Category Archives: Main Dishes

April 30, 2010 · 8:43 pm

Simple Sunday Supper: Roast Beef and Gravy

Just a quick post for an easy to make traditional Sunday meal: roast beef and gravy.

This roast uses an eye-of-round cut, and should be served medium-rare to medium. It will not be nearly as tender if it is overcooked.

I do not use a thermometer to make this, but as all ovens are a little bit different, you could you a probe thermometer to make sure that your roast is cooked to your liking.

This is a probe thermometer. The temperature probe stays in the meat the entire time in the oven, while the temperature gauge stays on your countertop. You can also set an alarm to sound when your roast hits a certain temperature. When you are making this roast, you DO NOT want to open the oven.

This roast starts at a very high heat: 500°F, and after an initial sear in the hot oven, it slow roasts in a cooling oven for another 2 ½ hours.

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Use whatever seasonings you like: this has salt, pepper, garlic, spicy paprika, rosemary and bay leaves. Simply place your roast on a rack in a roasting pan and sprinkle with seasonings.

RECIPE:

Roast Beef

Servings: 8-10, depending on size of roast
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3 lb eye-of-round roast (adjust cooking time for other sized roasts)
Seasonings: (salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, rosemary sprig, bay leaf)

Preheat oven to 500°F.

Season the roast with desired seasonings. Place on a rack in a roasting pan. Do not cover or add water.

Place the roast in the preheated oven. Reduce temperature to 475°F. Roast for 20 minutes (or about 7 minutes per pound).

Turn off the oven and let the roast sit in the hot oven for 2 ½ hours for medium rare. Do not open the door.

Carve into thin slices to serve. Serve with mashed potatoes and Beef Gravy.

Beef Gravy

¼ cup butter
3 Tbs flour (white or fine ground whole wheat)
3 cups beef broth
1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master
dash white pepper
(Pan Drippings from a roast beef)**

If you are preparing gravy for a roast beef, remove roast from pan and set on a grooved carving/cutting board.

If your roasting pan can be used on the stovetop, drain any liquid in the roasting pan into a small bowl (do not throw away). Add butter to the roasting pan and turn stove onto medium heat. If your pan cannot be used on the stovetop, scrape liquid and browned bits from pan into a small bowl, then melt butter in a skillet.

Stir melted butter until browned bits are removed from bottom of pan. Stir in flour and cook 4-5 minutes, whisking constantly, until roux is a deep brown color. Stir in beef broth while whisking constantly. Stir in Kitchen Bouquet, pepper, and reserved pan drippings. Bring to a boil. Simmer 5-10 minutes, or until ready to serve. Taste; add salt if necessary.

**As you carve your roast, add any drippings from roast to the gravy before serving.

NoEmptyChairs.me

Crock Pot Thai Pork Wraps

As we head into kids’ spring sports seasons, crock-pot meals make a more frequent appearance in our house. I especially like this one in the spring and summer, because it is not a heavy meal like many crock pot meals tend to be.

Cooked and shredded pork in a slightly spicy peanut sauce, topped with crisp, cool cucumber slices and lettuce. Sprinkle with some chopped peanuts and an Asian dressing, and roll the whole thing up in a tortilla (or use whole lettuce leaves for a twist on the traditional lettuce wrap).

You can use either pork tenderloins or a cheaper pork loin. After cooking in the crock pot all day, both will turn out super tender. Simply put the pork in your crock pot. Combine sauce ingredients (except peanut butter) and pour over pork. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until pork is tender enough to shred.

Remove the pork roast from the crock pot and shred with forks. Stir some peanut butter (either creamy or chunky) into the sauce in the crock pot. Return pork to crock pot and mix into sauce. Stir in some Thai basil (cilantro also adds a nice flavor, if you don’t have Thai basil).

I grew Thai basil in our garden last year and loved it! I brought some inside in the fall and have been trying to nurture it along during the winter. I am excited to plant outside again soon!

I serve this in warmed tortillas with lettuce, chopped peanuts, sliced cucumbers and an Asian dressing (which is completely optional; the wraps are flavorful enough that you don’t need additional dressing, but the slightly sour vinegar taste does add a nice flavor).

For the cucumber, I use a seedless cucumber and slice it into wide julienned strips. Peel and slice cucumber in half crosswise (giving you 2 cylinders). Cut in half again lengthwise. Slice each piece lengthwise into very thin strips (they should resemble long rectangles, not half-circles).

This in our favorite Asian dressing. It is found in the supermarket in the produce section by the sushi. You could also use any Asian ginger or sesame/tahini based dressing, as well.

The flavorful, tender pork topped by the crunchy peanuts and cool, crisp cucumbers and lettuce make for a great texture combination. And the convenience of preparing it early in the day is definitely a plus on hectic weeknights.

RECIPE:

Crock Pot Thai Pork Wraps

Servings: 6-8
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2-3 lb pork loin roast (or pork tenderloins)
¼ cup soy sauce
2 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs brown sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup peanut butter
2-3 Tbs chopped fresh Thai basil or cilantro

Tortillas (or use iceberg/Bibb lettuce for lettuce wraps)
Chopped lettuce
Julienned cucumbers
Finely chopped peanuts
Asian dressing (we like the Miso flavored dressing, found in the produce section by the sushi in our grocery store, but any ginger or sesame/tahini based dressing would be good)

Place pork roast in crock pot. Combine soy sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Pour over roast. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours (about half that on high). Remove pork and skim excess fat. Stir in peanut butter. Shred pork and return to crock pot. Turn crock pot to high and cook for 5-10 minutes uncovered (longer if pork is too liquidy). Stir in Thai basil or cilantro just before serving.

Chop lettuce. Finely chop peanuts. Julienne cucumbers: Peel and slice cucumber in half crosswise (giving you 2 cylinders). Cut in half again lengthwise. Slice each piece lengthwise into very thin strips (they should resemble long rectangles, not half-circles).

To serve: Place pork in tortillas. Top with lettuce, cucumbers, peanuts and dressing.

**These are also good eaten as lettuce wraps; just use iceberg or Bibb lettuce instead of tortillas.

NoEmptyChairs.me

3 Comments

Filed under Main Dishes

Tagged as Asian, crock pot, lettuce wraps, peanut sauce, pork, pork wraps, shredded pork, Thai pork, tortillas

March 31, 2010 · 10:22 am

Pesto Stuffed Flank Steak with Garlic Roasted Broccoli

If you are not going with the traditional baked ham for Easter, this makes a great alternative. We had this for Brian’s birthday a couple of weeks ago, and it was a big hit!

It is easy to prepare, and only uses two ingredients: a flank steak and prepared pesto. I used this Basil Pesto that has been hanging out in my freezer since the end of last summer. Still tastes great! You could use any prepared pesto; next time I would like to try a sun-dried tomato pesto in this.

The only tricky part of this recipe is butterflying the flank steak, and even that is not too tough. A large knife really helps. To butterfly the steak, cut almost all the way through the thickness of the flank steak, keeping the steak intact on one side.

To reduce mess, place your flank steak on a foil lined baking sheet and open it up flat. Spread with the pesto.

Optional step: Sear steak in a hot skillet on all sides. I did not do this and it turned out fine.

Roll up the flank steak and secure with kitchen string or toothpicks.

Spread top of steak with some of the pesto drippings (some are sure to have leaked out). Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Roast at 425°F for 30-40 minutes, or until thermometer reaches 130-140°F (for medium rare). If you sear the steak first, it will need slightly less time.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

I served this with some sautéed mushrooms and this Garlic Roasted Broccoli. Roasting vegetables with garlic is definitely our favorite way to eat veges around here. See the recipe below for some alternate roasted vege ideas.

RECIPES:

Pesto Stuffed Flank Steak

Servings: about 6
Print

1 flank steak
1 cup prepared Basil Pesto
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Butterfly flank steak: Cut almost all the way through the thickness of the flank steak, keeping the steak intact on one side. On a foil lined baking sheet, open up butterflied steak and lay flat. Spread with pesto.

Roll up flank steak. Secure with kitchen string or toothpicks.

Optional step: Sear steak in a hot skillet on all sides.

Spread top of steak with some of the pesto drippings (some are sure to have leaked out). Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Roast at 425°F for 30-40 minutes, or until thermometer reaches 130-140°F (for medium rare). If you sear the steak first, it will need slightly less time.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

NoEmptyChairs.me

Garlic Roasted Broccoli

Servings: 4-6
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1 pound fresh broccoli
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
5-6 large cloves fresh garlic
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Smash garlic slightly with edge of knife or cut each large garlic clove into 3-4 slices. Put cut broccoli, garlic, and olive oil into large Ziploc bag and let marinate 30-60 minutes. (This is optional, but marinating will make the broccoli more garlicky.)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place mixture on a foil-lined baking sheet and season with fresh ground black pepper and salt. Roast until vegetables are slightly softened and edges are starting to brown slightly, about 10-15 minutes. Serve hot.

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Alternate Preparations:

Roasted Broccoli with Sesame Seeds:
Follow recipe above, adding 1 Tbs soy sauce, 1 Tbs toasted sesame seeds, and 1 tsp sesame oil to marinade (use less garlic, if desired).

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Other Roasted Vegetables:
Try this cooking method with: asparagus, Brussels sprouts (cut in half), green beans, carrots, cauliflower. Adjust cooking time based on thickness of vegetable.

NoEmptyChairs.me

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This post was entered into the “Grow Your Own” roundup, created by Andrea’s Recipes and hosted this month by House of Annie.

2 Comments

Filed under Main Dishes, Side Dishes

Tagged as broccoli, Easter, flank steak, garlic, pesto, roasted broccoli, roasted vegetables, sesame seeds, stuffed flank steak

March 27, 2010 · 4:29 pm

Teriyaki Salmon and Green Beans with Bacon & Pine Nuts

Two of my favorite items from Costco are the large Alaskan (or Copper River later in the summer) salmon fillets and the packages of thin French green beans. This meal combines both for a quick to prepare, healthy and flavorful dinner..

These large fillets will feed about 4 people. Start by lining a baking dish with non-stick foil (or spray regular foil with non-stick spray). Place salmon fillet in the baking dish, skin side down. Sprinkle salmon with lime juice (lemon would be fine, as well).

Notice how the acid in the lime juice starts cooking
the salmon before you even put it in the oven.

Top salmon with this soy based marinade and sprinkle with fresh chives or green onions. The marinade includes soy sauce, olive and sesame oils, balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. (Save half of the marinade to serve with the salmon)

Bake at 425°F for about 15-20 minutes, or until salmon flakes with a fork. Once cooked, the salmon will easily slide off of the skin with a little help from a spatula. Cooking it with the skin helps to keep it nice and moist.

Serve salmon with additional sauce on the side (bring reserved marinade to a boil in a small saucepan before serving).

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Green Beans with Bacon and Pine Nuts

This side dish comes together really quickly, especially if you use another of my favorite Costco items: precooked bacon. I coarsely chop the pre-cooked bacon and cook it in a small skillet with the pine nuts until the nuts are lightly toasted.

Remove bacon and pine nuts from pan. Add 1 Tbs olive oil (if you are not using precooked bacon, you could just use 1 Tbs of bacon drippings from the pan) and the green beans to the skillet. Cook over high heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add 2 Tbs water to the pan, cover, and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until beans are crisp-tender. These thin French beans cook very quickly and are very tender. Don’t overcook!

Stir in bacon and pine nuts and serve.

RECIPES:

Spicy Teriyaki Salmon

Servings: 4-6
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1 large salmon fillet
1 lime, juiced
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs balsamic or rice vinegar
1 Tbs honey (or 10 drops liquid stevia)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (add more for more heat)
1 Tbs sesame oil
2 Tbs fresh chives or green onions, chopped

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Line a baking dish with non-stick foil (or spray regular foil with non-stick spray). Place salmon fillet in a baking dish, skin side down. Sprinkle salmon with lime juice.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil. Pour half of sauce over salmon. Set remaining sauce aside. Sprinkle salmon with chives or green onions.

Bake at 425°F for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through. Fish should flake easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, bring reserved sauce to a boil in a small saucepan. Serve over cooked salmon.

NoEmptyChairs.me

Green Beans with Bacon and Pine Nuts

Servings: 4-6
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1 lb French green beans (or regular beans, snapped)
6-8 slices bacon, chopped
¼ cup pine nuts

Cook bacon in a small skillet until almost crisp. Add pine nuts and cook until nuts are lightly toasted. Remove from pan.

Drain bacon drippings, leaving 1 Tbs of drippings in the pan. (If you are using precooked bacon, and there are no drippings, add 1 Tbs olive oil to pan).

Add green beans to the pan and cook over high heat, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 Tbs water to the skillet, cover, and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until beans are crisp-tender. Do not overcook.

Stir bacon and nuts back into beans and serve.

NoEmptyChairs.me

2 Comments

Filed under Main Dishes, Side Dishes

Tagged as Asian, bacon, broil, French green beans, green beans, grill, pine nuts, salmon, teriyaki salmon

March 10, 2010 · 1:37 pm

Asian Chicken Salad and Scallion Pancakes

This chicken salad recipe comes from a good friend Heather. I love that it is both warm and cold. The cold, raw crunchy vegetables together with warm chicken and a warm soy dressing (that serves as both marinade and dressing) are fabulous! I served it this time with some homemade scallion pancakes, which my children ask me to make all the time.

I serve this “smorgasbord” style, lining up all of the ingredients on the counter and letting everyone make their own salad. This is mostly for a selfish reason, as I don’t have to wait for each person to pick around the vegetables they don’t like before the salad makes it way around the table to me (why is it that moms are always served last-or is it just in my house?)

We love these crunchy sesame sticks! They make a perfect topping.

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Below I have included Heather’s original recipe, with my slight modifications.

Scallion Pancakes

Scallion Pancakes are my children’s favorite Chinese restaurant appetizer (except for maybe gyoza- they love those too). When I finally decided to try them at home, I definitely won Mother of the Year in their eyes. That title lasted about as long as it took them to gobble down these treats and for me to enlist their help in cleaning up.

The following recipe makes a lot, maybe 12-15 full size pancakes, which are cut into wedges to eat. But it can easily be scaled back.

Little J is always my helper at the mixer. She is a great button-pusher (or turner in this case).

The scallion pancake dough is a simple non-yeast dough made from flour, salt & pepper, chopped scallions and sesame & olive oils. These ingredients are bound together with some boiling water. The boiling water helps to start cooking the dough before it even gets to the pan.

Roll the dough into thin circles, about 6-inches in diameter.

Cook, one at a time, in a small hot skillet with about 1 tsp of oil.

Cook over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes per side. Place on a paper-towel lined plate while cooking remaining pancakes.

Cut each pancake into 6-8 wedges and serve with this dipping sauce made from soy sauce and Mirin (a sweet Japanese vinegar). We like things a little spicy, so it also has some crushed red pepper flakes mixed in, but you can adjust those to taste. Sometimes I add a little grated ginger to the sauce, but I actually prefer it without the ginger. Mirin is available in most supermarkets in the Asian section. It may also be called “seasoned rice vinegar”.

RECIPES:

Asian Chicken Salad

Servings: 3-4
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Dressing/Marinade:
¼ cup brown or white sugar (I used a few drops of Stevia)
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup rice vinegar or cider vinegar (I used the rice vinegar)
¼ cup canola oil (I used olive oil)
1 Tbs sesame oil
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
4 cloves minced garlic
½ tsp salt (I left this out)
½ Tbs cornstarch
1 Tbs water

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salad:
2 heads of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1 red pepper, diced
2 carrots, peeled and grated (I used sliced baby carrots)
3 green onions, diced
1 cup sugar snap peas, chopped (I used snow peas)
½ cup salted peanuts
½ cup sesame sticks (we used a lot more than this)
**I also used some sliced mini-cucumbers and sliced celery

Cut chicken into small, bite-sized pieces.

Mix the remaining dressing ingredients (except cornstarch and water) in a large skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat and boil just until the sugar is dissolved, whisking vigorously to combine the oil with the rest of the ingredients. Mix the cornstarch and water and add it to the skillet, stirring until the dressing is thickened.

Reserve ¾ cup of the dressing in a separate bowl (to be used as dressing on the salad).

Add the chicken to the remaining dressing in the skillet. Cook over medium-low heat until all of the liquid is evaporated and the chicken just starts to brown (this will take a while, up to 30 minutes).

While the chicken is cooking prepare the rest of the salad ingredients (chopping and assembling). You can mix all of the salad ingredients together, or serve them in separate bowls. Top salad with warm chicken and reserved dressing.

From friend Heather, modified slightly by Kelly

**NOTE: I doubled the dressing and chicken amounts and got about 6 servings.

NoEmptyChairs.me

Scallion Pancakes

Servings: 12-15
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4 ¼ – 4 ½ cups flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 Tbs sesame oil
3 Tbs olive oil
1 cup sliced scallions (green onions)
Peanut oil/olive oil/or coconut oil

Combine flour (start with 4 ¼ cups, add additional flour if needed to make a stiff, but workable dough), salt and pepper in a stand mixer. While mixer is running (with a dough hook), gradually add boiling water, sesame and olive oils. Continue mixing and add scallions. Mix until dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl and forms a smooth ball. Roll dough into small pancakes about 6” in diameter, keeping unused dough covered while you are rolling.

Heat 1-2 tsp oil in a small skillet. Cook pancakes over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes on each side. Add more oil to the pan as necessary.

Drain on a paper towel. Cut into wedges and serve with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce:

¼ cup soy sauce
1 Tbs Mirin (sweet rice vinegar)
½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp grated ginger (optional)

Mix all ingredients. Flavor will intensify the longer it sits.

Yield: 12-15 full-sized pancakes

NoEmptyChairs.me

4 Comments

Filed under Appetizers, Breads, Main Dishes, Salads

Tagged as asian salad, chicken, chicken salad, Chinese, chinese salad, dipping sauce, green onions, scallion pancakes, scallions, warm chicken salad

March 6, 2010 · 8:56 am

Roasted Squash with Bacon & Gorgonzola

Just a quick post this weekend about a delicious way to prepare winter squash. I am coming to the end of my stockpile of winter squash (procured in the fall at an Amish produce auction-thanks Cynthia!). I have loved being able to go into our “root cellar” – read cold garage- and pick out a good squash for dinner.

In this roasted, mashed squash dish, I loved how the mild flavor of a roasted butternut squash was complimented by the stronger taste of gorgonzola. The bacon and green onions make for some great texture.

This dish starts with a roasted butternut squash, but you could use any winter squash variety that mashes well (butternut, acorn, delicata, pumpkin; I probably wouldn’t use a spaghetti squash). For a “How to” on roasting squash, read How To Roast Winter Squash.

Mix your roasted, mashed squash with some crumbled gorgonzola cheese, cooked & crumbled bacon, sliced green onions and a little Parmesan. The cheeses and bacon made the squash plenty salty to me, but I did add just a little fresh ground pepper.

I cooked mine in these cute shallow individual baking dishes that I never seem to have a use for. I only have two (a 20+ year old wedding gift that usually sits high in my cupboard), but knowing that my kids weren’t going to touch this, I got out my stepstool and hauled them down.

I divided one butternut squash between the two dishes, and it ended up being more than the two of us could eat as a side dish. It was hearty enough (and very rich) that this amount (with a salad on the side) would have made a perfect main course for two.

Bake in a moderate oven until squash is heated through, cheese has melted and edges just begin to brown.

RECIPE:

Roasted Butternut Squash with Bacon & Gorgonzola

Servings: 2-4
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1 large butternut squash (or other winter squash variety)
2 Tbs gorgonzola cheese
1 Tbs Parmesan cheese, fresh grated
2 Tbs cooked and crumbled bacon
1 Tbs thinly sliced green onions
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Roast squash (see How to Roast Winter Squash). Mash until smooth (an immersion blended works really well). Stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon into individual baking dishes, or one larger dish (about 8×8” or a 1-qt casserole dish).

Bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes, or until squash is heated through, cheese has melted and edges are golden brown.

Yield: 2 main dish or 4 side dish servings

NoEmptyChairs.me