Dinner : Late-Night

When my husband has his hockey game in the earliest time slot for his league, we eat rather late in the evening. I chose a pretty simple meal for this late-night dinner because otherwise, it's difficult to time it perfectly for when he arrives home. I had gotten another great deal on an Omaha Steaks package, which was delivered on Thursday, so I took the opportunity to use a couple of filet mignons. I turned on the Grammys and set to it.

While the Pan-Seared Beef Filet with Green Peppercorn Sauce recipe calls for a pairing of greens and mashed potatoes, I opted for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Caramelized Onions and Sage, from a recent TastingTable email that I received. After gathering all of my ingredients, I realized that the side dish was going to take longer than the main course, so I set to caramelizing the onions first.

After a half an hour, the onions were perfectly caramelized, so I removed them from the pan and replaced them with my chopped slab bacon, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I was also blanching the Brussels Sprouts in preparation for pulling this side dish together! I also put the steaks on the heat at this point, as well.

Once the bacon had properly rendered, I added the Brussels Sprouts, halved, with the cut sides down, allowing them to caramelize in the bacon fat before stirring everything up. After allowing the sprouts to fully cook, I added the onions back to the pan, along with some sage, lemon juice, olive oil and flaky sea salt for seasoning. I kept that on the stove on low while I finished the steak sauce.

After four minutes on one side, and three minutes on the other, I removed the steaks from the pan, allowing them to rest on a cutting board while I quickly made a sauce out of shallots, red wine, beef broth, a little bit of cornstarch, and some ground green peppercorns. The sauce was finished with a little pat of butter and we were ready to go!

I have to say, the Brussels Sprouts dish really shined tonight. I'm going to keep that recipe for sure! While the steak was good, it was a bit generic and I probably won't make it again...then again, do I ever make the same thing twice?!

Tailgating at Home

Well, the Super Bowl has come and gone...and not with the outcome we would've liked to have seen...at least not here in the Boston area! Nonetheless, it was an exciting game, and a great opportunity for some good food and great company! I decided to take the route of tailgating recipes. They were easy to make at home and set out for the night, but would be just as easy to bag up and bring to the parking lot of your favorite arena, as well!

I spent the afternoon cooking, and trying to keep the kitchen as clean as possible at the same time. I cooked one thing at a time, and finished up right as our friends arrived. The table was full of goodies, and I was free to enjoy, have a beer, and watch the game!

It wouldn't be a "tailgating" party without chili, so first up on the menu is a very straightforward chili, but what intrigued me about it was the molasses and balsamic vinegar I was asked to add at the end of the cooking process. It added a lot of depth to an otherwise normal chili. I served it in mugs, with some sour cream and grated sharp cheddar garnishes, and the spices were spot-on!

We needed to have some dips so I whipped up some guacamole and hummus to go with the delicate tortilla chips I bought from the gourmet section of the grocery store. I also cut up some veggies (fennel, radicchio, radishes, celery, carrots and broccoli) and paired them with a delicious and tangy Roquefort dip, which I'm enjoying the leftovers of as I write this, right now. Yum!!

While the chili was simmering away, I made some Mediterranean meatballs! Now, these aren't just any meatballs. The seasonings are distinctly Mediterranean, but on top of that, the recipe called for chopped currants and pine nuts to round out the mix. The flavors meshed so well together, and the meatballs had a really nice bite to them, because of the substance of each one. They were simmered in a simple tomato sauce after being browned on all sides in some oil! I'm so happy I've got leftovers of these too!

If you looked at the current menu, you'd see a line mentioning some mini tuna burgers on pita bread, but it's apparently very difficult to find tuna these days. I went to a few different stores, before deciding to scrap this menu item. Don't worry, I will definitely be making them in the future, because I was very much looking forward to trying them! So, all that was left was to make a few side dishes to round out the table. I made a green salad with a red wine-Dijon vinaigrette. I also made an orzo salad with caramelized onions, spinach and shiitake mushrooms. The soy sauce and sesame oil-based dressing gave this salad a nice Asian twist, but still went with the mainstream flavors of everything else on the table!

All in all, a successful spread, I'd say! I enjoyed having everything done in time for kickoff, so I could pick at all the goodies, just like all of my guests! The guests may leave at the end of the night, but we get to enjoy all the leftovers for days to come...and these leftovers, they're delicious!