on the menu was steak with a brandy dijon sauce, twice baked potatoes, and roasted vegetables.
they loved it!!!! yay go me!!!!!!!!!! :)
i've been a little pioneer woman happy but i followed her filet au poivre recipe. to cook the steaks, i heated up a pan, melted some butter and then threw the steaks on there to sear for about a minute on each side. both my mom and i thought the pan was hot enough...but it wasn't. boo. however, because i had the sauce to cover the steak, we could forgo the lovely seared color. then after i seared both sides, we threw it in the oven to finish at 500 degrees for about 5 minutes. if you do this, you get VERY pink meat, which my family enjoys. so you adjust your timing accordingly.
the sauce that i made with really quick and easy--after i took the steaks out of the pan (and out of the oven), i squired some dijon mustard and then got that going with some brandy. after letting the two cook together for a bit, i added in half and half (you could use whipping cream too) and then eventually peppercorns. give it a little time and it will thicken up and get saucy!
the twice baked potatoes took the longest to make so good thing i got a little head start on that. i baked the potatoes at 400 degrees for 1:15 and then you're supposed to cut them in half, scoop out the potato leaving the shell intact, and then filling it up again with your filling. well, i didn't have enough patience to try not to tear through every shell so after scooping out the potatoes and adding in sour cream, bacon bits, butter, a little milk, green onions, cheddar cheese and seasoning salt, i put the mixture into a baking dish and back into the oven. oh yes, and i topped with more cheese. you can never have too much, right? (side note, it was in the oven for about another 15 mins or so before i took it out)
and now for the vegetables. brussel sprouts and balsamic vinegar just sounded good to me so i went and found them at trader joe's. in case you weren't aware, brussel sprouts grow in stalks and now you can get them on the stalk at the grocery store! i think it's a new thing these days. all you have to do is snap them off the stalk, cut off the end, and then i halved them. i also got some fennel and cut that into chunks and threw in some carrots for good measure...although we could've done without. i mixed the veggies in a bowl with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar before roasting them in the oven at 400 for about 45 minutes. about half way i moved the veggies around so they could evenly brown and did a little taste test to make sure i didn't need anything else. they turned out SO tasty. you gotta try it!
yea. i was walking around trader joe's with one of those suckers. it's like a weapon.
beautiful, beautiful steak.
the finale!!
My favorite method of cooking is the sear and throw in the oven, brown butter basting too and i LOVE adding crushed garlic and rosemary...the stalks of brussel sprouts isn't new, but i think more stores are starting to carry them, seems to be better bang for your buck. We've found that if you blanch them first, it can take a little bit of the bitterness out of the bite. Sounds like a SUPER YUMMY dinner.
ReplyDeleteyay bee!
:)
ooh love crushed garlic! yeah even though we didn't blanch, they didn't taste bitter at all after we took them out of the oven :) i need to go eat at your hubby's soon!
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