7/7/10 - Fillet Mignon and Spring Pea & Mint Risotto

I have to admit there are some vegetables that even I won't go near. A few of them have gotten knocked off the list since I have been subscribing to my CSA (like my new 'favorite' beets). Fresh from the farm food is just so good that even a hater like me can't say no! But for a while now my dislike for peas had stood. Now, I love green beans and sugar snap peas and snow peas even fava beans! But those regular old peas which tend to find there way into so many cafeterias and hospital kitchens and usually live in the freezer section..... yuck! But then a mix up at the Farmer's Market changed this pea-hater's life forever - freshly shelled spring peas are nothing like those mushy green mystery objects in the Lunch Ladies meatloaf surprise...they actually taste good!

This classic recipe uses arborio rice that is first roasted then slowly cooked...with a lot of stirring to get its signature creamy texture. Check out this seafood risotto recipe for a more detailed look into make risotto. The big changes that I made were adding the onions right to the oil with the rice in the first step and of course there wasn't any seafood to saute on the side or add in. Instead I just added the peas at the last minute and then places the cover on while the meat rested so that they were just barely steamed and warmed up but still had a bit of a bite as to not be over cooked and mushy.

What are your "no way never, don't even let it touch my plate" veggies? or was there a meal than changed your mind about a certain food?

1/12/10 - Surf and Turf: Fillet Mignon and Mako Shark

Tonight's dinner was a bit of an after thought but luckily with a little team work (and some know-how courtesy of Alton Brown on Good Eats) I think it came out wonderfully! I had planned to make a repeat of the white chicken chili we had a week or so ago as it was delicious (and I had a breast left over from my roasted chicken....yes I am officially addicted to roasting chickens now - a few minutes of prep and an hour plus in the oven is like 3 days or more of meals!) I found out around 5 pm that our pescetarian friend would be joining us. Since I am not one to ever say no to an opportunity to host I had about an hour and a half to come up with a new dinner plan before I had to leave to go to my pilates lesson (which means I wouldn't be home till 9pm... late dinner night sorry!)


Luckily I had jut bought some mako shark (on sale for less than half of the swordfish and it looked & tasted almost exactly the same!) in the afternoon so his part of dinner was all set but there wasn't really enough fish for all of us. I decided on a surf and turf dinner as it was fast to prepare after I got home from pilates and who would say no to surf and turf. My only issue.....the steaks were still frozen solid! Yikes I only had few hours so I needed them thawed out and fast. Luckily I had recently seen Alton Brown's Good Eats episode on duck and he explained some different thawing methods. While thawing in the fridge is definitely the safest (especially for larger cuts) you can also use cold running water to quickly defrost meats. Place the steaks (sealed in a zip top bag) in a bowl filled with cold water and allow the faucet to slowly drip into the bowl (to keep the water moving) and before you know it they are ready to cook (for the record I don't recommend using this method usually as the steaks seemed to taste a bit less juicy and tender but in a pinch it works!)
While I was at pilates the guys hung out and were kind enough to switch the rice maker on (a basmati medley from trader joes) and even noticed that I hadn't plugged it in. When I got home the steaks (beef and shark) went into a hot pan and were seared, while the green beans went into some boiling water. Just moments later the table was set and the meat rested and topped with some chimichuri sauce.... dinner is served!