This Christmas, Matt's sister and brother-in-law gifted us a fantastic Chicago Cutlery knife set. (It was on our wedding registry, which is even cooler if you ask me.) We'd been working with two hand-me-down knife sets that we'd each had since getting our first apartments in college, so...seven or eight years now? Crap. We're old. Anyway, I was so excited at the prospect of finally working with some stellar knives that I looked up a meal that involved a ton of chopping, slicing and cutting so as to test out as many of the knives in one go as I could. I was not disappointed with the balsamic-glazed steak kebabs and orzo "risotto", both in terms of taste and knife-using-requirements. We even busted out the steak knives, despite the fact that the kebab pieces were small and tender enough to do without. It was just too much fun!
Sometimes I post full recipes here, but this time I'm just going to link them. Mainly because I followed the recipes to a T and didn't really improvise or adapt them at all. I like to follow recipes exactly the first time or two I make them, then tweak as needed if the dish makes it into our regular rotation. I highly recommend both the balsamic-glazed steak kebabs and the orzo "risotto". The orzo came out a bit thicker (and honestly, more risotto-esque) than the picture on the original site, but it was delicious nonetheless. For the green beans, I just threw them in the steamer and set it over simmering water for, I dunno, five minutes? Seven? I like my cooked veggies crunchy, so adjust the cooking time to your preferences. I then just tossed them with a little butter and salt. When you have that many other flavors going on, you need one side to stay semi-simple.
I promise at some point I'll do a post on all the cool photography gear I received/bought this Christmas season. Right now I'm swamped with photo shoots that have allowed me to use said gear, a couple freelance writing deadlines for the bridal magazine, and of course eight billion wedding crafts. I decided to save all the wedding craft posts for after the wedding, partly to help keep an element of surprise for readers who also are attending the big event (hi, Aunt Kathleen!) and partly because I feel like I barely have enough time (less than four months!!) to do the crafts themselves, let alone the photographing/writing that's needed to do posts on them. But just so you have an idea of what to expect: There will be fabric flowers! Wine-bottle vases! A birdcage veil! Pocket invitations! Probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting at the moment! DIY brides for the win, amiright?
Most of the time, I make dinner for Matt and myself. Once in a while, I get lazy and he does it. But sometimes...sometimes we tag-team dinner, and that is almost always the best idea ever.
Tag-team dinners usually involve the grill, because I've never grilled anything in my life, Matt loves grilling and our kitchen is just way too small for two people to cook in it. So yesterday afternoon, when I suggested we pick up some steaks to go with a ravioli recipe I wanted to try, Matt was pretty excited. Ok, I'll be honest, we both were. Steak is awesome.
It was an unconventional pairing, I'll admit, but I really wanted to make that ravioli because I had a TON of fresh sage that a neighbor gave us. And frankly, chicken just sounded boring.
About halfway through making the recipe, I decided photography was in order. I mean, seriously:
For real though. Straight-up mouth-watering, amiright?
The full recipe for the ravioli is over on the Food Network website, but here's a little rundown:
As a sidenote, I used frozen ravioli when the recipe called for refrigerated pasta. Frozen was fine, but I have no doubt that refrigerated would be even better.
So basically you just bring some balsamic vinegar, honey and a bay leaf to a boil in a small saucepot, let it boil for four to five minutes, then reduce the heat to simmer and cover it. It'll thicken and just become this gorgeous glaze that's totally drool-worthy. Protip: Use the back burner, and definitely DON'T lean over the pot while the vinegar is reducing. Trust me. It hurts.
While the balsamic vinegar stuff is happening, melt some butter in a skillet and bring large pot of water to a boil for the ravioli. When the butter's melted, add in lots of fresh sage and some chopped walnuts. The walnuts will toast up in about three minutes, which is likely how long the ravioli will take, too. (Or at least, that's how long my frozen stuff took.)
Add about a cup of the pasta water to the skillet and bring to a boil. Let it boil for a couple minutes, until it's reduced by half. Reserve another half-cup of pasta water, then drain. Add the drained ravioli to the skillet, tossing to coat and adding some of the reserved water if needed to loosen. Then stir in a whole bunch of Parmesan — my favorite part, natch. Stir to combine well.
Then you're ready to go! Just dish out the ravioli and drizzle with the balsamic reduction. To help pair the steak, we brushed it with butter on the grill and topped it with more fresh-grated Parmesan. (My friend Emily got me a Parm grater a while back and let me tell you, it has been amazing. I highly recommend getting one!)
What can I say? Matt and I make a great team :)
Have you made anything delicious lately? Tell me about it in the comments! I've been looking for some new recipes lately...
It's been AGES since I've done a Food Fridays post. This one is actually pretty basic, but grilling season is upon us so I figured I'd post it. But first, a quick 10 things for the bloggiversary week.TEN ITEMS FROM MY BUCKET LIST
1. Get married (also: have a family)
2. Buy a house
3. Write a book
4. Own a motorcycle
5. Visit a different country (that’s not Mexico or Canada)
6. See the Northern Lights (also: Grand Canyon, a redwood tree, the Pacific Ocean, Mount Rushmore, various touristy sites in Europe)
7. Be in a friend’s or sibling’s wedding
8. Run a marathon (or at least a half)
9. Fly first class
10. Meet someone famousAnd now, the delicious meaty goodness that is one of my favorite meals of all time: Steak and potatoes.
Of course, we paired it with asparagus because that's one of the few vegetables that I really love. This isn't really so much of a recipe post as a "how we threw this together" post, but those are my favorite kinds of meals anyway. When we grill, Matt always handles the meat and I take care of the sides. Cooking with him is fun :)We started by cutting the potatoes into bite-size pieces and boiling them in water for about five or ten minutes to partially cook them. Then we drained them, patted them dry, and laid them out on a baking sheet. I drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled with garlic powder, rosemary and thyme, and tossed to cover. Then I threw them in the oven at 350 degrees.Next, I made the compound butter. It's a really easy and delicious way to dress up a steak a little. I popped the butter in the microwave in five second increments until it was just softened, then mixed in some A1 sauce with a fork. I really wanted to add chives, but alas, we had none. Anyway, then I laid the butter out on some waxed paper and kind of rolled it into a tube shape. I failed to take a photo of this, but I'll probably do a separate post on compound butters someday anyway, so it's okay :) Then I just popped the tube into the freezer.Next was the asparagus. I always make this the same way: Just trim off the bottom inch or so of the stalks, wash well, dry, and spread out on a baking sheet. I drizzle them with this really fabulous Arbequina olive oil I got at the Giant Eagle Market District, sprinkle with salt, and toss to coat. As I popped them into the oven, Matt threw the steaks on the grill and worked his manly grilling magic.After about 15 minutes, everything was ready! And man oh man, it was so, so delicious.
