Philly cheesesteak and shrimp with tasso

A lunch posting to go with a dinner posting (so much to cook, so little time.) We had ribeye steak leftover from Wed’s dinner and some cute little ciabatta rolls (from King Soopers). So it didn’t take a lot to make these lovely ‘wiches.

I made a quicky creamed spinach too. Nothing elaborate, just a bag of IQF (individually quick frozen) spinach, a bit of left over mascarpone, a bit of leftover heavy cream, some salt and pepper - a nice and easy side dish (and enough for another meal).

Philly cheesesteak sandwiches (2 servings)
Leftover ribeye or other steak
½ medium onion, sliced
cheese (we used a combo of pepper jack and gruyere)
2 sandwich rolls

Slice the steak into thin pieces. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, and sauté until caramelized.

Push the onions to the side of the skillet and toss in the steak. Toss with tongs for 1 minute, then top with cheese and tent with foil until the cheese melts. That’s all there is to it!

Last night we decided to have shrimp with leftover potatoes and some creamed spinach. There was a little piece of tasso ham left and that would flavor the shrimp. I went with a very simple, minimal ingredient prep for the shrimp. Served the shrimp over some re-crisped hash browns from the other day.

On Food Network, a lot of folks like to cook shrimp with shell on or at least tail shell on. For a messy, eat with your hands meal that’s fine, but I like to use a fork.

Shrimp with tasso (2 servings)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 oz. tasso, finely diced (substitute chorizo)
1 small shallot, sliced thin
Splash of chicken stock or water
12 oz. shrimp, peeled
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil and butter in a large sauté pan (the shrimp must fit in one layer) over medium heat. Add shallot and saute 3 minutes. Add tasso and cook 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Lay in the shrimp. Sprinkle with a little salt and black pepper. Cook until the bottom half of the shrimp have become opaque. Turn them and cook until the second side turns opaque. Remove from the pan immediately and serve right away.

Steak de Burgo and Steakhouse hash browns

We received a complimentary copy of Cook’s Country magazine last week. There’s some good looking stuff in it. I made two of its recipes last night. The steak recipe was a serendipitous find in that I had snared two beautiful rib eyes from the manager’s special bin at Safeway at 50% off!

Both of these recipes were prepared pretty much verbatim. It’s not my habit to be led along by the nose, but I could see no reason to make modifications for a first-time try.

Steak de Burgo
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
2 rib eye steaks (about 1” thick)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large garlic clove, peeled and halved
1/8 cup (2 tbsp) white wine
1 tbsp unsalted cold butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 additional tsp dried oregano

Cut out the center of the rib eye (the part that looks about the size of a filet mignon). Save the rest of the meat for another purpose. Wrap a piece of kitchen string around each filet so that they will hold their shape.

Mix together the oregano, garlic powder and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Dry the filets thoroughly and rub them with the dry spices.

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet until it starts to smoke. Cook steaks 3 – 4 minutes per side, according to your preference. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil.

Add garlic clove to skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine and scrape bottom of the pan. Cook about 1 minute. Whisk in butter, cream, and remaining oregano. Cook about 1 minute. Discard garlic, season as desired with salt and pepper, pour over meat, and serve.

Steakhouse hash browns
3 lbs. russet potatoes (about 3 large), peeled and cut into 1/2” chunks.
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
½ tsp pepper
4 tbsp vegetable oil

Bring potatoes and enough water to cover by 1” to boil in a pot over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until tender but not falling apart, 20 – 25 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to pot (off heat); let stand 5 minutes.

Transfer 1 cup potatoes to a bowl and toss with butter. Mash until smooth and then gently combine with remaining potato chunks. Mix in salt and pepper.

Adjust oven rack to upper position (about 4” inches below broiler element) and heat broiler. Invert a rimmed baking sheet and coat lightly with cooking spray. Heat 3 tbsp oil in 10” nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add potatoes and lightly pat into a circle. Cook until bottom is crusty and golden brown, 7 to 9 minutes.

Slide potatoes out of skillet onto prepared baking sheet with browned side down. Brush top with remaining oil and broil until deep golden brown, 10 to 14 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes, then cardfully slide onto platter. Cut into wedges and serve.

Home-aged rib eye steak

We took an idea from Cooks Illustrated magazine and tried aging some steaks at home. The process was extremely simple: you wrap it in a few layers of cheesecloth, place it on a rack (for air circulation) and put it on the lowest shelf of the fridge for 4 days.

Then we cooked 2 of them steak au poivre style (salted and pressed with rough ground black peppercorns. Yummo! (Thanks, Rachel Ray.)

The baked potato was rubbed with olive oil and an Indian "chat" seasoning. When done (1 hour at 400 degrees in the oven), we split them open and doused them with butter and more chat.