I’ve been craving a really well made steak because I had been watching cooking shows. For my birthday last month my husband took me to a chain steakhouse (think Texas Roadhouse – not Ruth’s Chris) and it was so awful, they ended up exchanging our meals and comping it. Even for just the tip I was hugely disappointed and probably won’t be using the coupons for free apps they also gave us. My husband promised me we’d find another place that really serves good steaks, but we haven’t had the opportunity to do so.
The other night he brought home some petite sirloins that he got on sale for under $8. They weren’t the best cuts of meat, but they were thick enough and I was really going for flavor. I’ve never made good steaks before so I got on YouTube and watched Gordon Ramsey pan sear steaks. It’s the butter basting that intrigued me – I felt like a real chef making it.
OMG! They came out great! I was so proud of myself. The crust was perfect, the butter really goes a long way to bringing out the flavor of the meat and as soon as the rosemary (I only had dry, brittle sprigs that looked like garbage) hit the hot pan, the whole kitchen smelled amazing! I was going for medium rare, but I think I was on the edge of medium. I think I did pretty well for a first time. I also had some crimini mushrooms that I sauteed in the same pan while the steaks were resting and made some garlic toast out of sourdough. We had baked potatoes too, but I forgot to ask hubby to get some greens. Lot of butter in this meal. Julia Child would have been proud. I was pleased with myself.
The night before we grazed dinner: roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted rainbow potatoes and bacon-wrapped stuffed dates. Even though I overcooked the dates Mr. BEG, who didn’t recall liking them at a restaurant, said they were yummy and caramelized. I used goat cheese and those suckers are a lot of work! Stuffed them while we watched Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and I still have most of the bag of dates left.
I want to hear about your unexpected successes in the kitchen. You people give me ideas!
I think I’ve already told this one, but my sister gave me a bunch of individual-sized frozen meatloafs. They’re good enough, but cleaning up the pan is tough, so I hit the idea of putting the meat on top of a thick slice of bread in the pan. Well, it did indeed make the cleanup a little easier… but it also resulted in the bread which had absorbed most of the drippings tasting absolutely amazing. And I wasn’t even trying for that.
With no previous experience I cooked a small turkey on a basic campground BBQ stand and somehow it came out perfect. I’ve never had a turkey come out as good since.
I put together a pound cake last week that came out surprisingly well. All ingredients were mixed by hand, using nothing more than a pastry blender and a wire whisk.
Then Michaela used it as the basis for strawberry cheesecake-amaretto cake pops.
Might as well share the recipe for that pound cake.
Preheat oven to 300F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
Cream together 1.5 sticks of butter and four ounces of softened cream cheese (I used a tub of whipped cream cheese with strawberries in).
Beat in 1.5 Cups of granulated sugar, followed by 3 eggs, then 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, and 1/4 Cup of amaretto.
Add 1/4 tsp salt, then gradually beat in 1.5 Cups of flour, until the batter is smooth.
Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for one hour and twenty minutes. You should have an oven-proof bowl with a cup or so of water on the rack next to the cake.
It was the first real baking I had done in several years.
I didn’t realise how bad a cook my mother was until I left home. I’m not in any way ambitious with food, I don’t really like eating, but what I make comes out just the way I like it 90% of the time.
I once made a little filet of beef roast for Christmas dinner, and accompanied it with Sauce Bearnaise, which is like Hollandaise sauce flavored with fresh tarragon and shallots. The sauce came out textbook perfect, even though it’s bit tricky to get just right. That was about seven years ago.
It was so good that I ate way too much rare roast beef with Sauce Bearnaise, and I’m only now recovering from that and beginning to think of making it again.
I’ve heard of doing this but I’ve never tried it. What kind of bread did you use? I’ve been thinking about meatloaf, I haven’t made it in ages and that sounds good.
