Marinara Sauce

Check out my new gorgeous new dutch oven! For quite some time now I have been pining over Le Creuset dutch ovens, but I could not stomach the price (close to $200!) and there was no way Andy would ever be okay with spending that much on a kitchen gadget. So I finally gave up that dream and found a Lodge dutch oven for $50, that is still pretty and will last forever without the hefty price.

Naturally, I couldn't wait to make something in my new toy, and the obvious choice at the moment was Giada's marinara sauce. I've been wanting to make this for a long time, but I was being picky and did not want to make it unless it was in a shiny new dutch oven:/

As it turns out, I should have made this a long time ago. I may never need to buy jarred tomato sauce again! This is really easy to make, and can be frozen for future use.

Marinara Sauce

Source: adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 small onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup red wine
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 dried bay leave

Directions
In a large pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add wine, stir and let simmer until almost all has evaporated. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste.

(The sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat before using.

Pepper Crusted Steak with Shallot, Mushroom and Wine Reduction

Today, Andy and I wandered around Costco, finding samples and contemplating dinner. I finally settled on buying some boneless top sirloin, 5 lbs of it to be exact. I got home and could not figure out what to do with it, and steak is never one of my top choices for dinner. I knew that I had heard of pepper crusted steak before, so I decided on that, but figured I should have a sauce for it so I went to google. I read through quite a few sauces and reductions and decided to write up one of my own.

For envisioning this on my own, it actually turned out really well. And the best part was, Andy helped me out in the kitchen! I really can't remember many meals we have cooked together, so it was really fun to be able to be together and work on this meal together.

We served this with awesome roasted garlic ciabatta bread from Costco, and some parmesan mashed potatoes. Someday I'll get better at serving veggies with every meal, probably not until I have children's health to worry about though:)

Pepper Crusted Steak with Shallot, Mushroom and Wine Reduction
Source: Kitchen Escapes original
4-6 servings

Steak:
2 lbs. boneless top sirloin ( or any cut of steak you prefer)
1 Tbls. peppercorns (or coarsley ground pepper, use more if you prefer more zip)
1Tbls. butter
1 Tbls. olive oil
salt

Shallot, Mushroom and Wine Reduction:
1 shallot, sliced
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. dried Thyme
1 Tbls. butter
1 cup wine
1 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

If using whole peppercorns, grind in a spice grinder or using a mortar and pestle. Season steaks with salt and rub one side of each steak with pepper.

Heat 1 Tbls. each of butter and olive in large skillet over medium-high heat. Place steaks pepper side down and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip and cook second side 5 minutes. Transfer steaks to oven proof dish and bake until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees for medium-rare (because our steaks were huge, this took about 15 minutes). Take steaks out of oven and tent with aluminum foil to continue the cooking process and to allow juices to settle back into meat.

While steaks bake in oven, melt 1 Tbls. butter in empty skillet. Add shallot, mushrooms, garlic and Thyme. Saute roughly 5 minutes until shallot and mushrooms are soft. Combine cornstarch and wine; add to skillet. Simmer, scraping up brown bits from bottom of pan, until sauce is reduced and thickened. Season with salt to taste.

Serve sauce over steaks.

Chicken with Asiago Sauce

OMG. That was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I tasted this, until Andy told me to never talk like that again. All language aside, this was the first meal I've cooked that I thought actually tasted almost restaurant quality. Andy gave it a 5 out of 10, and said that it was "too bland" looking, but I've come to think we have different palates. I thought it was awesome, and I was equally proud that I finally conquered how to make a roux. I had to dump out my first attempt tonight because it was not thickening like it was supposed to. I was following a Rachael Ray recipe, but have you ever seen her actually measure anything? She'll say she's adding a tablespoon of something, but it really looks like half a cup! Anyway, the recipe calls for a tablespoon of flour, and since I've never seen her use an actual measuring spoon, the second time around I used her method of using a large 'eating' tablespoon and what do you know, it worked!

I served this with some frozen cheese ravioli, but I think it would be better with regular pasta. It was almost too much of the same consistency/flavor going on. This would also be really good on top of veggies.

Chicken with Asiago Sauce

Source: Adapted from Rachael Ray

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 Tbls olive oil

salt, pepper, garlic powder

2 Tbls butter

1 heaping Tbls flour

1 1/2 cup milk

1 cup Asiago cheese, grated

1/8 tsp Thyme, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat in skillet; season chicken with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add to hot pan and cook 6-8 minutes on each side, until juices run clear.

While chicken cooks, melt butter over medium heat in small saucepan. Whisk flour into melted butter; cook for 1 minute; roux should be thick, if not add a bit more flour. Whisk in milk and cook to thicken, about 5 minutes. Stir in cheese and thyme; add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chicken breasts topped with cheese sauce.

Enjoy:)

Tomato Cream Sauce

Tonight for dinner I wanted something quick, easy and comforting. After a recent trip to Costco we now have a massive bag of frozen cheese ravioli, so I decided to whip up a nice sauce to compliment the pasta. When I come up with things on my own I don't measure anything out, so most of these are approximations, and you can really use more or less of everything depending on how much sauce you want. This made enough to serve with 15 jumbo ravioli with about 1.5 cups saved for use later.

All I had was half and half, and it seemed to curdle a tiny bit right after being put in the sauce. No biggy, it still worked out. This was also pretty spicy for me, but that's how the hubster likes it so I deal.

Tomato Cream Sauce
Ingredients
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can stewed tomatoes
1-2 tbls tomato paste
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4-1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream
2 tbls olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and saute shallot and garlic until softened. Add all tomato ingredients and spices. Simmer for about 20 minutes until thickened slightly. Slowly add half and half and simmer for 5 more minutes. (you might not necessarily need to do all the simmering, I just like to because I think it makes the flavors come together better.)

Serve.