Pages, Pucks and Pantry

T-Bone Steaks with Balsamic Onion Confit

When it comes to a good rib-eye or t-bone steak I usually don't do much to prep them. A bit of salt, some heat and the steak gets eaten. I'm not one to use dry rubs or marinades unless I'm working on a specific recipe. It's Mr. L who loves to play around with seasonings when it comes to meats. Though I've recently made some compound butters to put over steaks, more often than not, the steak on my plate gets eaten with few accompaniments.

Which is why when I saw this recipe, I was surprised that it demanded to be made. It's pretty simple, but the flavors of the onions and steak worked well together. I was also surprised by where the recipe came from. People Magazine. For quite a while now, they have been featuring recipes from celebrities and this recipe was featured as coming from A-Rod (or Alexander Rodriguez for those non baseball types). The cookbook People mentioned was Diamond Dishes: From the Kitchens of Baseball's Biggest Stars which was from the May 30, 2011 magazine. Can't say I'm going to run out and buy the cookbook, but it might be a nice gift for someone who likes baseball and likes to cook. I guess it's only appropriate to make this since baseball season is right around the corner (though truth be told, I'm not an A-Rod fan).

T-BONE STEAKS WITH BALSAMIC ONION CONFIT
(People Magazine May 30, 2011)

1 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 large onions, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp. honey
4 (14-oz.) T-bone steaks
1/2 tsp. salt, plus a pinch
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

(2 cups water which is not in the ingredient list but is in the directions)

To make confit: Melt butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions, pinch of salt and 1 cup water. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring often, until water evaporates and onions are softened. Stir in another cup of water. Cook 20 minutes more, stirring often, until water evaporates and onions begin to brown.

Add vinegar and honey. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, until onions caramelize.

Set charcoal or gas grill on high. Season steaks with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil grate. (If using a gas grill, turn heat to medium.) Place steaks on grill and cover. Grill 3 1/2 minutes on each side for medium rare.

Transfer each steak to a dinner plate. Top with onions. Serves 4

Note: A 14 ounce steak per person? Even with the bone, that's a whole lot of steak! We actually just used one nice big t-bone steak and then split it between the two of us.

Note: For some reason I had way to much liquid so I might think twice about adding that full second cup of water.

Note: Mr. L just grilled the steak on a grill pan inside.

Note: Since we only cooked one steak but made the entire batch of onion confit, we probably used more than normal with our steaks and still had some leftover to eat with some grilled chicken we had in the fridge.

Though maybe not this exact recipe, I think that making some sort of onion confit works wonders on a steak that is overcooked, tough, or not necessarily a tasty cut of meat.

 

Hobee's Oscar Breakfast

Oscar Food

I have friends who host an annual Oscar party which I look forward to going to every Oscar season. Sometimes folks dress up (I haven't yet but maybe next year), we play Oscar Bingo (cry winner, cry!) and of course we chow down on a big feast of Oscar related food. Mr. L and I try to contribute a food that references a past movie (we had a sausage pizza delivered reminiscent of Fast Time at Ridgemont High) or a current movie (Balloon Pops for Up). Normally we've seen most of the Best Picture nominees so it makes it easy to come up with some sort of Oscar food idea.

This year though, we've only seen one of the nominated movies...The Help...which meant a complete lack of knowledge about what kind of food might have shown up that we could duplicate. Yes, a Chocolate Pie with a, er, surprise, crossed my mind but I figured since pretty much everyone I know saw The Help, that there might be more than one Chocolate Pie showing up on the table. So I went on a search, looking for some ideas of possible foods I could bring to the Oscar Party.

Below is a list of ideas that I found (just in case, like me, you waited until the last minute). None of these are my original ideas so if you're looking for the recipe, just do a Google search like I did. Some are plays on the title of the movie, some are foods that might have been served in the town or era of a nominated movie, some were foods that were actually served or cooked in the movie.

THE ARTIST
Black and White Food (black and white cookies seem to be the trend)
Smoked Salmon Canapes
A Tart (for The Tartist)

THE DESCENDANTS
Ice Cream
Mai Tais
Slow-Cooker Kalua Pork on Hawaiian Rolls
The Crescendants (something made with crescent rolls)
Spam Mushibi
The Decendips (some sort of dip)
Any Hawaiian food

EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Fig Newtons
New York Style Pizza
New York Cheesecake
Something Extremely Hot and Incredibly Crunchy
Extremely Cold & Incredibly Sweet
Extremely Green & Incredibly Salty
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Toast
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Roast
Any food that might normally be found in New York

THE HELP
Fried Chicken
Lemon Meringue Pie
Chocolate Pie (sans merde)
Deviled Eggs
Mini bite-sized Chocolate Filled Tarts
Luncheon salads made of aspic
Finger Sandwiches
Hamburger HELPer
Any food that might have been served in the 60's or in the South

HUGO
Croissants and Milk
Petit Pains au Chocolat

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Macaroons
Cheese plate
Quiche
Midnight in Pear-is (something with pears)
Mushrooms in Paris
Any French Food

MONEYBALL
Ballpark Franks
Peanuts in the shell
Beer (poured into paper cups)
Cotton Candy
Cookies or Cakepops frosted or decorated like baseballs
Honeyballs
Soft Baked Pretzels
Pigs in a Blanket
Boxes of Cracker Jacks
Ice Cream Malts
Popcorn
Meatball Sliders (Moneyball Sliders)
Garlic Fries
Twinkies
Meatballs in a crockpot with BBQ sauce (Moneyballs)
Billie Beane Dip
Any food that is shaped like a baseball, might be served at a ballpark

THE TREE OF LIFE
The Brie of Life
The Tea of Life
The Tree of Life (make a broccoli tree)
Pasta Salad starring Brad Pitted Olives
The Tree of Life Cereal

WAR HORSE
English pub style food
Recipes with Turnips (the families failed crop)
Apples and Oats Cookies (what the horse was fed)
Stout Braised Short Ribs
War Horse-Radish Roll Ups (recipe online)
Apple Pecan Crisp (made with apples and Oats)
Something made with War HorseTershire Sauce

Then of course there are foods that are nods to movies that were nominated in other categories:

Girl with the Chicken Hong Sue
Girl with the Pan Fried Tofu
The Girl with the Dragon Fondue
My Week With Marinated ______ (pick your food)
My Week With Maryland Crabs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Marshmallows
Tinker Tailor Soldier Pies
Tinker Tailor Soldier Fries
Turkey Taco Salsa Spy
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-ghetti
Hamsformers
Pies of the Planet of the Apes
Fries of the Planet of the Apes
Iron Ladyfingers
The Eggs Hangover Easy
Octopus In Boots
Souper 8
Chili Con Carnage
Rice of the Planet of the Apes
Rise of the Planet of the Grapes
The Ides of Margarine
Red Trail Mix
Gin and Tin Tin Tonics
Margarine Call
A Better Life Cereal
Albert Cobbs Salad
Rango Mango
Pina Colada

Yes, some of the above are pretty esoteric and if you don't know the movie or haven't seen it you might not get the reference. I'm sure the day after the Oscars, you'll be able to find many more cool takes on food that was served at the many Oscar parties that will be held tonight.

What am I making? I've narrowed it down to bringing a dish from a movie that I figure most folks at the party probably haven't seen. If it turns out, I'll post it here later this week.

Feel free to add any of your ideas, or links to Oscar food you made and served in the comments below!

 

Christmas Cookbook Bonanza

Since I collect cookbooks, I love getting them as Christmas presents. Every year I usually find one or two under the Christmas tree. This year though, was an absolute bonanza!

I received new cookbooks, old cookbooks, used cookbooks and pamphlets that I know must have had a special place in someones collection. Several had been on my want list for some time (I think my Amazon wish list of cookbooks is about fourteen pages long).

But my favorite this year, which came from my Aunt and Uncle in Oregon, wasn't a true cookbook...it was an envelope which had some Nut Tree recipes inside which brought back a ton of memories of my childhood.

Now unless you had to drive Hwy 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento years ago, or lived near Davis, California, you probably have no idea what Nut Tree is or actually was. Started in 1921 as a roadside fruit stand, the Nut Tree became a must stop on the way to and from my Grandmas. It had a restaurant, bakery, a gift shop, toy shop, giant wooden animals to play on and a little train that you could line up to take rides around the area.

Now as a kid, it was always fun to stop at the Nut tree for cookies, riding the train and climbing on the animals. But it was the restaurant that always made me feel special. With my Grandma living in Davis, if we wanted a "grown up meal" (mostly lunch for us as kids but there were some dinners) you got dressed up and went to the Nut Tree Restaurant. Supposedly the restaurant was one of the first places to serve "California Cuisine" which to me back then meant lots of wonderful fresh fruit and vegetable plates. Standing in line on the ramp I was always full of anticipation at dining with the adults and it was always a special treat to be able to eat there.

Unfortunately Nut Tree as I knew it, closed down in 1996. There is currently a "Nut Tree Plaza" where the old place stood, which is nothing like the original...it's now full of chain retail shops and restaurants that have none of the charm of the old Nut Tree.

I love the fact that this simple envelope of recipes (16 all together) could bring back so many wonderful memories, not only of time spent with family and friends as a kid, but of wonderful meals  and food (anyone remember the pink chocolate covered strawberries they used to sell?).

I plan on getting out these little recipe cards this summer and making myself a giant Nut Tree meal. In the meantime, I think the plethora of cookbooks I received over the holidays will keep me knee deep in new recipes to try!

Operation Pantry Project

Last year, during the month of January, I made some cooking resolutions. To be quite honest, I wrote them down and then completely forgot about them. Same thing happened the year before...I even posted the resolutions up on the blog. If I actually followed through on any of the cooking resolutions I've made in the last few years, it's probably been by accident, not a conscious effort to keep up with the resolution. So maybe this year, I thought, it's best that I make no New Year cooking promises.

But in looking back on those resolutions (haven't tried Beer Can Chicken yet or made biscuits from scratch) one kind of stuck out for me...Better Use of Leftover Fridge Ingredients. I've actually made a good effort the past couple of years to not let ingredients or leftovers in the fridge become science experiments and end up in the garbage can. We have regular "fridge tapas" nights were we have bits and pieces of what I might find in the fridge. Mr. L and I will split the last four jalapeno olives left in the jar.  A portion of lasagna that wouldn't feed one gets divided between us. 3 slices of salami left? Dab some cream cheese on them, add a sliver of pepperocini or jalapeno and yes, that's part of our "tapas" dinner.

Alas, this resolution didn't seem to make it to my pantry (or freezer for that matter). You see, as a "food enthusiast" I kinda collect foods.  I can't go on vacation without finding interesting local foods that need to come home with me. Visiting the Liberace Museum in Vegas? Oh, they sell Liberace Lemonade, I must buy! I need a bottle of Kyles Golden Syrup to make a dessert but they only sell them in cases? Well, I can figure out what to do with those extra 5 bottles right? Oh look at that, ostrich jerky, we should so try that! It doesn't help that grocery stores are full of "bright shiny objects" as my husband calls them. To most folks that might mean diamond bracelets or Jimmy Choo shoes. For me bright shiny objects are interesting food products that just need to be bought because someday I'll figure out what to make with them. So my pantry is full of strange shaped pastas, canned pumpkin because there was going to be a shortage (the fact that I rarely use canned pumpkin didn't enter my mind), three different colors of quinoa, gifts of salts of the world received as a Christmas present, strange flower scented honeys, gourmet mustards, boxes of Ina Gartens mixes picked up at Williams Sonoma and I even think there might be a jar of sauce from Targets Giada promotion.

Mr. L tried to put away some items in the pantry recently and I realized after he stood there for a minute that he was probably calculating the amount of time it would take him to pull everything out and rearrange the items just to fit one more in. I countered the exasperated sigh I heard from him with the suggestion that we play a little game with our pantry. Every week, he gets to pull an ingredient out from the pantry and I'll figure out what to cook with it. I saw a light in his eyes. Yes, he could pull something out of the pantry and put in that one little item that he was holding in his hand and escape. Thus began Operation Pantry Project.

I'm going to use "Pantry" here to incorporate more than the jumble of goods you see in the photo here (there is another shelf that isn't pictured by the way, and all those shelves are a good two feet deep). I'm going to include the canned goods shelf and the oil and vinegar shelf under our kitchen island, the freezer in the garage (which is full) and the, ahem, for lack of a better description, overflow pantry shelves also located in the garage. Oh and some of the stuff stuck in the shelves on the refrigerator door. This is going to be a grand undertaking indeed.

I think this project will also help me get out of a bit of the cooking funk I've been in. When you have a gazillion, too many, a lot of cookbooks you are trying to cook from, figuring out which recipe to make can be a bit daunting. Now that I know I'm going to have to cook that 8-pound pork shoulder Mr. L just picked from the freezer or that I will have to make something with that jar of organic flower blossom triple filtered honey, it might be easier to find recipes to coincide in that stack of overflowing cookbooks.

There is of course, a slight problem to this and that is the accumulation of more goods that need to go into the pantry. But, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

So what does this all mean? Well, the first thing I need to do is go through everything and toss any items that have expired. I'll take foods that I know I'll just never get to or at least not before they expire and donate them to the local food bank or homeless shelter. I'm sure my coworkers will be gifted with a few items (will I ever really use that can of Liberace Hot Cocoa Mix?).  I'd like to suggest that maybe my readers do the same. Take a bit of time this weekend to clean out your pantry. Get rid of stuff that's old and donate that stuff that you know you'll just never cook with to a place that can put it to good use. And then pick something from that cupboard or freezer that hasn't seen the light of day in a while and make a feast!