Barefoot Contessa's Steak Sandwich

All morning I delayed going to the grocery store because I didn't feel inspired to make our weekly menu. I think I spent so much time planning our Christmas menu that I hadn't given any thought to what we'd eat the rest of the week. I knew I had to go to the grocery store today (we were down to only 4 diapers!), so I turned on Food Network so see if anything sounded good. And oh boy, did it ever!

Barefoot Contessa made a steak sandwich that looked divine and I jotted down the ingredients I lacked. Because it can be thrown together pretty quickly, and because I couldn't get my mind off of it, I made it for dinner tonight. This sandwich was restaurant quality, in my opinion. Good, crusty bread married with tender steak, caramelized onions, peppery arugula and this wonderful mustard-mayo sauce. Delicious! The mustard-mayo sauce is really simple to make but it adds just the right creamy tang to the sandwich - so don't think of skipping it! Andrew gave it two thumbs up and asked for it to be added into the regular dinner rotation.

As with any steak recipe, you can cook your steak to your desired doneness. While Andrew is a fan of rare steak, I tend to like mine on the more well-done side, so I cooked it ours a happy medium (pun intended).

Barefoot Contessa's Steak Sandwich

recipe via Food Network

1 (12-oz) 1-inch think NY strip steak

kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

1-2 onions, sliced into rings

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

2 mini ciabatta rolls, sliced in half

1/2 cup arugula leaves

Mustard-Mayo Sauce

1/4 cup good quality mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon sour cream

pinch of kosher salt

Season the steak liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until it's almost smoking, then sear the steak on each side for about 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook steak for about 7-14 minutes, turning once, until steak is cooked to desired doneness. Remove to a plate, cover with foil and set aside.

In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and thyme and saute for 10-15 minutes, until onions are browned and caramelized, stirring frequently. (I got distracted at this point so my onions were a little too brown. Oops!) After the onions are finished cooking, thinly slice steak into strips.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, the two mustards, sour cream and salt.

To assemble the sandwiches, liberally spread some of the Mustard-Mayo Sauce on the top half of each roll. Place a generous layer of the steak strips on the bottom half of the roll. Top steak with onions and arugula. Cover the sandwiches with the top half of the bun.

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Greek Layer Dip

Last week I had Greek Nachos on the menu, but I never got around to making them. When I was planning Finley's party menu, I decided to put the Greek ingredients I already had to good use and made this Greek Layer Dip, which was another really popular dish at the party. It's so tangy and yummy! It's a fun (and much healthier) take on the perennial party favorite, Mexican 7 Layer Dip.

I made this several hours ahead of time and had a problem with the cucumbers releasing their juices and making the dip a little watery. (That's why my picture isn't too pretty - I'd had to scoop half of it out to drain the excess moisture and then reassemble it. Big mess but it still tasted great!) So my advice would to be prepare the parts ahead of time, but wait until the last minute to assemble it. Also I'm not going to list many quantities because there's no real right or wrong here - just use however much you prefer and/or in accordance to the number of people you're serving.

Greek Layer Dip

Hummus, homemade or store-bought (I used the plain hummus from Costco)

Tzatziki sauce, homemade or store-bought (my recipe is listed below)

Cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks

Tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks

Kalamata olives, sliced

Fresh parsley,minced

Pita chips, for serving

In a glass dish, place a layer of hummus in the bottom. Top with a thin layer of Greek olives, a thicker layer of tzaitiki sauce, a thin layer of cucumbers, another layer of hummus and then top the hummus with cucumbers, tomatoes and olives. Garnish with a little parsley. Serve with pita chips.

Tzatziki Sauce

a Baking and Eggs original

12 oz plain Greek yogurt

4-5 oz feta cheese, crumbled

zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh dill

salt and pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, combine yogurt, feta, lemon zest, mint and dill. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. (If you're making the Tzatziki but not using it with the Greek Layer Dip, you'll want to add 1/4-1/2 cup shredded cucumbers that has been drained.)

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The Ultimate BBQ Sauce

This was our main dish for our 4th of July celebration, which wasn't much of a celebration since Finley and I were both down with colds. Regardless we rallied and put together a fun barbecue dinner. Our ribs weren't as tender as we would have liked so we're going to do some further experimentation on that part of the recipe. But the homemade barbecue sauce was to die for! I keep sneaking little bites here and there all afternoon as it sat on the stove - not to worry I didn't double-dip as to contaminate Andrew with my cold :-)

I think this will become my go to BBQ sauce recipe. It's another recipe from Tyler Florence and he mentioned that you can make the same sauce but add peach preserves to create a peach barbecue sauce for chicken. That will be next on my list!

The Ultimate BBQ Sauce

recipe from Tyler's Ultimate by Tyler Florence

1 bacon slice

1 bunch fresh thyme

extra virgin olive oil

1/2 onion

2 garlic cloves

2 cups ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

freshly ground black pepper

Wrap the bacon around the thyme bunch and tie together with kitchen twine. Heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the thyme bundle and cook slowly for 3-4 minutes to render the bacon fat and to give the sauce a nice smoky flavor. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly without coloring for 5 minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients, give the sauce a stir, and turn the heat down to low. Cook slowly for 20 minutes to meld the flavors. (We cooked ours for over two hours while the ribs were cooking.) Just before serving, remove thyme bundle, onion and garlic cloves.

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East & West Crab Cakes

For an early Father's Day celebratory dinner, I made Mussels with White Wine and between my dad and my husband, they ate four pounds of mussels! Suffice to say, they love them some mussels! For my mom and me (the non-mussel lovers in the family), I prepared crab cakes and made two sauces to accompany them. One sauce was a basic East coast remoulade and the other sauce was based on a West coast citrus butter sauce, both of which were from my Neiman Marcus cookbook. Both sauces were delicious, but I think I preferred the light, buttery taste from the West coast sauce. I love sauces and condiments, so I had fun trying both!

East & West Coast Crab Cakes

adapted from the Neiman Marcus Cookbook by Kevin Garvin

for the crab cakes

1 lb jumbo lump crab meat

1 egg, beaten

1/4 c mayo

1 1/2 t Dijon mustard

1/3 c panko bread crumbs

1/4 c green onions, minced

2 T parsley, minced

1 T Old Bay seasoning

1 t worcestershire sauce

dash of Tabasco sauce

for the remoulade

1 red bell pepper, roasted, seeded and chopped

1 c mayo

1 T parsley, roughly chopped

1 T fresh tarragon

1 T capers, drained

2 T cornichons (or sour dill pickle), roughly chopped

1 small shallot, roughly chopped

for the citrus-butter sauce

1/2 c white wine

2 shallots, sliced

1 fresh thyme sprig

1/4 c heavy cream

1/2 orange, juiced

1/2 lime, juiced

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 c chilled butter, diced

1 t salt (or salt to taste)

dash of Tabasco

To prepare the remoulade, place bell pepper, mayo, parsley, tarragon, capers, cornichons and shallots in a food processor. Pulse several times until sauce is well combined. Transfer to an airtight container and store in refrigerator until ready to eat. (Make it early in the day, or even the night before, so the flavors have plenty of time to marry.)

To prepare the crab cakes, place egg, mayo, mustard, panko, green onions, parsley, Old Bay, worcestershire and Tabasco in a large bowl. Mix well. Add crab and gently mix together, being careful not to break up the lumps of crab meat. Mold into 8 to 12 patties and place on cookie sheet. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 7-10 minutes, flip and continue baking another 7-10 minutes.

While the crab cakes are baking, prepare the citrus-butter sauce. Pour the wine into a small saucepan and add shallots and thyme. Bring to a boil and continue to simmer until liquid is reduced by two-thirds. Add the cream and simmer 5 more minutes. Add orange, lime and lemon juices. Turn down heat to low and add butter, a little at a time, whisking constantly, until all the butter is incorporated. Do not let sauce boil or the sauce will become oily. Season with salt and Tabasco. Strain the sauce and keep warm until ready to serve.

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Chile con Queso

Living in Austin, we have A LOT of Mexican restaurants to choose from, but without a doubt, hands down, Matt's El Rancho has the best queso around. And I take queso very seriously as it is probably one of my most favorite foods. It is dee-lish! While I'm talking about El Rancho, I must share that my favorite form of their queso is called the Bob Armstrong Dip. It's basically a bowl with a generous scoop of their guacamole, another scoop but this time of taco meat and then filled with queso. In each bite you get a little avocado, a little meat and a lot of melted, glorious cheese. Heaven! Just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone wanted to amp up their queso.

Andrew and I had his parents over for dinner Saturday night and in honor of Cinco de Mayo, I served a Mexican feast. While I was putting the finishing touches on our main course, everyone munched on queso and tortilla chips. There wasn't much talking so that must have meant that the queso was pretty good. Sweet little Finley kept asking for more "dip chip" - precious! She's definitely my daughter since she already loves her some queso!

Matt's El Rancho's Chile con Queso

adapted only slightly from Matt Martinez's Mex Tex cookbook

2 (7-oz) cans diced green chiles

1 roma tomato, diced

1/2 c diced white onion

1/2 c diced celery

2 t Tex-Mex spice*

1 c chicken broth

1 1/2 - 2 lbs Velveeta cheese, cubed (use more or less depending on thick you like your queso)

In a sauce pan, combine all ingredients except cheese. Bring to a light simmer and gently cook for about 15 minutes. Turn heat down and add the cheese. Simmer until cheese is melted, stirring often to prevent burning on the bottom of the pan.

For extra spicy queso, add chopped jalapenos.

* Tex-Mex spice is made by Sendero Seasonings. If it isn't available in your supermarket, here is the recipe for it:

Tex-Mex Spice

3 T plus 2 t ground cumin

3 T granulated garlic

2 T salt

1 T coarsely ground black pepper

Mix together. Store in airtight container.

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Cilantro-Basil Dressing with Taco Salad

For the main course, I served a taco salad (fried tortillas, spring salad mix, black beans, grilled corn, chopped tomatoes, avocado chunks, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and taco meat) that was topped with this delicious salad dressing. It has such a delightfully bright, tangy flavor that complimented the taco salad fixings really well. It's flavor is really versatile though so I think it would be great on just about any salad.

If you don't make taco salad very often (or at all), I would suggest it the next time you're in the mood for Mexican food. It has all the great flavors of Mexican food but it's much healthier and not as heavy as most Tex-Mex dishes. But it's still hearty enough that the man in your life will still feel full. You can easily tailor the salad to fit your tastes - use chicken, pork or beef fajita meat instead of taco meat; increase the amount of beans and cheese to make it a vegetarian meal; use different lettuces; substitute store-bought pico de gallo or guacamole for the chopped tomato and avocado to speed up the prep work; add some jicama for extra crunch; omit the fried tortilla shells to make it a lot healthier or substitute tortilla chips...the list could go on forever!

(I apologize for my crappy taco salad picture but it was the only one I had to post. I figure that a blurry picture is better than no picture at all!)

Cilantro-Basil Dressing

Fonda San Miguel Thirty Years of Food and Art cookbook

1/2 c apple cider vinegar

1/2 c vegetable oil

1/2 c olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 c firmly packed cilantro leaves

1/2 c firmly packed basil leaves

1 1/2 t sugar

1/2 t ground black pepper

sea salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large blender and blend together for about 3 minutes, or until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use. The mixture can be blended again if it separates. Makes 2 cups.

(I halved the recipe and still had lots left over.)

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Filet Oscar

I love going out to eat at a fancy-schmancy restaurant but I detest going out on holidays. I try to avoid crowds, long waits, fixed menus at all costs! So Andrew and I cooked at home and we chose this stellar recipe as our main course. Filet Oscar is basically a filet mignon topped with crab meat and drizzled in Bearnaise sauce. Be still my heart! What's not to love about all that goodness?!?

Since we were having surf and turf, I asked the butcher to cut smaller filets so we wouldn't just have gobs of food we couldn't finish. The Bearnaise sauce was a little tricky for me since I was trying to make it and calm a cranky toddler at the same time. Here are a couple of tips for a successful Bearnaise sauce: 1) check the white wine mixture often because it boils down to 2 tablespoons quickly, 2) when it comes time to put the sauce over the double-boiler, make sure the water is only simmering and not boiling, and 3) when the recipe says to whisk constantly, it means to whisk constantly! Literally, I stopped whisking for about 30 seconds and my sauce curdled. But I got a perfect Bearnaise sauce the second time around! And it was absolutely the most delicious compliment to the steak and crab meat.

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Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette

I love The Barefoot Contessa! I wanted to serve a really simple green salad with the crab cakes so I went to one of my BC cookbooks and found this recipe. The dressing was perfect - just enough tang to be interesting but not enought to be overpowering. It was a great accompaniment for the crab cakes! I served the dressing with a mix of baby spinach and arugula and I sprinkled a little parmesan cheese and pine nuts on top.

Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette

Source: Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten

3 T champagne vinegar

1/2 t dijon mustard

1/2 t minced fresh garlic

1 egg yolk, at room temperature (or you can substitute 1 T mayonnaise)

1/4 t kosher salt

1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 c good olive oil

Salad greens

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, garlic, egg yolk (or mayo), salt and pepper. While whisking, slowly add the olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified.

Toss the greens with enough dressing to moisten and serve immediately.

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Healthier Pesto

After returning from vacation, my pants were feeling a little tight and I decided to try and make some healthier meals. The first one I made was this healthier pesto and I was really surprised at how good it was. I really couldnt tell a difference from traditional pesto! An added plus was that it reheated well so I was able to have the left-overs for lunch the next day.

Healthier Pesto

1 cup fresh basil leaves, tightly packed

1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves, tightly packed

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 T pine nuts, toasted

2 T parmesan, grated

2 T olive oil

3 T pasta cooking water

salt & pepper to taste

In a blender or food processor combine basil, spinach, garlic, pine nuts and parmesan. Pulse a time or two to finely mince ingredients. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Pulse until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Boil water and cook your pasta according to the package's directions. When pasta is al dente, reserve 3-4 T pasta water before draining the pasta. Slowly add pasta water to pesto, one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Spoon onto pasta and serve!

On a side note, you can always add in some other ingredients to make it even tastier. I added halved grape tomatoes and cubed fresh mozzarella. Other ideas are sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, grilled chicken...

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Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing

A few weeks ago, I used store bought bleu cheese dressing and was really disappointed with the flavor - it was oddly sweet. So I decided the next time I had a hankering for it, I'd make it from scratch. For my salad components, I used a mixture of baby spinach and arugula, halved grape tomatoes, avocado chunks and cucumber slices. I topped the salad dressing with fresh snipped chives and a good shake or two of pepper. I really liked this recipe and will definitely use it again!

Bleu Cheese Dressing

3/4 c plus 2 T sour cream

4 oz crumbled blue cheese (I used gorgonzola)

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 T white wine vinegar

1 t Dijon mustard

3 T water (I used half water and half fresh squeezed lemon juice)

1 T finely snipped chives

salt and pepper

Place the sour cream, cheese, garlic vinegar, mustard and water in a food processor, and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chives. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Source The Illustrated Kitchen Bible, Editor-in-chief Victoria Blashford-Snell

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Herb Butter

I had some fresh herbs that I wanted to use before they went bad so I made some herb butter. So easy and it's delicious! It's an elegant way to dress up potatoes, sandwiches, rolls/biscuits, steaks, and just about anything savory that you'd normally put butter on.

Herb Butter

4 T butter, softened

assorted fresh herbs - I used chives, basil and parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch or two of salt

In a small bowl, mash butter and mix in herbs, garlic and salt. Combine until well-blended. Keeps for several days in the refrigerator.

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Poblano Cream Sauce

After Finley was born, my sweet friends brought us many, many meals so that Andrew and I didn't have to worry about grocery shopping and cooking while our daughter was in the NICU. One of the dishes was chicken with poblano cream sauce brought by Meagan. It was delicious and I've made it several times since then. Meagan gave me the recipe that she uses but I've misplaced it so I've started using a similar recipe I found in one of my cookbooks.

Poblano Cream Sauce

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 poblano chile, minced

3/4 c onion, diced

2 T garlic, chopped

3/4 c cilantro, chopped

1/4 c whipping cream

1/2 c sour cream

salt & pepper

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the chile and onion and saute about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to blend and thicken. Season with salt and pepper. Use an immersion blender or pour into blender to puree.

Source Secrets from a Caterer's Kitchen by Nicole Aloni

**I serve this with cilantro-lime rice (recipe in previous post) and sauteed chicken breasts topped with sauce, shredded Monterrey Jack cheese and avocado slices.

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Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce

Having a wee little one at home, I got off easy this Thanksgiving and didn't have to make very much. One of my additions to the menu was this very easy cranberry sauce. Seriously, if you've never made cranberry sauce before, you should try to - it's very simple and tastes so much better than canned.

Cranberry Sauce

16 oz bag of fresh cranberries

1/2 c cranberry juice

juice and zest from 1 large orange

1 1/2 c sugar

1 jalapeno, minced (you could also use fresh minced ginger)

In a small pot, combine all ingredients and cook over medium-high heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool and as it cools the sauce will thicken up. Refrigerate until serving.

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