Eat Together, Make Life Delicious...

The other day I took a trip to the local butcher in search of a steak dinner. I wasn't entirely sure what cut I was going to ask for, but I knew which ever it was, I wanted to come home with something easy to prepare. Entering the store, I was greeted by Leo, a butcher of 45 years. Asking his advice, he quickly pointed me to the shell steaks that had been cut to 1-inch thick early that morning. "So, Leo, how would you recommend preparing these steaks?" and his reply couldn't have made me happier. "Salt, keep it simple" he said. And so that's exactly what I did more or less. Broiled Shell Steaks are an easy recipe to prepare that takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. It's perfect for any occasion and especially nice when you are in a hurry. After salting my steaks I created a marinade of dried rosemary, fresh minced garlic, and olive oil--any herb works here should you like thyme, oregano, or parsley. The real tricks to broiling steak are:

- starting with room temperature steaks - having the oven rack set at the right distance from the heat - using a timer

And no matter what cut you eventually decide on for your broiled steak, follow the video for a simple step by step. Besides easy, it's also quite delicious.



My early morning trip to the Butcher to get the scoop on a few secrets!

Labels: broiling steak, butcher, garlic, rosemary, shell steaks

Scallops are one of my favorite ingredients to cook with: they are delicate and take no more than 4 minutes in the pan. When you are rushing to get dinner on the table, this quality is all important. Scallops also have another really neat quality, because they are so porous they absorb whatever flavor you cook them in. From start to finish, scallops with rice takes no more than 30 minutes. I like to prepare the rice and scallops separately and then at the very last minute, incorporate it all together. I find this allows all the flavors to meld together. This techinique also works with any type of pasta and cous cous.

My favorite things to include in my scallops and rice -and as demonstrated in the video - are equally delicate ingredients: butter, thyme, garlic, white wine, and shallots. You can adjust these of course to suit your tastes, just make sure to pick complimentary flavors.

Labels: butter, garlic, rice, scallops, shallots, thyme, white wine