Food Series: A Week of Gourmet Meals

This is the last of my food series. I hope that you have learned a lot and actually learned that cooking isn't that hard. It's all about confidence and paying attention to your food.

My first part started with that outstanding Prime Rib Roast. go to harmons this week and get one. i don't care if there isn't a special occasion

Next, I continued the roasting theme with a center cut pork roast and went on to show you guys the yumminess that is caramelized onions.

Yesterday I showed you the recipe of a basic sweet dough for cinnamon rolls, or even savory fillings..let your imagination run free on this one!

Lastly, I end with a Week of Gourmet meals! Last Valentines Day, I treated Wes to a week full of fun meals. Some I made, and some we ordered in. Obviously I will highlight my homemade ones for you.

First- Steak. I LOVE STEAK...I LOVE STEAK...okay last time..I LOVE STEAK.
Again, we ordered our rib eyes from Harmons. My method to a perfect medium cooked steak  is sear first, then finish in the oven. I cook my meat after its had time to shake off its chill from the fridge. I let it sit out about 10 minutes before i season it. My seasoning is simple. Salt and Pepper. Get a heavy duty pan and coat the bottom with olive oil, then add 2 tablespoons of butter. this is my fatty flavor combo. the oil for the high heat and the butter for the flavor. Get your pan really hot, your oil will start to ripple..that's when you know its time. Lay your rib eyes in your pan and sear each side for 2 minutes until you see that yummy flavor crust form. once each side is seared to your liking, place the rib eyes in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes to finish cooking through, and depending on your size of rib eye the time will vary. Once your steak is finished in the oven, pull it out and let it sit on a cutting board or a cool sheet rack to rest for 10 minutes. I know..there is a lot of waiting and resting, but its worth it for the perfect steak.

Pancakes:

the pancake recipe I have been using for years..since 2005 you guys, is this one. I love it and its so simple to whip together!

Simple Pancake Mix
1 Egg
1 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup buttermilk, or milk of your choice
2 TB of vegetable oil
1 TB Sugar
1 TB Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together just until its all combined. do not over mix batter.
pour about 3 TB in a greased and cook until cake is puffed and dry on the edges, flip the pancake over and cook the other side until golden brown.

Here I just cut them into cute hearts, put some raspberry jam in the middle and dusted with powdered sugar. It was a treat!

Finally..Pasta and Cream Sauce. I didn't have truffle oil, i had truffle flavored oil which i think worked just as well. but this recipe comes together so quick and its so decadent. I also added chicken to this, you can add whatever meat you want or follow the original recipe. We love using Barilla brand pasta, because it cooks up perfect every time. (bing!)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 cloves garlic, smashed, not chopped..keep whole but just squish them.

• 1-1/2 cups fresh, cleaned mushrooms, thinly sliced, any mushrooms you like. I did a mix

• 3/4 cup cream

• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

• Cracked black pepper

• Sea Salt to taste

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese  go for the freshly grated if you can. not KRAFT.

• 1 pound spaghetti or pasta of your choice, 

• Truffle oil for drizzling (2 to 3 teaspoons, more or less to taste)

In a large pan combine olive oil and garlic and sauté gently. Remove garlic and add mushrooms to pan and continue to cook until tender. 

Season with salt and pepper. 

Boil pasta to firm al dente stage, drain reserving l cup pasta water.

Add cream to mushrooms and continue to cook another 2 to 3 minutes or until done. Add a bit of pasta water to thin to desired consistency if necessary. Add parsley and generous sprinkling of black pepper. Toss with cheese, if using. Remove to serving dish and drizzle with truffle oil. Serve immediately.

AND...lets not forget an easy treat to put together with a lovely personal touch! Gelato, heart shaped macarons and names spelled out with chocolate.

Just melt your chocolate chips and put them into a baggy. seal the top and snip the bottom corner just a bit until chocolate comes out. then spell out anything you want on a sheet pan lined with parchment. once your are done, stick it in the fridge to set and remove carefully..TA DA!

Food Series: Sweet Dough

Here is the recipe for Sweet Dough. With this recipe you can go ahead and make cinnamon rolls, and recently I've had ideas to experiment the savory side of this as well. I saw an instagram post from Culinary crafts where they substituted the sweet filling for goat cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions. Now, you guys are all experts on caramelizing onions right?

Basic Sweet Dough, from KitchenAid (yeah, you regret throwing away that recipe book now don't you?)

3/4 cup fat free milk 
1/2 cup sugar 
1 tsp salt 
1/2 cup butter 
2 packages active dry yeast 
1/3 cup warm water (105-115 degrees) 
3 eggs -room temperature 
5-1/2 to 6-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (calculated with 6 cups)

Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture, eggs, and 5 cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 2 minutes.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled. Punch dough down and shape as desired for rolls or coffee cakes.
Let rise in warm place 1 additional hour after shaping. 
Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

This usually makes 24 cinnamon rolls at my house, but the recipe here, does not include all the cinnamon roll goodness. 

Number of Servings: 24

For the Filling:

1 Cup packed brown sugar

1 Cup white sugar

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 cup AP Flour

1 to 1 1/2 TB of cinnamon, depending on your taste 

1/2 chopped walnuts or pecans

Mix all the ingredients and spread on your rolled out sweet dough. your sweet dough should be 10x24 inch rectangle. Roll dough tightly starting on the long side. pinching your seam together and cut log into 1 inch pieces. 

Place 12 rolls each in two greased pans and cover. Let rise for 40-60 minutes until double in size. I like to actually place these in the fridge overnight and back in the morning.

bake at 350 for 20 -25 minutes.

you can top with  a cream cheese frosting, or a simple glaze of powdered sugar and cream.

Food Series: Center Cut Pork Roast and Caramelized Onions

My last post was on a beef rib roast, so I  thought I would follow it with another roast post, with the other white meat..

Pork.

This is a Center Cut Pork roast..its what they use to slice to package pork chops. Sometimes you will see this with the bone attached. this one doesn't. Also watch the prices between a whole roast and the pork chops..sometimes it cheaper per ounce/lb depending on the store and the sales. I bought this whole thing for $9 and got 8 thick slices out of it!

this pork roast is different from like a shoulder or a tenderloin, so cooking it is different from that variety of pig.

This was simply seasoned with olive oil, poultry seasoning and fresh herbs. I didn't even bother to chop the fresh herbs..i just laid them on the meat...haha. poultry seasoning is a MUST with pork..oh ,its so good! I have about 1 tablespoon sprinkled all over and the fresh herbs i have shown are thyme and tarragon. you can use whatever you want..and you can be better than me and chop your herbs too!

The cooking time on this is about an hour, this was about 5 lbs. 350 degree oven and check on it after 45 minutes. you want your meat thermometer to read between 150-155. I take mine out at 150 because once you tent it with foil it will continue to cook. I also didn't use a special roasting pan. I just stuck it in a foil lined cake pan.

While your roast is cooking..caramelize your onions. People have a notion that it doesn't take as long as you would think. restaurants can deep fry onions raw and call them caramelized. ew. 

This onion was a large onion..it was soft ball sized and i just cut it down the middle into slices and broke up the ringlets like you see below.

In my pan i have a mixture of olive oil, butter, and a tablespoon of brown sugar.  Oil for cooking, butter for flavor and sugar to help it sweeten up the onions and caramelize them even more.

MEDIUM HEAT ONLY! and stir every once in awhile so that the onions don't stick..you will see in a few pictures that if you leave the pan to feed your baby, you will have some onions more cooked than others.

Also, this looks like too many onions, but it cooks down a lot! 

This is about 20 minutes into it...Soft and translucent and you can see how its starting to turn brown.

This was 30 minutes into, and see where i didn't stir for a while those pieces that are cooked more than their friends? so you just want to make sure you keep an eye on it.

after 40 minutes this is what i had..seriously, look how much it shrunk. all the flavor of the onion has concentrated and the sugars have released and now its sweet and just slightly oniony in flavor. The brown sugar helps a lot,. as well. At this point i like to add in a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar..not vinaigrette,,straight up balsamic vinegar and let this cook down again for a few more minutes.

Oh and you can totally make your own apple compote ..hello? pork chops and apples are like bonnie and clyde! this is 3 fuji apples, peeled, cored, and diced. 1/2 cup of apple cider, dash of cinnamon, tablespoon of brown sugar and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. cook on medium alongside your onions..stir and mash, stir and mash until apples are soft and the consistency you want.

and voila! Center Cut Pork Roast with apple compote and caramelized onions..see how my onions look really dark? that's from the balsamic vinegar..it adds a nice tangyness and sweetness different from the sweetness of the onion. and my apple compote.  and two thick slices of pork.I roasted an acorn squash and dinner was served!

I hope you get to try this out. let me know if you ever have a question, i'd love to help!

Next Post:

Cinnamon Rolls..

Food Series: Rib Roasts

I have realized I haven't done a normal food post in a long long time! and really,  those posts got the most comments, aside from our fertility/baby journey. Honestly, and I know this, most people don't give a shit about me and Wes and how we sit at home and play computer games or my feelings on my new adventures, haha. But My blogs are for me to look back on and watch our progress, our family grow, and a fun way for Charlotte to see what mom and dad were like before she took over the household.

I was so excited this year! I made a prime rib roast for my birthday! Most people order it at a restaurant, but I thought, how hard could it be. Not hard at all you guys!

I'm pretty certain there are many local butchers around the valley, but being limited on the car and having a baby, I didn't want to drive too far. I know Harmon's meats are always fresh, I pre ordered my roast and they didn't cut my portion until I arrived to pick it up.  Here's another thing, I always buy our bacon at their meat counter. its so  much cheaper than the packaged thick cut ones. The butcher even told me they add a premium to their packaged ones because they have to weigh it and  package it and inventory them.

They have two kinds of rib roasts at Harmon's. they have a choice and premium. the choice is what i cooked, it was $10 per pound, where as the premium is $20 per pound.....I KNOW! so pricey..but I'm sure there is a reason. If you are buying per pound, you need to include that the bone will account for about 1/4 of the total weight. Bone in is best, it protects the meat from overcooking and keeps it juicy.

When buying rib roasts, as far as how much to get, the butcher recommends a half a pound per person. So for my party, i had 7 people total and I ordered a 6 pound roast, which left a little extra for gnawing on. You will see some sites that tell you to buy by the bone count, so 4 bones or 5 bones, but the butcher told me that if you buy that way, it won't be consistent. one 5 bone rib roast could weigh more than another 5 bone rib roast, depending on the spacing of the bones and the amount of fat and meat.

As you can tell. I talk to the butcher a lot..like he's half my time at the grocery store cause they are so full of information!

Seasoning: So there are many ways to prepare and season a roast. this is my way and the I way seasoned ours.

Brush the whole roast with oil and heavily, like a small handful of each,  salt and pepper the meat then rub it in so it really gets in the meat. I let it sit like this for about 5 minutes. I then Brushed the whole roast with dijon mustard.  That's it!

Make sure your oven rack is on the very bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place your roast on a roasting pan or , in my case, I used a cookie cooling rack set atop a half sheet tray, haha. place your roast fat side up.

Roast your lovely seasoned meat for 25 minutes. this will help set that yummy crust, lock in the juices and if your oven isn't clean, smoke up your house.

turn down your oven to 275 and continue to roast at this temp for 3 hours. My calculation is 1/2 hour per 1 pound of meat.

Remove the meat and cover it with fresh herbs, any kind you like then cover the whole roast with foil until ready to serve.

We had the perfect Medium rare. I didn't make aujus from scratch you guys..haha no no no. I bought 2 cans of beef broth and mixed a package of onion soup mix. Brought it to a boil then strained it through a strainer to get rid of all the onion soup mix bits. I just wanted the flavor. then we just bought a bottled jar of creamy horseradish to serve with the roast.

I hope you take the leap and make this Prime rib roast for yourself. it really is super easy and the best you will ever taste!

My next Food series will be on caramelizing onions served with a center cut pork loin!