Valentine's Two-Steppin' Tenderloin

The perfect Valentine's Day meal...except I didn't make it on Valentine's Day! Brent was travelling, so I made this a couple weeks before the romantic holiday.

I'll admit, I was really disappointed with the tenderloins that I purchased from my local grocer. I bought them packaged since they were on sale. I should have known better...they put the "bad" side down, so I couldn't see that it had some weird connective tissue on one side. Blech. Note to self...spend $1 more and pick the exact cuts I want from the meat case.

BUT I cooked the tenderloins perfectly and the pesto and rice "pilaf" came out nicely! The cool thing about this recipe is the cooking method. It's like a chef's secret: from the stove top to the oven = perfectly browned and perfectly medium rare (or whatever doneness you prefer).

A tip to cut down on ingredients and time: buy jarred pesto. YES, making your own is probably healthier because you can control the amount of oil, type of nuts, etc. But making it myself made for more dishes to wash--I'm not a fan of more dishes. :)

Two-Steppin' Tenderloin

Colorful and easy!

Quick and Easy: Beef Fried Rice

Years ago I won a silent auction item that contained a wok, Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking cookbook and lots of staple Asian cooking ingredients like sesame oil, oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, black bean paste, etc. I used the wok once and because I have those stupid coiled burners on my range, it didn't really work out. I need a gas range. UGH. So I have to use a large skillet to stir-fry instead.

Back to the story. I'm not a great Asian cook. I think I do pretty well with lots of cuisines, but I don't feel confident in most Asian applications. But last night I was craving Chinese food. Knowing I had a great cookbook and the right tools at home, I purchase some a Petite Top Sirloin from the grocery store and some asparagus. I was going to try to make fried rice. I used this recipe as a base and it came out to be almost as good as I've had from some restaurants. Kudos to the cookbook!

Beef Fried Rice
2 cups uncooked microwavable brown rice (cooked according to package directions)
2 Tbsp chicken broth
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp freshly minced garlic
1 pound beef, appropriate for stir-fry (I used Petite Top Sirloin), cut into thin slices
1 package frozen vegetables, stir-fry mix, thawed
1 bundle fresh asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp macadamia nuts, chopped

Cook rice and set aside. Mix broth, sauces, sesame oil and salt in bowl and set aside. Add vegetable oil to large skillet (lots of surface area for a stir fry) over med-high heat. Add garlic and ginger and stir for 20 seconds until fragrant. Add beef, stir and cook until browned, about 4 minutes. Add vegetables, stir and cook until crisp tender, about 3 minutes. Move beef and vegetables to the sides of the pan. Add eggs in the middle and stir, until cooked through, about 1 minute. Mix all ingredients together.

Add rice to mix and stir. Pour sauce over mixture and stir. Serve with chopped macadamia nuts on top.

This made four very large servings.

We added a little Siracha on top, but it didn't really need it

Random Weeknight Dinner: Steak and Eggs

New York Strip (aka Kansas City Strip, aka Strip Steak, aka Top Loin Steak) (one of the many lean cuts of beef) was on sale at my grocery store the other night so I bought it. When I got home my first thought was, "Yikes, I didn't buy anything to go with this!" Fret not, the fridge had plenty of items to work with! I had accidentally bought eggs when I didn't need them, so I needed to use some up. I also had spinach that was about to go bad. Perhaps the most random of all was a small amount of hashbrowns and frozen french fries. So how to use all this randomness up? Steak and eggs with potato hash and sauteed spinach. Sounds good to me!

I used a two-step cooking method on the steak. I started it on the stove top in an oven-safe pan. I browned it nicely on both sides for about 3 minutes on each side. Then I put it in a preheated (350) oven for about 10 minutes. It was a PERFECT medium rare and so juicy. I salted it after I let it rest for about 3 minutes. I only had one rather large steak, so I split it in two for our servings.

For the hash, I sauteed the frozen fries for a bit and then I added the refrigerated hashbrowns and some sliced red onion. Once I got some browning on them, I put them in a pan in the oven as well.

I then added the spinach to a saute pan with a little garlic salt and let that wilt.

I cooked the eggs over-medium and put it all together on a plate. Brent has requested it again, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to recreate it seeing how it was basically a bunch of leftovers and about-to-go-bad items. Either way, I call this a success.

Steak and Eggs with Random Hash and Sauteed Spinach

Spicy Beef Kabobs and Minted Watermelon Salad

The August issue of Real Simple magazine was incredible. I was so inspired by the cover alone that I decided to replicate the two recipes on my own. I was even more pleased to find that the recipes came from a special "3 Ingredient Dishes" section, so I had to purchase very few items to get this beautiful meal.
I added more veggies with additional vegetable kabobs. Also, I couldn't find red jalapeno peppers so I used green ones--and they were HOT. Brent and I couldn't even eat them. Next time I think I'll use green chilies or maybe poblano peppers.

The minted watermelon salad was amazing. I've made it again since this and it was just as good. I'd recommend using a seedless watermelon so you don't have to mess with removing the seeds. It can almost serve as dessert if the melon is sweet enough.

Recipes:
Minted Watermelon Salad
Spicy Beef Kabobs

My finished product

Chicken Fried Steaks with Spicy Blue Cheese Sauce

I got home from a work trip and didn't want to go to the store so it was time to create my own mystery basket contest from what I already had. I was actually inspired by a culinary competition I'd seen the night before--I just had to work with the ingredients I already had. You can see my choices below (well there were more choices, but this is where my mind went).

What is a Sirloin Tip Steak???!!! My mom had given me a variety of cuts from a half of beef they'd purchased. Beef cuts have so many different names--so I looked this up and found out that it's from the round. So its a lean cut! Awesome. That also meant it needed some "TLC" and probably shouldn't be grilled up as a normal steak. So I decided to make a sort of chicken fried steak. I put it on top of whole wheat pasta and spinach and then made a spicy blue cheese sauce.

Chicken Fried Steaks with Spicy Blue Cheese Sauce
1 cup cooked whole wheat pasta
2 beef sirloin tip side steaks
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp blue cheese crumbles
2 Tbsp light sour cream
hot sauce to taste
1 package frozen chopped spinach

Cook pasta and set aside. Place steaks on cutting board, top with plastic wrap and pound thin with a large pan or mallet if you have one. Pound until about 1/4 inch thick and cut each steak in half. Heat oil over medium heat in skillet.

In shallow bowl combine flour and salt and pepper to your liking. In second bowl lightly whisk egg and water. In third bowl combine bread crumbs, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Dredge steaks in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Place in skillet and cook about 3-5 minutes on each side until evenly golden and 145 degrees.

Meanwhile, heat spinach in microwave. Season with salt and pepper. Mix blue cheese, sour cream and hot sauce in small bowl.

Mound 1/2 cup pasta on plate, top with as much spinach as you'd like. Place two steaks atop pasta and spinach. Top with half the blue cheese mixture.

Makes two servings.

This was absolutely delicious. I also feel like it was a rather healthy version of chicken fried steak--if there ever was one. I sort of mixed it all up when I was eating it. I liked to have a taste of each item in every bite.

I'm making this again--but next time I'll have to go buy the steaks since I used my mystery meat successfully!