I've decided that in my retirement, I am going to start a new career as a food critic. I mean - I love food and I love trying new restaurants -- so why not? I always try and make a point to taste something new when I go out to eat and I give my opinion on the meal anyway, so I might as well get paid for it. 💵 (Anyone know how to break into the food critic gig at 65? 😅) The only problem with working as a food critic is that there are certain foods that are not a part of my diet. I have a plan for this though - reinforcements. (AKA - my husband.) If there was ever a human who was up for trying a steak or a pork chop at a restaurant - it's him. 🥩 We can be team food critics. 😂 (I haven't told him this yet, so if you could keep this on the down-low - I'd appreciate it.😬) I don't make a lot of steaks at home - mostly because of the aforementioned exclusion of red meat from my diet. I'm not fundamentally opposed to the consumption of red meat, I just prefer to eat other things. BUT, I'm the type of girl who will prepare just about any food to make someone else happy, even if it's not something that I particularly enjoy. It's not as sacrificial as you might think - I run a catering business. Making things for other people, that I don't eat myself, is fairly common. 🤷🏻♀️ I actually enjoy the process of buying and grilling a perfectly tender and juicy steak. There's a science to it but there's also an art to bringing out the best that the meat has to offer. Creating a tender, juicy and flavorful steak is the goal and this Grilled Ribeye with Italian Salsa Verde recipe is my new favorite to achieve steak perfection. Grilled Ribeye with Italian Salsa Verde 2 pounds ribeye steak 1 Tablespoon butter salt and pepper Salsa Verde 1 cup parsley 3 cloves garlic 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper 2 teaspoons anchovy paste 1/2 cup olive oil 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 teaspoon lemon zest 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Serve steaks with salsa verde.
My goal is to take advantage of more of these beautiful warm early Springs days this year and fire up the grill while the afternoon temperatures are comfortable. Too many years, I waited until it's swelteringly hot to get outside and cook dinner, and I paid the price - in sweat. 😅 The point is: Now is the perfect time to make these amazing steaks. Ciao!
0 Comments
It's common knowledge around here that anything you bring into my house - will inevitably, at some point, end up with food on it. 😬I wish I was kidding but food stains are so prevalent in our house that a few years ago, when I called my son to tell him that his college degree had been mailed to our house, his first comment was, "Please, mom, don't get food on it." 😅 It sounds like he was being super critical but honestly, his comment was completely justified. I'm fairly certain that throughout his academic career, every teacher note and homework assignment that he took back to school, contained some sort of culinary evidence. 😂 The dog eating his homework - not an issue. Me accidentally splattering spaghetti sauce on a math assignment or setting a buttery cookie on a book report that I was asked to proofread only to discover too late that it left a greasy outline - very likely. 😬 I've come to accept and even embrace the fact that I've adopted a Swedish chef style of cooking. 😂👩🏻🍳 I change into a red shirt when I make pasta sauce - wear light colors when I roll out cookies or pie dough and cover up with an apron when I cook with a hot oil. All the preparation in the world doesn't prevent every kitchen mishap though. Leave it to me to ruin a perfectly good t-shirt while making these very simple Roasted Potato Wedges. 🤦🏻♀️ I have complete confidence that you, unlike me, will be able to make these Roasted Potato Wedges without making an oily mess. Just in case though - you might want to wear and apron. 😂 In all seriousness though - these 3 ingredient potato wedges are amazing. They're the perfect compliment to a breakfast omelette and also a fun side dish for just about any chicken, meat or fish dish. Roasted Potato Wedges 2 1/4 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 10-12 wedges 5 Tablespoons canola oil salt and pepper
Season with salt and pepper. Air fryer friends - I used air fryer mode on my GE cafe oven to make these Crispy Roasted Potato wedges. They came out beautifully crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Even though I haven't tried it - I'm fairly certain that you could use this same recipe in a free standing air fryer and achieve similar results. Enjoy!
Ciao! It's Soup-er bowl Sunday. 🍲 You didn't think I was going to let this day pass without making that pun, did you? 😅 I don't have a personal investment in either team this year but that doesn't stop me from exploiting the event for selfish purposes. I mean, it's a great excuse to eat your favorite treats and gather together with friends. Like I said, I don't have a vested interest in this particular football game. 🏈As a whole, professional football isn't really my thing. I used to look forward to the halftime show but in the last few years, I haven't even enjoyed the Super Bowl performances of the musical guests. Now I participate in Superbowl festivities for 2 specific purposes: commercials and food. If you ask me, those are the best parts of any professional football game anyway. 😂 I want to know - What are your favorite football watching snacks? Are you a wings and pizza kind of fan? Or are you team nachos and burgers? 🍔 Dips and chips more your style or are you a sit in front of the tv with a bowl of chili kind of person? Just conducting an informal survey about what everyone is eating today. 😅 If you need a last minute idea for a Soup-er bowl meal - and no, I can't resist saying it like that - check out my recipe for Healthy Baked Potato Soup. Truth is, with a few simple swaps, you can make this soup as healthy - or unhealthy - as you wish. Put out bowls of toppings for everyone to dress up their own bowl of soup. Healthy Baked Potato Soup 4 yukon Gold potatoes, cubed with skin on 1 Tablespoon water 7 strips bacon or turkey bacon 1 shallot, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 4 green onions chopped 3 Tbsp flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 2 1/2 cups milk or unsweetened almond milk 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth 3/4 cup full fat plain Greek yogurt 1/2 cup cheddar cheese grated
Prepare toppings: broccoli, bacon, sour cream, yogurt, cheese, green onions. Season with salt and pepper. Have a Soup-er Bowl Sunday!
Ciao! Thursday night - date night - why not? Yesterday was Valentine's eve, eve, eve, eve so obviously, we went out to celebrate. 😅 Spending more than 30 Valentine's days together has taught us that it's not worth fighting the restaurant crowds on the 14th of February. 🤷🏻♀️ Especially in our little town where there's a limited number of restaurants that are even open on Monday nights. My better half planned our romantic Valentine outing for February 10th and it was amazing. Dinner at an Italian restaurant AND tickets to see Andrea Bocelli. 😮 This guy knows me well. 🍝🎤 I love Italian food and Italian singer Andrea Bocelli - oh, and I love him too. 😅 I've been lucky enough to travel to Italy, twice in my life, and I wasn't shy about eating all of the pasta I could get my hands on while I was there. 😂There's something about twirling spaghetti on a fork, while sitting at a small table on the edge of the Grand Canal that just makes it taste better. I say all this to let you know that THAT is my standard for pasta now. Let's just say that the bar has been set and it's high. 🇮🇹 Needless to day, it's a challenge for me to eat pasta and NOT judge it against the Italian standard. 😬 And I feel like it's worth pointing out that the meals that I order at a restaurant and the pasta that I make at home are both held to the same standard. I don't cut myself any slack when it comes to pasta. Pasta dishes with simple sauces reined supreme in the tiny Italian cafes that we were fortunate enough to visit. Fettuccini alfredo made with just 4 simple ingredients seemed like the perfect way to replicate that Italian pasta, at home. The key is to find the very best cheese, butter and pasta that you can find. Skimping on any of them will most certainly affect the quality of your dish. Fettuccini Alfredo 8 Tablespoons European butter (Plugra or Kerrygold) 6 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, cut into 1/2" chunks (Don't buy shredded) 18 ounces fresh fettuccini 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Let stand 2 minutes to allow sauce to thicken. Add additional water if needed. Season with salt. Divide among serving bowls and serve with remaining cheese.
I've made this a couple different times - once with homemade pasta and once with a dried fettuccini. Obviously, it took waaaay longer to make homemade noodles and after all that work, we all preferred this simple Alfredo sauce served with dried fettuccini noodles anyway. You will see pictures of both fettuccini Alfredo in this post so you can decided for yourself which one looks better to you. Caio! When a Sunday stroll turns into a selfie session... During the week, my walks are all about how fast and how far I can move my body.🚶🏻♀️ They're intentional and purposeful. But weekends walks are another story. My walks are slower. I take the time to visit with the neighborhood animals and sometimes - I take selfies. 😂🤷🏻♀️ These animals make my walks, way more entertaining. 😅 To know them is to love them. Hector , Myrtle and Midas are oozing with personality and they love it when I take the time to stop and talk. And they love it even more when I bring them a treat. 🥕 Apples that get a little too wrinkly and bananas that get too brown for my family's liking, are popular snacks for these cuties. They also gobble up pumpkin, watermelon, carrots - pretty much whatever extra produce I happen to have on hand. In the 3 years that we've been feeding these animals, beets are the only thing I've ever seen them turn down. 🤣 Like I said, they're really not picky but they do have a favorite treat. The thing that that they come running to the fence for and give us approving moos for is... corn cobs. 🌽 Not corn on the cob. Stripped of all of its kernels - empty cobs. 🤷🏻♀️ Yup, the part of the corn that we all throw away at the end of a meal is their absolute favorite. We've even managed to convince our neighbors to start saving eaten corn cobs for the neighborhood animals as well. 😅 This Roasted Mexican Street Corn might just be my most sustainable recipe yet. You see where I'm going with this don't you? Enjoy this amazing corn on the cob and then feed your empty cobs to the cows. If you don't have cows near you, I've heard that deer, squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs and pigs also enjoy cobs. 😉 Roasted Mexican Street Corn 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup sour cream 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder Juice of 1 lime 6 ears corn 1 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic powder and lime juice. Place corn husks directly on the oven rack and roast until corn is soft, about 35-40 minutes at 400. Peel down husks. Spread with mayonnaise mixture. Serve immediately, garnished with chili powder, cotija and cilantro.
I realize that the introduction to the recipe was all about the animals and had very little to do with Roasted Mexican Street Corn. Don't let that influence your feelings about this recipe. My lack of focus on corn is not an indication of my opinions about it. I love this corn and it's something that my family really enjoyed as well. I think that you will too. Caio! |
Like my page on facebook.
Follow me on Instagram
Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|