Heppy Valemtimes!
I realize this post is nearly 30 days overdue, but I recently cooked the squash recipe (below) again and was reminded of how much I liked it, so I thought, "now is as good a time as any to share these recipes!" You can make fun of me in the comments.
J and I decided that the best way to spend Valentines was an evening at home. No plans. No stress. No sitting in dinner reservation traffic. Sure enough. It was the best. We had a nice home-cooked meal, rented a movie and enjoyed some DUHlicious Sprinkles Cupcakes my husband brought home for me (MUCH better than a box of chocolates) along with some beautiful roses!
Dinner turned out great! I was pretty excited because
I'm not good at making steak and when I multi-task
preparations of new recipes...it usually turns out
right around edible. I got some really nice cuts of
fliet mignon at Whole Foods and went straight home to
figure out how to not mess them up. Normally, I would
grill them, but I was out of propane and didn't want
to go to the store to get more. So at the advice of
Culinary Kyle decided to pan fry/oven cook them. It
worked!! I thought I'd share the instructions with you in case you've had
trouble making steak too.
I used a simple combination of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper as the rub and let it sit on the meat for about 10 minutes before placing the meant in the skillet. The trick is to not overcook them. The filet cut is very tender, but turns tough as you get closer to well-done....Using the oven to cook your filets will only take a total of 16 minutes. Before you prepare your filet steaks for baking you should add any seasonings that you like and gently rub them into the meat. This will help to keep the flavor in. If you prefer to use a marinade and soak your steak overnight that is also great... First, you will need to have a large skillet and one tablespoon of vegetable oil. Pour the oil in the large skillet, preferably one that can be place in the oven as well such as an iron skillet. Heat the oil until you notice small wisps of smoke appear, then place your mignon steaks in the skillet. Sear each steak for 3 minutes on both sides. This helps to hold in the natural juices of the filet steaks and also aids in keeping your steaks tender. Now, place the pan in the oven and bake in a pre-heated oven on 375 degrees. For a rare steak you will want to bake for 4 to 6 minutes, for medium 6 to 8 minutes, and for well done you will want to bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
J loves spaghetti squash, but I didn't know how to
make it. Thanks to cooks.com, I do now. Do
you know why it's called spaghetti squash? Because
when it's cooked the pulp pulls apart and looks
like spaghetti noodles!
STUFFED SPAGHETTI
SQUASH
1 spaghetti squash
(1 1/2 lbs.)
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 c. diced onion and red pepper
1 garlic clove
8 oz. ground veal, or any meat
1 c. canned whole tomatoes, chopped
1/4 tsp. oregano
Dash salt and pepper
Shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. chopped Italian parsley
Preheat
oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the squash generously
with a fork; place whole squash on baking sheet and
bake for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven to 350
degrees.
Cut squash in half lengthwise, remove and discard
seeds. Scoop out pulp, reserve shells. Set both
aside.
In skillet heat oil, add onion, red pepper and
garlic. Saute until onion is translucent. Stir in
ground meat, saute until meat is no longer pink, add
tomatoes, seasonings and reserved squash pulp and
cook, stir occasionally until liquid is absorbed.
Spoon half of mixture into a shell.
Place shells in baking dish and bake 20 minutes.
Sprinkle cheese on each one and then broil until
melted and browned.
Serve with sprinkled parsley.
Makes 2
servings.
Since we were having
steak as our entree, I skipped the ground meat in the
recipe and served the squash as our vegetable. Here's
a tip for you low carb friends out there - use the
squash as pasta substitute in spaghetti! Bake the
spaghetti squash, discard the seeds and remove the
pulp. Prepare marinara meat sauce however you like it
and serve over the squash pulp.
Pair the steak and squash with a nice cool glass of
Sparkling Red Grape Juice from Whole Foods and some
fresh fruit and you've got yourself a delightful
meal!