With Summer weather here in the Pacific Northwest for this Fourth of July weekend, I decided to prepare a small flat iron steak with chimichurri for dinner tonight. Of course, regular visitors to the blog will know I love cooking beef sous vide style to get incredible results and this meal is no different. Cooked at 125 degrees F using my Anova One immersion circulator and finished on the grill, just writing about this dinner has my mouth watering. This is my first foray into making chimichurri and I am excited to enjoy this Argentinian delight with my steak. And is this meal easy? You bet it is. Simply it is a vacuum sealed steak taking a bath for a few hours before meeting the grill for some…
Tonight’s dinner is one of my favorites to order when out at my local Chinese restaurant. Sometimes rather than go out, I make this simple and tasty dish at home so I wanted to share it with you. In my opinion, this dish is diet-friendly. It has a moderate amount of beef for the protein, you can control the amount of starch through the portion of rice (or noodles) you pair with it and the rest is vegetables and sauce. So… easy to prepare, flavorful, and healthy – what’s not to like! With all that going for it, let’s get cooking! Save Print Beef with Broccoli Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 40…
Today I decided to experiment and grill a roulade. Working with ingredients I had at home, I created this recipe using a butterflied flat iron steak, prosciutto, asparagus, and shredded Italian blend cheese. The meat was marinated in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Italian seasoning, minced onions, minced garlic, salt and pepper for an hour before assembly and grilling. For such a seamingly upscale dish, it went together quickly and easily – and it was enjoyed just as quickly and easily! Give this dish a try and impress that special someone with your culinary skills. No one has to know how easy it is… it will be our little secret! Save Print Flat Iron Steak Involtini Prep time: 1 hour 20 mins Cook time…
Tonight I made alcatra – a simple, but incredibly flavorful Portuguese beef stew made with beef shank, onions, some spices and wine. I researched many recipes and decided to go with the extremely simple recipe on the America’s Test Kitchen website, but I plan try a few of the others I found too. Several of those are family recipes from Terceira, an island in the Azores where this dish originated. I am intrigued by the myriad of variations, so watch for new posts in the future. Believe me, this stew would pair nicely with the No Knead Dutch Oven Bread; just imagine enjoying a flavorful beef stew with a delicious crusty bread. Ahhh, simple fare at it’s finest… Now that I have whetted…
Here’s a favorite Chinese restaurant dish that can be either fabulous or frightful. I researched numerous recipes and crafted this one from many recipes. When I think of Mongolian Beef, I think of balanced flavors of sweet, salty, and spicy complimented by tender beef with crispy edges in the previously described sauce. I think this recipe succeeds for the most part since cutting down a recipe like this one has definite challenges. The biggest challenge I encountered is in creating the sauce. Typically, small amounts of sauce are difficult and small amounts of a light glaze are even more difficult. This recipe produces a bit more sauce than I prefer, but it is comparable to the style and amount of sauce you find on this dish…
“What?” you say? Well, last night I tested something I have wanted to try for a while. Based on the ever popular London Broil, I slathered a top sirloin in Korean gochujang and cooked it sous vide style before grilling it as a finish. The results – amazing! My pairings with this dish are a bit of a hack based on what I had available. I had Brussel sprouts, so I made some as balsamic glazed and the rest shredded with rice vinegar and sriracha as a fake kimchi. Rest assured, I will create a post for this recipe (and more appropriate side dishes) in the future, but I could not resist sharing the photos of my ‘experiment’ with all of you! Enjoy! Save…
What can I say… I like chicken fried steak. There is something very comforting about this dish and I had it on my list of dishes to make for you. But this morning, I had a stroke of genius – change up the standard delicious chicken fried steak by seasoning it with dukkah. This flavorful Egyptian blend consists of sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cumin, coriander, salt and sumac among other spices. I figured these flavors would really enhance the chicken fried steak, especially if paired with a unique starch and a robust gravy. For the starch, I chose lightly fried orzo and farro while the gravy would be a mushroom and sweet pepper concoction. Adding a simple sauteed fresh green beans rounds out…
Today I made a simplified beef barley soup – something satisfying without a huge amount of effort. I adopted some of the tricks from both America’s Test Kitchen and this Serious Eats recipe to help this dish not become an all day cooking event. This recipe makes a two healthy portions – perfect for sharing with a friend or saving for delicious leftovers. Since the cooking is done in a covered dutch oven or stock pot in the oven, the likelihood of drying out is minimized. I paired this soup with a few slices of whole wheat baguette toasted with melted gouda – another simple add-on that makes this simple meal just a bit more. With this crazy Spring weather, it is a perfect time…
Today I had planned to make a Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup (based on the recipe available on the America’s Test Kitchen website). Well, sizing recipes down can be challenging and I hit one today. I ended up with what was more like a pilaf then a soup. So I figured if I have pilaf I better make something to go with it. I had a flatiron steak in the refrigerator I was planning on cooking sous vide with a healthy number of spices, so I made it a double experiment day. And guess what? Both experiments may not have been exactly what I was shooting for, they were very tasty parts of this meal. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good! Enjoy the…
Winter is still gripping the Pacific Northwest and this means perfect weather for using the oven for a lengthy roast like a beef roast. I am sure many of us remember growing up with the weekly beef roast dinner. Perhaps is was a beef chuck roast cooked in a liquid paired with potatoes and a green salad. It sounds very boring compared to the meals we enjoy now, but there is beauty in this simplicity. But let’s face it… the typical beef roast is way too much for one person. And given that one of the driving factors for this blog is to show you how to make meals without having to ‘enjoy’ it for seven days straight, this meal was just begging…