Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts are not my favorite food in the world, however I don't always cook for JUST me. I cooked these up today as a treat for my girlfriend and possibly some lucky people at work tomorrow! There aren't too many photo's for this one since I was almost halfway done cooking them when I remembered to reach for the camera, sorry everybody!


Ingredients:
Brussels Sprouts
3/4 cup Olive Oil
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herbs
Garlic Salt

I began by cutting the Brussels Sprouts in half, top to bottom. I put all these into a mixing bowl and turned my attention to the stovetop.

I began with putting a large saucepan on the stovetop and turning the heat to medium. I then poured in about 3/4 cup of Olive Oil, possibly an entire cup's worth.

Once the Olive Oil is heated, pour in your Brussels Sprouts. Stir them around to get them properly coated by the Olive Oil. Then season them with your Ground Black Pepper, Italian Herbs, and Garlic Salt. I did not give an exact amount due to the fact that I know everyone has their own taste preferences. It will be hard to mess this up since only 3 spices really, so you can just add more here and there to get it to be perfect.

Every once in awhile stir them and by once in awhile, I mean do it regularly. You do not want them to sear themselves to the bottom of your pan. Let them cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Now the fun part, taste test them! You should have enough in there to steal one or three out to taste. If they taste done, then take them off. If not, well just cook them a little longer! Then, enjoy!

Flank Steak pt. 2

I decided to cook some Flank Steak again today, it's just so tasty. That and I wanted tasty lunches for the rest of the week rather than go out to get fast food. So I looked in the fridge and made some slight changes to the recipe I used last time.





Ingredients:
1 bottle of Rahr Stormcloud (1 for you too!)
dash of Sea Salt
dash of Indian Spice Mix
healthy dose of Ground Black Pepper
2 tsp of Italian Herbs
1 tsp of Ground Cumin/Coriander
1/2 tsp of Fenugreek Seeds
1/4 cup Roasted Hot Hatch Chilies
1/2 cup diced Red Onion

There is local food store that is called Central Market and I went there last week. I noticed there is a Hatch Chili Festival going on this month complete with containers of roasted chilies, so naturally I bought some since I know I'll use it somewhere.

As per usual, I cut up the steak into 4 pieces to better fit in my large saucepan/skillet. I then put the skillet on the stovetop and poured in 1 bottle of delicious Rahr Stormcloud brew. It smelled amazing, and also produced a lot of foam. Don't worry, it dies off pretty quickly. Once the foam is mostly gone, turn the heat to medium.

To this, I added in all my spices and diced Red Onion. I grabbed one of the Hatch Chilies and cut it up into several smaller pieces and put that in the skillet as well. It should be simmering by now, so stir everything in there to make sure it's mixed well.

Put in the steak a piece at a time. Cover. Let cook for about a minute, then flip them over. You want just enough browning to happen to almost seal the juices in that side.

Let cook for about 5 minutes, then flip again. I did this to try and make sure the cooking was thorough and even. It worked pretty well. Leave them like they are now for approximately 6 minutes, then cut to check if they are cooked to your satisfaction. I aimed for medium/medium-well, I hit the mark perfectly.

I then took the steaks off, sliced them into strips and presented them with a spoonful of the Red Onions from the skillet on top. Looks great, tastes even better.

I then used my Rice Cooker to cook regular white rice and a small pot to cook some frozen vegetables. The rice, vegetables, and steak are now my lunch for the work week. Enjoy!

Spoonful of Mushroom Couscous

So in a lot of my posts, I have either Mushrooms or Couscous involved. Well, looks like it's about time they met up and made an amazing meal. I decided to make this today as a lunchtime meal, and it was just so simple to make that I was hitting myself for not figuring it out sooner!



Ingredients:
1/2 lb Shiitake Mushrooms
1 lb Cremini Mushrooms
Sake
Teriyaki Sauce
Soy Sauce
Lime Juice
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Couscous

I began with a saucepan where I poured in a liberal amount of Sake. Added to that was a light amount of Soy and Teriyaki Sauce. The same for Lime Juice. I turned the heat to medium.

I then sliced the Cremini Mushrooms and Shiitake Mushrooms into smaller portions and tossed them all into the saucepan. To that, I added the Ground Black Pepper and Garlic salt. Not too much otherwise they will overpower everything else. Mix everything together with tongs to make sure everything gets equal flavor.

At this point, I started the Couscous in my rice cooker. It finished cooking right as the rest of the recipe was finishing up.

Back to the Mushrooms, stir them again. They should be spongey about now so turn the heat off. Get your food processor or blender and puree the Mushrooms as much as you can. They turned into a kind of paste for me, which turns out to work quite well.

Since the Couscous is done now, just put that down first and top with the Mushroom paste. Garnish with a sprinkling of Italian Herbs and you are good to go. Enjoy.

Who doesn't like Flank Steak?

I love steak. I had never even heard of a Flank Steak cut of meat until I moved to Texas, however it has quickly become one of my favorite cuts. It is a quality cut with a moderate amount of fat that pretty much melts 100% away while cooking. This is a simple recipe I used today when making my lunch.



Ingredients:
1 bottle Rahr Stormcloud IPA
1 lb Flank Steak
Lowry's Steak Seasoning
Garlic Salt
Ground Black Pepper

A simple recipe that I started off with cutting my flank steak into 3 portions. This is due to the fact that I like to eat my steak right after I buy it, so any longer is just pure agony. It's also easier to flip and cooks faster when in smaller portions.

I then turn the heat to medium and put my saucepan on the stove. I grab a bottle of Rahr Stormcloud IPA and pour all of it in. Any IPA would do, but I prefer local Rahr beer for this purpose.

I then turn back to my Flank Steak and season one side with Lowry's Steak Seasoning and a dash of Garlic Salt. I then place the Flank Steak seasoned side down into the beer. I then season the top side with Lowry's, Garlic Salt, and Ground Black Pepper.

I make sure to turn over the Flank Steak every so often, probably every 2 to 3 minutes. I let this go on for about 8 minutes and took out a piece, cut it to check how done it was. Still needed a minute, so back in it went. I did this only once, and then the Flank Steak was done to my desired doneness...medium well. Then I took it all out, cut it up, and had an amazing lunch. Enjoy.

Shrimp!

I have not cooked shrimp in ages, so today as a special treat for my girlfriend that is just what I did. And put it on couscous!

Ingredients:
1/2 lb Shrimp
Couscous
Lime Juice
Teriyaki Sauce
Soy Sauce
Green Onions/Scallions
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Butter

So I began by grabbing one of my mixing bowls and pouring in about a half cup of Lime Juice. To that, I added in a liberal amount of Teriyaki Sauce and Soy Sauce. I mixed that together a bit, and added a handful of diced Green Onions/Scallions. To top it off, I grabbed my Garlic Salt and Ground Black Pepper and lightly to medium seasoned the mixture. Then I mixed it together again to try and get an equal consistency all around.

The Shrimp was all ready to go, because why not? It's not like it's really going anywhere. So in that went. I mixed it together, making sure that the mixture covered all the Shrimp.

I then grabbed a saucepan and cut about a third of a stick of butter into the pan, cut into several smaller pieces to hurry the process up. Turn the heat on the stove to medium. Cover it if you want, but I think it is fast enough as is.

Once the butter is mostly melted, in goes the contents of your mixing bowl. Shrimp and the marinade mixture. Stir it around to make sure it evens out.

Stir occasionally to make sure it cooks properly. The easy part here is that the Shrimp turns to an orange/red color when it is cooked. So you really just have to watch out for that, it should not take that long.

Once that was done, I turned the heat off. I got the Couscous and put that on a plate, sort of like a bed for the Shrimp to lie on. And that's how simple it is. Enjoy.