Grilled steak with a caramelized onion and gorgonzola cheese sauce

Here is yet another steak recipe. I am still looking for the "perfect" one for my steak loving husband. I had made this one night for him and then learned that he was stuck at work until 11pm so I took it to him so he could eat something. Because he was starving, tired and still at work, he just ate it as fast as he could and went back to work. He said it was good, but I'm guessing he couldn't really taste a whole lot. I will definitely try it again. The sauce was totally delicious!




Grilled Steak with a caramelized onion and gorgonzola cheese sauce
(Sauce recipe is by the Pioneer Woman)

2 steaks
Butter, room temperature
Outback rub (see recipe below)
Sauce:
4 Tbsp butter
1 large yellow onion, sliced thin
3/4-1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

1. Butter each side of each steak and season with outback rub. Rub the seasoning in and grill until desired doneness. (My husband likes medium or medium-rare)
2. Saute onion in 4 Tbsp butter over high heat until dark and caramelized. Reduce heat to simmer and pour in heavy cream. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until reduced by half. Stir in cheese until melted. Pour over steak and serve!


Outback Rub:
(Recipe found on becomingbetty.blogspot.com)

4 Tbsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp coarse, black pepper
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric

Mix together and rub on meat before grilling or baking. Store in airtight container.

Kale Chips

I'll admit that kale is not one of my favorite vegetables, so when I received it in my bountiful basket I wanted to find a way to make it that I would like, but also that my 3 year old picky eater son would like. I had heard that making kale into chips was delicious so we decided to give it a try.

Kale Chips

A bunch of kale
Olive oil
Salt to taste


Preheat oven to 350. Clean and trim up the kale. I should have removed more of the stalk, it was a bit tough when it was cooked. I will do that next time. Put all the leaves in a large ziplock bag and add just enough oil to lightly coat the greens. You don't want them dripping in oil. Toss well. Add to cookie sheet, making sure not to overlap them.


Bake until crispy (roughly 15-20 minutes??). Once crispy, remove from oven and salt. If you salt them before you put them in the oven, it will draw out all the moisture and they will be soggy and won't get crisp.

Cabbage Slaw

Normally, I don't care for cole slaw. I think it's bland and just overall not very good. The only thing I like about it is the crunch of the fresh cabbage. This past weekend when I received my bountiful basket it had 2 huge heads of cabbage in it, combine that with the 1 already in my fridge, and well ... I needed to figure out something to do with all of that cabbage. I decided to make a slaw that I actually liked and would want to eat again. My attempt was successful. Not only was this slaw crunchy, it was delicious! I would totally make it again, and probably will with the ever ending supply of cabbage in my fridge.



Cabbage Slaw

2 lbs cabbage, sliced thin
1 small onion, sliced thin and then diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
3/4 cup mayo (I made fresh mayo for this slaw, I will post the recipe)
1 tsp celery salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot)
Salt and pepper to taste

Shred the cabbage and put in large bowl. Add onion, beans and corn. Toss.

In a small bowl, combine the mayo, celery salt, vinegar, sugar and hot sauce. Mix well. Pour over cabbage and toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Put in fridge to let the flavors mingle for about 30 minutes.

Serve!

Homemade Mayo
(Recipe found in KitchenAid, Great Baking and More)

3 egg yolks
2 cups vegetable or olive oil
1 lemon, juiced (I just poured a little bottled lemon juice in)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 Tbsp cider vinegar

Place egg yolks in a bowl and whip for about 3 minutes on high, until yolks are stiff and pale yellow. Reduce speed to med-high and slowly add the oil in a thin stream. If the mixture becomes too thick, thin with a little lemon juice. Continue to add oil until completely absorbed.

Reduce speed to medium and add lemon juice, salt, dry mustard and vinegar and whip until blended.

Store in the refrigerator.

Pizza Sauce

I don't make homemade pizza very often, but when I do, I never know what sauce to use. Jared sauce is just not very good, spaghetti sauce ... well, tastes like spaghetti. :) This sauce was simple, but very good. I will definitely be making this again.



Simple Pizza Sauce
(Recipe from cooksillustrated.com)

2 cans (14oz) crushed tomatoes in puree
2 Tbsp olive oil
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in pan. Add garlic and cook until it starts to simmer (only like 30 seconds). Add in tomatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the sauce is thick enough to lump up on a spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Grilled Flank Steak

For this flank steak I just used the same marinade recipe as the steak I made a while back, and just added a couple extra ingredients.


Ingredients:
1 flank steak (mine was just under a pound and a half, and it fed 3 adults and 1 child)
Kosher salt and pepper

Marinade:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 Tbsp dried basil
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
4 large cloves fresh garlic, minced
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp liquid smoke (mesquite)

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients and whisk well.
2. Using a dinner fork, poke steak about 20 times on each side. Season with salt and pepper and place in a gallon size ziplock bag. Pour marinade over the top and put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours.
3. Preheat grill
4. Using paper towels, wipe marinade off steak. Grill steak directly on grill until well browned 4-6 minutes. Using tongs, flip steak; grill until second side is well browned, 3-4 minutes. Cook until the internal temperature is 125 degrees. It will continue to cook as it rests. You do not want to over cook a flank steak! It is a meat that needs to be cooked rare or medium rare.
4. Cover steak with foil and let rest at least 15 minutes to let the juice redistribute.
5. Using a sharp chef's knife or a carving knife, slice steak about 1/4" thick against the grain and on a bias. Serve immediately.

Below is a drawing, it will show where you need to cut your meat to make it so it doesn't end up super tough and chewy. The grains on a flank steak all run the same direction so we need to cut against the grain and on a bias to give the slices a bigger surface area.

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Crispy Smashed Potatoes

Crispy Smashed Potatoes
(Courtesy of Cooks Illustrated, altered slightly by me)

Ingredients:
Small red bliss potatoes or small gold potatoes (However many you want per person)
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
Garlic powder
Parsley
Thyme

1. Adjust oven racks to top and bottom positions and heat oven to 500 degrees. Put potatoes on a baking sheet and pour 3/4 cup of water into the pan and wrap tightly with tin foil. Cook on bottom rack until soft (paring knife slips in and out easily) about 25-30 minutes. (This will depend on how big your potatoes are). Remove foil and cool for 10 minutes. If any water remains, blog dry with paper towel.

2. Drizzle some olive oil over potatoes and roll to coat them. Space potatoes evenly on baking sheet and place a second baking sheet on top and press down on the potatoes, flattening the potatoes (or just splitting them open). Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the potatoes again and season each potato with a little garlic powder, salt, pepper, parsley and thyme.

3. Put the potatoes back into the oven on the top rack for 15 minutes. Then transfer the potatoes to the bottom rack and continue to roast until well browned (20-30 minutes longer).

Serve immediately.