Recipe – Grilled Steak With Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

There are some days you just need to spoil yourself a little. Today, was one of those days for me. My wife is away for the remainder of the weekend visiting girlfriends, which makes it the perfect evening for me to do something that’s beef based. I’ve been having a craving for a nice grilled steak, so I opted for a steak with gorgonzola cream sauce.

The cream sauce takes a very long time, and requires a lot of attention, but the payoff is ohhh so worth it. Here’s how you do it.

Ingredients:

• 2 10 ounce New York Strip steaks
• 4 cups heavy cream
• 4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Preparation:

1. In a medium saucepan bring the heavy cream to a full boil over medium-high heat. Once the cream has come to boil continue to boil rapidly for 45 to 50 minutes until it thickens. If you’ve never boiled cream before, it has a tendency to boil over VERY quickly. Make sure you stir it occasionally and keep an eye on it. This isn’t something you can set and forget.

2. As the cream begins to boil, rub your steaks in olive oil and give them a generous rub with salt and freshly ground pepper. After 35 minutes, toss your steaks onto a grill pan or on a traditional grill. Cook steak to your liking. I do about 4 to 5 minutes a side tops for a medium rare finish. Halfway through the grilling process, toss on 8 to 10 spears of asparagus and cook through.

3. Off the heat, add the Gorgonzola, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and parsley. Whisk rapidly until the cheeses melt and serve warm.

4. Plate your steaks and let the meat rest for approximately 4 minutes. Spoon Gorgonzola sauce over your steak and asparagus and grind two or three turns of freshly ground pepper over the top.

It’s a fantastic sauce and you’ll undoubtedly have leftovers. It’s great on crackers, grilled chicken or even as a salad dressing. Reheating it is VERY easy or you can have it cold.

If you must reheat, warm the sauce over low heat until melted, then whisk vigorously until the sauce comes together.

Let me know if you try it… the sauce is really easy but tastes gourmet!

Recipe – Tilapia with vegetables in a tequila lime reduction

Last day of dinner with Vita for the week was a quick meal. We wanted to go with something quick and fast. So, I made a slight twist on an old standby and made Tilapia with sauteed vegetables in a tequila lime reduction. We punch up our fish a lot with lots of Mexican and southwestern spices, but the recipe is pretty straightforward. Here we go.

Ingredients:

• 2 large fillets Tilapia
• 1 large lime juiced
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup of gold tequila
• 4 teaspoons southwest seasoning or Cholula dry seasoning
• 1/2 yellow pepper diced
• 1/4 red onion diced
• 1/4 cup of diced cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro finely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Lightly season both sides of the Tilapia Fillets with seasoning.
2. Melt butter in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat and add Tilapia fillets. Cook for two to three minutes and turn fish.
3. Briefly remove the fish from the pan, scrape up flakes and seasoning. Add vegetables and tequila. Simmer for two minutes and return fish to pan. Allow fish to rewarm before removing from heat and serving. Be sure fish is cooked through. It should be fork tender and flaky.

Another incredibly simple recipe that’s really big on flavor. The onions, the lime and the veggies really add something special to the fish. It’s also one of the fastest and most difficult things you can screw up. Goes really well with a rice pilaf or a Spanish rice. Veggies like asparagus or even potatoes are awesome with the lime, tequila sauce drizzled over the top as well.

If you try it, let me know how it goes.

Recipe – Grilled Chicken With Lemon Basil Dressing

After our morning workout, I decided to give a recipe I originally saw on Giada De Laurentis’ Food Network show, Everyday Italian a go, while making a few modifications of my own. So before leaving for work, I made the marinade for grilled chicken with lemon basil dressing. I’m happy to report that it turned out fabulously.

Looks pretty appetizing huh? Allow me to attest, the dressing is AMAZING. I’ll be using it for everything from salads, to marinades Here’s how to make the whole shebang.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons (for marinade) plus 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds (the original recipe calls for a course crush, but Vita isn’t a big fennel fan. I left them intact for a milder flavor)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 large clove garlic
• teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preparation:

MARINADE:

Whisk in 1/3 cup of oil, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, fennel seeds, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a heavy-duty, zippered, plastic bag. Add the chicken and seal the bag. Massage the marinade into the chicken. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day, turn the chicken occasionally if you have time. Just be sure you get to toss it every now and again before you bring it to the grill.

DRESSING:

Blend the basil, garlic, lemon zest, remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a blender until smooth. Once you’ve got it evened out, blend in the remaining 1/3 cup oil. Season the basil sauce, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired. I don’t think you’ll need it though, as it’s already a flavor backed punch.

GRILLING
Prepare the barbecue for medium-high heat or preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to plates. Drizzle the basil sauce over and serve.

Thoughts;
The lemon basil sauce adds a huge kick to the chicken, giving it a lot flavor. The marinade makes the chicken really, really moist and the fennel adds a lot of earthy tones to the meat. This is a recipe I have a feeling I’ll be making over and over again. Vita said the chicken “dances” in your mouth. I’d agree, it’s really strong and very zippy. Try it, I have a feeling you’ll like it.

Recipe – Spicy Rosemary Shrimp

I’ve been a very big fan of seafood lately, and since I’ve become dedicated to gluten free I’ve been making lots of it. Tonight, we went with a pre-made Lobster Bisque Soup that we tried (Sam’s Club) and I picked up some fresh shrimp that I briefly sauteed with rosemary and crushed red pepper flakes. It turned out a little bit more lemony than I would have liked, but all in all, I was happy with it.

Personally, I thought the Lobster Bisque (the brand name escapes me) was fantastic. Big chunks of lobster, good color and lots of Italian herbs.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound large shrimp (de-veined, peeled, tail on)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 tablespoon rosemary (dried is fine)
• 2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

Preparation

1. To a medium sized skillet, add olive oil and garlic. Saute over medium heat until golden.

2. Add rosemary, pepper flakes, and shrimp, and cook, stirring. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and transfer to serving dish. If you like, add two tablespoons of butter at the very end and allow it to melt in. This creates more of a “sauce” that you can drizzle over your plate. And if I were eating bread still, I’d douse a good crusty piece in it too :).

3. Squeeze half lemon over shrimp.

That’s it, couldn’t be easier. Still, very tasty and super fast for when you’re pinched on time.

Recipe – Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Drunken Strawberries

Normally, I’m not one for dessert, but when it comes to vanilla ice cream, I’m known to splurge from time to time. This particular combination combines the simple flavors of vanilla and highlights them with mint, strawberries soaked in chardonnay and some crumbled brownie (or cookies if you don’t have brownie bits). I made it for my wife and one of her friends the other night, and it was a big hit. So easy, so simple and soooo good.

Here we go.

Ingredients:

• 2 or three scoops organic vanilla bean ice cream
• 1 sprig of mint
• 6 large strawberries cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/4 cup of Chardonnay
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Your chocolate cookie of choice crumbled

Preparation:
1. Prior to serving, I like to add the sugar, strawberries and chardonnay into a zippered sandwich bag and give them a good toss. Allow the flavors to merry for 15 minutes or so. This step isn’t necessary, but it really allows the wine to get the berries good and drunk.
2. Crumble your cookies with a chef’s knife. (We used bite sized oreos with the cream removed for this particular evening).
3. Scoop out your ice cream and drizzle it with the berries. Omit the wine, unless you feel like drunken vanilla bean strawberry soup.
4. Top with the cookies and add a fresh sprig of mint to help marry everything nicely.

That’s all she wrote. Sorry this post was so short and sweet, but even yours truly can get a sweet tooth every now and again.