The Impatient Epicure

I did something new and different today—I cooked a steak for the very first time. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve cooked “steak” before—strips of beef for fajitas or a stir fry—but this evening, I attempted my first-ever, on-the-grill, melt-in-your-mouth, medium-rare, restaurant-worthy, expensive-cut steak. Cooking is my biggest stress outlet, and so, in the middle of what has been an extremely emotionally challenging week, it seemed only appropriate that I distract myself with a technical challenge: stepping outside my comfort zone of chicken, pastas and cheeses, and trying something entirely new. 

This recipe was inspired by an absolutely divine steak dinner I shared with my boyfriend a week or so ago at one the more upscale restaurants in town; the sweet, smoky marsala sauce perfectly compliments the salt flavor of the marinade. Marsala is a type of wine that is frequently used in cooking; it is often compared to sherry. This is the kind I used: 

As stated, we sprang for the (totally juicy and succulent) filet mignon, but I’m sure this sauce would be divine on any well-prepared cut of beef. 

So, why should you take advice on preparing a steak from a self-admitted novice? Because, it came out absolutely perfect, the very first time…even by carnivorous-man-standards. This would be an ideal recipe choice for a date night in…I promise, you’ll completely forget you’re not actually at a fancy restaurant. 

FILET MIGNON WITH A MUSHROOM & MARSALA WINE REDUCTION

-2 approximately 8-10oz cuts of desired steak

-Salt & pepper (to taste…but you’ll want a lot).

For the marinade: 

-1/2 cup olive oil 

-1/4 Cup Worcestershire sauce (or 1/8 cup each Wocestershire & steak sauce)

-2-3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce (can be omitted altogether) 

-3 tablespoons lemon juice

-1 large clove garlic, minced

For the sauce: 

-1/4 cup olive oil

-2 shallots, finely chopped

-1 handful medium-sized white mushrooms, quartered. 

-2 cups dry marsala wine

-1 cup beef stock

-1 stick of butter

-Fresh thyme (a teaspoon or two)

-Begin with the marinade, anywhere between 1 hour and 24 hours before you prepare the actual meal: combine all ingredients into a bowl, casserole dish or ziplock bag, and mix well. Add steak, and refrigerate for desired length of time. 

**Important note: I highly recommend marinating the steak for as long as possible, for maximum flavor and tenderness; however, if you plan on marinating the steak for more than a couple hours, add the oil only in the last hour or so, otherwise it will solidify in the fridge and become somewhat pointless. 

-After the appropriate time span is complete, remove steak from the fridge (still in marinade), and bring to room temperature. This can take anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour, but is an extremely important step—you don’t want to put a cold steak on the grill! Plan appropriately. The marsala sauce will take approximately 45 minutes to prepare and cook, so you already have something to do while you wait. 

-Heat the 1/4 cup of oil in a large saucepan. Add the shallots and mushrooms, and gently (slightly lower than medium heat) cook them throughout, until they are tender and becoming translucent (not to mention smelling incredible). 

-Now, add the wine to deglaze the pan. Let cook for a minute or so, before adding the beef stock and thyme. At this point, the consistency will be very broth-y and soup-like.  

-Bring to a boil, and continue boiling until the sauce has reduced to about 1/3 its original volume; it should be a deep golden-brown in color. 

-Add the stick of butter, and whisk until completely melted. The sauce should be creamy, but not thick like a gravy.  

-Add salt and/or pepper to taste, and allow to simmer until ready to serve. 

-When steaks have reached room temperature, remove from marinade and shake off any excess dripping. Coat each side with a layer of salt and fresh ground pepper, which will solidify into a delicious crust on the grill. 

-Place steaks over the flame of a heated grill; keep a cup of water nearby in case of a flare-up that doesn’t die down on it’s own. 

-The trick to a perfect, medium-rare steak is timing; cook steak for 3 minutes, then rotate 90º for an additional 2 minutes; flip, and repeat on the opposite side—approximately five minutes total on each side. Add a minute or two for medium, subtract for rare. **Very important note—do NOT poke or cut the meat, or you will release all the juices! Use tongs to flip, and be gentle. 

-To test the doneness of the meat, press your finger into it—the longer it takes to rise back up, the less done it is. Medium will feel fairly firm to the touch, while medium-rare will imprint momentarily. 

-Spoon marsala reduction over the steak, and serve.

Remember those Ruby Sensations potatoes from a few entries prior to this? Well, when roasted with olive oil, lemon juice and certain spices, they make a fantastic accompanying side dish: 

LEMON-OREGANO ROASTED POTATOES

-1/4 cup olive oil 

-2-3 tbs lemon juice

-6-8 bay leaves

-Oregano, salt & pepper (to taste)

-1 bag Ruby Sensations Potatoes

-Preheat oven to 400ºF. 

-In a bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, oregano (be generous), salt and pepper

-Spread potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet, and pour oil mixture over them; toss to coat. 

-Arrange bay leaves between potatoes. 

-Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until tender. 

Wine pairing: A good steak goes hand in hand with a bold red. A full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon would be a safe bet, but use your own judgement! 

My boyfriend and I defaulted on our favorite red as of late—this wine is robust, with bold fruit flavor, slight woodiness and lots of spice (I love spicy reds)…and completely reasonably priced, too, at about $15 a pop! The bottle is also beautiful and sooooo Italian…it’s as picturesque as it is delicious! 

…Now, aren’t you happy you saved your $30 and just stayed in? 

~L 

Bananas are among the few and rare foods that have even more potential past their prime than in it. I’m talking, of course, about banana bread; to get a sweet, dense loaf that’s packed with full banana flavor, you really have to wait until the bananas are a bit beyond their typical edible window—when the skins are almost entirely brown, the time is right. In fact, the other day, my boyfriend admitted to purposefully letting a whole bunch of bananas go bad (he’s the only one who eats them on a regular basis) so that I’d have no choice but to bake a loaf. 

Banana bread itself is a very basic, well-loved treat; however, it’s especially fantastic (and addictive!) when you fancy it up with goodies like chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, and a sweet, crumbly topping. Some people substitute apple sauce for some of the more high-calorie ingredients; others add dried fruits, such as cranberries. Add or subtract what you will, or follow this recipe to a T—the result is an extremely moist, dense, cake-y loaf that makes regular banana bread look just plain boring. If you want to see a real-life magic trick, place it on your dining room table with a bread knife close by, invite some people over…and watch it almost-instantly disappear! (Cheesy punchline drum sound…ba dum tschhh!)

**Note: I know what you all are thinking. Sour cream…?!?! Shhh. Just trust me. It will make your bread soooooo moist, it’s unbelievable.  

BANANA-WALNUT BREAD WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS & CINNAMON STREUSEL TOPPING

For the bread: 

3-4 mashed overripe bananas

2/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup light sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup chocolate chips

For the topping: 

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup walnuts, very finely chopped

2 tablespoons chilled butter

Dash of cinnamon

-Preheat oven to 350ºF. 

-In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix well (I strongly recommend a hand mixer, but a regular whisk will do just fine). 

-In a separate smaller bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. 

-Slowly add flour mixture to the large bowl of wet ingredients, and continue to mix thoroughly, until the batter is smooth. 

-Gently fold in the mashed bananas, sour cream, chocolate chips and walnuts. Stir until just combined entirely—don’t over-mix! 

-Pour batter into lightly greased loaf pan (or something similar, if you don’t have one). 

-To make the topping, first chop up your butter into tiny pieces. 

-Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl. Using your hands, crumble in the butter pieces, little by little, until the mixture starts to look like coarse crumbs. 

-Lastly, add in the chopped walnuts, and continue to crumble. 

-Sprinkle the crumbly topping over the batter in the loaf pan. 

-Bake in preheated oven for approximately 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

-Important step (and I’m only saying this because it’s a step I almost always skip)—allow your bread to cool thoroughly! At least 10 minutes once out of the oven, and then at least another 15 once out of the pan. The bread will continue to harden as it cools; if you try to cut it right away, it might still seem deceivingly undercooked, and could possibly fall apart. Be patient (as my blog name implies, this is particularly hard for me)! 

Happy baking! 

~L

When my mom and I traveled to Italy, we were both amazed at how incredible—and different—the pasta tasted. Of course, food is always going to be “better” in the land that perfected it, but one of the main attributes we noted that made the Italian pasta so outstanding was its freshness. Additionally, the sauces were very light, unlike heavy, lumpy American spaghetti sauces. 

Before that trip, I had grown a bit bored with pasta; afterwards, however, my mom and I returned home with a whole new level of respect and appreciation for pasta dishes, and a new enthusiasm for making sauces from scratch.

Today, pasta is one of my favorite meals to cook, because it is so versatile, and leaves so much room for improvisation and expression. With so many types of noodles and varieties of sauces to choose from, there are thousands of different-tasting meals that can be created out of the same basic ingredients—one could cook pasta every day of the week and end up with a completely different dish every time. 

However, I do insist on keeping one thing constant—making my own sauces, and using fresh ingredients whenever possible. There are some flavors you simply can’t recreate with a sauce from a jar. 

This sauce recipe yields 2 large servings, but can easily be doubled…or tripled. 

LINGUINE WITH CHICKEN IN A GARLIC WHITE WINE SAUCE

2 handfuls mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup fresh basil, finely chopped

1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 large tomatoes, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/2 cup dry white wine

Rosemary, thyme, oregano

2 bay leaves

Salt & fresh ground pepper—to taste

Linguine 

-Cut up chicken breast into bite sized pieces; pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan, and saute the chicken pieces with the onion over medium heat. 

-When the chicken is almost cooked through, add the remainder of the olive oil, the chicken stock, mushrooms, basil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, salt and pepper. I am very generous with the amount of spices and herbs I add to my sauces, but use your own judgement. Just remember—more spice equals more flavor! 

-Continue to cook over medium heat, until onion is tender, and chicken is cooked through. At this point, reduce heat, and add white wine and diced tomatoes. Cover, and simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes, while you prepare the pasta. The sauce should thicken and become more dense as it simmers. 

-In a large pot, boil water with a dash of salt; add linguine, and return to a boil, until pasta is “al dente”. Drain the water, and toss pasta with a tablespoon of olive oil. 

-Remove the bay leaves from the sauce, and pour over pasta; toss once more. 

-Top pasta with a dash of fresh ground pepper, and garnish with fresh basil leaves. 

Wine pairing: since the sauce is made with a dry white wine, it only seems fitting that a dry white should accompany the meal! Consider a Sauvignon Blanc, or a chardonnay (nothing buttery or too oak-y!) 

Abbracci e baci!

~L