Eating well in Southern Maryland

Beef Stroganoff #2

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Ingredients
5 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups beef broth
2 pounds mushrooms, sliced
1 pound beef tenderloin, top loin, or sirloin tip, well trimmed and sliced into thin strips
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 onion, thinly sliced
6 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried dill

Instructions
1. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons flour and whisk until smooth. Add 2 cups of beef broth, whisking continuously.

2. Simmer until sauce is smooth and thickened. Set aside and keep warm.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms have released all of their water, the water evaporates, and the mushrooms start to brown.  Remove to plate.  Note: You might need to use more butter (or olive oil) in this step and the following step depending upon your skillet.  If things start to stick, add more. 

4. Heat remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet over medium-high heat and add beef and onions.  Cook, stirring often, until the beef is evenly browned and onions are soft.  Remove from heat.  

5.  Add mushrooms to beef mixture in skillet.  

6. Return sauce to medium heat and stir in sour cream, mustard, dill, and salt and pepper, to taste.  Stir until combined and heated through.  Pour sauce over beef mixture.  

7. Serve over rice or egg noodles.  

Stroganoff

Comments
Stroganoff is a huge hit in my family and, as a result, I’ve got many different recipes for the dish.  This one came from the 1997 edition of The Joy of Cooking and contained the mind-boggling instruction of “discard the onions.”  I never understood that so never bothered to obey.  

I like to save up the end bits of the filet mignon from the butcher to use in this dish, but it works equally well with whatever steaks you’ve got around.

 

11/1/2009 Menu

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1. Samosas, Butter Chicken, Chana Pulao, Coconut Sorbet, Chocolate Chai Cake
2. Spaghetti
3. Chicken Pot Pie
4. Marjoram Chicken w/ Cabbage and Potato Gratin with Sage
5. Chicken Strips w/ Cheater Turnip Greens
6. Filet Mignon w/ Kohlrabi and Cress w/ Creamy Parmesan Orzo
7. Unclear at time of postingBaked Spiced Nuts, Pasta with Sausage, Basil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, salad, Garlic Cheese Bread, Pecan Pie Bars

This week started out with another Game Day and I was inspired to go with an Indian theme for the meal.  Everything was delicious; I just wish that I had tripled the Butter Chicken instead of doubling it!  

The rest of the week is geared around putting a dent in the vegetables that have accumulated in the house.  Due to our full share of vegetables for two weeks I’ve had to work harder at using everything up and, thanks to the hardiness of winter vegetables, I’ve got quite a stockpile of winter squashes, sweet potatoes, and onions.  I’ll be using up the less hardy vegetables in meals 4, 5, and 6.  

Meal 7 may or may not be another Game Day.  I’ll update the meal plan when I figure out what’s going on!

Here’s my photo evidence of the vegetable stockpiling I’ve been doing.  This doesn’t include the squashes – spaghetti x2, acorn x4, buttercup, butternut, and sunshine.  

veggies zomg
 

Creamy Broccoli Pasta

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Ingredients
1 pound pasta (I prefer short shapes.)
10 fresh basil leaves
1 pound broccoli, cut into florets and cooked until just tender (I do this in the microwave.)
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups half and half
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.  Cook pasta as directed on packaging.  Drain and return to pot.  

2. In food processor with steel blade, combine broccoli, basil, butter and cream. Pulse until puréed. Add Parmesan cheese and pulse to blend. Mix broccoli mixture with drained pasta; stir. Cook, stirring, over medium-low heat until heated through.  Add salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Creamy Broccoli Pasta

Comments
I’m pretty sure that this recipe must have been created to hide broccoli from people who don’t like it.  However, I love broccoli, and I think this dish is a tasty way to have it, if a bit bizarre.  The first time I made it, I was unsure of the amount of broccoli to use and used twice as much as the recipe now calls for… according to Lance this made it taste “green.”  I recommend sticking to the pound listed above!  

Shown here with Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze.

 

Coconut Sorbet Attempt #1

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Ingredients
2 (14 1/2 ounces each) cans coconut milk
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup sugar

Instructions
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.

2. Remove from heat, cool, then refrigerate until fully chilled, preferably overnight.  

3. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

Coconut Sorbet

Comments
For some reason my ice cream maker didn’t want to freeze this so I ended up freezing it in the freezer and just stirring it every hour.  Unfortunately I wasn’t very pleased with the amount of shredded coconut in the recipe, the texture was not very pleasant.  Next time I’ll reduce the amount of shredded coconut.  It certainly has potential.  

Shown here with Chocolate Chai Cake.

 

2/28/2010 Menu

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1. French Pork and White Bean Casserole
2. Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin w/ Sour Cream and Onion Smashed Potatoes
3. Roast Lemon Chicken w/ Pasta alla Norma
4. Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
5. Beef Enchilada Casserole
6. Leftovers
7. Steak and Bacon Tournedos and Béarnaise Sauce w/ Easier French Fries and Belgian-Style Dipping Sauce
Baked Potato Soup I've given up on this happning for a while since we keep ending up with plenty of food without the addition of soup!

This is an exciting week!  Art is home all week for the first time in at least a month.  How fantastic!  I asked him if he had any special requests, but he just wants “good home-cooked food.”  That, I can do. 

I turned to the 2009 Cook’s Illustrated Annual and the 2009 Cook’s Country Annual for inspiration.  And, since our butcher is finally stocking flank steak again, I’ll finally be able to make the Steak and Bacon Tournedos I’ve wanted to make since November! 

I’m also planning to finally get this Baked Potato Soup made, since it will be great to have for lunches with all of us home.  This will be a fantastic week.

 


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