Bone-In Ribeye w/ Mushroom Balsamic Sauce

Happy Friday, guys!

How was everyone's week?  Ours was pretty busy.  I've been working all week and just have been too exhausted to do much of anything else!  I had the pleasure of having the day off yesterday, though, and decided to surprise Andy with some big and juicy steaks for dinner.

The sauce is really easy, too.  I decided to pickle some mushrooms (weird, but pleasantly acidic) and use the quick pickling liquid as a component in an easy pan sauce. 

The whole meal came together in less than 30 minutes and was absolutely delicious!  We both cleaned our plates right up!

Ingredients:

2 bone-in ribeye steaks
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 lb. cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup veal/beef stock
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

In a small saucepan, bring the balsamic vinegar and salt to a boil.  Stir until the salt is completely dissolved.  Place the mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with the hot pickling liquid.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Heat a large cast iron skillet under medium high heat.  Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter.  Season steaks with salt and pepper on both sides.  Add to skillet and cook until a nice sear forms.  Cook the steaks until desired doneness - a perfect medium rare for us take about 7-8 minutes depending on how thick your steaks are.

Remove the steaks from the skillet and let rest on a cutting board.  Add the mushrooms and pickling liquid to the pan to deglaze.  Cook until mushrooms are starting to soften and vinegar is reduced to about 3 tablespoons.  Add veal stock and reduce liquid by half, or until at a syrupy/sauce-like consistency.  Mount the sauce with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve steaks with desired starch (we had some mashed potatoes) and top with mushrooms and sauce.

This was definitely a nice little treat.  We don't have red meat very often, but when we do, we like to do it up right!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Caramelized Onion Quiche w/ Balsamic Glaze

There's something about making a pie crust that's just so soothing.  It's so simple.  No more than 4 ingredients.  A little bit of kneading.  A little bit of resting.  A little bit of baking.  And the result?  Something so flaky and buttery that it would put a smile on anybody's face.

I was limited on ingredients yesterday, but I needed to make something quick and easy before we headed out to see the Silversun Pickups at the Brown last night.  And let me tell you, they really rocked!  I seriously haven't seen a band with so much energy and life in a long time!  Definitely a great rock and roll show!

Anyway, I had eggs.  I had flour.  I had onions.  A quiche was just meant to be.

Ingredients:

Pie dough:

1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling:

3 onions, julienned
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
4-5 slices of deli-ham, chopped (optional) 

Glaze:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

First, you want to make your pie dough.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt.  Cut in the butter, until the mixture resembles coarse sand.  Add in cold water until the mixture comes together.  You want it to be able to stay together when you gather it in your hand to make a fist.  Form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 

To caramelize the onions, add butter, vegetable oil, and onions to a large skillet.  Heat under low-medium low heat until onions become golden brown in color.  You want to stir the onions occasionally so that they don't burn or caramelize too quickly.  You want an even, "soft" browning.  This will take around 45 minutes to an hour to accomplish.  Don't rush it.  Be patient.  You'll be rewarded with sweet, caramelized onions.  I promise.

When the onions are nearly caramelized, sprinkle flour over top and mix well.  Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, then let onions cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Take your dough out of the refrigerator and place on floured surface.  Roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness and large enough to fill your pie pan.  I used a shallow 9" pie pan.  Gently place dough into pie pan and flute edges, if desired. Place pie pan in the refrigerator for at least 10-15 minutes.  Chilling the dough again makes it less likely for your pie dough to shrink during baking.  If you were to throw it right in there after you rolled it out, it would most likely shrink - and we don't want that, do we?

Now let's make the filling.  In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, heavy cream, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Whisk until combined and then stir in mozzarella cheese and cooled onions.

Place pie weights or dried beans (it helps to have a large coffee filter to put them on if using this method, so it's easy to scoop the beans right out) in your pie shell and par bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until pie starts to turn a light golden brown.

Pull out pie shell and remove weights/beans.  If using ham, place an even layer on bottom of pie shell.  Pour filling over top.  Bake quiche for about 25-30 minutes, or until eggs and custard are set.

Let cool, slightly, before cutting.

To make the balsamic glaze, simply place the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and reduce until at a syrupy consistency.  Pour glaze over top over quiche, if desired.

And bam - quiche!

Not necessarily a quick dinner fix (but the pie dough and caramelized onions can totally be made ahead of time!).  But definitely one that utilizes common ingredients that we're all bound to have in our fridge and pantry!  And plus, you can always adapt a quiche to what you have on hand - leftovers are perfect quiche ingredients!

What quiche combo is your fave?!

Pork Chops w/ Balsamic Blueberry Reduction

Happy Monday everybody!

How was everyone's weekend?  Ours was pretty busy!  Spent the day Saturday doing tons of errands.  Haircut and color (much-needed - and it looks hot!) was a major highlight.  Hehe, no pun intended.  But we also managed to snag lunch at the first ever Louisville Food Truckus Ruckus.  In a matter of just a few short months, Louisville's food truck scene has exploded.  There's at least 8 or so regulars around town now.  Pretty awesome right?  We got a chance to sample works from Busta Grill (one of the best Chicken Sausages ever - topped with a chimichurri coleslaw and tomato/basil pesto was seriously delicious!).  And then MozzaPi's Thai Pi was awesome too.  Curry, bean sprouts, cilantro, and peanuts made for one delicious pie.  And the truck itself was nothing short of amazing - they had a crazy cool wood-fire grill on the end of the truck to cook all of their pizzas to order!

Anyway... I never got around to posting any of those Red, White, & Blue Party recipes last week, did I?  Well, have no fear, I've got a mighty delicious one planned for today!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Rock Recipes' Recipe

8 bone-in pork chops
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon thyme
pinch of nutmeg
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons brown sugar
juice from 1 lemon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to lowest temperature (mine was 170F).  Heat a large non-stick skillet (a cast iron works well here) under medium high heat and add olive oil. 

Season pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides.  Add 2 pork chops at a time to the skillet and cook for about 4-5 minutes per side.  Let pork chops keep warm in the preheated oven on a baking sheet.

To make reduction, combine garlic, white wine, thyme, nutmeg, balsamic vinegar, blueberries, and brown sugar under high heat in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened.  Stir in lemon juice and butter and simmer for a couple more minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Top pork chops with blueberry reduction and dig in!

This is definitely one of those meals that is simple, but sure to impress!  I loved the combo of blueberries and pork, and if you haven't tried it... you need to!

Hope you all have a great Monday!  But for now... I'm off to start Day 1 of my half-marathon training.  Good thing it's only a Stretch & Strengthen Day.  Should be easy =)

Balsamic Glazed Skirt Steak

I'll say it now and I'll say it forever... TGIF!  I've only got to work until 8:30 tonight and I've got the weekend off, so all is well in the world!  It's definitely been one of those, "I need a drink" kind of weeks.  So that is why this week's poll is a mixed drink one!  Especially after gorging myself on desserts from yesterday's Dessert's First, I need a break from the sweets!  And don't worry, for those of you who don't drink alcohol, I'll be making a "virgin" version of whatever wins, as well!  So it's win-win for us all!

And now to this steak.  Seriously, best. steak. ever.  I'm not even joking.  I mean, look at it... don't you carnivores out there just want to reach through your screen and have a bite?  Simple steak and vegetables are all a girl needs to get her through the week.  Well, this week, anyway. =)

Ingredients:
Adapted from Blissfully Delicious's recipe

1 lb. skirt steak (I love it because it's cheap and a little goes a long way!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 & 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sake

To make marinade, melt butter in a medium saucepan under medium high heat.  Add shallots and garlic and saute until they soften, about 3 to 5 minutes or so.  

Add balsamic vinegar to saucepan and bring to a slow boil.  When at a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and let reduce for about 15 minutes.  The sauce will be slightly thickened.  Add sugar, chicken stock, soy sauce, and sake.  Bring to another boil.

Let mixture cool to room temperature and reserve a 1/4 cup of the liquid for finished steak.

Place skirt steak into large glass baking dish and cover with remaining marinade liquid.  Cover dish with plastic wrap and let marinate in the fridge for about 2 hours.  Also place the reserved marinade in the fridge while the meat is marinating.

Prior to cooking steak, drain marinade and pat steak dry.  Cut skirt steak into desired size.

Heat large skillet under medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  When oil is shimmering, add 2 steaks at a time and cook to your liking (I had a nice medium rare, at about 4-5 minutes per side).  Let steaks rest on cutting board for about 5-7 minutes before slicing against the grain.  While the steak is resting, you can heat up the reserved marinade.  Just bring to a simmer until mixture is heated through.

Serve with a bed of fresh vegetables (we had some zucchini and carrots that really made the dish quite colorful!) and top with reserved marinade (that you didn't marinate the meat in).

 Seriously.  Best. Dinner. In. A. While.  This made me mouth rejoice because it was just perfect and simple.  The balsamic really let the meat flavor shine and added the perfect touch.  I'm drooling as I'm typing this because I want it again!  Good thing I have the other half of that skirt steak still in the freezer!  Don't forget to vote in the poll below!!  Have a great weekend guys!

Can you tell I might want a Toddy??