I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner... so I must be feeling guilty. (haha) I decided I should really make an effort to cook before Thursday, cuz I wanna be the one on the couch chillin and watchin football while... someone... is slaving in the kitchen. I'm joking... we can always watch football while chopping;o).
I had some flank steak sitting in my fridge for a while now. Rather than make my usual Beef Broccoli or Beef Fajitas, I thought I'd try something new--I've always wanted to try to make steak with gorgonzola. I remember when Pasta Pomodoro first opened and it was like the newest thing. They had this Steak Gorgonzola Pasta on the menu--mmm... I just remembered that it was made with shell pasta. Or was that something I created?! I'm not sure...
Here goes:
Steak Gorgonzola Pasta
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 pinches dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
14 oz. Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1/2 lb. flank steak, sliced thinly (like for beef stroganoff)
1/2 lb. spaghetti or fettuccini
1. Cook the pasta al dente (according to the box directions.) While the pasta is cooking, fry the steak with about a 1/2 teaspoon of oil, pinch of salt and pepper. Remove from heat when cooked, not too well done.
2. Heat the cream in a separate pot to just-a-boil.
3. Remove the cream from heat and add parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper, stir to dissolve.
4. Stir in Gorgonzola cheese.
5. Pour over cooked pasta and put the steak pieces on top. (If you're looking at the picture, I actually just mixed the steak pasta and sauce all together. And I let it sit on the stove covered for a few minutes on low heat--that heat up everything and allowed the sauce to thicken a bit.)
Look at me! I'm refining my palette--Thanks Po! ;o) So this past weekend I went to this pretty FAB restaurant called Zinnia's in SF. Besides the mushroom risotto--that was totally creamier than I would ever make it--and the delicious black cod I had, I tried me some Sweetbreads.
Zinnia's sears the Sweetbreads with bacon and sherry vinegar, served with haricot verts (like green beans) and toast. Still wondering what a sweetbread is... the thyroid glands or the pancreas of lamb, beef, or pork. It jus goes to show, that even though your first instinct is "Oh, that sounds gross." But when I tried it, it was really good--it just melts in your mouth and the meat is so delicate almost. You almost forget what you're eating! Try it... it's like green eggs and ham!;o)
Can you say ultimate side dish?! I cannot believe I've been sitting on this all month. I used my Pork Loin with Bay Leaves (see July 16, 2008 post) but modified it so I could do it with a Pork Roast. It still came out pretty good--I made a gravy using a wine reduction, it came out pretty good.
In addition to the pork roast, I'm thinking... I remember making roasted rosemary potatoes a couple days before (so I couldn't do a repeat). I've always wanted to try Potatoes Au Gratin. It turns out that I didn't even need to buy fancy cheese to make this taste good.
Scalloped Potatoes (straight from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 lbs russet potatoes (5 medium makes 6 servings), peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 bay leaves
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded 1 cup
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the potatoes, broth, cream, and bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to med-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Discard the bay leaves. Transfer the mixture to an 8-inch square baking dish. Gently press the potatoes into an even layer and sprinkle the cheddar over the top. Bake until the cream is bubbling around the edges and the top is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Cooking tip: When you're making the cream mixture, have the onion, garlic and potatoes chopped an ready to go--there isn't really built in prep time.
