Recipe: Hillbilly Steak au Poivre

Hillbilly Steak Au Poirve

Don’t be intimidated by the fancy name, folks. Steak au poivre is just a fancy French way of saying “steak with pepper,” but for all its simplicity this simple dish is darn fancy-tasting.

The original version of this recipe calls for cognac, but really, how many of you out there just have the stuff lying around? Instead, this version uses an American staple: Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey! Yee-haw! It has a little more bite than the French version, but I think you’ll enjoy it nonetheless.

INGREDIENTS

4 smallish steaks. It doesn’t really matter what kind. Just make ‘em small enough to fit four to a large skillet.

Kosher or sea salt

Whole black peppers or (even better) tri-color peppercorn mix

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 cup heavy whipping cream

½ cup Jack Daniel’s

Pull the steaks out of the fridge for about an hour before you’re ready to coo. Just don’t let the dog pull ‘em off the counter! Wrap the peppercorns in a sandwich bag, then wrap that in a towel. Place the whole thing on the floor and beat the hell out of it with whatever you have handy until the peppercorns are coarsely crushed.

In a large skillet melt the butter and olive oil until it just starts to turn brown. Paste the peppercorns and the salt evenly on both sides of the steaks and drop ‘em in a medium-heat, stainless steel skillet. NOTE: try not to use non-stick; it ruins the deglazing process later.

When the steaks are done cooking on both sides (I hope you can figure that part out yourself) set them aside under a pie pan or something to keep them warm.

Now here comes the fun part: Pull the skillet off the heat and VERY CAREFULLY drop in the Jack Daniel’s. Now, the French recipes call for the alcohol to be ignited, but I think you’ll find that the heat of the pan will take care of it for you. Just lean back and let the steam billow away.

When that’s done, place the pan back over medium heat and slowwwwwly add the heavy cream and whisk it all around. You’ll find that the stuff that baked onto the bottom of the pan from the steaks deglazes into the cream and creates the best. Sauce. Ever.

When the sauce is nice and thick, pour it over the steaks and serve.

Enjoy!

Super Savin'

Not that I've been paying any attention to the whole couponing craze, but as of late I HAVE been paying more attention to sneaky sneaky ways of saving a few ducats here and there.

Most recently the issue came up of a few of my cooking implements having not been packed, thereby leaving me to have to cut a tomato with a butter knife.

A butter knife.

It was horrible. Thus, it was incumbent upon me to make a trip down to Penney's to but some temporary replacements until my shiny Wusthof's could be UPS'd up to the WA.

So there I was, all piled with knives and cutting boards and spatulas, when I saw that not only was there to be a sale the following weekend, but also that after purchase, if you take a survey, you get 15% off of everything all day.

Hmmm...

So what did I do? I purchased the cheapest item (Kitchenaid spatula for $7), an then took the receipt home, did the survey, printed out my coupon, and then waited for the weekend.

Come sale day I picked my items back out, presented the coupon to the clerk, and after all was said and done I experienced the following results:

Original Purchase Price: $70
Savings: $38
Total Price After Savings: A paltry $32

Can you beat it with a stick? No you cannot. And to top it all off in another thrity days I can take another survey, and save another 15% later on!

It almost makes a fella want to start clipping coupons...

Recipe: Who said salad can't be good?

Before I get right down to sharing the kind of food that we eat around here, I just wanna let you know where I come from. My paternal grandmother, Carolyn, had five kids and a husband who worked in the Navy. Translation? She had to learn to do a lot with a little. Same for my Mom, who made do for us three kids during some of the leaner times.

What that translates to is that while I can occasionally au poivre a steak with the best of 'em, my strength and experience lies in comfort foods. So before you find yourself appalled by the meat-and-cheesiness of some of the dishes that I will lay before you here, understand that Grandma and Ma always bracketed anything that they served with enough leafy green stuff to make the most dedicated herbivore blanch from sheer intimidation.

So caveats having been presented, here we go with my first stay-at-home dad recipe.

Tangy Onion-Crusted Chicken over a South of France Salad

Don't intimidated by the name, it just sounds fancy. In any case this is a modification of a recipe I found God knows where, and that's pretty good for summertime. Prep time is around thirty-five minutes.

INGREDIENTS

1 doz. chicken tenderloins

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1 packet Shake and Bake (or cheap generic equivalent; I use Albertson's brand)

1 packet french onion soup mix

1 bag o' red & green lettuce

1 small bag frozen chopped green beans

3 strips bacon (or bacon bits, if you like that kind of thing)

and if you wanna get pretty fancy...

goat cheese and pitted olives as garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350. Place the mayo into a small bowl, and combine Shake and Bake and onion soup mix into another bowl. Lightly coat each tenderloin in mayo and then coat with dry mix. Place them on a non-stick cookie sheet and place in oven, checking after twenty minutes for doneness. Juice should run clear and center of tenderloins should just be turning white when you take them out. For those of you who have concerns of pathogens, internal temp should be 165°.

While the chicken is cooking fry the bacon crisp and drain, them crumble. Cook the green beans as directed on the package and then cool.

When the chicken comes out of the oven, let it sit for ten minutes, and then slice it up real nice, using a sharp knife. oh, and try not to know all the coating off of it. On six plates, layer lettuce, green beans, bacon, then chicken. Serve with a side of fancy stuff and add a little French dressing if you feel so inclined.

Enjoy!

Dadus Domesticus

After fifteen years of full-time work, I suddenly found myself a stay-at-home dad. Some economy, huh? So while the wife bravely ventures forth into the workplace, I find myself in a situation that none of my previous experience could have prepared me for: caring for an energetic five-year-old and keeping house.

And the truth of the matter is this: I'm no domestic maven. I'm just a man who has taken as many lessons from the caretakers in his life (thanks for the recipes, Mom!) as possible. In fact, I'd be just as happy to get advice from you out there as I would be to share my own! So drop me a line if you have any really sweet tips, and I will share them here. Recipes, cleaning advice, diversions for those rare slow moments - it's all good.

Stick around to see if I survive.