Tuscan Steak And Beans

I had a steak in the fridge that needed to be used and found this recipe for Tuscan Steak and Beans at Food.com, and since there were three of us I added the second steak and made it just like the recipe.

Tuscan Steak And Beans
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

· 1 teaspoon olive oil
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 2 -10 ounces boneless beef top loin steaks
· 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
· 1 medium onion, sliced
· 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
· 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
· 1 pint grape tomatoes
· 16 ounces white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
· fresh rosemary leaf

Directions

1. In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over med-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Add steaks to skillet and cook 8-10 min, turning once for med-rare or desired doneness. Transfer steaks to cutting board; keep warm.

2. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to drippings in skillet and cook, stirring until browned and tender, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar, chopped rosemary, and 2 tbsp water, stirring until browned bits are loosened from bottom of skillet. Stir in tomatoes and beans; cook, stirring occasionally until heated through - about 2 minute.

3. Thinly slice steaks and serve with tomato and bean mixture. Garnish with rosemary leaves.

Here’s a shot of my plate and we sided it with a piece of cheese toast the recipe for which we picked up from Steph over at “Plain Chicken.”


I don’t normally cook steak in a skillet and I wound up getting them a little more done than I wanted. I wouldn’t make this again without adding a lot more flavors, especially to the bean mix. The bread was the highlight of the meal and the worst part was I had a nice little piece of rosemary for garnish and forgot it until my meal was about gone. I'll never make it as a restaurant chef because eating a hot meal is more important to me than presentation - and luckily, I have no plans to become one :-).

I notice I have some new followers - welcome and thanks for reading my ramblings.

Have a nice day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

A Day Trip And Delicious Sandwich

We made a little day trip to Cumberland Gap, Tn the other day, with some friends, for lunch at Webb’s County Kitchen (our second visit) and our son, Eric, daughter-in-law, Ann and granddaughter, Sophia, who live nearby, joined us as well. While there, we walked around town and I took this picture of the still turning water wheel for the old gristmill that is now a B&B. The owner is trying to find someone to help her turn the functioning wheel into electricity - I would think some green industry company or college professor would be all over this. The stream comes right down from the mountain just yards away so I assume it’s spring fed. It must be cold as the little pool in front of it is full of Rainbow Trout, a couple of which I wouldn’t have minded having for dinner.


We also went out to Rose Hill, Va., population 714, to a little Mennonite store and bakery, called Dutch Treats, for some sweet baked goodies, cheddar cheese, and we got a loaf of jalapeno bread, which I‘ve commented on in a previous posts. The bread had a mix of cheese and peppers rolled up inside as well as some peppers on the outside, giving it a nice heat level. They have an assortment of Amish/Mennonite goods (mostly from Pa. & Ohio Dutch country), but they do all of the baking on site.

We’ve been eating on the bread the past few days and since I was on my own for lunch, I decided to turn a couple of slices into a grilled cheese sandwich, which I’d been wanting for over a week. I stuck with a pretty basic sandwich – their bread and cheese, a little thin sliced red onion, and some Dukes mayo. I put butter on both sides and grilled with a lid on to make sure the cheese would melt. It was outstanding and satisfied my craving - it’s amazing how much enjoyment such a simple lunch can provide. I thought it also looked delicious, but unfortunately neither of the pictures turned out.

Finally, I had saved the drippings and some biscuits from a country ham and biscuit breakfast, over the weekend, for use as biscuits and red eye gravy. The last time I made the gravy, Bev complained that she didn't get to sample it. So yesterday morning I fried up the last couple of pieces of ham in the saved drippings, added 3/4 cup of coffee, and put it over the re-heated biscuits. Bev's chance for a taste resulted in the following: "the stuff looks awful and it tastes awful too, I can make better ham gravy than that." I guess it's not for everyone.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Pancakes For The Grandkids

One of the Walker kid's (our Fort Knox family) favorite breakfasts when they come to Grandpop and Meme’s house is chocolate chip pancakes. Since they are not particular about the cakes, I used a mix – Pioneer Brand Buttermilk Biscuit and Baking Mix, and it made a pretty decent pancake. I assume it’s similar to Bisquick.

So for them it was the cakes with some mini chocolate chips sprinkled around the top side.


I hate I missed getting a pic of theirs, as they topped them with a mix of pancake syrup, Hersey’s chocolate syrup, and some more chocolate chips – since they’re all skinny as a rail, I don’t worry about an occasional calorie laden meal.

About the only time I eat pancakes is when I fix them for the kids, but when I do, I eat them like this – just like my dad.


Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Pasta Puttanesca

Our tomatoes are still coming in a few at a time and the blight about has then done in, so we’re still not getting enough to can – I’ll have to get serious about disease control next year. They nearly all have a problem when picked or develop one soon after picking. As soon as they’re ripe enough, we cut them up and put in the fridge and today we decided we’d best do something with them.

Bev’s suggestion was Puttanesca sauce, which sounded good to me. Since many of the tomatoes weren’t easily peelable, we decided to cook and juice them, then cook down into a sauce. I ended up with 5 ½# of juice, which I cooked down for about 3 hours and 1 ½# of peeled and seeded tomatoes. Since the dish is really made with a fairly quick cooked chunky marinara, our sauce is a hybrid. I decided to use a Wolfgang Puck recipe as I thought I had the best chance of getting the proportions right since he started with fresh tomatoes. Here’s his original recipe from the Food Network:

Pasta Puttanesca
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

· 1 ounce olive oil
· 1 tablespoon minced garlic
· 3 anchovy fillets, chopped
· 2 pounds tomatoes, concassed (peeled, seeded, and cut into strips)
· ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
· 6 ounces dry pasta, cooked al dente
· 1 tablespoon capers
· 2 tablespoons Nicoise olives, pitted
· ½ teaspoon fresh minced oregano
· 8 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
· 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
· Salt and freshly ground black pepper
· Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute. Add the anchovy fillets, 1½ pounds of the tomatoes, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the cooked pasta, remaining 1/2 pound of tomatoes, capers, olives and oregano. Toss to mix and coat pasta with sauce. Turn off heat. Add the basil and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide onto 2 pasta plates and grate fresh Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

I used our cooked sauce, at half the recipe amount, for the first tomato addition and concassed tomatoes at the recipe amount for the second tomato addition. Here are the ingredients mixed for each addition to the dish – the oil and garlic are in the pan.


Everything still in the pan.


Here’s my plate after adding some fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano. I actually added more after taking the picture.



We considered adding some grilled shrimp or chicken to the top, or a side salad but decided on just some garlic cheese toast made in the toaster oven with some jalapeno cheese bread we got from the Mennonite bakery the other day – more about this in a future post. This was my first time for this dish and did I say it was delicious – I ate all of mine and about a third each of Bev’s and Pat’s – for my dessert and salad.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Basic Steak And Taters

Our Fort Knox family came in for Saturday and Sunday so that Alex could attend a modeling school function and Bev’s plan really appealed to me – let’s cook something simple for supper. My solution was to throw some steaks and potatoes on the grill. She decided it should be potatoes and cheese in a foil pouch and add a salad.

To prep the steaks, I just went with S & P, garlic powder and Montreal Steak Seasoning. For the potatoes, I’ve not been thrilled with how the cheese has turned out the last couple of times, using shredded cheese and canned milk, so I decided to start with a fondue. I adapted an Emeril Fondue recipe using more cornstarch and less white wine to make a thicker fondue to offset the liquid in the onions and potatoes. So my recipe was:

8oz Cheddar cheese
8 oz Jack cheese
3 tbsp Cornstarch
½ cup White wine
1 tbsp Minced garlic
6 Medium potatoes, diced
2 Medium large onions, halved and sliced

· Peel and slice potatoes and onions. Shred the cheese and toss with the cornstarch.
· In a saucepan, bring the garlic and wine to a simmer.
· Stir in the cheese a little at a time until melted.
· Spray a piece of heavy-duty foil with Pam. (we used a foil bag this time)
· In a bowl, mix together the veggies and the fondue and salt and pepper to taste. Do it fast as the cold potatoes quickly cools the fondue.
· Pour the mix onto the foil, seal the edges, and toss on the grill over direct heat and flip every 5 minutes until the foil pack fills with steam – like a Jiffy Pop popcorn, then move to indirect heat and cook the steaks.

The amount of cheese can be altered to suit your taste.

I decided these good looking steaks deserved to be cooked on the charcoal grill, so I built a hot fire on one side with no fire on the other. When it was ready, I cooked the steaks for a couple of minutes per side (depending upon desired doneness) to get a nice crust, then moved them to indirect to finish cooking.

Sorry, but we were running real late I was too busy cooking and serving to take any pictures, but the meal was great and making the cheese sauce for the potatoes worked very well – it’s my new go to way to do this.

I did manage to get a shot of the potatoes the next time I ate them though,


The darker color is where the cheese stuck to the foil and it’s my favorite part.

I mixed some country ham into some potatoes, nuked, and topped with a fried egg for breakfast this morning.



They worked great for this.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Deer Sausage Sandwich

I’ve often considered trying to come up with clever titles for my posts, but then I believe it would make it more difficult to search, so I try and make them descriptive. I’ve been diligently working to clean out our freezer and I discovered a package of hot deer sausage given to me by my cousin. Since dinner was a fend for yourself kind of affair, I decided on a sausage sandwich.

The sausage comes from my cousin or his son in West Virginia and I don’t know if it’s pure venison or a blend, but I do know it had a good flavor and a nice heat. They live in an area where hunting deer can almost be accomplished by sitting on your patio and harvesting one when it wanders by. I’m the lucky recipient of a few packages or assorted product regularly.

So when I found this, I decided to just make a simple sandwich. I sautéed some onions and peppers then removed them from the pan and fryed the sausage. When it was close to done, I added a couple of slices of cheddar cheese and the veggies. When the cheese was melted I put it between two slices of bread with some mayo and it was delicious. After the fact, I thought I should I have considered some type of aioli, but.


I don’t hunt or fish, cause I don't like turning animals into meat, but I’m glad I know people who do and are willing to give me some.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Steak And Chicken Quesadillas

We had a couple of chuck steaks and some smoked chicken in the fridge, so Bev suggested something simple for dinner - quesadillas. This was appealing since all we had to do was make up some pico de gallo, grill the steaks, reheat the chicken and assemble. Since we planned to use the homemade pimento cheese with chipotle in adobo for the cheese, I put some Tones Chipotle Seasoning on the beef. I put the beef over the hot part of the grill and the chicken on the cooler part.


and we had a couple of ears of corn, which we also grilled for adding to the mix.


So the quesadillas were pimento cheese, fresh chopped jalapenos, corn and meat on the inside, then on the grill for toasting.



Then topped with the pico de gallo and sour cream (which I forgot for mine) on the outside – I had one each chicken and beef.


They were absolutely delicious and we may have to keep this kicked up pimento cheese in the fridge full time - we're getting lots of use out of it.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry