Skirt Steak w/ Stout Pan Sauce

Confession.  I love gravy.  Like, really.  I love gravy.  Sometimes I can't have enough of it.  And you can obviously see by the way this dish was plated, that I'm not joking.

This was one of those dinners that I had to savor every bite.  This is literally whipped up in less than 30 minutes and is perfect for those hectic, busy weeknights where it sometimes seems impossible to get a really great dinner made.  Well, worry no more.  Because this will be your go-to meal!  If you're a carnivore, that is. =)

Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's recipe

5 teaspoons Dijon mustard, divided
1/2 lb. skirt steak
salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons flour
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup stout (I used a local brewery beer - BBC Heine Brother's Coffee Stout)
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Spread 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard on each side of the skirt steak.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat and add 1 teaspoon olive oil until shimmering.  Add skirt steak to pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes per side for a medium rare.  Transfer steak to a cutting board and let rest.  Tent with foil.

In a small bowl, mash together the butter and flour until you get a nice paste.

Heat the same skillet you used to cook stead under medium high heat once again.  Heat remaining teaspoon of olive oil and add garlic.  Saute for about 30 seconds, or until fragrant.  Add chicken broth, scraping up any brown bits on the pan, and bring to a boil.  Whisk in stout, brown sugar, soy sauce, and remaining 3 teaspoons of Dijon mustard.  Slowly stir in butter-flour mixture.

Bring mixture to a boil and cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until sauce has thickened.

Slice the skirt steak thinly and top with the sauce.

I made some cheddar-bacon mashed potatoes and served the steak and sauce atop that.  Of course, I needed to make sure I didn't run out of sauce (because it was just that good!) and filled my plate.  I thought it was a nice touch, and you better believe I didn't run out of sauce. =)

The flavors were amazing in this, and I love that it can differ depending on the type of beer you use, so feel free to experiment!  But definitely definitely give this one a go if you're a meat-eater!  You won't be disappointed!  Enjoy guys!

 

Sweet Potato Cakes

It is freeeeeeeezing outside.  It's feeling like double jacket weather.  I'm sure I'm just over-reacting.  It's really only 33 degrees outside, so we're above freezing so far.  But dude... I don't like this cold weather!

I've been working on my positive attitude, lately, and you know what... sometimes stressful situations do work out better when you've thought positively from the get go.  I've been trying to let myself not get frustrated at work with my fellow co-workers.  I'm only on day 2 of this positive attitude campaign, but you know... I think I may stick to it.

Of course... you guys don't see the negative Peggy.  The Peggy that comes to blog here, she's happy.  She's not stressed, and she's usually eating while she types.  So maybe I can merge these two Peggys and find a "happy medium" in between?  Maybe?  We'll see.

Anyway, now that I've randomly ranted... today's recipe is absolutely delicious.  Morning, noon, or night - these things are perfect.  We had them as a side for our Pork Tenderloin that we had a couple nights ago and they were delicious!


Ingredients:

Adapted from How Sweet It Is's recipe

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper, to taste
2 strips bacon, chopped

Place the sweet potatoes in a large pot of boiling water and cook until tender, about 25-30 minutes minutes.  Drain and return potatoes to pot. 

Add butter and cream to potatoes and mash with a potato masher.  I like some texture to my mashed potatoes, so that's why I didn't use my immersion blender (but if you like a smoother mash, by all means, go right ahead!  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Let mixture cool slightly and place in fridge to cool, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet under medium high heat and add bacon.  Cook until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy.  Remove bacon with slotted spoon and mix into sweet potato mixture along with cayenne pepper, leaving the bacon grease in skillet.

Form mashed sweet potatoes into patties and sprinkle flour onto both sides.  Fry patties in the bacon grease and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown.  Serve hot and fresh as a side, or eat them as is!

These were pretty awesome.  Definitely addicting, if you ask me!  We've had an abundance of sweet potatoes and this was just a slight change-up from the norm.  Enjoy guys!

Thanksgiving 2010!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

We just got back from an eating extravaganza at my parent's house!  We had a ton of food, and my parents even set us up with a couple boxes of leftovers! 

Here's just a quick run down of this year's events:

My mom's really cute centerpiece.

The free-range bird in all it's 25 lb. glory.  It was a pretty huge bird... you can see it hardly even fits into the roasting pan!

 The spread of side dishes consisted of mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, roasted artichokes, fresh made rolls, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce (yes from the can!), and gravy!  We also had a crap load of dessert dishes that included a peppermint meringue chocolate cake (made by moi!), pumpkin pie, apple pie, a variety of cheesecakes, a variety of chocolates, and brownies.  So needless to say, no one went hungry!

We like the dark meat in our family!  My sister was definitely in touch with her carnal side and opted for a leg piece!

 Just a couple candid shots of my sisters... you can tell my sister Frances (on the left edge) is really classy, hehe.

Now she looks more civilized

Thanksgiving was a huge success.  This was also Andy's parent's 3rd visit to our Thanksgiving and we definitely love having them over!  It's great that both of our families can share in this holiday together!

The end of the night consisted of my mom bombarding us with deodorant (you have to know my mom because every time we come over it seems like she gives us TOTALLY random gifts), a big canister of popcorn, and a purse.  Talk about random things, but hey, at least she was concerned about our body odor!

If you celebrated Thanksgiving, how did it go?  Hope you have full bellies and if you're going out in the madness for Black Friday (I am NOT), be careful and be safe!

And I definitely want to make sure you guys know that you are one of the many things I am thankful for today... and every day!

Prime Rib

Prime Rib seems to be the thing to eat on Christmas Eve, so I figured I'd give it a go. Every time I think of prime rib, I think of mocha, our first dog. We were really determined not to feed her people food, ever. Well... that didn't last long. It was maybe a couple months after we got her, we spent a long night out at dinner to Varanese (yes, we go there a lot). We felt bad about leaving her in her cage for so long, so I decided to cut up some of my prime rib that I had leftovers from. The minute the meat touched her mouth, she didn't even chew. She straight swallowed it! And kept begging for more ever since. I can't blame her, it was pretty good, and you really should never turn down great food, whether human or dog!

Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 lb. rib roast
6 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
salt and pepper
2 & 1/2 cups red wine (I used a pinot noir)

A good roast is so simple in ingredients, but if you don't watch it closely, it can really turn a great dish into a mediocre or even bad dish.

Make sure you meat is at room temperature before you do any cooking.

Place the garlic slices underneath pockets of fat. You can also slice small cracks in the meat to stuff it in, but my piece of roast had enough marbling throughout that I didn't have to do too much of that.

Rub both sides of roast in enough salt and pepper to your liking.

Preheat oven to 500 F. Yeah, this is going to be a high heat roasting method.

Place meat in a roasting dish and bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Turn heat down to 325 F and roast for another 5-8 minutes.

Then increase heat to 425 F and cook for about 15 minutes longer.

Let rest of cutting board for 10 minutes. While you're waiting, you can make a quick jus.

Place the roasting pan on the stove and heat under high heat. Deglaze the pan with about 2 cups or more of red wine and make sure you lift up the brown bits, or sucs. Add salt and pepper to taste and reduce sauce by about 1/2.

Cut the roast, it should be a nice medium rare, and serve with mashed potatoes topped with the jus.

I originally cooked my prime rib for about 40 minutes, and I duly regretted it. Andy said it tasted fine, but I knew I overcooked the meat... at least for my liking. It was nice well done I think, but I would have liked to have seen more pink in there. So I adjusted the directions above for what I think would be a great medium rare. Enjoy!