Let’s grill (ha changed it up on you)!

Red Wine-Herb Grilled Flank Steak

4 springs fresh rosemary

4 springs fresh thyme

3 cups red dry red wine

2 bay leaves

1 small onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 pound flank steak

salt and pepper to taste

Place wine, rosemary, thyme, onion, garlic and olive oil in a large shallow baking dish and stir to combine.

Add steak and coat both sides then add bay leaves.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but it is best for overnight.

Grilled Vegetables

1 large tomato

3 portabella mushrooms (cleaned)

1 large eggplant

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh parsley

1 teaspoon fresh basil

In a bowl whisk olive oil, balsamic vinegar, parsley, and basil.

Slice tomato, portabella mushrooms, and eggplant. Place in a large dish and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Heat grill on high and let the vegetables rest for 5 minutes. Place the vegetables on the grill and cook each side for 7 – 10 minutes.

Once the veggies are done, let them rest in a dish for 5 – 10 minutes (Good time to start the steak).

Jen took a picture of me while I was working and not cooking.

Time to grill the steak. Remove the meat from the marinade, season both sides with salt and pepper.

Place on the grill and cook for 6 to 8 minutes on each side.

Remove from the grill and let sit for 5 minutes.

While the steak sits, coat the vegetables with the sauce.

Slice the steak against the grain.

Time to plate! Here is how I did the plating:

Here is another view:

This is a great grilling recipe so I hope you enjoy! I’m not sure what I am going to cook tomorrow for dinner, but I just checked the weather and they are calling for rain so who knows what I will end up making. Any ideas? Email them to me at thecookinghusband@gmail.com

Happy Cooking!

Let’s cook!

Pork Chops Stuffed with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 handful sun-dried tomatoes, diced

10-oz bag of frozen spinach, thawed

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup goat cheese

1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese

4 – 1inch thick pork chops (I need to have lunch tomorrow)

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 lemon, zested

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Warm 1 tablespoon olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until you start to smell it which took about 2 minutes for me.

Add the sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook for about 2-3 minutes.

In a medium bowl, add goat cheese and the cream cheese.

Transfer the spinach mixture into the bowl of goat cheese and cream cheese.

Stir to combine and let rest while you finish the meal.

Take a sharp filet knife and cut a pocket into each pork chop.

Stuff each pork chop with the spinach and sun-dried tomato mixture.

Close the pork around the stuffing as much as possible.

Season the outside of the pork with salt and pepper.

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet. When the pan is hot add the pork chops.

Cook until golden, about 6 minutes per side.

Transfer the pork to a side dish and tent with foil to keep warm.

In a small bowl combine the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, and mustard.

Add the chicken broth mixture to the skillet you cooked the pork chops in over medium heat.

Scrape up the brown bits (aka tons of flavor) from the bottom of the pan and let the chicken broth simmer. Reduce the broth by half to make a light sauce which takes about a total of 5-8 minutes.

For this dinner I served the pork chops with rice which the sauce over the rice and pork were delicious!

Here is a picture of the plating:

Here is a picture of Jen’s AWESOME salad which I will talk her into posting for you all!

Here is a close-up of the main dish:

So now you have a stuffed pork chop recipe which is simple and takes a total of 35 minutes! For tomorrow’s dinner I am going to let you the readers decide on what I should cook. Email me at thecookinghusband@gmail.com and the dinner I chose to cook will get a special surprise!

Happy Cooking!

Let’s cook!

Chili Oil

1 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes

Put the olive oil into a small saucepan.

Add red pepper flakes and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool while you do prep for the rest of the dinner.

Spicy Chicken

2 chicken breast with bone and skin (didn’t say this was healthy recipe)

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

1/2 cup green olives, chopped

2 1/2 tablespoons green onions, chopped

2 tablespoons drained capers

2/3 cup white wine

salt and pepper

4 tablespoons Chli oil from above recipe

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the chili oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat.  Non-stick may be preferable.

Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. While the chicken is browning, dice your garlic, onion and olives.

Remove the skillet from the heat and put the chicken on a plate (it’s not done yet you eat this you will be best friends with the bathroom).

Stir in the garlic, olives, onions and capers.

Add the wine and take a sip make sure it is good.

Add the chicken and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken is cook through turning occasionally.

Remove the lid and let the chicken sit for 5 minutes away from the burner before serving.

For this meal I made rice and broccoli (Jen hates broccoli but I love it!).

Here is how I did the plate:

Here is a close-up:

For the left-over chili oil you can tranfer to a sauce bottle and refrigerate up to 1 month. I also use this chili oil with fish and making your own saves money!

Tomorrow I will post homemade potato salad so be sure to check it out!

Happy Cooking!

Let’s Cook!

Pasta with Tomato, Basil and Prosciutto

1 package fresh linguine noodles

1 package thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped

1/2 onion, diced

4 tomatoes, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced (we didn’t have any large cloves left over so I used several small ones to get the right amount of garlic)

1/4 cup basil, chiffonade (fancy name for cutting it into small strips)

2 Tablespoons olive oil (for making the noodles)

1 Teaspoon chopped kalamata olives (optional)

Red Pepper flakes to taste

Parmesan Cheese to taste

To start off, you will have a good bit of chopping to do.  I chopped my red pepper and onion right away as I planned to have them cook for a little while.

Add the onions and peppers into a pan with a little bit of butter so they won’t stick and saute for 3-5 minutes over medium heat to soften the veggies a little.

Remove the onions and peppers from the heat and set aside.  Time to start the water boiling for your noodles and continue with the chopping.  I minced my garlic…

Diced my tomatoes…

And cut my basil into a chiffonade.  The easiest way to do this is to take several basil leaves and stack them on top of each other and roll them up into a tight ball.  Start slicing at the tip of the leaves down to the stems, and you will have a perfect basil chiffonade.  To me, it always makes a dish look a little more gourmet, since it looks like you took a long time to slice up the basil into even strips. I like any shortcuts that make me look like I am a master chef, which I am very far from.

Last thing to cut up is the prosciutto.  I left mine in pretty big chunks as I love prosciutto, which is very odd since I do not like bacon at all.  Just one of my personal little quirks.

By now, the water should be boiling for the noodles.  Just add them into the water and put the olive oil in with it.  The fresh noodles only take about 3 minutes to cook so be sure to stay close to the stove.

Now, it is time to drain the noodles and put it all together in a big bowl.  Here’s what mine looked like for serving.

I forgot to take a close up shot, but you get the idea.  This was a really quick and easy dinner to make and it tasted light enough for a great summer dinner.  Add the Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes to your liking.  I like mine pretty spicy so I didn’t put the pepper flakes on until after I made my bowl.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow when the Cooking Husband will return.  Also, I’m going to try to commandeer the website again to post a dessert in the next couple of weeks.  It is a rare occasion around our house that we have dessert, but it is always worth it, and I had a great sweet treat a few months ago at a party that I am dying to recreate. 

Happy cooking!

Let’s cook!

Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon onion, minced

2 Tablespoon butter

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2/3 cup cold butter, sliced

1 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

2-4 chicken breast, boneless and skinless

Extra virgin olive oil for brushing

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

8 oz Capricho de Cabra or goat cheese

Mince the garlic and onion and add to a skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  Cook until garlic and onions are tender–about 3-5 minutes.

Squeeze juice from one whole lemon (which is approximately 1/4 cup of lemon juice as a general rule of thumb) into a measuring cup and then add 1/2 cup white wine.  I used Chardonnay but just realized I forgot to add it to the ingredients picture, so imagine you saw it in the main picture.

Stir the wine and lemon guice into the skillet, increase the heat to medium high, and simmer to reduce the mixture by half.  Then add the cold butter one slice at a time.  I usually split the butter into to tablespoon servings to add them to the mixture.  Here’s what it looks like once you get most of the butter added:

Time to start the chicken now.  Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides, and put on the grill over high heat for about 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Time to finish the sauce.  Once you have combined all of the butter slices into the sauce, add the chopped sun dried tomatoes, basil, kosher salt and white pepper. 

Stir the ingredients together and remove from heat.  Set aside.

A few minutes before the chicken is finished grilling, place equal amounts of cheese on each breast and allow about 2 minutes for the cheese to melt slightly.

Now it’s time to finish the meal.  I decided to do my plating with mashed potatoes on the bottom, green beans on top of that, the chicken with cheese above that, and everything is topped off with the sun dried tomato sauce.

And the close up:

Thomas absolutely loved this dish and I would really encourage you to try it.  I love it anytime I am able to re-create a dish we have had in a restaurant at the house.  I hope you enjoy and I promise you won’t be disappointed.  The Cooking Husband will return with another recipe tomorrow, and be on the look out for the pictures of the meals from Vegas later this week.

Happy Cooking!