dinner with tristan 10/19/07

what better way to revive this blog than with recipes from a dinner tristan and i just made together. well. i made all of this one. but you get the idea.

we started off, with what other than cheese. the cheese was very distinctive. a bright orange french pave de (something?) which was described to us as almost a french cheddar, slightly salty. the other cheese had a hazelnut flavor, slightly peppery, and a lingering bitterness when eaten alone. but when paired with a cracker, was very smooth, but again, french.

unnamed steak.
i found a random large cut of beef in the market that looked very tendonous (i love tendons in meat that just melt in your mouth) and very fresh, came up with a simple marinade for a sweet, flavorful finish to a simple sear. not very expensive either.

• 1-1.5 lb steak-like cut of beef, very tendony, about an inch thick - enough for 2-3 people
• half a head of garlic, smashed and minced
• 4-5 shallots, peeled, smashshed, minced
• generous sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• .5-1 c. cabernet sauvignon (mondavi's woodbridge in this case, quality is not of the essence)

place meat in shallow baking dish (about the size of the steak), and rub dry ingredients lightly over meat, pour in red wine turn a few times to mix everything well, and cover with plastic and marinate overnight in fridge

in a large nonstick pan, heat pan on high, add a few tablespoons olive oil (and butter if desired, but not only butter) and with tongs, place steak in to sear, about 4-5 minutes on each side (or until medium-rare). cover meat with a slightly smaller pan lid while searing to let steam/smoke escape but to prevent splattering if desired. when finished. let rest, or to keep warm, wrap in foil before serving/slicing.

sauteed balsamic green bell peppers.
just taking advantage of pan drippings to flavor some relatively bland green bells into something a little more tasty. fresh sauteed green vegetables (asparagus, green beans, snap pease etc) and balsamic vinegar are always a good way to go.

• 1-2 green bell peppers, seeded, sliced into strips
• pat of butter, some more wine
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or more if you'd like)

with the same pan above, add in leftover marinade (including garlic and shallots), and a little extra wine and a tablespoon of butter, let reduce, or not. allow pan to get hot. add cleaned and sliced bell pepper strips to saute for a few seconds, add balsamic vinegar. cover for a minute, stir, cover, stir, up until bell peppers are cooked through while still green. once cooked, immediately remove from heat and serve.

risotto-style orzo with sauteed mushrooms, orange bells.
i do this recipe pretty often, with many variations. i love the idea of risotto-style orzo because it is so quick, so manageable and comes out pretty creamy and flavorful just because if its own natural pasta starches.

• 1/2 head of garlic, smashed and minced
• 1 medium red onion, small-diced
• 1 lb white mushrooms, sliced
• 1-2 orange bell peppers, seeded, large diced
• fresh oregano
• dried oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil (to your liking)
• olive oil/butter
• 1 cup dry orzo
• 1-1.5 c. chicken stock
• generous sea salt/freshly cracked black pepper
• fresh shaved parmesean cheese (doesn't need to be fresh, its all i had on hand)

using a wide, shallow pot (5-6 qts), or a deep , walled, frypan with a lid, add olive oil (and butter if desired) on med-high heat. add garlic and onions, and saute until onions are slightly translucent and fragrant. add mushrooms and saute until mushrooms are soft. add bell peppers, along with the fresh oregano, and generous dried italian herbs to your liking. saute a minute or two more until everything is cooked through. add a pat of butter, and once throughly melted in center of pot, spread vegetables to the side of the pot, and add dried orzo to the melted butter in the middle of pot to saute. stir and scrape (a little sticking is okay) until some more liquid is evaporated up to a minute. add enough chicken stock to slightly more than submerge the orzo and ingredients. stir and scrape off anything that is sticking with a spatula, and wait to boil. once boiling, cover with lid, place on low heat (just so it barely boils) and let cook for 12 minutes. at 12 minutes, check, done-ness of the pasta, if a little dry, add more chicken stock, or add more just because. add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. salt brings out the flavors of this dish. and, still on low heat, continue stirring until any excess fluid is absorbed. (about another minute or two with the lid off. once orzo looks dry and creamy, add parmesean to your liking, and stir in while removing from heat, until parmesean is well incorporated.

this all was paired with Riparosso Montepuliciano d'Abruzzo, Vintage 2005. supposedly a dry wed wine that pairs well with meat and the strong cheeses we picked out, we found this italian wine to be very acidic, and not that great. oops.

dinner was finished off with chewy ginger snaps (recipe to come later, when i manage to make a second batch) and an australian muscat from R.L. Buller & Son. very sweety and syrupy, a good close to a nice diner.