Tag Archives: USA

Indulge: Seared Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce

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I have to admit, the weekends are rather sacred to me. Actually, thinking about and envisioning the weekend is often the only thing that gets me through my Monday through Friday’s. I’m hopeless, I know. I look forward to that time that I can just rest, recover and reconnect with the Mr. This past weekend my special moment just so happened to be over a truly perfect dinner prepared and cooked right in our own kitchen!

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We picked up this Emeril by All-Clad E6019764 Cast-Iron 2-Burner Reversible Grill Griddle, Black
for our gas stove and seared some steak. It worked out rather nicely and the sirloin was medium perfection! We then dipped the steak into a secret sauce! It’s all about the sauce, ’bout the sauce’, yah baby! (Sorry I hear this song on re-play all day at work). If you follow along on Instagram, you know about THE secret sauce. Half of me wants to be selfish and keep this sauce to myself, butttt what fun would that be? None, so of course I’ll share with all of you!

Hope your taste buds are prepared to p-a-r-t-y! I’m not the biggest meat-eater, but even my taste buds were cheering!

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Seared Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce

Ingredients:

4 Filet Minion (or your favorite 8oz cut)
3 garlic cloves minced
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk lactose free
½ Tsp smoked paprika
1 Tbs Hungarian paprika (use 2 Tbs if not using smoked paprika)
4 Tbs Madagascar Green Peppercorns in brine
(use 2 if sensitive to pepper)
1 Tsp white fine ground pepper (can substitute black fine ground pepper)
1 shot / approx. 3 Tbs Sherry (can substitute a mixture 2 Tbs Brandy 1 Tbs red wine)
Course Ground Pepper
2 shallots chopped finely
Kosher Salt

Grind the following in a pestle:

½ Tsp Fennel Seed
½ Tsp Oregano
½ Tsp Rosemary

THE Sauce:

In a skillet sauté onions and 1 clove of minced garlic, do not let burn. Just before garlic browns pour in Heavy cream and milk and sherry. Add green peppercorns, 1 Tbs Hungarian paprika, ½ Tbs course ground pepper, 2 pinches salt. Reduce the sauce to about ½ original size and keep it on VERY low heat to prevent a skin forming while temps true slowly cools and helps prevent from over cooking.

Prepare the Steak: (sauce needs be ready prior to cooking steaks)

In a small bowl place:
2 cloves of minced garlic
½ Tsp smoked paprika
½ Tsp white pepper
2 pinches of Kosher Salt

Now dump in the ground pestle mixture from above and shake/ stir so the spices coat the garlic and set aside.

Now that the garlic is flavored, press the garlic pieces into the steak using your hands, or a tooth pick if there are larger pieces. Don’t be scared to get those fingers a bit messy! Top each side of the steak with a pinch of salt and coarse ground pepper to your taste.

Next, make sure the grill, or cast iron skillet is heated to med-high heat. Place steak on grill for 2 minutes (reduce time if stove temp is too high) Rotate (DO NOT FLIP) steaks 90 degrees for 1 minute.
Then flip the steak and cook for 2 minutes, Repeat and rotate the steaks again 90 degrees, cook for 1 minute. Serve & eat!

Click, Ship & treat yourself!

An Edible Roundup

No recipes tonight folks (we will start to share again soon)… We’ve just been having a good old time in the kitchen, no pressures, kicking off 2015 right! We’ve been cooking from scratch and eating at home a lot lately. We hope your kitchen’s been treating your belly well too! We’ve been getting asked a lot lately what we’ve been whipping up and eating. Since you asked for it, we will give you an edible roundup. In the famous words of Julia Child, bon appétit!

Click, Ship & treat yourself!

2015: Cheers to the New Year!

Whew! 2014 was definitely a roller coaster of a year! There were really incredibly sweet moments and memories made and then of course some doughy times too.

Along the way I’ve learned that life is like baking a loaf of homemade bread. Each single ingredient put in is vital and important because that’s what helps bake and form the loaf in the end. Sometimes in life the ingredients just don’t seem to come together correctly and you get disappointed, or discouraged. You start to think maybe I should dump this damn thing and start over, or question if was a waste of time from the beginning. But you know what? The great news is if you don’t toss in the towel and you let all the ingredients mix and knead, give a little time to bake, it ends in a great crusty loaf! I mean, come on, ending up with a freshly baked loaf of bread in my book is something to be thankful for, am I right, or am I right? Wink-Wink.

So if 2014 was a roller coaster of a year for you as well, know that 2015 might be your best mix of ingredients to come! For 2015 let’s all wake up together in the new year thanking God for giving us yet another day, a day to enjoy another slice of our fresh loaf!

With that being said, who is popping by for some freshly baked whole-wheat honey cinnamon raisin bread? If you can’t make it we highly recommend using some of that Christmas dough on a swanky bread machine like we did (Psstt… IT’S ON SALE TOO!) I don’t think that we will ever purchase another loaf in the store unless in a pinch. Thank you Williams-Sanoma.

Here’s to the greatest mix of ingredients to come!

Happiest of New Years to you and you and of course you!

Honey Whole-Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Source: Breville Food Thinkers
Makes one 1.5-pound loaf
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch pieces, room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 3/4 tablespoon milk powder
1 3/4 dry active yeast

Add to the fruit and nut dispenser: 1/3 cup raisins

Instructions:
Ensure the collapsible paddle is attached in the bread pan and is in the upright position.

Add the ingredients to the bread pan in the order listed above, then secure the bread pan into the bread machine.

Place the raisins in the fruit and nut dispenser. Select the Whole Wheat setting, the desired crust color, and the 1.5-pound loaf size, then press start.

When the entire cycle is complete, use an oven mitt to remove the bread pan from the machine via the handle, and allow this to cool before removing the bread from the pan. The bread will slice best once completely cooled.

2014: A Very Festive Christmas Dinner

TAKE 1…

TAKE 2…

TAKE 3…

TAKE 4… OKAY, OKAY… On with the post.

Celebrations and togetherness’ like this Christmas evening are dearly treasured moments in our lives.

Wowie, the incredible aromas that are swirling around our place from the kitchen, the love and laughter shared between friends that have become part of our extended family (Santa beards, elf get-up, festive glasses, Cards Against Humanity and all), the overall warmth felt in our place tonight just makes the whole night so memorable. I mean I serious wish that you had a scratch and sniff computer screen for each of these photos, better yet a sampling screen! Don’t worry, may in the new year I’ll honey-do-list Mr. B with carrying out the invention and production.

Our two dear friends came over tonight and prepared us an outstanding Christmas dinner. Thanks guys! Succulent root-beer glazed spiral ham, stuffed tomatoes and mushrooms, bacon wrapped homemade stuffing, steamed lemon pepper asparagus, roasted potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes and British sticky toffee pudding danced happily in our bellies. Mmmm Hmmm….Truly such a special gesture.

Already 2014 is coming to an end. Life really is on fast forward mode, each year we’ve got people coming and going in our lives, so it is always really nice to take some time and let people know how amazing they are and how much they truly mean to us. With that being said…

Dear Family, Friends and Neighbors (near and far), Though you might not be at our dinner table tonight sharing this Christmas meal with us, you are certainly not forgotten and are here in spirit. Wishing You All a very merry Christmas! Cheers!

2014: Christmas Morning

EEK! Christmas morning! What excitement for all!!

Our living room is the epitome of cozy on this Christmas morning mostly thanks to Mr. B. This man sweet talked me into purchasing another tree for our life on this side of the world (let’s be real folks, I didn’t need much sweet talking).

I think I recall the convo went something like this…

Mr. B: “I really think we should get a tree and put it up this year for Christmas.”
Mrs. B: “Check. Done. Boom. In the cart checking out now as we speak.”

Really the tree is our favorite yet and workweek mornings with the Charlie Brown Christmas, Nutcracker, and Elf are constantly replaying from our docking station have been awesomely energizing and uplifting too (well okay for one of us that is).

Christmas morning 2014 was magical, memorable and meant for the books. Thank you all for the cards and gifts. It was almost as if you were here with us… almost…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2014: A Special Christmas Eve Surprise

Holidays, especially Christmas, are incredibly important and cherished to me. Even more so now that I am an adult. I often get so wrapped up in trying to make so many perfect moments, that I forget to REALLY enjoy all of the special moments that surround the holidays. Does that make sense?

Recently, my grandparents told me about an elderly woman that puts up 26 themed Christmas trees each year in her home. 26! Some of the trees have over 4,000 ornaments! Seriously, I think that this woman can relate to trying to create year after year those special moments.

Thankfully, Mr. B recognizes my struggles, knows that holidays are very important to me and knows that I look forward to family traditions year after year. This man gently guides me back onto my jolly holiday train tracks when he feels or notices me starting to derail off into an ugly tinsel mess (you know the kind…it’s the silvery stands that you find months after your tree has come down). He provides me with ever so thoughtful and delightful distractions like the one he surprised me with tonight.

At about 6PM tonight I walked through the doors and was immediately greeted by a chef whipping up something that smelled AMAZING in my kitchen (Check out our Instagram account! It was Mr. B!). Yes, he was preparing a beautiful Christmas eve dinner for the two of us to share.

We started with shrimp cocktails (family tradition), and a homemade French onion soup. Then for the main we enjoyed medium cooked steaks that were served with a green pepper sauce, accompanied by a side of salted boiled potatoes and broccoli. Yep. Adult Christmas IS just as good as it was being a kid.

Dinner was only the beginning… this man, the man that I married, then so thoughtfully wrapped up every single unopened package that was mailed from our family and friends for Christmas so that I’d feel that they were with us more so on Christmas morning. YES, 100% truth! These neatly wrapped packages were nestled under our tree with color codes that he explained identified the person it was from. Still words cannot express just how special he made this Christmas eve for me.

Still wordless… Thank you Mr. B. Thank you!

I hope your holidays are just as incredibly special.

Care to share some of your family holiday traditions?

Making Latkes

Latkes, potato pancakes, or potato cakes as we know them in central Pennsylvania, are a traditional meal for Hanukkah. I thought this would be a perfect post for this time of the season, besides… tonight I had a craving for some good old potato cakes. I’d like to publicly acknowledge and blame my fellow Instagramers for that craving…Thanks guys for all of your recent delicious photos! So we whipped up a non-traditional form of a potato cake using sweet potatoes from a recipe out of my Forest Feast Cookbook.

As we made the cakes, of course we had some inappropriate banter and jokes between us, but we also really reminisced about the first time I ever tried potato pancakes. Yes, it was actually when I first started dating Mr. B. I was sitting in his parents kitchen and we were discussing potato cakes and I believe I happened to mention that I’d never tried one before. Gasp!? I know..talk about sheltered. Well Mr.B’s mother decided right then and there that I had to try one. She immediately started whipping out potatoes, crisco, onions, etc. and made them on the spot! What a woman my mother in-law!

You won’t find any crisco in the version we made tonight, but I do believe that these potato cakes we made would make my mother in-law proud. The entire time I scarfed down my two potato cakes I couldn’t help but think of her with each bite. ‘Tis the season and all that nostalgic stuff, right?

We didn’t change a thing in the recipe. We paired the potato cakes with a nice piece of mahi mahi. It hit this homegirls spot and there were no complaints from the Mr. Victory in my book!

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Latkes

Grate 2 sweet potatoes (I don’t bother peeling).

Combine with:

4 beaten eggs
1 clove minced garlic
1 Tablespoon bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper

Fry:

3 Tablespoon heaps (forming patties) in a generous amount of olive oil until golden brown. About 3 min each side on med/high. Remove & drain on paper towels.

Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt & a sprinkle of chopped scallions.

From The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson

Adventures in homemade pasta making

Isn’t pasta just plain fun?! Seriously it really is!

Ohhhh and when it’s freshly made you can just taste the love that was put into it. It’s just comfort in a bowl on a cold winters night, a bowl I could just cuddle up inside and not poke my head out of until the first sign of Spring.

Ahhhh pastaaa.

What really intrigues me about pasta is the fact it’s made so simply. All it takes is flour, water and eggs. Honestly every Pennsylvanians staple kitchen item when the weatherman forecast an inkling of snow. When these three simple things are mixed and kneaded together, they are transformed into a magical elastic ball of dough that can be pinched off, cut, or rolled out into a billion flavors, colors, and shapes. Now if that isn’t just simplicity at its finest.

After lusting for a year or so, for Christmas we purchased a together gift, the pasta roller attachments, that we couldn’t bare to place under the tree. We are worse than little kids on Christmas Eve, we haven’t grown up. When the package arrived, the tape barely ripped off the box and we were already googling what we could whip up first.

To get our bearings and because this was our first pasta making experience, we just went with the Kitchenaid recipe for regular pasta noodles. We will get all sorts of crazy now that we’ve got that test run out of our system.

Cheers and stay tuned. Many apologies in advance for the harsh kitchen lighting.

BASIC EGG NOODLE PASTA DOUGH

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
2 tablespoons water (we needed a tad more than this original recipe)
2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Instructions:

Break eggs into a glass measuring cup. Add water. Carefully check to see that the total liquid amount is 3⁄4 cup. If less than 3⁄4 cup, add additional water 1 teaspoon at a time until that amount is reached.

Place flour in bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater. Turn to Speed 2 and gradually add eggs and water. Mix for 30 seconds. Stop mixer and exchange dough hook for flat beater. Turn to Speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes. Remove mixture from bowl and hand knead for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 15 minutes before extruding through Pasta Maker.

Makes about 1 pound dough

Source: KitchenAid Pasta Maker manual

Friendsgiving

Isn’t this the best time of the year? Ah, yes! The time when you get to sit around the table breaking bread, sharing good stories and memories, joy, love and indulging in wayyyyyy too much pumpkin pie with loved ones (wait, maybe the pie part just applies me?).

Before I really get into this post, I’m sure you are a tad confused as to what holiday I am referring to with the Christmas tree photos and then the pumpkin pie comment. Just to be clear it’s Thanksgiving, or Friendsgiving as we’ve been calling it. Mr. B decided he wanted to be festive extra early this year and put the tree up to enjoy during our Friensdgiving too (What a softy).

When we moved into our new place we made a deal with one another that we’d host more friends and share our space with them as much as possible. We love whipping up fun and exciting things for our friends to try, so Thanksgiving certainly wasn’t any exception to the rule! While most celebrated on the actual Thanksgiving day, we moved our dinner to the weekend so that we could share and prepare it with our dear friends from all over Korea.

Whew…. What an outstanding spread! I’m pretty sure the pilgrims would have been pleased.

Think: Deep fried turkey (can you believe my very first experience? So very un-American of me), ham, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry relish, stuffing, homemade macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, baked corn, roasted carrots, homemade spicy pumpkin soup, a cheese platter, pesto bread, homemade honey crisp vanilla bean applesauce, pumpkin pie, freshly baked carrot cake and a pear tart. Ohh and of course a plethora of adult beverages to sip on. (You are now having a food coma)!

We celebrated our dear friend Mandy’s birthday too, what a good sport she was about the cake!

The next morning we continued with a farewell Friendsgiving breakfast. A little bacon, eggs, croissants, sweet-potato hash browns and fresh fruit before our friends hit the road.

I hope you and yours had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday feast as well!

Namae Beach, South Korea: Colors on the coast

The other weekend we skipped town and hopped down to Seoul and on over to the beach! It was so relaxing! Absolute. Best. Decision. Ever. (Thanks for the invite Mr. B)

There were so many fun fall colors to soak up, the gorgeous fall sun rising while I strolled along the beach in the morning, spicy seafood soup (jjambbong) to slurp up, and scuba diving to be done!

I travel the world and the seven seas.
Everybody is looking for something.
– Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics

^I love how the persimmon tree matches the rooftop of a Korean home.