Ambitious Deliciousness - Dont Eat Lazy. » steak

Recipe: Skirt Steak Fajitas with Asparagus

Esther — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:30:33 +0000

Over the long weekend, I had a chance to spend some quality time with friends, in addition to enjoying really good meals. Dan brought over a few items and made a scrumptious dinner just because! He marinated some skirt steak with a dry rub, paired with Chimichurrii sauce with a few vegetables on the side. We enjoyed this with a nice glass of Malbec red wine.

Dan let me keep all the ingredients, including another 2 pounds of steak that he marinated, which was melt-in-your-mouth delicious! All I did was add a few ingredients to make it into a “fix-it-yourself” fajita bar.

I got greedy and tried to get manipulate Dan into watching Never Say Never with me. it didn’t work. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. In any case, thanks for the yummy dinner, Dan!

Recipe: Skirt Steak Fajitas with Asparagus
Makes 8 small (8″) fajitas

Ingredients:

2 pounds of skirt steak, rubbed with Montreal seasoning
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 small yellow onion, cut into strips
1/2 pound of asparagus, cut into thirds lengthwise
1/2 pound of button mushrooms
1 tablespoon of olive oil
8 small fajitas (8″)

For the guacamole:

2 ripe avocados
8-9 pieces of fresh cilantro, minced
2 teaspoons of lime juice
3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
Fresh cracked pepper
Pinch of salt

Procedure:

1. Prepare all the vegetables.

2. In a large pan over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add onions. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add asparagus and bell peppers. Continue cooking until onions are translucent and the bell peppers are limp.

3. Heat up a cast iron skillet until it’s very hot. Add steak and cook, about 3 minutes on each side, depending on your stove’s temperature. You want the outside to be charred, but the inside to still remain pink.

4. Once the steak is done, transfer to a plate. Add mushrooms to the steak pan and cook for 3 minutes in the meat juices. Cover meat plate with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.

5. Make the guacamole by adding fresh avocado into a bowl. Do not throw away the avocado pits; set aside for now. Add cilantro, garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper to the bowl. Mix together well. Transfer pits back into the bowl (this will keep it from browning) and cover tightly until ready to use.

6. Heat up tortilla in a dry frying pan, about 5 seconds on each side. Assemble the fajita any way you like and enjoy. I added a little bit of Sriracha sauce in mine!

P.S – You can even make this into quesadillas by sandwiching the ingredients with tortillas and adding a little of cheese, then grilling it on a pan!

CSA: Steak + honey miso coleslaw + Cippolini onions

Esther — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:31:42 +0000

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is when a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Interested consumers then purchase a share to receive a box of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. The produce is fairly priced, local grown, and in my case, organic.

Let me begin by apologizing for the lack of posts this week. I’ve been running around like a headless chicken, and when that happens, blogging falls to the wayside. But alas, here I am, ready to share another one of my culinary adventures.

Here’s what I made for dinner last week:

While it’s nice to go out for a fancy meal, there’s something alluring about taking the time to cook a nice meal at home. Yes, it takes effort, but this meal definitely does not take hours!

I was excited to get Cippolini onions in my CSA share last week, along with some Savoy cabbage. I’ve been meaning to try this great recipe from Cathy from Not Eating Out In New York. It was delicious!

Recipe: Honey Miso Coleslaw
From Not Eating Out in New York

(Makes about 8 servings — a party-sized bowl)

Ingredients:

1 small head of green cabbage, shredded
1 small head of red cabbage, shredded (I skipped this)
1-2 large carrots, finely shredded
2-3 scallions, both green and white parts, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of miso paste
1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger
Juice of 2 limes
1/3 cup of honey
1/3 cup of mayonnaise (I used less)
Black sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Procedure:

1. In a food processor or a large bowl with a whisk, combine the mayonnaise, honey, ginger and miso paste.

2. Taste and add more of any ingredient as desired.

3. Fold in the vegetables and chill for at least 30 minutes prior to serving. Top with optional sesame seeds.

So throw the coleslaw in the fridge and get started on the onions and steak. The timing will be just right!I love getting CSA vegetables I’ve never cooked with before. Cippolini onions are commonly used in Italian cooking, and are amazingly delicious, with a spicy kick and crunchy sweetness when cooked down with wine. I would recommend cooking it with white wine, though I used red since I had an open bottle from earlier.

Recipe: Flank steak with Cippolini onions

Ingredients:

1 pound of flank steak
1/2 bunch of Cippolini onion bulbs(save tops for later)
2 tbs of white wine
1 tbs of butter
2 sprigs of fennel
Salt
Pepper

Procedure:

1. In a cast iron skillet or pan over screaming high heat, add steak.

2. Cook one side for 5 minutes, then flip over and cook the other side for 5 minutes.

3. Let meat rest on a plate, covered in foil.

4. In a different pan over high heat, add onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. After about 5 minutes, add white wine. Decrease heat to low and cook until wine has reduced.

6. Cook until juices run and the onion has a golden brown color.

7. Add fennel to finish.

8. Slice beef against the grain and serve.

I made Chimichurri sauce but I don’t think it’s necessary. Here’s the link if you want to make it though!

So roll up your sleeves, open that bottle of wine and enjoy a special meal!

Meat before vegetables

Esther — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:25:14 +0000

I’m super excited to report that I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with FeistyFoodie! You sign up in advance to receive a share of vegetables from local farmers every week for a season. The contents vary from week so you don’t really know what you’ll get. More importantly, I love supporting local farmers and getting fresh produce!

I’m sure I will come across some vegetables that I’ll have no idea what to do with. Will you help me figure it out? Please say you will!

But before I get to being crazy about how to prepare vegetables, let’s explore how to prepare a steak. Balance is necessary in life, don’t you think?

Recipe: Ribeye steak

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. ribeye steak
1 sprig of fresh thyme
5 pieces of whole garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of butter
Fresh cracked pepper
Seasalt

Procedure:

1. Heat oven to 375 (for at least 30 minutes)!

2. Rub pepper and seasalt all over the steak.

3. Heat up a cast iron skillet with vegetable oil on high for 10 minutes. Once the pan is screaming hot, add steak. Sear each side for 3 minutes. Make sure you only flip once!

4. Place the skillet in oven with butter, garlic and thyme (I skipped cuz I didn’t have any). Use the finger test to check for doneness (is that a word?). Medium should take about 4-5 minutes.

5. Once the meat is to your desired liking, remove from oven and let meat rest for 10 minutes on a plate before slicing.

6. Slice against the grain and enjoy!

Sidenote: I had some leftover veggies from my dinner at Simply Fondue. There were slices of radish, zucchini, kale and green bell peppers. I just seasoned them in garlic salt and oregano, then baked them alongside the steak. It was cost effective and yummy!