Pan Seared Steak with Red Wine Sauce

I was looking for something else to go with my salmon dish for Christmas Eve and found this at Canadian Living.   It's gonna work just great.   I'm switching the All-Purpose Flour out for Cornstarch to make it gluten free.


Pan Seared Steak with Red Wine Sauce

4 rib grilling steaks (6 to 8 oz/175 to 250 g each)
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt and pepper
1 tbsp (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup (250 mL) red wine
1/2 cup (125 mL) beef stock
1 tbsp (15 mL) brandy (optional)
1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried thyme
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cracked black_peppercorns
2 tsp (10 mL) butter, softened
2 tsp (10 mL) cornstarch
2 tbsp (25 mL) minced fresh parsley

Preparation:

Sprinkle both sides of steak with salt and pepper. In large skillet, heat oil over high heat; fry steaks, turning once, until browned and medium-rare inside, about 8 minutes. Transfer to plate; tent with foil and keep warm.
Drain fat from skillet; add wine and bring to boil, scraping up any brown bits. Boil until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add beef stock, brandy (if using), thyme and peppercorns; return to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
In small bowl, mash butter with flour; whisk into sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in parsley. Slice steaks if desired; serve with sauce.

Source: Adapted from Canadian Living Website

Red or Green Pepper Jelly

At the request of @muddybootsblog on Twitter, here is my recipe for Red Pepper Jelly.  Far better than store bought.


Red or Green Pepper Jelly

5 cups granulated sugar
2 cups finely chopped or pureed sweet green or red peppers
1 1/2 cups white vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
1 bottle (6 oz/170 ml) liquid pectin

In large saucepan, combine sugar, green or red peppers and vinegar.
Stir and bring to full rolling boil.
Boil over medium-high heat for 15 minutes, skimming off foam.
Remove from heat and blend in pectin. Stir for 2 minutes.
Pour into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Seal with paraffin wax.
Cover with lids.
Makes about 6 cups.

Indian Butter Chicken

Okay, so this isn't traditional Indian Butter Chicken, but it is pretty good, and it was easy to make. I threw it in the crockpot, made a pot of rice, and voila. Both my wife and daughter came back for more.

Indian Butter Chicken

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp green curry paste
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp fresh minced ginger
1 cup ground plum tomatos (fresh from my garden)
3/4 cup coconut milk
8 skinless bone-in chicken legs

Melt the butter and pour in slow cooker. Add and stir in all ingredients except chicken. Add chicken, turning to coat. Cook on high for 2.5 hours, or low for 5 hours.

Source: Adapted from Canadian Family Magazine Oct 2009

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The Other Raspberries

The last raspberries were cultivated. Planted in neat little rows with most of the sharp thorns bred out of them over the years.

These are the bad boys of raspberries. They can put out shoots and move over 20 feet a year, vropping up where you didn't want them. But, they taste great, and seem to be quite plentiful in my small suburban backyard. Oh, and the thorns on these are 10 times more aggresive than theose last raspberries.

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Fresh Raspberries

The season has arrived. Fresh Raspberries.

My special thanks to all those other people who picked berries and only took the ones on the outside of the plant. A little bit of digging yielded me some wonderful berries. Oh, and for those of you who have yet to go out and pick, remember, the throns are poisonous. Really poisonous. Scary poisonous. Unless you're like me and immune.

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Either you like raisins in cookie or you don't. If you do, you might like these. I like them, that's why they are here.

Let's start with what these aren't. These aren't a cookie that stays soft 4 days after making them. Hey, they may not even be soft the day after making them, but that's fine with me. I like a solid cookie that has some substance to it. These are that sort of cookie.

I've been making these since high school. In fact, I used to quadruple or quintuple the recipe I like them that much. They even taste good frozen, or zapped warm in the microwave.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1 cup margarine
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups old fashioned oats (I've used quick cooking as well, works fine)
1 cup raisins

Mix liquids, add dry, stir in raisins. Bake above centre of the oven at 375F for about 10 minutes.

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Roasted Chickpea Snacks

I found these today, and thought they looked great, so I had to try them. Low and behold that the recipe called for onion powder. Turns out that I don't stock onion powder in my kitchen. I really should. I decided to try curry powder. Same result.

Chinese 5 spice powder worked great and they taste wonderful.


Roasted Chickpea Snacks
1 - 19.2 oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chinese 5 spice powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 400. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then drain again and spread out onto a towel to dry.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over low heat. Add the garlic powder, chinese 5 spice powder, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Stir until fragrant. Turn off the heat, pour in the chickpeas, and stir gently with a rubber spatula until coated with the oil mixture.

Spread the chickpeas in a foil-lined rimmed baking pan and bake for 40 minutes, stirring the pan every ten minutes or so. When they’re done, they will be brown and crunchy.

Source: Adapted from http://bethanyactually.com

Cinnamon Oatmeal Waffle Recipe

Today was Canada Day, I asked my wife what she wanted for breakfast. She said waffles. These are what I made.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Waffle Recipe

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs – slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
6 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar


1. Take a large mixing bowl and sift in flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

2. Then stir in oatmeal, and make sure all the dry ingredients are well mixed. When you are done set this bowl aside and take another smaller one.

3. Use it to mix eggs, milk, butter and brown sugar until all ingredients are thoroughly blended together.

4. Now add the liquids to the flour mixture and use a spoon or electric mixer to mix until the mixture is smooth and the waffle batter is done.

6. Lightly grease your waffle maker if you need to and pour the batter on to preheated grids. Close the lid of your waffle maker, and do not open until your delicious oatmeal waffles are done.

This Oatmeal waffle recipe will feed 4 people.

Source: http://www.waffle-recipe.com

Recipes by Wildunknown

I love to cook, but often lose track of recipes I like. I'm going to post recipes I like here so that I can find them in the future, and so can others.

That's where we will start, lets see where we end up

Cheers!