What's cookin'? - Steak with Rosemary Garlic Butter/ Parmesan Mushrooms

Too hot!

We moved our meal to the outside - cooked it outside on the grill and then ate it outside too.

This meal was so delicious!

The only thing that would've made it better is a different color on the plate - it was so BROWN!

But, because of the heat, none of us were especially hungry. Therefore, we opted out of a dessert (egads!) or another side dish!

Tonight I had a London Broil to prepare on the grill. I think any cut of beef would do for this recipe. It is a man pleaser, and makes any steak even better (if you can imagine that!)

Tonight our meat was topped with a Rosemary Garlic Butter. 

Butter on steak?

Yep!

And it was damn delicious too!

I was happy that I got to use some of my rosemary from my herb pot on the deck!

I found the original recipe here:

http://www.vintagekitchennotes.com/2013/09/rosemary-garlic-butter-steak-tips-for.html?m=1

This Blogger chose to sear the steak in a frying pan, and make the butter along with it. Since we were grilling our beef, I only made the butter sauce in the frying pan.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

3 garlic gloves

2 T fresh rosemary leaves

4 T butter

1 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

A splash of white wine 

Directions:

•Mince garlic and rosemary. Add 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste). 

•Heat a skillet over medium/high heat and melt butter. Add oil to prevent it from burning too much.

•Add the wine, garlic and rosemary to the skillet. 

•Cook the wine until reduced and a kind of sauce if formed. (You don't want your garlic to turn brown - it tends to taste bitter!)

•Slice the steaks and serve them with the sauce.

Oh. My. Goodness.

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I served "baked" Parmesan Mushrooms on the side. (The original recipe calls for them to be baked in the oven; we cooked ours in a grill basket, lined with foil, outside.

These are the best mushrooms I have ever tasted!

Even my oldest son, who doesn't normally eat mushrooms, loved these! (The younger one, not so much.... he still won't even try them ever since he learned in school that mushrooms are a fungus....) 

Whatever.

Once again got to raid my herb pot, this recipe calls for thyme !

This is such an easy recipe, and it was easy enough to put it on the grill instead of in the oven!

Just toss the following ingredients together in a large bowl:

•1 1/2 pounds Cremini / Baby Bella mushrooms

•3 T of olive oil

•Zest and juice of one lemon

•3 cloves garlic, minced

•2 - 3T fresh thyme 

•1/4c parmesan cheese

•Kosher salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)

Spread them all out in a single layer on a lightly greased (or sprayed) bake pan. Bake 375° for 15 minutes.

Again, we put ours in a foil-lined grill pan and just cooked them on the grill! About the same amount of time!

Yumm-o!

What's cookin'? - Italian chicken

Did you ever have a recipe for which you have been known? 

For my mom it's eggplant Parmesan, meatballs and Manaste (an Italian soup).

For my mother-in-law it's ham barbecue (Pittsburgh- style), potato salad and the ever - requested strawberry Jell-O salad.

My husband, he makes killer stuffed cabbage rolls.

For me, it has become this dish we just call Italian chicken.

It's actually called "Braised Chicken Thighs with Olives and Basil", and it comes from a cookbook that I bought at one of the boys' Scholastic book fairs years ago - Food & Wine's Quick from Scratch Italian cookbook.

I use this cook book so much it's full of  folded pages and stains from using its pages as a spoon rest!

I've made this recipe so often that I know it by heart. It's one of those - you just do it now - you don't even have to look at the book. I've made it for the four of us, served it to company, and even made it for the masses at a picnic. I always get requests for it and it never disappoints!

My husband will never leave me because if he did, he'd have to say goodbye to this chicken - and that's not a sacrifice he's willing to make! Hahaha

Italian chicken

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8 chicken thighs, with skin

1 onion, chopped

12 whole cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 cup white cooking wine

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 large can crushed tomatoes

Black olives, sliced (about 1/3 cup)

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Black pepper

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In a large skillet heat olive oil, over moderately high heat.

Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. 

Brown chicken on both sides (about eight minutes each side).

Remove chicken from pan and place on a serving dish.

Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.

Add onion and garlic cloves. Sauté until onion is soft (about two minutes).

Add wine and rosemary. Scrape off browned bits from bottom of pan. Let wine simmer until reduced to about 1/4 cup.

Add broth, tomatoes, olives, salt and chicken (skin side up )with all accumulated juices to the pan.

Cover and simmer about 20 minutes until chicken is cooked all the way through.

Push chicken aside and mash each clove of garlic with a fork.

Add basil and  a sprinkling  of black pepper.

Ready to serve!

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Like the picture above shows, we always serve it with roasted green beans. It just seems to go well together and, hey, we like it!

Roasted green beans

Toss fresh green beans with extra-virgin olive oil, a dash of sea salt and dried thyme. Roast in oven at 425° for about 20 minutes or until beans begin to brown.

Delicious!