Cooking at New Place: Dinner #1

Okay, so I've lived here for 3 weeks. Obviously, I have cooked in my kitchen before. Tonight is my first fancy cooking night, except when Chris was visiting.

So here's what I'm making.

I got 2 adorable little beef round steaks on sale. I am currently marinating them in 3 T honey, 1 T fresh lemon juice, 1 T fresh ground ginger, 1 T low sodium soy sauce. The little tupperware they're in also has 2 cloves of garlic and some thai chilis to add a little zip.

I'll probably throw it in a skillet on medium high with a blend of vegetable oil and sesame oil. Sesame oil has a great flavor, but it's a bit pricy. I usually dilute it with vegetable oil to get the flavor and make it go further.

Then I sliced a giant sweet potato into fry-like sticks and tossed them in olive oil with paprika, salt, and pepper. I spread the little sticks out on a cookie sheet, sprinkled some rosemary and parsley over them, and they're baking in the oven at 375'. I think they will take about 20 minutes.

To conclude my fancy meal, I'm making asparagus. This I will also toss in olive oil with salt and pepper. I'll put it in a glassware baking dish, sprinkle some mozzarella over it, and then bake it at 375' for 20 minutes.

Pure genius.

When it's done, I'll provide a review, but I think it will be a win. :)


...Several hours later, I have eaten! Sweet potato fries and asparagus were pure win.

The steak left something to be desired. I think I will stick with my usual soy sauce, ginger, crushed red pepper, minced garlic, and lots of brown sugar for the purposes of steak. Lesson learned.

Cold Steak Tacos

I made cold steak tacos, roughly inspired by Cooking Light magazine. From their June issue, I combined the flank steak taco recipe (vageuly followed) with the coleslaw for a catfish sandish, and tada! Cold steak tacos that were amazing and good for summer and the heat.

Steak

1 hour ahead of time mix

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon dried ground peppers (I have a jar of an assortment all ground up together)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 cloves minced garlic

Rub that into a flanksteak and put the steak back in the fridge for an hour. When that hour is up, throw on the grill on high for 6-10 minutes on each side. Keep it juicy. Slice it thin to make it go farther and to make it more easily distributable in wraps.

Mushrooms and Onions

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/4 cup red onion chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms

Warm the oil in a skillet, throw the onions on. When the onions soften a bit, throw the mushrooms on. Don't really cook it down, just warm and soften a bit and pull it off the heat so it can cool.

Coleslaw

• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 cups bagged coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots and whotnot)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro

Mix the first three ingredients, then toss in the second two.

Cheese

• grate some cheese of your choice (I used pepperjack)

Tortilla

• Whatever kind you like (I used spinach wraps)

 Wrap everything up together in one neat little bunch and eat. Yum!