiches, hot dogs, french fries, whatever!  For a mayo hater like myself, it does just the trick!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Porcini-Dusted Salmon w/ Sauce Colbert & Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Hey guys!  November 13th is always a weird day for me.  It marks a day where someone close to me passed away.  No matter how much time passes (8 years today), it always seems like just yesterday that it happened.  I don't want to go into too much detail, because I don't want to depress anybody, but I definitely wouldn't be the person I am today without the impact of this person in my life.


This dish is elegant and tasty.  Easier than it looks, and definitely will impress dinner guests!

I love using dried porcini mushrooms as a component in dishes.  Just grind them up in a spice grinder and you have a powder that can bring a dish from ordinary to magical in a matter of seconds!  Definitely a secret ingredient I'd keep handy!

The sauce is basically a bearnaise sauce with the addition of a demi-glace.  In this case, a seafood demi-glace.

Ingredients:

Salmon:

2 6 oz. portions of salmon
salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons of dried porcini mushroom powder
flour, for dusting
1 tablespoon olive oil

Sauce Colbert:

1/4 cup champagne vinegar (I had an orange-infused one that brought some citrus flair to the sauce)
1/4 cup white wine 
1 tablespoon shallot, minced
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
salt and pepper, to taste
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 cup seafood stock

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

3 large red potatoes, washed and quartered
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
5 cloves roasted garlic
salt and pepper, to taste

Start by making your sauce.  In a small saucepan, combine the champagne vinegar, white wine, shallot, and tarragon.  Reduce mixture until it is about 2 tablespoons.  Strain and let cool. 

In another small saucepan, add the seafood stock and reduce to about 2-3 tablespoons.  Skim for any impurities and set aside.

Set up a double boiler under medium low heat.  Beat the egg yolks in the bowl until they are a pale yellow and slightly thicken.  Be careful not to let the eggs cook rapidly because you'll end up with a curdled mess.  You can remove the bowl from the double boiler, if needed.

Strain the cooled vinegar liquid into the egg yolks and continue to slowly cook, whisking constantly, over the double boiler.  Whisk in the cold butter, one tablespoon at a time, until fully incorporated.  Slowly drizzle in the melted butter, about a tablespoon at a time.  Don't add any more in until the previous amount it whisked in - this is similar to making a hollandaise or mayonnaise. 

When all the butter is incorporated and the sauce is at your desired consistency, whisk in the reduced seafood stock and chopped parsley.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Reserve sauce under low heat, keeping an eye on it to make sure the eggs do not curdle. (I basically just let my bowl sit over the double boiler with the heat turned off, the residual heat should be enough to get you through cooking the rest of your meal).

Preheat oven to 425 F.

To make the mashed potatoes, add the potatoes to a medium saucepan and cover with water.  Boil until tender, about 20-25 minutes.  Drain and return to saucepan.  Add heavy cream, butter, goat cheese, and roasted garlic.  Mash until you reach your desired consistency - I like lumps, so I like to leave it very rustic.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Place about 1/2 cup of flour in a pan.  Season both sides of salmon with salt and pepper.  Dust each piece of salmon with about 1 teaspoon of porcini mushroom powder.  Then dredge each piece of salmon in the flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat an oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and add olive oil.  Add salmon to pan, presentation-side down and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.  Flip salmon over and transfer pan to the oven and cook until flaky, about 5 minutes (I like my salmon on the medium rare to medium side).


To plate, place a mound of mashed potatoes in the center of your plate.  Top with the salmon fillet.  Drizzle sauce atop salmon and around plate.  Garnish with parsley.  Voila!  A simple meal that is full of flavor!

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Chicken Breasts w/ Penne & Garlic & Herb Tomato Sauce


Happy weekend everyone!

We'll be headed to Lexington, KY this evening to take part in a Kentucky Food Blogger event hosted by Kate from Simply Nutritious by Kate.  She just moved in to an awesome studio kitchen where she teaches a variety of health-focused classes.  I'm definitely excited to check it out and see what she's whipped up for us!

Anyway, this is one of those simple and delicious dinners.  You can choose to get canned diced tomatoes if you'd like, but if you want to put a little extra love into it, I highly suggest getting some vine-ripened tomatoes, peeling, seeding, and cutting them.  It really isn't THAT much more time-consuming.  =)

Ingredients:

Tomato Sauce:

1 small onion, small diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons flour
6-8 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded, & roughly chopped (juice reserved)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
cheesecloth sachet filled with parsley stems, bay leaf, and black peppercorns
pinch of fennel seeds
pinch of saffron
pinch of ground coriander
zest from 1 orange
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Penne Pasta

2 chicken breasts, skin on
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

The longer your tomato sauce sits on the stove, the more flavor that will develop.  However, it only needs about 30 minutes to be finished, so don't fret that you don't have time =)

In a medium stockpot, cook the onions and olive oil under medium low heat until the onions are translucent, about 8-10 minutes.

Stir in the flour and cook for about 2-3 minutes, until a slight roux is formed.

Add in the tomatoes, tomato juice, sugar, garlic, sachet, fennel, saffron, coriander, and orange zest.  Cover the pot and raise the heat to medium.  Cook for about 10 minutes to the tomatoes will release more of their liquid.  Remove lid and let simmer for at least 30 more minutes, adding water if sauce becomes to thick or risks burning.  Stir in tomato paste for deeper color and let simmer for about 2-3 minutes.  Remove herb sachet and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add penne and cook until al dente.  Drain, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water.

Heat a large oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and melt butter.  Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.  Add chicken, skin-side down to pan and cook until skin is golden brown, about 4-5 minutes.  Turn chicken over and transfer pan to oven to finish cooking, about 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts.  Let chicken rest for about 5 minutes before slicing.

Add pasta to tomato sauce, adding additional pasta water, if necessary.  Toss until pasta is well-coated.  Place a decent amount of pasta on plate and top with sliced chicken and garnish with chopped parsley.


A little effort goes a long way.  This tomato sauce has floral and citrus notes that compares to no other.  Andy said it was one of the best pasta sauces he's ever had.  Score!  Hope you guys try this soon =)  Have a great weekend!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Secret Recipe Club: Greek Frappe Coffee

It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day!

I like my coffee dark =)

SRC is like a Secret Santa for food bloggers.  Each blogger is assigned a "secret" blog and given the task of recreating a recipe from that blog.  It's so much fun!  If you haven't taken part before, I highly suggest you do so!

This month I received Cheap Ethnic Eatz.  Evelyne, the author, allows one to discover different cuisines, flavors, ingredients, and cultures from all around the world.  Now who wouldn't love that?!

It was hard to choose a recipe, especially since this month has been c.r.a.z.y.  I haven't had time to do much cooking, so I had to choose something quick and fast.  I can't survive without my daily cup of coffee, so when I saw a twist on it with the Greek Frappe Coffee, I knew I had found my quick ethnic treat!  However, I'll be experimenting with Evelyne's Beet Green Burger in the future because it just sounds too good to pass up!

Ingredients:
Recipe from Cheap Ethnic Eatz

2 teaspoons instant coffee
3/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon sugar
milk, to taste
ice cubes

Place instant coffee, sugar, and about 1/4 cup water in a shaker.  Shake until mixture is thick and foamy.  Pour into a glass filled with ice cubes, along with the rest of the water and milk, to taste. 

This was definitely a great way to start my busy day!  It may be cold outside, but these iced coffees are still going to be happening!

Want to join SRC?  Click here to find out how!


Friday, November 2, 2012

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!