Recipe: Steak and Spring Vegetable Stir-Fry

Steak and Spring Vegetable Stir-Fry
Bon Appetit Magazine, May 2019, p.24
4 stars

For a relatively quick, weeknight meal, this is a pretty good Asian dish. For me, it's tad bit on the sweet side which is why I only gave it 4 stars.  I do love the sugar snap peas in the dish!

Ingredients: cooked rice, sirloin steak, asparagus, sugar snap peas, ginger, scallions, cornstarch, soy sauce, vegetable oil, oyster sauce, mirin, unseasoned rice vinegar, Kosher salt

Tips/Changes:

• Substituted broccoli for the asparagus
• Used brown rice
• Added sriracha at the table to taste

Recipe: Weeknight Steak and Rice Noodle Salad

Weeknight Steak and Rice Noodle Salad
Bon Appetit Magazine, Apr 2019, p. 64
4.5 stars

I loved this dish but blog contributor thegrandcruman was not as big of a fan because of the fish sauce.  I think this is a good rendition of a cold vermicelli dish found on almost all Vietnamese restaurant menus.  Really tasty to me especially with our modifications below.

Ingredients: skirt steak, rice noodles, Napa cabbage, Persian cucumbers, daikon, mint, dry-roasted peanuts, lime juice, fish sauce, honey, vegetable oil, serrano chiles, garlic, Kosher salt, flaky sea salt

Tips:

• Substituted kale for the Napa cabbage
• Used regular cucumbers
• Not a fan of peanuts so left them out
• Seared some firm tofu with togarashi and added it to the dish
• Made gyoza for the side

Recipe: Beef Bourguignonne Pot Pie

Beef Bourguignonne Pot Pie
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2015, p. 70
5 stars

Really delicious!  Not a hard recipe but takes a long time to make from start to finish.

Few notes/tips:

• Allot about 4 hours to make this dish
• Use 1/4 cup of flour instead of 1/2 cup
• It's not a pretty dish once you cut into it (all brown on the inside!) so while it's delicious, I might not serve this at a dinner party
• Make sure to remove the bay leaf and star anise -- this is not mentioned in the recipe
• I'd add another carrot or two next time

Recipe: Braised Zabuton with Coffee Beans

(I almost didn't include a photo since I didn't
take time to nicely plate up the food.)

Braised Zabuton with Coffee Beans
Saveur, Issue #171 (Feb 2015), p. 22
4 stars

Nice dish with lots of flavor.  It was good, but not "oh my gosh amazing;" thus, the 4 stars.  The pickled shallots were a nice touch.


Tips/What We Did:

• Used chuck roast instead of zabuton or boneless chuck flap
• Used half the amount of beef but all vegetables and 1/2 of most of the other ingredients
• Instead of coffee beans, used 1 tbsp of coffee rub that we had
• Didn't need to reduce the sauce
• Didn't strain the sauce -- but did remove the bay leaves and star anise
• Served it over rice

As you can see, I didn't exactly follow the recipe, but it was close enough to produce a nice meal.

Recipe: Beef-and-Farro Soup

Beef-and-Farro Soup
Food and Wine Magazine, p. 126, Dec 2014
5 Stars

I'm writing this post almost a month after we made this recipe (behind on blogging!) so can't recall the dish 100%.  Plus, blog contributor and husband "the grandcruman" made the recipe.  I'll update this post the next time we make this!

A Chef Hugh Acheson recipe.  Nice flavor and easy to make.

Recipe: Hanger Steak with Mushrooms and Red Wine Sauce

I don't have a photo for this Hanger Steak with Mushrooms and Red Wine Sauce recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine (Oct 2011, p. 54), but oh my gosh, it was DELICIOUS and so easy.  We made this for dinner with a side of mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts and had a nice Cab to go along with it. . .  I think the meal turned out better than many fine dining restaurant meals we've had.

When I say that the recipe was easy to make -- it was easy.  The ingredients include just olive oil, assorted mushrooms, salt & pepper, hanger steak, garlic, rosemary, dry red wine, chicken stock (we used beef stock) and fresh tarragon.