Steak Pasta Revisited

A long while back there was a great little place up the street from us called Ryan’s Bistro. It had some really great food and we loved it but it closed and reopened elsewhere several times before disappearing for good. 

I had a dish with steak, mushrooms, tomato and blue cheese over pasta. My favorite dish on the menu so I tried it at home. I have made this countless times and tonight we had it with a leftover NY Strip from the night before. 

I don’t eat pasta that often because of my diabetes but I found a great high fiber pasta here locally that does not cause a spike in my blood glucose and we stick to the serving size, religiously. 

Steak Pasta

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons  olive oil

8 oz Cremini mushrooms quartered

A good handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 ounces of steak I had a cooked medium rare NY Strip that I cubed into bite sized pieces. Use more if desired. If using an uncooked steak, fry the steak to medium rare first, set aside to rest the cut into bite sized pieces. Then proceed, using the same pan with the rest of the recipe. 

1 tablespoon of flour

1 1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

4 ounces of blue cheese crumbled

1/2 cup Parmesan shredded. 

12 ounces cooked penne, cooking water reserved

I started by heating a large skillet with the butter and oil and added the mushrooms. Cooking till they just start to color lightly.  The tomatoes and garlic went next, sauté for a few minutes. I sprinkled the flour and let cook a few minutes before adding the milk. I let the sauce thicken and but then added the cream and cheeses. Salt and pepper, I also added red pepper flakes then add the beef to the mix and allow to heat through. 

Add the cooked pasta to the pan and mix. Dish it up with a sprinkle of Parmesan on top. Use the pasta water to thin the sauce if needed. 

 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

 

Not exactly sure how this got started. My buddy John Birge went on one evening about loving raisins and Cinnamon Raisin breads and rolls.  I was looking for something to do and foraged for a decent recipe and came across this recipe from Bread Illustrated. The standout here was the final product and how it came together and in the end had a definite brioche vibe to the bread.  I've made several loaves now and am embarrassed to say that none has ended into John's hands yet. Sorry John, yours will come. 

This bread takes a while to rise because of the fat content. Try not to rush it, don’t proof it in a hot oven. I used 100 degrees max to prevent the butter from turning the dough greasy. 

This recipe is a bit more complicated than I'm used to but its worth the extra effort I think. 

Cinnamon Swirl Bread  (makes 2 loaves)  Mixer recommended. 

dough

8 tablespoons of softened butter in 32 pieces  unsalted 

3 1/4 cups bread flour

3/4 c dry milk

1 tablespoon yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon salt  skip if using salted butter

1 1/2 cups room temp water

1/3 cups granulated sugar

1 large egg room temp

1 1/2 cups golden raisins..

filling

1 cup powder sugar

3 tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg with 1 tbls water, pinch of salt

Toss the butter with 1 T flour and set aside.

Whisk remaining flour, dry milk, yeast together in mixer. 

Whisk water, sugar and egg until sugar dissolves.

In the mixer with a dough hook, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix till a cohesive dough forms and no dry flour remains. Scrape the bowl, cover with plastic and rest for 20 minutes. 

Now, add salt to the dough and knead on medium until incorporated then start adding the butter a few pieces at a time till incorporated. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Reduce speed and add raisins and mix till blended. 

Place dough in a large greased bowl and allow to rise, 45 minutes. 

Now  start folding the dough, 8 times turning the bowl a quarter turn each time. Cover again then let rise until doubled. About an hour but maybe longer. 

After the rise, deflate the dough and divide in half. Keep half covered while you work with the other half.

 I simply rolled the dough out at this point into about a 18 x 8 inch rectangle. Mist the surface of the dough with water and sprinkle 1/2 the filling. Press down lightly with hands then mist again, lightly. 

'Roll the dough tightly  from the short end, dust lightly with flour and set aside to rest 10 minutes. Repeat with second half. 

Grease 2 8-9 inch loaf pans.  Cut the first dough cylinder in half length wise. Cut side up, braid the 2 halves, stretching slightly, and place in pan, cut side up. Repeat for 2nd loaf. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise till they come to the top of the pan or higher as there is no oven spring with these loaves. About 1 1/2 to 2 hours or more. 

Heat oven to 350 and place rack in the middle. Gently brush tops of loaves with egg mixture and I used clear sugar crystals to adorn the top. Bake 25 minutes and reduce heat to 325. Rotate the loaves and bake to an internal temp of 200. Tent with foil if needed to prevent over browning. Cool for 5 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool for 3 hours before slicing. You won't be able to wait the long. The house is going to smell incredible. 

It’s a Runza kind of day....

 A local ‘delicacy’, the Runza or bierock. A stuffed bun with cabbage and ground beef. Loving them. Here’s one way to do it...

1 1/2 pound ground beef

Salt and pepper to taste

1 pkg of coleslaw mix

1 teaspoon or more garlic powder and onion powder

8 ounces melty  cheese like Colby in shreds

1 pack of Rhodes Texas rolls,  thawed and risen

Cook the beef, breaking it up. Add salt and pepper and spices. Add the package of slaw and allow to wilt then add the cheese and mix.

I broke out my tortilla press and place some parchment in it the sandwiched the risen roll and flattened the dough. I place 1-2 tablespoons of filling then gathered the edges and sealed the roll. Place seal side down on parchment lined half sheet. Let rise for 30 minutes then bake at 350 for 15 minutes till golden. 

That Magic White Cake Frosting

 We have a local family owned eatery here in Omaha that served a white sheet cake. It was Mackenzie’s favorite dessert of all time. Sadly, they closed and sold the property and the cake went with it.  They are friends of ours and apparently they had a few cakes left in the freezer so I got one for Kenzie’s birthday last year. It’s the frosting that makes the cake and they shared the recipe with me.

Sour Cream white Frosting

This recipe has to be adjusted as I made it as is and it was a little thin. I like a stiffer frosting so adjust accordingly.

1 pound butter softened

1 bag powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cup sour cream

I would cream the butter, add the sugar and vanilla but add the sour cream slowly until it’s the consistency you like. This was too mush sour cream for me so less if you like the frosting a bit stiffer.

Tom and Jerry...a warm up for snow days

 

So a few inches of snow and single digit temps call for some serious medicine to get the blood flowing again. Since I am forbidden to shovel due to a cardiac event now 20 odd years in the past, Brenda braved the temps to scoop the drive, the walk around the corner and the neighbors drive. She joked about needing a hot toddy so I quickly ran in the house to assemble Tom and Jerry mix. She has never had it before and I remember it as kids when my Grandpa made them at Christmas. He had a lovely cup and bowl set, ringed in gold that he brought out for the occasion but I do not recall the recipe. My cousin Matt has the bowl and original recipe but he didn’t share so...I did a little research and found a winner. This concoction will do just nicely. Make sure you have a good rum, we have a Tortuga Dark Rum we brought back from St. Thomas years ago so we are good to go.

The recipe used a dozen eggs and 3 pounds of powdered sugar but I don’t want Tom and Jerry for the rest of my days so here is a scaled down version to make about 12 of them or so. 

Tom and Jerry

2 eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

1  - 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

6 tablespoons of softened butter

Nutmeg, cloves and allspice...a 1/4- 1/2 teaspoon each to taste. 

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

In 3 separate bowls:

Beat the egg whites and salt till stiff peaks form. Set aside

Beat the egg yolks till it forms ribbons. Add the spices and vanilla. Set aside. 

Beat the powder sugar and butter together till fluffy and light. 

Add the yolks to the sugar mix and beat then fold in the whites till well combined.

To make the drink:

Place a shot of dark rum and a tablespoon of the mix in a cup, then add about a cup of boiling water. Mix throughly and enjoy. A little whipped cream or a sprinkle of nutmeg? 

Scones...fit for a Queen (at least in this house)

 

Ok, no big secret here but I have tried a dozen scone recipes and this one produces consistent results. You can add whatever flavors or fruit you like but so far my biggest fan prefers blueberries with a tablespoon of cinnamon added to the fray. These are not sweet by any means. I usually add some sort of glaze when hot to sweeten them up a bit. Last batch was cranberries/orange but not the house favorite.  Here’s the recipe link...ad lib at will. 

Lastly, I use a scone pan. A ceramic dish I bought at World Market that has 8 wedges. I love consistent sizes and high scones so no spread with this at all but you get height. Enjoy! 

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bas-best-cream-scones