Steak Chimichurri

 

Steak Gaucho-Style with Argentinian Chimichurri Sauce


Ingredients

Argentinian Chimichurri Sauce:
1 cup lightly packed chopped parsley (ideally, flat leaf "Italian" parsley)
3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (optional)
2 tablespoons shallot or onion, minced
3/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar, or red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Steak:
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons salt
2 1/2 pounds rib-eye, New York strip, or sirloin steak, 1 1/2 inches thick
2 baguettes, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick slices


Directions
1. Preheat a grill.
2. Place all chimichurri sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until well chopped, but not pureed. Reserve.
3. Dissolve cayenne pepper and salt in 1 cup hot water. Transfer to a squeeze container.
4. Place the steak directly over a hot grill, baste with the chimichurri grilling sauce, and grill until the outer portion of the meat reaches the desired degree of doneness. 
5. Remove the steak from the grill and slice long strips from the outer edges of the steak. Instruct guests to pick up a steak slice from the cutting board with their fingers, place it on a slice of baguette.
6. Spoon chimichurri sauce over steak and enjoy. (Also brilliant on any grilled fish or chicken)


Recommended beverage: Argentinian Malbec (red)
Recipe courtesy of Bob Blumer
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/steak-gaucho-style-with-argentinian-chimichurri-sauce-recipe.html

Halloween Adventure

I talked it up for a couple days.  "S, would you like to go on an ADVENTURE?  Go and see where there are awesome decorations up, where it might be fun to trick or treat?!"  "YEEEEAAAHHHH!!!"  Good.  Mama likes to go on adventures.  Gotta start 'em young.

I had, during a nice nap time last week when dada was away on business for the week (geerp, hopefully for the last time for a while), scoured the discussion boards.  Well, the top 40 links on Google anyway.  That's not a whole lot of scouring for me, but apparently, from a talk I heard at LLNL before leaving, "people don't look at the Google results past the first 3.  Definitely not the second page."  Ummm... I habitually go to page 7.  And I mean habitually.  There are only rare situations where I don't go past the first page.  I mean, how aberrant is that, really?  Anyway, one little scouring for me, one giant scouring for mankind.  Or something.  So, I found a few neighborhood candidates - one I *really* wanted to check out.  This post from the Star Tribune last Halloween says the Minnehaha neighborhood is looking to earn a reputation for awesome Halloween-ness.  They're trying that hard, I have to check it out!

So, I coaxed the kiddies, even took them to... duhn duhn duhn... McDonald's in hopes of getting them to eat whilst in the car - speaking of which, there REALLY needs to be drive-thru good food out there.  I would NEVER EVER go to McD again (bLeCh).  Anyway, snacks in tow (I should have packed apples, that's all M ate of her "Happy Meal" - what a good girl!), we headed off to Victory Memorial Drive.  The closest of the potentials.  We had a little lesson on Bald Eagles being the national symbol ("MOMMY!  Look!  There's a bird on the top of that United States flag!" - S is obsessed with US flags.  Yay Montessori!) and why:

Mama: "Well, Bald Eagles live in the United States, they're very regal, powerful, fast and smart.  Sounds like a good symbol to me!"
S: "Eagles don't have super powers!"
It seems in the US they do...

So we start our hunt with the least likely prospect first.  In fact, luck would be there for us for the entire adventure.  I think we continually found better and better neighborhoods from our list as we moved South and the East.  I really should have had a tracking program on because the route that we went - just by clicking and navigating to the next closest 'hood on my Google Map layer of saved locations, we went on probably the most gorgeous tour of Minneapolis I have ever been on.  Not probably, definitely.  It is fall with its vibrant colors at peak, a little rainy to set the mood... we went through parks, golf courses, neighborhoods with fantastic malls and walkways, past beautiful churches, lakes, streams, trains, beautiful old bridges and buildings, Uptown and the Lake Harriet Bandshell, where flooding back memories of my childhood were flowing out of my mouth in my son's direction.

Mama: "And see that building with all the peaks, the white one with the big opening towards us and the big window looking over the lake?  Bands and orchestras sit there on the stage and play in the summer and you can play on the grass over there!"
S: "......."
M: "????"

I'm adding a map of our approximate (VERY approximate and likely lacking in some locations, accurate in others) route through Minneapolis Halloween neighborhoods.  We liked the Summit Ave. area, but I think we both agree, Minnehaha just beat it out by the slightest of margins.  I don't know though, Irving Ave near Summit did have the princess, king, skeleton and bunny ghosts.

Getting inspired about our art room!

Traditional Home Office design by Philadelphia Closets And Organization Closet & Storage Concepts

Inspiration gathering resource: houzz.com.

Badger Bars

 

1 German chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 sticks butter
1 can evaporated milk
1 (14 oz.) bag caramels
6 oz. bag chocolate chips

 

1.  Melt caramels with 1/3 cup milk over low heat, stirring until smooth.
2.  In a separate bowl, combine remaining milk, dry cake mix and butter; mix well.
3.  Press half of mixture into greased 9 x 13 pan.
4.  Bake at 350 degree oven for 6 minutes.
5.  Remove from oven; sprinkle chocolate chips over crust.
6.  Top with the caramel mixture, spreading to edges of pan.
7.  Top with teaspoonsful of remaining cake mixture. Press gently into caramel mixture.
8.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

DIY Fingerpaint

DIY Fingerpaint

2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups water
1/4 cup liquid dishwashing soap
Food coloring

1. Mix the sugar and cornstarch (we think this works better than flour, but you can substitute wheat flour; just double it-you'll want one part flour to three parts water) in a saucepan and slowly stir in the water.

2. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the mixture is a clear, smooth gel. Stir in the soap and remove from the heat. When cool enough to handle, scoop it into storage containers (we prefer glass to plastic) and add food coloring until your desired shades are achieved.

3. Paint and enjoy!

When summertime rolls around, cleanup (of the artist, at least) is as easy as a dash through the sprinkler; taking some necessary precautions (like a nice big dropcloth) will make cleaning your young artist's studio a breeze.

Fried polenta

We tried a scramble recipe last night that used pre-made polenta in a tube (find it in the deli cheeses in Safeway, apparently the grain section in other places).

It was sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds, BBQd for 3-4 minutes on a side. Tomatoes, grated Parmesan, and a EVOO-chopped fresh basil-4 clove garlic pressed-sea salt-pepper mixture was poured over the top. SCRUMPTIOUS!

But we had leftover BBQd polenta in the morning. I've been experimenting for a breakfast meal. Butter and strawberry preserves are fine on it, but the strawberry totally overpowers the polenta (no taste comes through at all), whereas the other wonderfully complimented the polenta.

Somehow we don't have any syrup in the house... going for butter and powdered sugar next.

Attempting Limoncello: A Tale of Scientific Discovery

I have three types of alcohol, and four recipes. Let's do this thing!

The three vodkas: Kirkland, Svedka, Smirnoff (and an extra rum recipe, just for kicks)

The four recipes:

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Recipe 1

15 lemons*
2 (750 ml) 100-proof vodka**
4 cups sugar
5 cups water

* Choose thick-skinned lemons because they are easier to zest.

** Use 100-proof vodka, which has less flavor than a lower proof one. Also the high alcohol level will ensure that the limoncello will not turn to ice in the freezer.

Wash the lemons with a vegetable brush and hot water to remove any reside of pesticides or wax; pat the lemons dry.

Carefully zest the lemons with a zester or vegetable peeler so there is no white pith on the peel. NOTE: Use only the outer part of the rind. The pith, the white part underneath the rind, is too bitter and would spoil your limoncello. Check out my web page on How to Zest.

Step One:
In a large glass jar (1-gallon jar), add one bottle of vodka; add the lemon zest as it is zested. Cover the jar and let sit at room temperature for at least (10) ten days and up to (40) days in a cool dark place. The longer it rests, the better the taste will be. (There is no need to stir - all you have to do is wait.) As the limoncello sits, the vodka slowly take on the flavor and rich yellow color of the lemon zest.

Step Two:
In a large saucepan, combine the sugar and water; cook until thickened, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Let the syrup cool before adding it to the Limoncello mixture. Add to the Limoncello mixture from Step One. Add the additional bottle of vodka. Allow to rest for another 10 to 40 days.

Step Three:
After the rest period, strain and bottle: discarding the lemon zest. Keep in the freezer until ready to serve.



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Recipe 2

• 3 large lemons
• water (if needed)
• 2 cup sugar
• 2 ½ cup vodka

Peel zest from lemons and place in medium sauce pan. Squeeze lemons and add water if needed to make 1 cup. Pour juice into saucepan with sugar and bring mix to a boil. Cool and add to aging container with vodka. Age for 1 month and strain to desired clarity. Age an additional month or two.



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Recipe 3

• 1 cup fresh grapefruit juice
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 chopped orange peel
• 1 chopped lemon peel
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 1 split vanilla bean
• 1 ½ cup brandy
• 1 cup vodka

Combine juices, peels, vanilla bean and sugar. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes. Allow mixture to cool and add to aging container. Add liquor to aging container and allow to age for 1 month. Strain to you satisfaction and enjoy.




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Recipe 4


1 liter (1000 ml) of Everclear alcohol

10 medium to large lemons

1 1/2 liters of water (6 1/3 cups)

3 pounds of sugar (6 1/2 cups)

Wash the lemons with a vegetable brush and hot water to remove any reside of pesticides or wax; pat the lemons dry. Using a potato peeler, take all the lemon rinds off of the lemons so there is no white pith on the peel. Place the rind-peelings in a large container with the Everclear alcohol. Cover the container and let it sit for seven days.

On the eight day, strain the the peels from alcohol; discard peels.

In a large saucepan, make a simple syrup by combining the water and sugar; let it simmer "fast" for 15 minutes. Let simple syrup cool to room temperature. Add to alcohol.

You are now finished and can drink it right away.

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Recipe 0

• ½ cup orange zest (the more bitter the better)
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 ½ cup brandy (use the good stuff)

Mash zest and sugar together until sugar dissolves. Place zest and brandy in aging jar and age for a couple months. Strain.