Rosemary Flank Steak with Bleu Cheese Cream Sauce

Y'all.  Seriously.  This has got to be one of the BEST things I've ever put in my mouth!  The tenderness of the flank steak paired with the creaminess and strength of the blue cheese cream sauce was the PERFECT combination.  I used to HATE blue cheese.  I still don't like really strong blue cheeses, but this sauce takes a lot of the usual "kick" away from just plain blue cheese, yet keeps enough of the "kick" to know you're eating bleu cheese in the sauce.  This really couldn't be any easier to cook either.  I marinated the steak for an hour, but the actual cook time was less than 20 minutes!  Uhh, talk about an amazing but quick week-night dinner!  This would be the perfect "stay in" date night meal.  Marinate the steak all day while you're at work (I only had an hour to marinate it- it won't hurt to marinate it longer!), come home and heat up the grill pan, season the steak a bit more, throw it on the grill pan (or grill) for 8 minutes (4 minutes on each side- gives you the perfect medium rare steak), let it rest for 5 minutes and cook the sauce all in one pot while the steak is cooking. That's it!  So. Easy.  I guarantee your taste-buds will NOT be disappointed.  I paired this with my loaded mashed cauliflower- steak and "potatoes" made for another perfect combination.  This was the third entry I did for the Away From Home Cooking contest, and I just hope the picture's good enough to make the judges see the amazingness this dish has to offer! (I thought the picture quality was better than it turned out to be :/ )  It's a winner in my book...I just hope it's a winner for the challenge too!  Enjoy!

Rosemary Flank Steak with Bleu Cheese Cream Sauce

Serves: 4

For the steak:

• 1 pound flank steak
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped (plus 3 sprigs, whole)
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the sauce:

• 4 ounce block extra creamy Danish blue cheese, crumbled by hand
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tablespoons butter

Method:

1. In a Ziploc bag, add oil, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, 2 cloves garlic and 3 sprigs of rosemary and mix until combined.  Add flank steak to bag, coating mixture on steak.  Marinate mixture in refrigerator for at least 1 hour (or more), turning bag over every 30 minutes-1 hour (if able- if you're marinating it while you're not home, no worries, it'll still be fine!).  
2. Heat a grill pan (or grill) on medium heat.  Remove steak from marinade and discard remainder of marinade.  Season steak with remainder of salt, pepper, garlic, and the chopped rosemary on both sides, lightly pressing seasonings into the steak with a fork.
3. Add steak to grill pan (or grill) and cook for 4 minutes.  Turn steak and cook another 3-4 minutes for medium rare.  Remove steak from pan and let rest on a plate or cutting board for 5 minutes.
4. While the steak is cooking, in a small saucepan, add heavy cream and butter and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Let mixture simmer until thickened (it should coat a spoon), about 4 minutes, whisking frequently.  Once thickened, reduce heat to low and whisk in bleu cheese until melted (but it's okay if a FEW crumbles do not melt).
5. Slice steak against the grain in thin slices and top steak with blue cheese cream sauce.  Serve remainder of sauce in a bowl on the table in case more is wanted!

Bon Appetit,

Loaded Mashed Cauliflower

Mashed CAULIFLOWER?  YES!  Trust me.  This stuff is GOOD!  I've been making this for awhile now, but I decided to kick it up a notch for the Away From Home Cooking Contest.  Kicking it up a notch meant thinking about what makes mashed potatoes so amazing- and that's when they're LOADED with all the good stuff!  Bacon, cheese, chives...mmmm!  So I added that concept to the mashed cauliflower and it turned out even better than I thought!  Seriously, adding all the toppings makes these babies taste even MORE like potatoes (but they're so creamy, you really don't even have to add the toppings for them to taste delicious!).  The secret to making mashed cauliflower taste like creamy mashed potatoes instead of gritty cauliflower is to puree them with either a food processor, or my preference, an immersion hand blender (it's different than a hand held mixer- google it!).  If you do that little trick, I promise you won't miss the potatoes one bit!  So much healthier and absolutely delicious!  Plus, if you've got kids who won't eat their veggies, this is a good way to sneak them in!  I paired these with my other recipe entry creation, Rosemary Flank Steak with Bleu Cheese Cream Sauce.  My tastebuds were dancing with excitement- the steak was SO. GOOD!  I don't know if the mashed cauliflower will be a winning recipe for the contest, but I hope you at least enjoy it as much as I do! (I apologize for the poor picture quality- the lighting wasn't the best!)

Loaded Mashed Cauliflower

Serves: 4-6

• 4 cups fresh or frozen cauliflower florets (1 medium head fresh)
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup Half and Half (or heavy cream)
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 12 slices bacon
• 4 Tablespoons fresh chopped chives
• 2 cups freshly shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese (the bagged stuff isn't as good- promise!)
• Kosher salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Fill a medium pot 3/4 full with water. Add garlic and bring to a boil. Add cauliflower to pot and bring back to a boil. Let boil for 30 minutes, or until cauliflower is very soft and tender.
2. While cauliflower is boiling, fry the bacon in a pan until crisp, approximately 6-8 minutes. Drain on a paper towel lined plate and let cool. Once cool, crumble bacon by hand, place in a bowl and set aside.
3. Once tender, drain the cauliflower and return to pot. Puree the cauliflower with an immersion hand blender or a food processor (this will give it the creamy "mashed potato" consistency. A hand held mixer or potato masher will not give it the same consistency). Add the half and half (or cream), butter, and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of chives and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, top mashed cauliflower with shredded cheese, bacon, and chives.

Bon Appetit,

Herbed Chicken and Spinach with Parmesan Cream Sauce

So, it's been awhile!  The purpose of this post though is two-fold.  First, I haven't posted in awhile and thought it was time to pick it up again.  Also, I've decided to enter a contest with Food Network- the Away From Home Cooking contest.  It's a chance to win $5000 dollars and go to NYC for the the Wine and Food Festival and meet Sunny Anderson.  It's a long shot to actually win, but my friend Allie got me thinking about entering a contest.  The only issue with the contest was that it had to be an original recipe.  Well, I'm not sure what's considered "original".  Most of my recipes are adaptations of other recipes I've seen...I'm assuming that makes it "original", but not positive.  So, I decided to try and make one of my own.  That was harder than I thought it'd be!  I was also limited to only 10 ingredients or less and no use of the oven...stove only...yeesh!  Not to mention I actually had to have MEASUREMENTS of things (so not my usual!).  So, challenge accepted and this is what I came up with: a cheesy, creamy herbed chicken and spinach pasta.  It was quite delicious too!  Although, it's not my favorite recipe I've cooked, but still delicious nonetheless.  Once I submitted the recipe I discovered I can submit a recipe DAILY until July 7.  So, looks like I'll be doing some more cooking and submitting!  I have to submit pictures- so there'll actually be pictures to post on here!  I've got a long list of ideas.  I don't really think one of my recipes will be chosen (I'm sure there will be thousands of entries that are probably better than whatever I submit), but I'm going to give it a try.  I would LOVE to meet Sunny AND go to the Wine and Food Festival in NEW YORK CITY in September (not to mention the $5000!)!  It's a LONG process to get to that point though- there are 5 phases!  First I actually have to get picked amongst the thousands of entries.  Then, judges will pick the top 50 finalists.  Then, there will be an online vote by the public and 2 top-voted winners will be chosen as well as another 2 that have the top scores from the judges votes.  Those top 4 will then compete in New York City and Sunny Anderson will be one of the judges to determine the final winner.  SO, there are LOTS of hoops to jump through, and I'm not even sure I can get through the first phase!  BUT, I'd really love to!  I think I have the potential, but it's just a matter of capturing my abilities.  Here's to hoping I get picked!

Herbed Chicken and Spinach with Parmesan Cream Sauce

Serves: 4

For the Chicken:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
• 3/4 box of 13.25 oz whole wheat spaghetti
• 1- 9 oz bag of spinach
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (use your own grater- it makes a difference!)
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus 1 teaspoon for pasta water)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (plus 1 Tablespoon for pasta water)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence

For the sauce:

• 1 cup heavy cream or half and half (I used half and half because that's what I had on hand!)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Bring medium pot of water to a boil with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of EVOO added to water.  Add pasta and cook according to package directions.  When finished cooking, reserve 3/4 cup of pasta water and drain pasta.  Do NOT rinse with cold water!  Add pasta back to the pot and stir in 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and pasta water (just until moist, you may not need all of the water).
2. While pasta is cooking, heat 2 Tbl of EVOO in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to medium and add chicken.  Season with 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and herbs de provence.  Stir well to coat chicken with seasonings.  Cook chicken until browned on all sides.
3. Add spinach to same pan as the chicken and cook until spinach is fully wilted.  Drain 1/2 of the water that will have accumulated in the pan.  Add 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder, pepper, and herbs de provence and mix well.  Finish cooking until the remaining water has evaporated from pan.  Remove from heat and set aside.
4. For the sauce, heat cream (or half and half), salt, and EVOO in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a simmer and stir frequently with a flat whisk (or a spoon if you don't have one) for about 4 minutes (it should be thick enough to coat a spoon).  Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese.  Stir sauce into the chicken and spinach mixture.
5. To serve, place pasta in a bowl or plate and top with chicken mixture.  Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese on top of each bowl or plate.  Enjoy!

Bon Appetit,