Steak House Dining at Home

Have you been to Target's grocery department yet? One of the newest features in most Target stores is a fully stocked grocery department. They stock high quality food at Target prices. One of my favorite things to buy at Target is the packaged meats. For a steak house meal at home try the Bacon-Wrapped Filets. Two tender and juicy filet steaks for just under $10lb. The same steaks at a restaurant would cost upwards of $30 bucks each. With these steaks, some red potatoes and a bag of frozen vegetables I can put a steak house meal on the table in 30 minutes for under $20 dollars and all the ingredients can be found in your Target grocery department.

Before you get started with the meat put a small baking tray in the oven and pre-heat the oven to 275 degrees.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and heat until smoking

While the oven and the skillet are heating take the filets out of the package and place on a paper towel on a plate. Use another towel to dry the tops of the steaks. Season both sides with salt and pepper and let sit out at room temperature while you work on the potatoes.

Take 8 or 9 small red potatoes and after rinsing cut into quarters and place in a microwave safe bowl.

 Add a teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary, a teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, 2 gloves of minced garlic, season with salt and pepper and add a tsp of olive oil to coat. Toss all the ingredients so everything is mixed together.

When the skillet is ready place the potatoes in a covered bowl in the microwave and set for 8 minutes. 

Set a kitchen timer for 4 minutes. Put the steaks in the skillet and start the 4 minute timer and press start on the microwave.

While the steaks are cooking slice up half of a small onion and put aside.

 When the 4 minute timer goes off flip the steaks and restart the timer for another 4 minutes. Pause the microwave and take the potatoes out. (Caution they will be hot) remove the lid and give them a stir. Put them back and restart until 8 minutes are up.

 When the 4 minute timer goes off use a pair of tongs to grasp both filets and turn on their sides. Brown each side for about 30 seconds until the bacon wrapping is no longer pink. 

Remove the steaks from the pan and place on the pre-heated tray in the oven. Set the timer on 8 minutes.

Remove the potatoes from the microwave and dump into the skillet. Add in the onions. Use the tongs to turn all the potatoes face down. Let them cook for about 5 minutes before tossing.

Continue to watch the potatoes to make sure they don't burn. When the 8 minute timer goes off check the temperature of the steaks - 125 degrees for medium rare. Remove from oven and place on a plate and cover with foil to rest. Take a bag of Birds Eye Steamfresh vegetables and microwave for 5 minutes on high (or follow the directions on the bag).

When the veggies are done everything should be ready. Place the steak on a plate. Add some potatoes and some of the fresh vegetables and in thirty minutes you have a delicious steak dinner.

 I like to use a dab of steak sauce but you could easily make a pan sauce or an herb butter to go with these filets.

The filet is perfectly cooked inside, with no gray well done spots from being in a skillet too long. 

Back In The Kitchen Again

It's good to be back in the kitchen again. After months of unpacking the new kitchen is finally suitable for cooking. It's almost organized (not everything has a home yet and I still have to search around for things) and I have a new work bench I purchased at IKEA so I can start cooking again.

Today I am trying a recipe from the Cook's Country TV show for slow and easy pot roast. The recipe is adapted from "the lazy cook" recipes of the 50's and 60's. It involves making a pot roast wrapped in foil and using onion soup mix for flavoring.

Cook's Country keeps it easy but improves on the recipe by making homemade "soup mix" for flavoring.

To find out more about Cook's Country go to www.cookscountry.com or purchase the new cookbook from Cook's Country that features every recipe on all five season's of the show. Available at Amazon.com

Click here to go to Amazon.com

The whole meal takes about 30 minutes prep time and then 4 hours in the oven.
Here is what you will need:

Equipment
Roasting Pan
Chef's Knife
Cutting Board
Measuring Spoons
Small Bowl
Small Whisk or Fork
Extra-wide Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil
8-10 pieces of Cooking String
Fat Separator
Mesh Strainer
Tongs
Slotted Spoon

Meat and Produce
4lb Beef Chuck Roast
2 Large Onions
6-7 Red potatoes
4-5 Carrots

Pantry
2 tbl spoons Soy sauce
2 Bay Leaves
4 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Light Brown Sugar
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Dried Thyme
1 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Celery Seed
3 tsp corn starch
1 tsp Espresso Powder


Start by making the home made onion "soup"mix. Mix together onion powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme, light brown sugar, celery seed, cornstarch and surprisingly espresso powder. Put the dry mix aside.

Take a 4lb chuck roast and divide it in half along the fat line, trim off large pieces of hard fat and tie up into two smaller roasts and pat dry with paper towels.

Cut 2 large onions (peeled) and 6 or 7 red potatoes into quarters. Peel and cut up 4 carrots into large chunks.

Line a roasting pan with two very large pieces of aluminum foil. Lay them in the pan cross wise. Put the vegetables in the pan. Add two bay leaves and two tablespoons of soy sauce.

 Lay the roasts on top of the vegetables and then coat all over with the dry ingredients.

Seal the first layer of foil closed and then the second, wrapping both layers tightly so no moisture can escape.

Place the roasting pan in the oven at 300 degrees. Set a timer for 4 to 4 1/2 hours and walk away. I recommend having someone else clean-up the preparation dishes and utensils.

When the meat is done remove from the foil package (be careful of the steam when opening) and tent on a carving board for twenty minutes. Use tongs to remove the onions and bay leaves. Use  slotted spoon to remove potatoes and carrots into a bowl and cover with foil. Lift the foil wrappings and pour all the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a fat separator. Allow the fat to separate and then pour the "au jus" into a gray boat or serving pitcher.

Slice the meat against the grain. Serve with potatoes, carrots and smother in the sauce.

The pot roast was falling apart tender and had a deep, rich, beefy, onion flavor,. The potatoes and carrots were perfectly cooked, the outsides were soaked in the beef and onion juices and still firm, while the insides were smooth, creamy and delicious.

This meal can be put together during the day for a nice weeknight dinner or the perfect meal for 4-6 people on a Sunday afternoon.

Pan-seared Steaks in 25 Minutes

Because of my recent move to a two bedroom apartment in the Bronx I have to give up my BBQ for a while. Not having a gas or charcoal grill to cook on is very disappointing, but there simply is no outdoor space to put one right now.

I have to make due with my stove and that means cooking steaks in a frying pan. That's not to difficult if you want an overcooked, chewy steak. But if you want a steak that is crusty on the outside and medium rare in the center follow these steps.

1.) Place a baking sheet on the upper rack of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. This is the perfect temperature for cooking tater-tots, so when the oven is ready spread a handful on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven on the lower rack.

2.) Take to NY Strip Sirloin Steaks and pat them dry on both sides. Sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and black pepper.

3.) Place a skillet on the stove and add a small amount of olive oil. heat the skillet on very high heat until the oil is smoking. Add the steaks to the skillet.



4.) Cook the steaks for 3 minutes. Let them develop a nice sear and a dark crust. Don't move them or lift them. After three minutes turn the steaks.

5.) Let the steaks cook another three minutes on the opposite side. Then using a pair of tongs lift the steaks and sear the sides, about a minute on each side.

6.) When the sides are seared place the steaks on the baking sheet in the oven. Heat in the oven for 4 minutes for medium rare. Length of time is based on thickness of steak. A thicker steak will take longer. Use a thermometer to check, about 125 degrees. The tater-tots should be ready about the same time the steaks are (I like to leave my tots in the oven a few extra minutes to make them crispy).

7.) If you follow these steps you will get a delicious steak every time.

Use a little A-1 Steak Sauce or make a quick pan sauce in the same skillet you seared the steaks in. Enjoy!

Steak Sandwich

Sometimes the simplest foods are the best. Tonight for dinner I made a quick and easy sirloin steak sandwich. The steaks were from Target's new grocery section. They were petite sirloins that were on sale last week.

An hour before dinner I dried the steaks and then prepped them with salt and pepper and put them in the fridge to let the salt do its work. While the steaks were chillin' I started a nice hot fire on my Weber kettle grill. On the stove I had a big pot of water boiling to cook the fresh summer corn from Safeway, on sale 6 for $1 this week.

The steaks were grilled for about three minutes per side and they came out a nice medium rare. I sliced them up against the grain and served them on toasted and buttered french rolls. Topped with some fresh sliced onion and some Bullseye bar-b-que sauce (the number one rated brand in multiple surveys). Served with the buttered and salted fresh corn this was a quick and simple, but delicious dinner.

Perfect Pot Roast

I tried  making a pot roast for the first time in December and I guess I didn't realize how long it needed to cook. I had dinner guest, it was tree decorating party, and the roast took for ever! And even when it was done it was still a little dry. I made some mistakes with the gravy too.

I gave myself plenty of time today and I ended up with a delicious, fall-apart tender, moist beefy roast and a gravy that was full of flavor. It was one of the best meals I have made since I started cooking.

I learned a couple of things along the way. Low and slow is the way to go when roasting beef. I also did some research about cooking with wine.I don't drink so I don't know a lot about wine, but I realize the type of wine you cook with is important. I learned the wine should be fruity, medium bodied and not aged in oak. An oak aged wine will give the food a woodsy flavor, and a full bodied wine will over power your sauce.

A pot roast is made with inexpensive cuts of meat, usually from the chuck or shoulder. Safeway was having a sale last week buy one chuck cross rib roast and get another free, so I bought two and made a delicious beef stew on Wednesday (my best yet) and today I made pot roast. I followed the recipe featured on the first episode of the new season of America's Test Kitchen

I started on Saturday by trimming the meat and splitting the roast in two. I tied both smaller roasts with string and then salted them. This was the only salt I used in the whole dish. I covered both roasts with a tablespoon of kosher salt each, wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator. They stayed there, building flavor till Sunday. (This is the ATK way of prepping a roast beef, so I thought I would try it for pot roast. You can skip this step and salt the beef one hour before prep time and leave the beef out to come up to room temp.)

Sunday around noon I took the roast out, unwrapped them and left them on a tray to come up to room temperature.

I pre-heated my oven to 300 degrees.

In a large dutch oven I added two tablespoons of unsalted butter and let it melt. Then I added two sliced onions and caramelized them. next came one carrot diced and one celery stalk diced. i cooked them till they were soft.

Add two cloves of minced garlic and cook till fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1 cup of beef broth and 1/2 cup of dry red wine. Add one bay leaf and one sprig of time. Bring liquid to a simmer. Add both roasts and cover pot with foil to trap moisture and put on the lid. Put the dutch oven into the 300 degree oven and set a timer for four hours.

After two hours take the pot out and turn both roasts so the moist side is up and the dry side is submerged in the liquid. Put the pot back in the oven for the remainder of the cooking time.

After four hours take the pot out and remove the roast. Place on a cutting board and cover with the foil to retain the heat.

Pour everything in the pot through a sieve to catch the solids, into a large 4 cup measuring bowl. press on the solids to extract the any liquids and then place them in a blender. Check the measuring cup, you need 3 cups of liquid. If it's lower than that add beef broth to bring it up to 3 cups. I used an Oxo good grips measuring cup/fat separator so when I poured off the liquid the fat stayed behind and reduced some of the calories.

Pour the 3 cups of liquid into the blender jar and puree. Remember to put on the lid, cover the lid with a dish towel and hold the top steady with your hand. This will prevent any hot liquid splatter. Start slow and then switch to high speed to blend the solids and liquids together until smooth.

Pour the blender contents into a saucepan and heat until simmering. Add 1/4 teaspoon of chopped thyme, 1/4 cup of red wine and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.

Bring back to a simmer and allow to thicken while you slice the roast.

Cut the strings and remember to cut thick slices. Place on a platter and then cover with the gravy. Serve additional gravy on the side. Enjoy!

Beef Stew Again

We had some red wine left over from Thanksgiving so one December night I made a hearty beef stew again. I purchased some nice stew beef from Mollie Stone's Market. I used the recipe I posted in October with some experimentation. Mr. Joe's Beef Stew Recipe

Be sure to brown the meat well.

Cook the onion in the beef fat.

Add all the spices and garlic before de-glazing, allowing them to bloom. I used the left over wine, which had some nice peppery notes to de-glaze the pan.

 Add the beef and any juices and then bring to boil and let simmer for two hours.

Use fresh veggies, potatoes, carrots and pearl onions. Cut into bite size pieces.

Simmer another hour and then serve over noodles if you like.

Boxing Day

Boxing day was celebrated with shoping and an inexpensive beef eye-round, slow roasted to bring out the flavor. The roast was treated with salt the day before and then browned in a dutch oven. Afterwards it was slow roasted in a very low oven to help develop flavor and make the meat tender.

The roast was served with mashed potatoes, biscuits and some delicious mustard glazed carrots.