Bride vs. Groom Pizza Cook Off Coming Soon

With the bride up 1-0 after the mac and cheese challenge, the groom is looking to hit back with a winning pie. Stay tuned throughout the week. 

The Best Steak Sandwich

A quick, simple, amazing steak sandwich recipe. No need to make things complicated. Steak. Onions. Peppers. Garlic. Bread. 

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Add a couple of cloves of garlic wrapped in tin foil to roast for 30 to 40 minutes until the garlic is soft like butter.

2. Sauté thinly sliced onions and peppers in a little olive oil. Season with sea salt and black pepper.

3. Grill your steak (hanger or sirloin work best) to medium rare. Leave to rest for 2 minutes before slicing into thin pieces. Reserve any juices from cooking in the pan.

4. Spread the roasted garlic over you bread. Layer the steak slices and top with the peppers and onions. Spoon some of the steak juices over the top.

Do you have knife skills?

Check out this article on NY Magazine's website regarding knife skills!

Butcher's Lunch Part Three: Antipasto

Ask any Italian what their favorite holiday food is and you are sure to get a different answer from everyone. Ask any Italian what food they eat they most of every holiday and there is only one answer - antipasto. Who can sit around an overflowing plate of salty meats and cheeses, sour marinated vegetables, and crunchy bread and not have a little bit of everything? A minimum of four plates per person I think. I may overdo it, but I love antipasto. I bought ingredients to make a more classic combination, but antipasto is simplya small plate you eat before dinner so it has different meaning to different people. La Cucina Italiana's recipe section has 10 completely different dishes tagged as antipasto.

My favorite: hot and sweet sopressatta, mozzarella stuffed hot cherry peppers, and artichoke hearts marinated in olive oil and parsley served with an extra glug of flavorful olive oil and fresh cracked pepper.

Think that you can do better? Let me know your favorite combination. 

Sunday Baked Eggs

Nothing says Sunday more than a lazy day in with a pot of coffee and eggs ... unless your my fiancee where a Sunday consists of walking around, brunching, shopping, and doing any other activity to make someone tired. Luckily for me, I got my lazy Sunday this week as she was spending time with her sister. I put on some TV, made a pot of coffee, and searched through our threadbare cupboards to find something to make with eggs. 

I found some red lentils and whole wheat breadcrumbs, and thought I would use my new mini Le Creuset bake pan I bought last week by making baked eggs. I made sure to add a layer of breadcrumbs to avoid the eggs from falling between the beans. I was happy to see a nice crunchy crust develop underneath my eggs, separating with wet yolks from the hearty, spiced lentils. Try it your next lazy Sunday, and if lentils aren't you're thing, used some cooked spinach, some thick cut bacon, or whatever you have in your cupboards. Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 1):

2 eggs

2 tbsp. whole wheat bread crumbs

2 tsp. olive oil

1/3 cup red lentils

1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp. parsley flakes

1 tsp. tarragon

1 slice of butter

sea salt & black pepper

1.  Heat a pan over a medium heat. Add the red lentils, 1 teaspoon of olive oil, curry powder, cumin, parsley, and butter. Mix thoroughly, oat the lentils and leave over heat for 2 minutes. Preheat your over to 375 degrees.

2. Add half of the vegetable stock and leave the lentils to cook. When the stock cooks off, add some more. The lentils should be nice and tender, and cook in about 10 minutes or so. Add any more stock needed to get the beans to cook through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. In a bowl, add your bread crumbs and the remaining teaspoon of olive oil. Mix together until you have a nice paste. Moist bread crumbs cook and taste much better than plain ones (that's why fried food taste so glorious as the breadcrumbs get slathered in grease!).

4. Remove the lentils from the pan, and drain most of the excess liquid. Reserve about a tablespoon's worth and add back to the lentils.

5. Add the lentils to your bake pan. Top with the breadcrumbs, making sure you spread them evenly over your beans. Crack two eggs over the bread crumbs and season with pepper and tarragon.

6. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Check the eggs periodically to ensure the yolks don't cook through. Remove from the stove and let sit for 1 minute on a trivet before serving.

Farmer's Market Pasta

Farmer's Markets are everywhere nowadays. Twenty or so years ago, it would have been difficult to find produce from local growers, now on any given day here in New York City there are several markets running. You can find a market close to you fairly easily. Some will argue that farmer's markets are the best place to shop, others argue that they are overpriced. For me, I think they are fantastic. I walked to a market by my apartment and found some amazing produce from local farmer's.

I bought garlic still on the stalk, fresh tomatoes, great looking summer squash, and a bunch of fresh arugula. I decided to pair those items with a basic tomato sauce (see my spaghetti al tonno post) and fresh fettuccine to make a wonderfully fresh salad. Go to your local farmer's market this weekend and find your own ingredients for a great pasta dinner. Enjoy! 

Ingredients (serves 2):

Basic tomato sauce recipe

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 summer squash

2 tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

2 cups arugula

1/2 lb. fresh fettuccine

sea salt & black pepper

1. Make your tomato sauce ahead of time. Make enough for just the two of you or make a full batch for the week. Put the heat back on the sauce before you start to cook the vegetables.

2. Slice your squash, roughly chop your tomatoes, clean your arugula, and set aside.

3. Boil water in a pot for your pasta. Heat a pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil and garlic cloves with the skin on. Let the garlic brown for 3 minutes. The skin should easily come off once the garlic cooks.

Note: Cooking garlic with the skin on yields more flavor.

4. Add the squash and tomatoes to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes. If you are using dried pasta instead of fresh, add the pasta to the water at the same time. 

5. Reduce the heat on the pan and add sauce to vegetables. Add your fresh pasta to the water and cook for 3 minutes until al dente.

6. Drain your fettuccine and add the the pan with the vegetables and sauce. Mix in thoroughly. Add your arugula to the pan and work in.

7. Remove from the pan and serve.

Butcher's Lunch Part Two: Hanger Steak

The first sentence of the Wikipedia page for Hanger Steak sums up this cut of beef. It is prized for its flavor. Hanger steak has great marbling and when cooked is as juicy as any steak out there. I bought some from my butcher this week and had a great lunch during a stressful work day. Even better, a four ounce cut of hanger steak has only 200 calories. 

Ingredients (serves 1):

4 oz. hanger steak

1 handful spinach

2 marinated artichoke hearts

1 tsp olive oil

sea salt & black pepper

1. Season your steak with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a pan and cook the steak for around 6 to 8 minutes. Let it rest on a plate for 2 minutes before serving.

3. While the steak cooks, roughly chop the artichoke hearts.

4. Heat a small pan over a medium-high flame, and add the artichokes. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, tossing regularly, until the artichokes begin to brown then remove from heat.

5. Add spinach to a mixing bowl and drizzle olive oil, tossing until the spinach is covered. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Add the spinach and artichokes to a plate and top with the steak. Enjoy!

Butcher's Lunch Part One: Pork Chop

When heading into my local butcher's shop to grab something for lunch the other week, I avoided the sandwich trap. I was working from home and could use a little break from the items on my to do list at my job, so instead I bought myself a pork chop and a marinated mozzarella salad. I rarely get to eat pork at home as my fiancee does not like it. Unless it is pulled pork... or prosciutto ... or ... well she mostly doesn't like it! Making a small pork chop for one takes no time at all. It certainly alleviated any stresses from work to take 10 minutes from my day to make lunch and it tasted great. I thought it would be interesting to see what types of lunches I would be able to make from food just at my local butcher, and so this will be the first installment of a series of "Butcher's Lunches".

Ingredients (serves 1):

1 pork chop bone-in

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 mozzarella salad (cheese, roasted pepper, basil, olive oil)

sea salt & black pepper

1. Add some of the mozzarella salad to your plate. If your butcher doesn't have a pre-made version, mix the following ingredients: mozzarella balls or sliced mozzarella, roasted red peppers sliced, a few basil leaves, and olive oil. Season with black pepper.

2. Season your pork chop with sea salt, black pepper, coriander, and cumin. Rub over the whole chop.

3. Heat a pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and the pork. Add a drop of your broth to make sure the pork doesn't dry out (which is often a complaint of most anti-pork eaters).

4. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, adding more broth as needed. Then flip the chop and cook for another 3 to 7 minutes depending on its thickness. The same rules for seeing if a steak is cooked apply to all meats, even pork. Check out step 6 of my Cooking a Steak post to determine when the chop is cooked properly to your liking.

5. Remove the chop, add to your plate of mozzarella salad and enjoy!

New Segment: The Butcher's Lunch

After moving to a new neighborhood, I needed to find the best place to buy meat. Luckily for me, the butcher nearby is a good one. I walked in and saw much more than just chicken cutlets. In trying out their products, I thought I would add a new segment for the next few weeks that I will call The Butcher's Lunch. I will be buying food only from my local butcher shop and making quick recipes that anyone can cook for a weekend lunch or weeknight dinner.