Finally the sun is out and the heater has stopped running (I don't have to dread my energy bill this month). Of course, along with the sun, the trees have start sprouting buds and leaves plus the grass is growing longer. Eventually, I have to mow the lawns. We have a ride-on mower (it's a Murray 42819X14A) and I have been reading a little about it for the past couple of hours. I noticed that a lot of people are saying how much emissions come out of these things and how unfriendly it is (noise, pollution). Since it's Earth Day today, I am inclined to get rid of this thing and just buy a push mower that's people powered.
I am not looking forward to this :)
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Surf and Turf
Sometime in February, TNGal felt like having some mussels. She remembered how moules mariniere tasted the past two times we ordered it at a restaurant. Before heading home one day, she went and picked up a bag. So, when she picked me up from the train station, I was surprised with mussels. Also I had about a quarter of a bottle left of some sauvignon blanc so this was a perfect time to finish it off. Anyway, this is the recipe I used:
4 lbs (or 1.81kg) of mussels
1/2 a stick of sweet butter (about 57g)
1 tbsp diced jambon cru or raw cured ham or lean bacon
2 shallots or 1 small onion finely chopped
1 glass of white wine
chopped parsley and garlic and pepper to taste
1. Rinse the mussels.
2. Heat the butter until it melts in a large pan. Add the ham or bacon and the shallots or onion. Cook until they soften (but do not let them brown).
3. Add the mussels and the wine. Cover the pan and shake it. The steam should cook the mussels. Once all the mussels have opened, remove the pan from the heat immediately.
4. Mix the parsley, garlic and pepper. Serve over bowls and crusty bread!
After the clams, comes the beef. We were grocery shopping and came by the meat section. I noticed these lovely flat beef strips calling out to me. I bought a package along with some yellow baby potatoes, mushrooms and pencil thin asparagus. By the time I got home I was drooling with what I had in mind. Anyway, I mixed some olive oil and dried italian herbs (rosemary, parsley, sage and thyme). I cleaned the mushroom caps by using a moist paper towel. TNGal broke the asparagus in two and I halved the potatoes. I spread them on a pan then liberally seasoned them with salt and pepper. I then spread the olive oil mixture over each vegetable making sure they were coated. With a waiting 450 degree oven, I placed the pan inside the oven along with the cast iron pan. I cooked the veggies for about 10 - 15 minutes, just enough to heat the pan and cook the potatoes through. Then I placed the beef strips in the pan and let them cook. The nice thing about a cast iron pan is that it evenly distributes the heat plus it keeps the heat a while longer than regular pans. Anyway, after about two to three minutes on each side, dinner was ready! Here are a couple of pictures. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Plating the beef and the veggies
Just the veggies
The finished product
4 lbs (or 1.81kg) of mussels
1/2 a stick of sweet butter (about 57g)
1 tbsp diced jambon cru or raw cured ham or lean bacon
2 shallots or 1 small onion finely chopped
1 glass of white wine
chopped parsley and garlic and pepper to taste
1. Rinse the mussels.
2. Heat the butter until it melts in a large pan. Add the ham or bacon and the shallots or onion. Cook until they soften (but do not let them brown).
3. Add the mussels and the wine. Cover the pan and shake it. The steam should cook the mussels. Once all the mussels have opened, remove the pan from the heat immediately.
4. Mix the parsley, garlic and pepper. Serve over bowls and crusty bread!
After the clams, comes the beef. We were grocery shopping and came by the meat section. I noticed these lovely flat beef strips calling out to me. I bought a package along with some yellow baby potatoes, mushrooms and pencil thin asparagus. By the time I got home I was drooling with what I had in mind. Anyway, I mixed some olive oil and dried italian herbs (rosemary, parsley, sage and thyme). I cleaned the mushroom caps by using a moist paper towel. TNGal broke the asparagus in two and I halved the potatoes. I spread them on a pan then liberally seasoned them with salt and pepper. I then spread the olive oil mixture over each vegetable making sure they were coated. With a waiting 450 degree oven, I placed the pan inside the oven along with the cast iron pan. I cooked the veggies for about 10 - 15 minutes, just enough to heat the pan and cook the potatoes through. Then I placed the beef strips in the pan and let them cook. The nice thing about a cast iron pan is that it evenly distributes the heat plus it keeps the heat a while longer than regular pans. Anyway, after about two to three minutes on each side, dinner was ready! Here are a couple of pictures. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Plating the beef and the veggies
Just the veggies
The finished product
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