It's Good to Be Back

SO it's been about three weeks since I last posted! And I have to admit that I've really missed cooking. Cooking has become something that I really enjoy! But anyway, last week I made Rib Eye steak. It was my first time making steak by myself, so I was anxious to see how it would turn out. I only bought one steak because this cut of meat was really expensive. First, I thinly coated each side of steak with olive oil, and sprinkled a ready-made mix of steak seasoning on it. Giada's actual recipe called for only salt and pepper on the steak, but I knew that wouldn't be enough for my taste buds. Next I heated up a skillet with some olive oil and seared the steak for about 8 minutes on each side. The recipe only called for 5 minutes on each side, but that was for a medium rare steak, which is too rare for my liking. I cooked the steak until it was about medium well. This steak was sooo yummy! I don't think I should take the credit for it though, because the cut of the meat was what made it so buttery and delicious. I like how it was so simple to season. I was supposed to make an arugula salad with this steak but sadly my arugula went bad, so I had to stick with steam-fresh vegetables. I'm glad I got to make this recipe, because I want to get a good idea of how to prepare different meats and different ways of doing so. Last week I also made Roasted Bell Peppers - a very cool recipe! There are made by charring bell peppers in the oven, removing the skin, slicing them into strips, and marinating them in garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper. I let the whole thing sit over night and the next day I used them to make a Sweet Red Pepper Crostini. To make this crostini I toasted slices of a baguette in the oven, put one of the Roasted Bell Peppers on each slice, and topped it with some fontina cheese! They were great appetizers. It had a taste that reminded me of pizza, but the most simple and fresh pizza you could eat. This Crostini not only tasted good, but looked good as well!! Both the steak and Crostini were very successful.

Time Spent: 4 hours

Pork Milanese!

Last week I made Pork Milanese - a pretty basic recipe, but a great method of cooking. You start out with pork loin chops that are pounded to get a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Salt and pepper are sprinkled on each side of each pork chop. Next three stations are set up composing of a shallow bowl of flour, a shallow bowl of whisked eggs, and a shallow bowl with a breadcrumb mixture (plain breadcrumbs, dried thyme, dried basil, parmesan cheese). Once all the stations are ready to go, you take each pork chop, lightly coat it in flour, dip it in the egg mixture, and coat it with breadcrumbs. Olive oil and butter are heated in a large, deep skillet and the pork chops are cooked for about 4 minutes on each side.

I really liked this recipe! The crunchy exterior of the pork was really yummy and the pork was moist and not overcooked. The only thing was that the outside of the pork had all the flavor, so I would serve the pork with some type of sauce on the side. Giada has a section in Everyday Italian called "Everyday Leftovers." It's basically a section with a few recipes that use up stuff from her other recipes. She had a recipe for a Pork Milanese Sandwich that I was pumped to make! Sandwiches and pasta are two of my favorite foods to make AND eat. There are pretty much endless possibilities of what you can do with pasta and sandwiches.

I can make them simple, or something really special. You can use different sauces, different meats, different vegetables, etc.! So, when I read the Pork Milanese Sandwich recipe I was pretty excited. To make this sandwich, you start by taking some of the inner bread out of a nice Italian roll. Then you mash some avocado on one side of the roll. Sliced Pork Milanese is layered on followed by arugula that has been tossed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I put a few more drops of balsamic vinegar onto the whole sandwich to give some extra flavor. Even though Giada had no cheese in the recipe, I added a few thin slices of fontina cheese because I just didn't feel like the sandwich would be complete without it. I loved this sandwich! It tasted like a gourmet sandwich I'd pay $8 for at some fancy sandwich shop. The arugula and avocado made it taste so fresh and the pork accompanied it very well. After tasting it, my mom said "I can't wait to come over to your house someday to eat the yummy food you make!" That statement alone made me pretty happy :). I don't think I'm going to add on new recipes this week because I'm so behind and this is a pretty busy week for me with school. Hopefully I will get caught up!

Time spent: 3 hours and 30 minutes