Day Thirty-One - Chopped Steak with Onion Gravy (3.4.14)

Ingredients
 

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced onion
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 tablespoon cooking sherry
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Form into 8 balls, and flatten into patties.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the patties and onion in the oil until patties are nicely browned, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the beef patties to a plate, and keep warm.
3. Sprinkle flour over the onions and drippings in the skillet. Stir in flour with a fork, scraping bits of beef off of the bottom as you stir. Gradually mix in the beef broth and sherry. Season with seasoned salt. Simmer and stir over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, until the gravy thickens. Turn heat to low, return patties to the gravy, cover, and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Opinions

Katie: This dish was simple but very savory. It is like a salsbury steak and it was about the best I've had ever. The ground steak had great flavor and the gravy was wonderful.

Potter: When I was a kid I always loved the school lunch salsbury steaks and as I grew up I always wondered what happened to salsbury steaks. You never see them at restaurants, nobody ever just whips them up for dinner. Turns out they just call them something different: chopped steaks, hamburger steaks, etc. This recipe was delicious and will certainly be my go-to salsbury steak recipe. The gravy did come out a little thin so don't be afraid to add a little more flour than the recipe calls for.

Day Twenty-Nine - Kielbasa (3.2.14)

Ingredients

• 1 package kielbasa

Instructions

1) Cook per package instructions.

Curried rice on the side.

Opinions

Potter: This was another one of those 'let's see what we have in the freezer that will take less that 20 minutes to cook' nights. It was pretty standard; if you've had kielbasa before it tasted like that, if you haven't had it before it tasted like sausage and if you haven't had sausage before this meal is probably not the one for you. (PS, I just read Katie's meal description and I totally got hosed on the dinner choices tonight).

Katie: I went out to dinner before a show tonight. The girls and I went to The Icon for tapas. As always, this place was delicious! We had baked goat cheese, artichoke dip, tuna tartar, beef empanadas and duck confit flatbread. Topped the meal off with caramelized banana and apple tart. Love this place!

Day Thirty - Orange Sriracha Chicken (3.3.14)

Ingredients

Chicken

• 10 chicken drumsticks (about 3 1/2 lbs)
• 2 tsp kosher salt (but remember: not all kosher salts are the same: recipe owner uses Diamond Crystal brand - if you're using Morton's brand, use 1 to 1 1/2 tsp instead)

Marinade

• 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Orange Sriracha Sauce

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp Sriracha (you can add more, but just know that you'll be reducing the sauce and therefore concentrating the heat)
• 1 Tbsp ghee (or oil)
• 1 tsp coconut aminos
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
• Kosher salt

Instructions

1) In a large bowl, sprinkle the salt on the chicken, and set aside.

2) To make the marinade, toss the onion, basil, orange juice, garlic, fish sauce, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, and pepper in a food processor or high-powered blender. Puree until smooth.

3) Pour the mixture over the chicken, making sure that all the drumsticks are well-coated.

4) Cover and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to 12 hours.

5) When you're ready to cook, take the bowl of chicken out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a wire rack on top of a foil-lined baking sheet.

6) Transfer the drumsticks to the wire rack. Spoon some extra marinade onto each piece of chicken. Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through and skin is golden brown, flipping each piece and turning the baking sheet at the halfway point.

7) While he chicken is in the oven, make the Orange Sriracha Sauce. In a small saucepan, stir together the orange juice, honey, sriracha, ghee and coconut aminos.

8) Cook over high heat. Once it is at a boil, turn down the heat to low, and reduce the sauce until it is thickened (about 3 to 5 minutes). Taste and -if necessary-season with salt to taste.

9) After 40 minutes in the oven, brush a thin layer of the Orange Sriracha Sauce on each drumstick, and then roast for 5 minutes.

10) Then, take the tray out of the oven and use a brush to glaze the chicken with the remaining sauce. If desired, add a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.

Opinions

 

Potter: These were delicious. We ended up marinating them overnight due to not reading they needed to be marinated and starting them too late; this definitely gave them tons of flavor and moisture. I had trouble thickening the sauce, that's something I want to figure out for the next time. All around they were amazing, just layers of flavor from the marinade/sauce/chicken that were all playing together perfectly.

Katie: This chicken was SO good! The flavors in the marinade and sauce were delicious and the chicken was juicy. I wouldn't have changed a thing about this dish.

Day Twenty-Eight - Subs (3.1.14)

Alright folks, we got a tad lazy tonight. We ended up procrastinating and not reading the recipe in its entirety, so did not have time to marinate the dish (and that couldn't be shortened!). We also had not been to the store yet to restock so didn't have anything else... whomp whomp.

We had subs from Firehouse Subs here in Madison.

Opinions

Katie: I had the New York Steamer Hot Sub and it was great. I would have it again!

Potter: I had the Italian Hot Sub and it was good. Standard Italian sub, but definitely better than Quiznos.

Day Twenty-Seven - Herb Cod (2.28.14)

Ingredients

• 2 cod filets
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• juice and zest from one lemon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine garlic, lemon juice, zest, olive oil, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper; rub over both sides of the filets.
3. Place filets in baking dish coated with cooking spray; bake 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Our side tonight was stuffed peppers. We aren't going to give you this recipe because it's ours and it's delicious.

Opinions

Potter: I think the moral of this story is unless it's fried I'm just not a fan of cod. The rub or marinade or whatever you want to call it was good I just don't like the actual taste of cod unless it's battered and covered in ketchup. I think the definite star of the night was our stuffed peppers on the side. Those definitely came out wonderfully. 

Katie: I like the marinate for the cod and the fish was cooked well, but it wasn't my favorite flavor. I like too many other fish to have this come anywhere close to being on my go-to list. I do like fried cod though, I will have that again! Loved our stuffed pepper side!

Day Twenty-Six - Beef Enchiladas (2.27.14)

Ingredients

Enchilada Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 6 ounces white cheddar cheese, freshly grated
• 10 whole wheat tortillas

Enchilada Sauce Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 15 ounces tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add in the olive oil along with the peppers, onions and garlic. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green chiles then add the beef. Break the beef apart with a spoon and add the cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook until the beef is browned, stirring well. Turn off heat.
3. Add 1/3 cup of the enchilada sauce and 2 ounces of the cheese to the skillet. Add another 1/3 cup of the sauce to the bottom of the baking dish and spread it out with a spoon. Add the beef filling to the center of each tortilla and rolls them tightly, placing them next to each other in the dish. When finished, cover the tortillas with the remaining sauce and cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until the cheese is golden and melted on top.

Enchilada Sauce

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Whisk in the flour and cook until it is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk together, bringing the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 more minutes before using.

Opinions

Potter: You may have noticed that this recipe makes ten enchiladas yet in the picture it looks like the entirety of the baking dish only contains three. That's because of events that I'm not going to tell you. It's just going to be a mystery, Encyclopedia Brown. In any event, these turned out to be delicious homemade enchiladas, plus enchilada is just fun to say. If you you like your food a little spicier you may want to add a little more of the hot stuff but definitely not necessary for flavor.

Katie: First time making homemade enchiladas and they turned out great!! I agree with Potter's advice above for spicy level. The reason there are only 3 in the picture is because the casserole dish with the other 8 enchiladas was dropped upside down on to the open oven door by Potter. :) The cheese and sauce on top spread over the oven door and we were able to salvage all enchiladas as well as most of the sauce and cheese but the presentation was just horrible! Mystery solved, Scooby Doo. Love you Potter!

Day Twenty-Five - Clam Chowder (2.26.14)

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 cans chopped clams with juice
• 5 unpeeled potatoes, diced
• 2 packages Knorr's dry leek soup mix
• 2 carrots, diced (don't substitute - best flavor!)
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1 bottle clam juice
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 quart milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1) Cook the bacon in a large pot until crisped. Remove the bacon and leave the drippings in the pot.

2) Stir the veggies into the bacon fat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

3) Pour the clam juice over the veggies, and if need be, add enough water to just cover the vegetables.

4) Season. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the veggies are tender (about 10 minutes).

5) Stir the leek soup mix into the soup until there aren't any lumps. Stir in the bacon, clams (with juice) and milk. Simmer until soup thickens, stirring often.

Opinions

Katie: I typically do not like clam chowder, but still give it a try every once in awhile to see if my taste has changed. This clam chowder was delicious. It wasn't as thick as I've seen or tried, but the flavor was great. I will definitely eat this clam chowder again!

Potter:We got this recipe from my Aunt Lyn and I've been super excited to try it because Katie is always saying she's never had good clam chowder (or maybe she's saying she doesn't like clam chowder but I just hear she's never had good clam chowder). This recipe did not disappoint. It was incredibly hearty and had just great flavor. This recipe does make a lot (probably enough for 4-6) so you may want to cut it in half for two. Last but not least, if you're a fan of baking I highly suggest making some dipping bread or bread bowls to go with this for a joyous experience.