Tag: steak

Steak with Jack

It’s always fun to find new ways to make steak, and it’s even more fun when it involved a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey.  I found this recipe (where else?) in the Pioneer Woman’s Cookbook.  Since she has to make food for cowboys, she tends to cook a lot of steak and potatoes.  This recipe is a new favorite, and I think if you try it, you’ll love it too.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2 of your favorite cuts of steak
  • 5 tbsp of butter, divided
  • Half a large onion, or one small onion
  • 1/4 cup Jack Daniel’s Whiskey (you can also use your favorite brand of whiskey)
  • 1/4 cup beef stock or broth
  • 1/4 cup cream (I used half & half)
  • Salt and Pepper

Start by melting 2 tbsp of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.

 

Finely chop your onion and add it to the skillet.

 

Cook on medium heat until your onions start to turn brown (caramelize).

 

Next comes the main ingredient, Jack Daniel’s Whiskey!  Made in Lynchburg, TN, which just so happens to be a dry county.  Isn’t that ironic?  Steve and I went with his parents last year to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery and took a tour of the grounds and the whiskey making process.  You definitely need a strong stomach to go on that tour, because there is a very strong odor when you’re walking through the distillery where they have huge vats of brewing whiskey.

 

When your onions have caramelized a bit, it’s time to add the whiskey.  If you have a gas stove, I would recommend turning off your burners while you’re pouring the whiskey.  You don’t want your kitchen to catch on fire.

 

You’re pretty much going to let all of the whiskey evaporate so that only the flavor of whiskey is left.  And yes, you can serve this dish to children.  All the alcohol is cooked out of the whiskey.

 

Next, add the chicken stock.

 

Season with salt and pepper.

 

Add another tablespoon of butter to the sauce and stir it around until it melts.  Everything is better with butter.  Just keep telling yourself that.

 

Next it’s time to add the cream.  It makes the sauce……er……creamy.  My other name is Captain Obvious in case you were wondering.

 

Bring the sauce to a bubble and then turn the heat down to low and let simmer while you prepare the steaks.  Give it a little stir occasionally.

 

Melt your last 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium high heat.

 

Generously season your steaks with salt and pepper and add them to the hot skillet.  We like our steaks cooked medium, so I cooked them for about 4 minutes on each side.

 

Once your steaks are cooked how you like them, transfer to a plate and generously spoon the whiskey cream sauce over the steaks.

 

 

Doesn’t that look gorgeous?  And let me tell you, it’s really tasty too!  This would be wonderful with some mashed potatoes.  I was trying to add a little bit of healthiness to my dinner, so I cooked some zucchini (in butter) to go along with my steak.

 

This recipe makes 2 servings of sauce, unless you don’t spoon as much sauce on your steaks.  If that’s the case, you could probably stretch it into 4 servings.  I hope you enjoy!  I know we certainly did.

Marinated Top Sirloin (Part 2) + Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Well, I took a 30 minute power nap on the couch after I finished my last post and while my meat finished marinating.  It was nice, but too short.  Steve woke me up with “Food time, Baby?”  The first words out of my mouth were, “Can you make dinner tonight?”  Ha!  Like that would ever happen.  Steve is good at alot of things, but cooking is just not one of them.  He has surprisingly produced some good eats off the grill, but that’s about his only culinary skill.  I was just so exhausted after 3 full days of gardening that my body did not want to get up from it’s horizontal position on the couch, let alone make dinner AND take pictures during the entire process.  But since I didn’t want to disappoint you all after my last post PROMISING that I would return with the rest of the recipe, I sucked it up and finished what I started.

I’m not going to post these pictures in the order that I took them, because that would just be too confusing since I was making everything at the same time.  So I’ll just keep everything in their own groups and you can determine the timing of everything if you make it all at the same time like I did.

While your grill is heating up, cut up some red skinned baby potatoes.  Don’t you think that red skinned potatoes look like apples when they’re cut up?  Dang it, now I feel like eating an apple.

Put them in a large saucepan and cover with water, then bring to a boil.

When they are tender enough to break apart easily with a fork, drain them and place back into sauce pan.

Mash with a potato masher.

Heat up some milk.  Don’t you like my Brasil (Brazil) mug?  I got it while on a missions trip to Brazil in the summer of 2006.

Add milk in small increments.  You don’t want to add too much, or your potatoes will be soupy.  Remember that you can always add more, but once it’s in you can’t take it out.  Mash milk and potatoes together.

Melt some butter and pour into the potatoes.  Yum.  Butter.

Add some salt and pepper to taste, then grate a clove of garlic over a microplane.  Watch your fingers, you don’t want to grate those!  I learned the hard way.

If you’re feeling really dangerous, add a handful of cheese.  I was clearly feeling dangerous.  Mash it all together.  The hot potatoes will melt the cheese and it’ll all be nice and ooy gooy.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare your green beans.  Green beans were finally on sale at the grocery store, so I helped myself to some. 🙂

Cut off and discard the ends of the beans.

Blanche the beans for a few minutes in boiling water.

Meanwhile, cut up half of an onion.  If you make small slices one way, then turn and slice the other way you’ll minimize your chopping time and probably your tears as well.

I always have tears pouring down my cheeks while chopping onions.  Normally I have to stop at least 3 times while chopping to wipe my eyes.  Oh how it burns!  It’s a really pretty sight when I’m wearing mascara too.  All kinds of makeup running down my face!  Attractive.

Finely chop some garlic too.  Because onions and garlic love each other.

Throw them both into a pan over medium heat.

Once the onions and garlic have caramelized a bit, drain the green beans and toss together in the pan.  Add salt and pepper.

Heat your grill to medium high heat.

Take your beautiful steaks out of the fridge and bring them out to the grill.  It was dark by the time I grilled these, so I had to use flash on my camera, which I hate doing.  So I apologize if the quality of these photos aren’t as good as the others.  That’s just the nature of the beast.

Depending on how you want your steak cooked you can adjust the timing, but we like our steaks medium, so I grilled these for about 5 minutes on each side.

Look at those beauties!  Oh, and if you’re wondering why there are now suddenly 3 pieces of meat instead of 2 like in my last post, that is because after I had finished placing the meat in the fridge to marinate, Steve decided that he might want an extra piece of steak, so I added it to the marinade and just didn’t tell you about it.  I’m sneaky like that.  And guess what……Steve ate BOTH pieces plus 2 helpings of mashed potatoes and a helping of green beans.  He was a member of the Clean Plate Club 2 times tonight!  Impressive!

What a well rounded meal!  Oh and in case you’re wondering what is in the ramekin, it’s the meat marinade that I strained, added a little water to, and boiled for several minutes to kill any bacteria left over from the raw meat.

Makes a great dipping sauce!  Make this meal.  You won’t be sorry, as evidence of Steve’s double Clean Plate Club. 🙂

Top Sirloin Marinade (Part 1)

Steve and I went to the grocery store today with the sole purpose of picking up some heavy duty trash bags for our demulchification yard project and a case or 2 of bottled water.  As always, when we got there it turned into a full blown grocery store endeavor, where I realized how much we were actually out of. 

“I need to get some fresh veggies, we’re out of bread, you still have cereal at home but no milk, so we should probably get that as well.  Hey, how about some steak?!”

So that is how I came across this meal tonight.  I found this marinade recipe on The Pioneer Woman’s blog, but I tweaked a couple things.  As I type, my meat is marinating in the fridge as it should be.  Normally, I don’t think about the marinade until about 30 min before we’re supposed to eat, so my marinades usually don’t get to soak into the meat like they’re supposed to.  Luckily today I thought ahead!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup cooking sherry

3 tbsp honey

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3 cloves garlic

steak of your choice (I used top sirloin….obviously since the title of this post is “Top Sirloin Marinade”)

Start by pouring your soy sauce into a dish that is big enough to house your meat and the marinade.

Pour in the cooking sherry.

Here’s what it looks like for those of you who have never cooked with it before.  You can find it on the vinegar aisle of your grocery store.

Pour in your honey, and if you get some on your fingers, feel free to lick it off.  I won’t tell. 🙂

Next comes the sesame oil.  This is the same ingredient we used for the Teriyaki Chicken & Pineapple Bowls a few days ago.  Give it a good whiff when you open it.  Smells so good!

It’s hard to have a steak marinade without some Worcestershire sauce, so go ahead and throw that on in there.

Add the red pepper flakes for some heat.

I like to grate my garlic on a microplane, but if you don’t have one, feel free to chop it up very finely.

It collects nicely on the back of the microplane while you grate it on top.  If you are a lover of garlic, feel free to add more if you’d like.

Tap your microplane against the rim of the bowl and watch the garlic plop in.

Whisk everything together so it’s fully combined.

Set your steaks in the dish.

Then flip them around on both sides so that they are nicely coated with the marinade.

Cover and pop in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

My meat is still marinating as I type this, so after I finish cooking (and eating) dinner, I will post the second part of this recipe which will include some mashed potatoes and green beans.  Stay tuned!