Rib-Eye Steak with Balsamic Reduction and a Salt-Baked Potato

Rib-eye Steak with a Balsamic Reduction and a Salt-Baked Potato

 

We experienced another rainy day recently here in Northeast.  Desperately looking for something to do with the kids that wasn’t going to cost any money, my lovely, brilliant Wife, said, “Go to the library”.  Okay, I’ll get Thing One some new books  that she’ll be bored with by the time they’re due back.  Upon entering the library, the first thing that I saw was a cookbook. 

Rib-eye Steak Sizzling in the heavy skillet

 

Doh!  Why haven’t I thought about this before?  Tired of the same old cookbooks?  Go to the LIBRARY!  I was able to checkout a copy of Gourmet Today edited by Ruth Reichl.  I opened it and the first recipe in the “Beef, Veal, Pork, and Lamb” chapter was for the very piece of meat that I had thawing in the fridge (and had nothing planned for). 

Salt Crusted Potatoes Ready for the Oven

 

Do you know the phrase, “KISS”?  Keep It Simple Silly.  Simple is good.  Simple is easy.  Simple is, well, simple.  That is exactly what this recipe is.    The steak is simple; cook, flip, cook, remove, add balsamic vinegar and reduce.  Simple right?  The potatoes are simple; coat with egg white, roll in salt, and bake.  Simple right?  The meal itself is simply delicious. 

Balsamic Reduction getting the Butter business

 

Rib-Eye Steak with Balsamic Reduction and a Salt Baked Potato 

Adapted from Gourmet Today 

Ingredients: 

1 bone-in rib-eye steak, about 1 inch thick 

freshly ground black pepper 

Kosher salt 

2 tbls butter 

1 tbls safflower oil (or vegetable oil) 

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 

To Make: 

Pat steak dry.  Generously sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper both sides of the meat.  Heat a 12″ heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the tablespoon of safflower oil.  Cook the steak for 5 minutes a side and let rest 5 minutes.  With the bone-in steak, 5 minutes a side will produce a nice rare steak.  If you like your steak more done, add a minute or two per side.  

While the steak is resting, pour off the fat from the pan and de-glaze with the balsamic vinegar.  Stir the balsamic vinegar, scraping up the flavor bits on the bottom of the pan, until the volume is reduced by half, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the last tablespoon of butter.  By the time your reduction is ready, the steak will be nicely rested. 

Salt-Baked Potatoes 

Adapted from Gourmet Today 

Ingredients: 

2 russet (baking) potatoes 

1 large egg white, lightly beaten 

1/4 cup Kosher salt 

Put a rack in the middle of  oven and preheat to 425F.  Prick each potato in several places with a fork.  Coat potatoes with egg white, then role in the salt to completely crust.  Put potatoes in a shallow baking pan and bake until tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 1 hour.  

To Serve: 

Rub off as much salt as desired from the potatoes and serve with the skins on.  Drizzle the balsamic glaze over the steak (and potatoes if you want)… or lick it directly from the bowl.  We promise we won’t tell.  It is that good.  Serves 2 (plus a small child or two).

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Roasted Potato and Garlic Soup

Roasted Potato and Garlic Soup

Do you live in the Northeastern US?  Are you tired of the rain?  Tired of being wet and cold?  There is still enough time to make one last hot soup before the onset of spring.  Lately, we all needed something that would warm us up a bit more.  This soup does just that.  It combines the classic flavors of roasted garlic, roasted potatoes, and cheese in a comfy and tasty soup. 

The Garlic, Onions and Potatoes - Before

 The idea behind the soup was to cross several classic potatoes sides, namely, French Fries, garlic mashed potatoes and a baked potato and serve it up in a soup form.  The essence of the French Fries come from oven roasting the potatoes.  The roasted garlic brings in flavors reminiscent of garlic mashed potatoes.  The baked potato served as our muse for the final garnish toppings.  Feel free to add some bacon here.  It would be delicious.   We, unfortunately, were out.

The Garlic, Onions, and Potatoes - After

 Roasted Potato and Garlic Soup

 Ingredients:

 2 heads of garlic

 2 lbs baking potatoes

 2 medium onions

 3 tbls olive oil

 1 tbls dijon mustard

1 tbls dried oregano

1 tbls water

2 tbls butter

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup milk or half-and-half

2-3 green onions, white and light green parts, chopped for garnish

4 oz colby jack cheese, shredded

2 tablespoon dry vermouth (optional)

salt and peppper to taste

To Make:

First, roast the garlic.  Remove  the cloves from two heads of garlic, but leave the paper-like-peel on the cloves.  Scatter the unpeeled cloves on a baking sheet with a rim.  Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of water and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of salt.  Place in a 375F oven for about 30 minutes.  The cloves are ready when they are tender to the touch.  When cool enough to handle, take off the peels and set the garlic cloves aside.

 Meanwhile, roast the potatoes.  Scrub the potatoes well under running water.  Cut the potatoes into 1″ cubes.  Toss the cubes with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon oregano, salt and pepper to taste.  Arrange the cubes on a baking sheet.  Roast in a 425 oven for 45 minutes, flipping them all between 20 and 25 minutes.

 While the potatoes are roasting, caramelize the onions.  In a 10″ skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.  Peel and cut the onions in half.  Cut slices from each half.  Add the onions to the melted butter, season with salt and pepper.  Cook low and slow for at least one hour (I let these go almost 3 hours).  If the onions look like they are drying out too much, turn down the heat and add some liquid (a tablespoon or two) to plump up the onions a little bit.  Liquids such as a dry white wine, dry sherry, or dry vermouth bring a nice flavor to onions.  If you’re opposed to alcohol, use some chicken stock or water.

 To Make Soup

 In a stock pot, bring the stock to a simmer, add in the roasted garlic, the caramelized onions and most of the roasted potatoes (reserve about 1 cup of the roasted potatoes).  Return the soup to a simmer and let the ingredients warm through, about 10-20 minutes.  Remove the soup from the heat and use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth.  If you don’t have a stick blender, working in the small batches, add to a blender and blend until smooth.  Return the soup to low heat and add the half-and-half, stir and heat through. 

 To Serve:

Ladle the soup into soup bowls.  Garnish each bowl with some of the reserved roasted potatoes, the chopped green onion, and shredded cheese.  

 This soup may seem like a lot of work, but much of it can be made in advance.  The garlic and potatoes can be roasted and the onions can be caramelized and set aside in the fridge.  Simply add them to the stock and heat through.  Serves 4 as a hearty first course.

Potato Parsnip Latkes

Potato Parsnip Latkes

I am always looking for new things to do with parsnips.  Through our various winter CSA’s we always seem to have parsnips hanging around.  They have a nice sweet and slightly sharp flavor that is tasty in many different culinary applications.  As the winter goes on, the parsnips we receive get sweeter and sweeter, probably as a result of the cold forcing them to store all that sugar.

Latke ingredients

We tend to get kind of lazy with our roots and serve them roasted or mashed.  However, after too many sides of roasted parsnips, we went looking for something different.  Parsnips are similar to potatoes in that they are both versatile when it comes to cooking.  Mix the two together and you have a very happy blend. 

The batter

This recipe is pretty simple to put together, just coarsely grate parsnips and potatoes, stir in flour, eggs, herbs, and salt and pepper.  Drop heaping spoonfuls into a pan with a little hot oil and watch the magic happen.  The latkes fry up brown and crisp.  Serve them hot from the skillet with a dollop of sour cream or with a little applesauce.  Or just eat them plain dusted with salt.  A delicious alternative to the traditional parsnip dish.

Potato Parsnip Latkes

Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

1 large all-purpose potato (like a red or a Yukon Gold), 8-10 ounces

1 lb parsnips, peeled and coarsely grated

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 tbls fresh chives, finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable oil for frying

To Make:

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.  You can put your cooked batches of latkes in the oven to keep them warm until they are ready to serve.

Peel the potato and coarsely grate it into a large bowl (if you are concerned about the potatoes browning, toss them with about 1 tbls of lemon juice at this point).   Place the grated potatoes in a large, clean kitchen towel and wring it to remove as much moisture as possible.

Mix the potatoes with the parsnips, flour, eggs, chives, and salt and pepper until well combined. 

Place a 12 inch skillet over medium heat and add enough oil to come about 1/4 inch up the side of the pan.  Heat until the oil is hot but not smoking.   Scoop scant 1/4 cupfuls of the mixture into the skillet and flatten with a spatula.  Be careful not to crowd the pan.  Fry until golden on one side, 1-3 minutes, then flip and cook until the second side is golden, another 1-3 minutes.  Remove to paper towels to drain.  Place on a cookie sheet in the oven to keep warm until the remaining latkes are cooked.

To Serve:

Makes about 16 latkes.  Serves 4-6 as a side dish.  Serve warm topped with sour cream, applesauce, or sprinkled with salt.

Potato and Onion Quiche

Potato and Onion Quiche

Alex, I’ll take “Stereotypical Myths – Fact or Fiction” for $200.

A:  Real men don’t eat quiche

Q:  What is fiction?

Roasted potatoes and onions

Of course it’s fiction.  Real man absolutely eat quiche.  As a kid, I never liked eggs.  However, put a piece of my mother’s bacon, onion, and tomato quiche in front of me and I’d be stuffing it in as quick as possible so I could get to the last piece before my father could.  Today, I serve quiche to my three old and bill it as “egg pie”.  Thing One hears “pie” and will devour it, regardless of the ingredients involved.

Ready to bake

One of the best thing about quiche is that you can unleash your creativity and the sky is the limit for what you can include.  The most important rule to keep in mind is that less is more.  Pick two or three good quality ingredients and let the taste shine through.  My wife and I have made a lot of quiches in our lives but this one is one of the most delectable we have tried.  The usage of creme fraiche and sour cream instead of cream or milk adds a wonderful tangy richness to the quiche while still keeping the egg light and tender.  This base works well for any combination of ingredients.  For this recipe, we were inspired by the Spanish tortilla (a potato and egg dish traditionally served as tapas) and put roasted potatoes and onions in the quiche base.  Because of the richness of the quiche, you don’t really even need to add cheese, though it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Freshly baked

Potato and Onion Quiche

Ingredients:

Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup lard

12 tbls butter (1 and 1/2 sticks)

ice cold water

Quiche Filling

1 small potato

2 medium onions

3 eggs

8 oz (weight) creme fraiche

6 oz (weight) sour cream

2 oz mild cheddar cheese, shredded

To Make:

Crust

This recipe makes a top and bottom pie crust.  The quiche only uses half the dough so feel free to freeze half for a later date, or cut the ingredients in half and make one crust.

Whisk flour and sugar together in a bowl.  Cut the butter into small pieces.  Add the butter and lard to the flour sugar mixture.  Using a pastry blender, cut the lard and butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course bread crumbs.  Slowly, drizzle in the ice water a few tablespoons at a time until the dough comes together into a large ball.  If you are making a full recipe, cut the dough in half.  Form each half into a thick disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Quiche

Combine the potato and onions with salt and pepper and toss with olive oil.  Roast in a 350F oven for about 45 minutes, stirring them around every so often.  Set aside.  The crust and vegetables can be done up to a day ahead.  If making ahead, refrigerate the potatoes and onions.  Remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature before adding to the quiche.

When you are ready to bake the quiche, roll out your pastry dough in a round large enough to fill a deep dish 9″ pie plate.  Place the dough in the pie plate and scatter the onions and potatoes over the crust.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs.  Stir in the sour cream and creme fresh.

Roll out your pastry dough to fill a 9″ pie plate.  Place the dough in the pie plate.  Add in the roasted potatoes and onions.  Add the shredded cheese.  Added the egg, creme fresh, and sour cream mixture.  Bake 40 minutes at 350F, until the center is barely set.

To Serve:

Serve immediately (hot) or later (room temp) or the next day (cold from the fridge).  This makes a great brunch, lunch, or dinner option.  Serves 4-6.