Tag: Worcestershire sauce

Salisbury Steak

Salisbury Steak II

Salisbury Steak

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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When I here the words “Salisbury Steak” my mind immediately goes back to the days  of Glass and Steel Diners where burly truck drivers would chow down on the Blue Plate Special, often times Salisbury Steak, followed by a dessert of Antacids.

Thankfully things have changed and diner food has been elevated to a much higher level including Salisbury Steak.

Here’s how we do this one.

Shopping list:

For the steak…….

  • 1 pound Ground Beef
  • 3 tablespoons Canola Oil
  • 1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Granulated Garlic
  • 2 teaspoons Granulated Onion
  • 1 teaspoon dried Mustard
  • 2 teaspoons Salt
  • 2 teaspoons Ground Pepper

For the gravy……

  • 1 medium Sweet Onion – sliced
  • 1/2 cup Butter
  • 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
  • 3 cups Vegetable Broth
  • 2 tablespoons Granulated Garlic
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Putting it all together:

  1. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients for the steak, form into oval shaped patties about 1/4 inch thick and put in the refrigerator for about 1 hour to set up.
  2. In a large fry pan heat the oil and place the patties in but do not crowd them.
  3. Cook the  patties for five minutes per side, or until the internal temp hits 160° and when done remove to a plate and tent with tin foil to keep warm.
  4. In the same pan the patties were in melt the butter and add the flour. Stir well to make a Roux. Add the onions and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
  5. Add the vegetable broth, garlic, salt and pepper and mix well. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
  6. Plate with your favourite side, cover with gravy and enjoy.

There you have it another “Simple but tasty recipe for the grilling season and beyond.”

Until next time…….

                           Bon Appetit

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Steak and Kidney pie

Steak and Kidney pie

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: medium
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2017-03-24 18.59.51

 

‘Chef’ doesn’t mean that you’re the best cook, it simply means ‘boss.’

Tom Colicchio

This is one of those recipes where people look at the title and either turn up their nose automatically or, as in my wife’s case, it elicits a warm walk down memory lane .In my case my childhood memories do not include this staple of British cookery because my dad was a Pork man through and through but there were also 7 kids and so the food budget was aimed at lower costing but still healthy foods like Liver.

Now this recipe is not an original from me but it is my adaptation of one from Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger so kudos chefs and thank you for giving me the base for my twist on your recipe.

Here’s how we do this one.

Shopping list:

  • 1 pound bottom Sirloin steak tails – cubed
  • 12 ounces Beef Kidney – cored, rinsed and cubed
  • 1 1/2 cups Mushrooms – quartered
  • 1 medium sweet Onion – roughly diced
  • 1 12 ounce can Guinness
  • 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons liquid Beef base
  • 5 tablespoons Canola oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 1/3 cups of Flour plus 1/3 cup
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/2 cup cold Butter
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 3 tablespoons ice Water
  • 2 tablespoons melted Butter

Putting it all together:

  1. Prepare the pastry: In a large bowl, combine flour with butter and salt. Mix lightly with your fingertips until butter forms pea sized pieces. Whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon of the water. Add to flour mixture all at once, mixing gently with your fingertips. You should be able to see chunks of fat, and the pastry should be moist enough to begin to stick together. If the pastry is too dry, add up to 2 more tablespoons of water.
  2. Turn the pastry out onto a lightly floured work surface, dust with flour, and knead it until the pastry is smooth, about 3 to 4 times. Transfer to a plastic bag and form pastry into a disk. Refrigerate a minimum of 30 minutes, or as long as 3 days.
  3. Meanwhile: Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a casserole or Dutch oven. Add the onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook for about four minutes. Add the 1/3 cup of flour and mix well.
  4. Stir in the Worcestershire, beef base, bay leaves and salt and pepper.
  5. Pour in the Guinness and bring to a boil.
  6. Add in the steak and kidney, mix well, cover and place in the oven and simmer for about 1 hour or until the meat is fork tender.
  7. Preheat the oven to 375°. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
  8. Fill 4 oval Au Gratin dishes or one 9 inch pie pan with the steak and kidney mix and cover with the pastry. Make a vent hole in the pastry, brush the melted butter on the top and put back in the oven for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

There you have it another “simple but tasty recipe for the grilling season and beyond.”

Until next time……….

                           Bon Appetit

Habaneros baby

Waterloo-20140818-00292

This picture is of just some of the Habaneros that are currently residing in my Herb Garden and these things have been breeding like rabbits leaving me with the “I don’t know what to do with all of them” conundrum so I mentioned it to my boss and he suggested a Habanero paste and as intriguing as this might be I figured I would start with something a little easier and make—— HOT SAUCE.

Now most people know some hot chili peppers like Jalapenos or Cayennes but Habaneros may not be as well known outside the hot chili pepper clubs so let me give you a very brief run down on these things. Chilies as you may know are rated on the Scoville Scale which is the scale used to rate the heat intensity of a pepper and of course the higher up the scale the hotter the pepper. For instance a sweet bell pepper rates a zero while Pure Capsaician (this is the chemical in peppers that produces heat) is rated at 15,000,000 and this is hotter than U.S. grade pepper spray. To further illustrate the various heat levels Jalapenos, which most if not all people are familiar with, rate between 3,500 and 8,000 on the scale while Habaneros sit at between 200,000 and 350,000 so suffice it to say that only someone with a death wish would want to eat one of these things by itself so when  using these things be careful and ALWAYS use disposable gloves.

Here now for your tongue burning pleasure is my version of Hot Sauce………

Ingredients:

Eight to ten Orange Habaneros – I will use the orange for the color effect on the finished product

Four to six garlic cloves- peeled

One small onion – chopped

Three tablespoons Canola oil

Four tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes

Juice of three limes

Two tablespoons sugar

Putting it all together:

In a medium sauce pan heat the oil (medium heat) and add the onions, Habaneros and garlic and cook until the onion starts to turn brown- stir continuously

Reduce the heat and add the remaining ingredients cooking until the tomatoes break down

Pour the contents of the pan into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth

Strain the contents through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate for a minimum an hour– Also remember that the longer you let it sit the better the flavors marry together.

Now obviously you can adjust the heat level of the sauce by using more or less of the Habaneros or by substituting a different type of pepper altogether. That’s the beauty of a recipe……. making it your own.

So there you have it another “simple but tasty recipe for the grilling season and beyond”

So until next time…………….

                                                               Bon Appetit 

 

Corned beef hash

Dreamstime photo

 

 

This is one of those dishes that people really only think of as a breakfast item but in fact is one that is extremely versatile as well as very inexpensive and can be served morning, noon or night.

If you are like me I have neither the time nor the space to pickle my own Brisket and wind up with scratch made Corned Beef so this is one of those rare moments when I will use— gasp—- pre packaged food.

Ingredients:

  •       2 -12 ounce Cans Corned Beef
  •          2 -18 Ounce cans of diced potatoes
  •          2- 8 ounce cans of mushrooms
  •          1 Medium white onion diced
  •          3 or 4 healthy dashes of Worcestershire sauce
  •          2 Garlic cloves minced
  •          3 to 4 tablespoons of Olive oil
  •          Pepper to taste
  •          4 Eggs

Method:

  •          Heat the oil in a large non- stick pan
  •          Add the potatoes and sauté over medium high heat until they are crispy and just about fork tender
  •          Add in the onions, mushrooms and garlic and continue to sauté until the onions start to become translucent – about 4 minutes
  •          Break up the Corned Beef and mix it very well with the rest of the ingredients
  •          Mix in the Worcestershire sauce and the pepper.
  •          While the Corned Beef mixture is cooking fry or poach your eggs.
  •          When the eggs are finished spoon some of the Corned Beef onto a plate, top with an egg and enjoy. If you feel ambitious you can also toast some bread to have with the meal. I should also point out that I don’t add Salt because           the Corned Beef is rather salty to begin with.

Now the reason I mentioned that this was an inexpensive dish to make is because when I used to make it the total cost was under $15.00  and it fed four of us.

So I hope the next time you want something “simple but tasty” that also is inexpensive you will give this one a try. Oh and my thanks to Dreamstime for the awesome photo.

Until next time……..

                              Bon Appetit

 

Shrimp creole

Shrimp Creole

Growing up as a kid I loved to go fishing with my older brother or my friends and it didn’t hurt that our “fishin” hole was a short hour’s walk from home and we could have a blast catching all the pan fish, and the odd Bass, that we wanted.

The funny thing is when people asked what we did with the fish we caught we usually answered “threw them back” and when they said “why don’t you eat them” I was like “are you serious?” The mere thought  of eating fish was enough to put my appetite on hold for a few days. I mean who could actually enjoy eating something that smelled and tasted so, well, FISHY ?

Well time goes by, tastes change and health concerns come to the for front and now fish and seafood has become one of my favorite dishes to make whether it is Nut Crusted Tilapia or pan fried Catfish or some kind of Shell Fish.

This” simple but tasty” dish combines two of my loves. Shrimp and Southern cooking.

Creole sauce

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped green or red bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon Creole seasoning

1/2 teaspoon dried leaf thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground paprika

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

dash ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with juice

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 cup chicken broth

15 35-40 count peeled and tail off shrimp

Directions:

In a saucepan, with a lid, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, celery, and green peppers. Season with salt and pepper. Saute the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes or until the vegetables start to wilt. Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, and herbs. Continue to saute for 1 minute. Season the vegetables with salt, pepper and cayenne. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and stock. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 12 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Stir in the shrimp and cook until shrimp has turned pink. Serve over rice.

I hope you enjoy this dish and thanks for visiting.

Bon apetite