Grilled Flank Steak with Hoisin Sauce and Ginger Broccoli

Yum Yum Yum...that's about all I can say about this marinade. It's a heavier, thicker marinade, but so full of flavor.

Broccoli is one of my favorite vegi's...it's also becoming one of the most boring for me. The Ginger Broccoli recipe added a new flare to a boring old vegi.

FLANK STEAK WITH HOISIN SAUCE
Serves 4

1 pound Flank steak
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons Fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons Sherry
2 tablespoons Grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Honey
1 tablespoon Dark sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons Ground pepper

1. Combine all ingredients except steak together. Reserve 3/4 cup hoisin mixture. Pour remaining hoisin mixture over steak in a ziploc bag.

2. Marinate in fridge 4-8 hours. Remove steak from bag and discard marinade.

3. Prepare grill. Place steak on grill and grill for 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove steak. Let it stand for 5 minutes.

4. Cut steak diagonally across the grain. Pour remaining sauce over steak before serving.



GINGER BROCCOLI
Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 heads broccoli (about 2 pounds), florets separated, stalks trimmed, peeled, and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 piece fresh ginger (1 inch long), peeled and slivered
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
coarse salt and ground pepper

In a large skillet with a lid, heat oil over medium; add broccoli, garlic, and ginger. Cook until broccoli is bright green and ginger is fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup water; cover, and cook until broccoli is crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat; add lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Serve.

Chicken with Poblano Cream Sauce

This recipe was surprisingly good. I'm not a huge pepper fan, well bell pepper anyhow. But for some reason that only my brain understands, I really like the flavor of poblanos. I've wanted, for some time, to try a recipe with them. And thankfully I found an easy and tasty recipe.

My biggest thrill was roasting the poblano over my gas stove. I felt like I couldn't do this recipe in the past because I didn't have a gas stove. It was only as I was roasting it I thought, "Huh, I suppose I could have used the BBQ."

The dish sounds like it should be spicy, but roasting the pepper takes some of the heat away. In fact, I was surprised at how sweet the sauce was. I'd actually prefer it to have a bit more of a kick to it. The only thing I'd change about this is I'd use 1/2 and 1/2 next time. The heavy cream made it too sweet. I served this with white rice that I had chopped cilantro and green onions into. It made a nice accompaniment.

CHICKEN WITH POBLANO CREAM SAUCE
Serves 4

1 poblano chile
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup heavy cream
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1. Roast chili over a gas burner or under the broiler, until charred all over. Wrap in paper towel; steam 5 minutes. Rub off skin; remove seeds and ribs. Chop coarsely.
   
   
2. Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a small saucepan over medium heat; add onion and garlic; cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add chili and cream.
   
   
3. Puree in blender; add water if too thick. Season with salt and pepper.
   
   
4. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat remaining tablespoon canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken until golden and juices run clear, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Serve with sauce.

Potato Salad with Sour Cream and Scallions

I have actually cooked since my last post. I just can't remember what I've cooked, which only means it wasn't that memorable.

This recipe however was/is quite memorable. Super simple, very basic flavors, but really a nice twist on potato salad.

Potato Salad with Sour Cream and Scallions
Courtesy of Everyday Food
Serves 4

2 pounds White new potatoes, quartered, and cut into 3/4" chunks
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup Reduced fat sour cream
1/4 cup Light mayonnaise
1/2 cup Thinly sliced scallions, plus more for garnish
4 slices Bacon, cooked and crumbled

1. In a large pot, cover potatoes with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp paring knife, 12 to 15 minutes. Drain well.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together sour cream and mayonnaise; add warm potatoes, and gently fold to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

3. To serve, season salad again with salt and pepper, if needed; fold in scallions. Garnish with bacon and more scallions, if desired.

THAI RICE NOODLES

I can always tell when I got into a recipe because the recipe is usually covered with splatters, spills and gunk from the cooking. As simple as this recipe was, I'm shocked to look at the page in my cookbook.

Despite that, it was delicious. I'm a big fan of Thai food in general. But I usually don't like how heavy it can be. This recipe allowed me to have the Thai flavor without the heft.

I use Fish Sauce in so many recipes I cook that I thought it might be good if I described it and what I think about it. It's a Southeast Asian equivalent of Worcestershire sauce. It has a pungent, salt flavor to it and adds a hit of complexity to most dishes. The best part of it is despite it's name it doesn't taste fishy - instead it has a unique, unmistakeably authentic flavor to it. Fish sauce actually is derived by fish that has been fermented...great rotting fish.It got an amber, translucent look to it and you can find it in most supermarkets around the Asian food. We have several Asian markets in our area so I usually buy it there. It's way less expensive.

THAI RICE NOODLES
Serves 4

8-10 ounces medium thick rice noodles
3 T Fish Sauce
3 T Sugar (I used brown sugar cuz I like it better with these flavors)
3 T Soy Sauce
4 scallions
1 jalapeno
3 cloves garlic
2 T Peanut oil
1 cup bean sprouts
2 handfuls fresh basil (mint can also be used)
1/2 cup peanuts or cashews
1 lime

Put the rice noodles in a bowl with hot water to cover. Soak until tender and pliable, about 30 minutes. (Or follow the instructions on the box if you have them).

Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the fish sauce, sugar and soy sauce. Set aside.

Thinly slice the white and green parts of the scallions. Set aside.
Roughly chop the jalapeno (seed it first - or leave the seeds in if you want the heat), set aside.
Roughly chop the garlic. Set aside.

Drain the noodles and set aside. Heat the oil in a wok until hot. Add scallions, jalapenos, and garlic. Saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Do not over cook the garlic. Add the sauce mixture; gently swirl around the pan. Add the noodles and toss t ocoat. Remove from the heat and coarsely tear basil (or mint). Sprinkle with nuts and squeeze lime over it if you like.

Pasta and Easy Italian Meat Sauce

I love Spaghetti Bolognese. Love it. I also love to try any and every recipe I can to find one that is easy to cook and doesn't require all day long cooking. Now, don't get me wrong. I do love my all day long bolognese sauce, but once in a while I'd like a quicker version. I may have found it.

This recipe seems to be styled after the famed Ragu alla Bolognese (sauce in the style of Bologna). Adding the milk to this sauce may seem unusual, but I assure you a real bolognese has milk in it as it's a traditional ingredient to the Northern Italy classic.

Cook time is about 30 minutes and anyone who can turn on the stove can do this one.

PASTA AND EASY ITALIAN MEAT SAUCE
Note: Reserve some of the pasta cooking water, and add a little to the sauce if it seems too thick. The water is ideal for adjusting the consistency of the sauce, and the starch in the water helps the sauce adhere to the pasta.

Serves 4

4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, grated (about 1/2 cup)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 pound ground beef
1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes
1/2 cup milk
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound fettuccine
Grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions

1. Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium. Stir in carrot, onion, and garlic. Add ground beef, and cook until it turns from pink to brown, about 5 minutes.
   
   
2. Add tomatoes and their liquid, crushing them with the back of a large spoon. Stir in milk, bay leaf, thyme, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Simmer 20 minutes.
   
   
3. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook fettuccine until al dente according to package instructions, about 12 minutes. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the cooking water; drain fettuccine, and return to the warm pot. Add meat sauce, and toss. Add pasta water as needed if the sauce seems dry. To serve, sprinkle with Parmesan.

Don't fret about the nutmeg. I've found a lot of Italian recipes call for nutmeg. It adds just a hint of sweet.

SIRLOIN BEEF BURGUNDY

It seems I took a week off from cooking. It was so blasting hot here last week I just couldn't. So I made salads all week. I'm now addicted to this salad dressing - who's name I can never remember. And so I ate salad after salad last week.

This week, however, we are kicking it off right. This was a deliciously rich and beefy flavored dish. I made it with egg noodles and they fit together like a hand in a glove.

SIRLOIN BEEF BURGUNDY
Serves 4
3 slices Bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons Unsalted butter, divided
16 White mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup Frozen pearl onion, defrosted and drained
2 pounds Lean sirloin, cut in 1" pieces
3 tablespoons Flour
1 cup Burgundy wine
1 1/2 cups Beef stock

1. Heat a large deep skillet with a heavy bottom and a lid over medium high heat. Add bacon to the pan and brown. Remove crisp bacon bits with slotted spoon. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons butter to the pan and melt into bacon drippings. Add mushrooms to the pan and turn to coat evenly with butter and bacon drippings.

2. Season the mushroom slices with salt and pepper. Saute mushrooms 2 to 3 minutes and add onions to the pan. Continue cooking onions and mushrooms 2 to 3 minutes longer, then transfer to a plate and return pan to the heat.

3. Add remaining butter to the pan and melt it, then add meat to the very hot pan and brown evenly on all sides, keeping the meat moving. Add flour to browned meat in the pan and cook the flour 2 minutes. Add wine to the pan slowly while stirring. When the wine comes up to a bubble and you have scraped up the pan drippings, add the stock and bouquet of fresh sage and thyme sprigs to the pot. Cover the pan.

4. When the liquid boils, reduce heat to medium. Cook covered 5 minutes, remove lid and add mushrooms, onions and bacon back to the pot. Simmer with the cover off until sauce thickens a bit. Adjust seasoning and remove herb bouquet.

Balsamic BBQ Chicken

I know it's been a couple of days since posting a recipe. But I haven't had any opportunity to actually cook the last couple of weeks. I did manage to cook Balsamic BBQ Chicken which is a friends recipe. I can't even remember why she gave it to me, but I'm glad she did.

It's a good recipe. I made rice with it, and any side would go with it. It's like BBQ chicken, but in a pan and with balsamic vinegar. Nummers!

BALSAMIC BBQ CHICKEN
Serves 6

6 Boneless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Olive oil
3 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 can Tomato paste
1 can Low sodium chicken broth (14.5 oz)
2/3 cup Balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Honey
4 Green onion, sliced

1. Wash and slice green onions, separating tops from white bottoms. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Salt and pepper the chicken to taste.

2. Add chicken to skillet and brown 1-2 minutes per side. Remove chicken and keep warm. Lower heat to medium-low and allow skillet to cool slightly.

3. Add garlic and white part of green onions to skillet and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in tomato pasted and chicken broth and mix well. Increase heat to medium-high; add vinegar and honey and cook to boil.

4. Reduce heat to low, return chicken to skillet, cover partially and simmer about 30 minutes or until sauce thickens and chicken is no longer pink in the center.