What You Should Have Eaten #41

Super-Grilled Steak Sandwich with Horseradish-Dijon Cream and Spicy Greens

I’m taking liberties with tonight’s cocktail, an Amaro. I’m not mixing, nor do I own a sherry glass. I’m just dumping them in a glass with some ice cubes. My allergies are kicking my ass right now, so I’m not in the mood to fiddle with some precise measurements and mixing. As far as the taste goes, it’s rum and amaretto. If you like the ingredients, you’ll like the drink…and I like the drink.

 

 

I might have gotten the wrong kind of baguette. It was awfully skinny and not really big enough for a good sandwich.

 

 

I really liked this meal, but I learned a couple of things that I’ll have to put into practice next time. First, give the steak about an extra minute on each side on the grill. It was thoroughly cooked, but it was just a smidge too rare for my tastes. Juicy’s what I want, not bloody. Second, slice the steak thinner. And the tomatoes for that matter. I had a difficult time keeping my sandwich together, but maybe a bigger baguette would have helped with that, too.

 

 

The horseradish-Dijon cream was very spicy. I didn’t realize such a small amount (compared to the sour cream) of horseradish would do that. It worked well on the sandwich, but I also used it as dressing for a bit of arugula salad. Wasn’t all that great. My sister ate it, though.

 

For the most part the potatoes were easy, but they didn’t quite turn out like I had hoped. I blame the chunkiness of the brown sugar. Next time I’ll just use a smidge of olive oil and some seasoned salt, skip the brown sugar all together.

What You Should Have Eaten #40

Burly-Man-Size Chicken-Cheddar Barbecued Burgers

Tonight’s drink is a Smith & Wesson. It’s apricot nectar, amaretto and tequila. It’s a very meh drink. The only taste that stands out is the tequila, and that’s not very pronounced. I guess the nectar is dulling the alcohol and the bite of the tequila and amaretto. I was surprised that there isn’t more of a presence from the amaretto since there’s twice as much of it than the tequila.

I bought the ingredients for this meal two weeks ago then ended up not making it. So the meat has been in the freezer, and everything else…well, this isn’t a very involved meal, and it’s perfect for tonight since it’s just me and the kids.

I’m substituting ground turkey for the chicken. Kroger Marketplace didn’t have any. I used to make a great chicken fried rice dish with ground chicken, but I think I always got that from Publix. Maybe I should have gone there.

I also realized that for some reason I didn’t pick up any cheddar cheese. If I had thought to check the fridge before this weekend’s trip to the grocery store I could have solved this problem, but I thought I already had everything. Guess I always need to double-check myself…before I double-wreck myself?

Since it is just me and the kiddos, I decided to go safe with dinner. It’s burgers (I’m not telling them it’s not beef), so I’m going with fries and salad instead of the spicy coleslaw that is paired with the burgers in the cookbook. Nobody here, including me, would eat it. The salad is bagged, and the fries are frozen cheapo shoestring dealies. I’m sprinkling some McCormick Season All on them for a bit of a kick.

I’m adding just a smidge of New Belgium Hoptober Golden Ale.

The ground turkey had thawed, but it was still EXTREMELY cold as I mixed it with the BBQ sauce and beer. And the patties are huge. We’re looking at ½ a pound pre-cooking weight.

I ended up telling the kids that it was a turkey burger, but only after they had taken a few bites and told me how much they liked it. Parker was honest and said that if I had told them before dinner, he wouldn’t have even tried it. He then proceeded to clean his plate.

It was a decent burger, but it in no way compared to a regular hamburger.

Probably for the rest of the month I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit it out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But my experiment this weekend proved to me that I actually AM making a spot of cash whenever the ads are clicked. So I’m going to put this little disclaimer on the bottom of all my posts for the next month or so, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. Thanks so much!

What You Should Have Eaten #27

Crab Tortilla (Egg Pie) and Plantain Hash Browns

Tonight’s drink is a European Friendship. It’s the first time I’ve been able to fix a drink that calls for sweet white vermouth. I had to get it from a liquor store in Nashville as the ones around me only carry dry white vermouth. The clerk who pointed it out to me said the brand was the best vermouth they carried. As for the “scotch,” I know the bottle says it’s whisky, but I promise that the box it came in classified it as scotch. By itself, it’s awful.

Well, it’s not awful. Too sweet to really get into, though.

My local Kroger Marketplace did not have any green plantains, so I had to get the least ripe ones available. Had I remembered I would have stopped at Publix on my way home. They’ve always got the best produce around. I think this might be the first time I’ve ever eaten a plantain, let alone cooked with one. And I’ve got to shred it. This is when a green one would come in handy I guess.

And I just realized, the drink fits in a bit since it’s ¼ banana liquor.

It’s almost impossible for me to shred these things, so I’m slicing them as thin as possible. Hopefully that won’t screw anything up.

Smidge of onion powder on the plantains instead of grating an onion on top of them.

I’m not quite sure what happened, but the ingredient list doesn’t match what the output is supposed to be. I had to move the veggie/egg mixture to a bigger skillet, and I’m not liking how it’s turning out. I doubt what we are going to eat is what we’re SUPPOSED to be eating, but it still looks pretty good.

So what was supposed to be an egg tortilla/pie thingy ended up being a scrambled concoction of eggs, hash browns veggies and crab. Not bad, really. Could have used some cheese. It was really good with a bit of the freestone peach and mango salsa mixed in.

The plantain hash browns were better than I had anticipated. They were very sweet, and what little seasoning I added was not at all noticeable.

I knew the kids wouldn’t even touch this, so they got sandwiches, chips, veggies and fruit. I think everyone ended up happy.

What You Should Have Eaten #2

Classic Baked Penne Rigate with Garlic Bread and Salad

This is a Saturday meal, so that means cooking, but cheap cooking. This dish was a staple in the Rosenblatt household when my mom was cooking. It’s easy, the prepared amount is massive, and it tastes great as a leftover.

This is something my wife and I liked to fix when having people over, but with some substitutions. First, we’d go a little classier with the brands of spaghetti sauce and cheese used. I’ve got no problem going a bit ghetto when it’s me and the kids, but I’ll treat my guests a little better. I don’t know if that makes me a good host or a bad father. Second, I’d probably serve a nice Pepperidge Farm garlic bread rather than the midget Cole loaf I’m using here. PF has some damn fine garlic bread; this is the first time I’ve tried anything by Cole. Third, yeah, bag salad. Sundays are for intricate dishes. Saturdays are for bag salad.

The drink tonight is an Italian Cherry. Amaretto and cherry brandy. Super sweet and syrupy. Not something I’d recommend unless you happen to like that. I guess it was just a happy accident that I’m drinking a vaguely Italian drink while cooking an Italian dish

Now, onto the meal. You might notice when looking at the instructions that I’ve circled “cooked and drained” and drawn an arrow to the sausage/meat. The first time my wife tried to fix this after we were married, she didn’t realize that the ground beef had to be browned before mixing it in with everything. It still makes me smile.

The major effort in this meal is browning the meat, so that should give you an idea about the ease of it.

Besides tasting great, the amount of food that this makes, and the ease of the recipe, this dish is also extremely versatile. You can replace the ground beef with sausage or chicken, or heck, leave out the meat altogether. You also have an incredible amount of options in the type of sauce and cheese you use. I normally use a multi-cheese blend sauce and a sauce that includes veggies. As far as the cheese is concerned, mozzarella is the go-to cheese for this dish, but there are different Italian blends or other types that you can use.

So, unless you just don't like pasta, this is a perfect dish. If you don't think it's the perfect dish, then you did something wrong. It's your fault; don't blame the recipe for your mistakes.