Stuffed Steak

Another steak dish, I know, but I swear this one is unique.  This was a filet mignon that was stuffed with a shrimp etoufee and finished with a bernaise sauce. 

 The stuff for the steak, olive oil, salt, pepper and pure unadulterated beef.  I'm not sure why but this classic is my favorite way to season beef.  I'm not big on the fancy spice rubs. 

 All the stuff for the etouffe, which is basically a stew.  Parsley, tomato paste, green pepper, beef broth, worcestshire sauce, celery, shrimp, bacon, garlic and a slice of bread for bread crumbs.

 Bernaise sauce, this is one of the more difficult sauces to make but the ingredients are simple, shallots, white wine, peppercorns, tarragon, lemon, eggs, butter and worcestshire sauce.

The first step was to sear off the steak for about 4 minutes per side.  At this point the meat is still raw in the middle.  You'll see why in a little while.

 Now time to make the etoufee.  The first step was to cook off the bacon. 

 After the bacon was cooked I added the tomato paste, and a little flour which of course wasn't in the first picture.  The whole mixture was cooked off for a few minutes.

 Next the vegetables went into the pan.

 Now for the beef broth and the shrimp.

The whole mixture simmered off for about 10 minutes. 

Then I cut the steak a little bit and put abut a table spoon of the etouffe in the steak.  The meat went into a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

The start of the bernaise, the white wine, shallots, pepper corns and tarragon.  The mixture was brought to a boil and then reduced down to about a tablespoon.

No pictures of the next part because it's so delicate.  The first step was to mix in about 6 tablespoons of butter a little bit at a time.  Then the eggs, which of course you have to be careful that they don't turn to scrambled eggs.

This was the final result.  Notice how awesome I am and the sauce didn't break.

The completed cooked steak.

The final plate.  Dish was awesome and pretty sure I could charge $35 a plate for this one in a restaurant. 

Split Pea Burgers

So this is quite a departure from my norm.  I'm a full fledged carnivore.  I tend to take the Anthony Bourdain philosophy "It's not that I don't think vegetarian food can be good, I just think it can be helped greatly by the addition of animal protein or fats."  This recipe didn't do anything to change that stance. 

 Here's everything you need.  Mushrooms, Bell Pepper, wild rice, garlic, onion, cumin, fennel seed (should have been coriander), vegetable stock, salt, pepper, bread crumbs and split peas.

 The onions got sweated off first in a bit of olive oil.  Then the bell pepper, garlic and mushrooms were added until soft.

 After the veggies were completed the stock, and spices were added along with the rice and split peas.  I didn't get a before picture but the whole mixture was simmered off for an hour and this was the result.

 After the mixture finished cooking I put it in a blender and took it for a spin then put in a bowl and added a bit of bread crumbs.  Then I made burgers and dusted those before putting them in a non-stick pan with a bit of oil.

 The burger halfway through the cooking process.

 The completed burger.

The finished plate.  While not horrible, after one bite I already missed the beef.  Sorry to any vegetarians out there, I'm going to continue to eat bleeding flesh.

Glandular Goodness

There's a faction of the food world that is known as the nose to tail mafia.  This is a group that loves every offal which includes all the guts of all different kinds of animals.  I'm not a member of the mafia but I certainly enjoy different versions of guts.  Tonight was sweetbreads, which are the thymus gland of sheep or cows.  In my case I'm pretty sure they were beef sweetbreads.

 The first step of the prep.  Lemon, red wine, dried cherries salt and the sweetbreads.  The sweetbreads soaked in water, salt and lemon juice.  While the cherries soaked in the red wine.

 After soaking in the cold water, the sweetbreads went into fresh water with lemon juice and simmered for about 15 minutes.

 The completed sweetbreads.

 The rest of the stuff.  Sweet potato, chicken broth, pancetta, onion and mushrooms.

 The completed sweetbreads were seasoned with some salt and pepper then dusted with flour.

 Then the sweetbreads were sauteed in butter.  This picture is the completed browned sweetbreads.

 After the sweetbreads finished, the onions and pancetta went into the pan.

 Then the mushrooms.

 Then the cherries and the wine that wasn't absorbed.

THe finished plate.  On the side I made mashed sweet potatoes with a bit of bourbon and brown sugar.

Alinea at Home: Duck, Pumpkin, Banana, Thai Aromatics

This is the second dish I've made out of the Alinea cookbook, if you can't tell I'm obsessed with the place.  This dish was actually pretty simple, though there were a couple of things that didn't work out quite as planned.  Overall, very fun to make.

 The prep started on Tuesday by making the base for the banana foam that would be a part of the dish.  Here we have a banana, sugar, banana chips, water, soy lecithin and citric acid. (Those two chemicals along with the agar agar are the only hard to find ingredients in the whole dish).

 The banana which was getting ready to go into a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes to roast.  I'll admit, bananas are one of those ingredients that I don't usually seek out.  I'm pretty sure this is the first time that I've bought them since I moved into my house 18 months ago and maybe since I moved back to Central Illinois nearly 3 years ago, and who knows how long before that. 

 30 minutes in the oven did this to it.

 All of the ingredients went into a pot and were boiled up for a bit. 

 The completed mixture after boiling for a bit.  At this point I realized that I shouldn't have added the soy lecithin but it was only a little bit so I didn't think it would hurt things too much.  (Spoiler alert, it didn't).

 The next step was the banana pudding.  Here we have banana, salt, sugar, half and half, banana chips and agar agar.  Crazy to think that all that stuff that ended up being two drops in the dish, but such is life at Alinea.

 The banana again was roasted off in a 350 degree oven, I guess I didn't get a picture of it.  After roasting the rest of the ingredients went into a sauce pan to boil.

The completed pudding, you can tell here even after 90 seconds on the heat the agar agar already starting to work.

 The first step yesterday was to make the marinade for the duck.  Here we have brown sugar, cinnamon, soy sauce, water, pineapple juice (The recipe calls for fresh juiced pineapple, but I don't have a juicer and I ain't using a food processor and cheese cloth), lemon grass, jalapenos, and ginger.

 The entire mixture went into a pan and simmered for a bit then steeped for a couple hours.

 Not a great photo, but here's the prepared marinade and the duck breast.  The duck breast went into a marinade for a couple hours before being seared off

The duck before going into the cast iron pot.  I didn't get a picture of the completed duck but you guys know what cooked meat looks like.

One of the garnishes were peanuts.  Here were have water, salt, peanuts, cayenne and sugar.  The dry ingredients except for the peanuts went into a bowl to form the glaze then the peanuts were coated with the glaze and went into a 300 degree oven for a while.  Didn't get a picture of the completed peanuts.

 Next up was the squash soup part of the program, here we have water, salt, sugar, cream and a butternut squash.

The squash before and after roasting in a 350 degree oven for about 90 minutes.

 After the roasting was complete the squash along with the other ingredients went into a sauce pan for a bit.

 Then they took a spin in the food processor.

 So apparently pumpkin seeds don't get sold on their own, but thinking on my feet while at the grocery store I remembered hearing that sometimes companies that make canned pumpkin substitute butternut squash in for real pumpkin I figured I could get away with substituting the seeds from the squash for pumpkin seeds especially since they look identical.

 I separated out some of the seeds from the pulp/

Then coated them with a curry salt that I had made a while back, it was just curry powder and salt.

The final garnishes, ginger, cilantro and lemongrass.

Two different angles of the plating.  Again this dish was a fun one to make.