How to Cook A Steak Perfectly

Photo Credit: http://www.stephencooks.com

Every once in a while, I crave a good piece of steak. While I love heading over to Mastro’s or Gibsons for a delicious filet mignon, it is SUPER expensive and honestly, I think I make a pretty killer steak all on my own.

Making steak at home is not only much less expensive, it’s super simple. Today’s post is going to be about how to cook a filet, but you can use the same cooking method for many other types of steak including like ribeye or a short loin steak (like NY strip). They may just need to be in the oven a little longer depending on the size!

What You’ll Need
An oven-proof skillet (or a baking sheet if you don’t have one)
2 teaspoon of olive oil
Salt
Pepper
A piece of steak

What You’ll Do

1) Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. If you don’t have an oven proof skillet, keep a baking sheet in the oven while it’s pre-heating.

2) Take the steak out of the refrigerator about a half hour before you want to cook it. Pat it down to remove all the moisture and generously coat with salt and pepper.

The reason we bring a steak to room temperature before cooking it is because if we don’t, it will bring the temperature of the pan down. The key to making a perfect steak is cooking it at a super high temperature for a short amount of time. The longer a steak is cooking, the tougher it will get (and thus a cold steak will be cooking longer and result in a tougher outcome).

Steak Coming to Room Temperature

2) Heat up your skillet with a small drizzle of olive oil (about couple of teaspoons). When the oil gets really hot (it may start smoking a bit), place your steak in the skillet. Turn your fans on, because this will be smokey!

Steak Searing in the Pan

3) Let the steak caramelize in the pan for 3-5 minutes (depending on size of steak). Do NOT touch it or it won’t get a good sear. Once it’s ready, you should be able to flip it without it sticking to the pan. If there is even the tiniest bit of resistance, it’s not ready to be flipped.

A Nice Sear on My Steak

4) Let the steak cook on the other side for another couple of minutes. Once you get a good sear on that part, it’s important to make sure you sear the sides of steak. I usually just use some tongs and hold the steak on the skillet for about 30 seconds-1 minute on each side. Just be CAREFUL you don’t burn yourself.

Searing the Sides of the Steak

5) Once your steak has a nice sear on all sides, take the entire pan and put it in the oven (or take the steak off and put it on the super hot baking sheet). The length of time depends on the cut/thickness of the steak.

I can usually tell how done the steak is by pushing my finger on the top of the steak (the harder it is, the more well-done it is), but if you want an exact science, here are the temperatures (you will need a meat thermometer):

Rare: 125-130 degrees (this will be very red throughout)
Medium Rare: 130-135 degrees (this will pretty read in the center and pink on the outside)
Medium: 140-145 degrees (pink throughout)
Medium Well: 155-160 degrees (pink in the middle and darker on the outside)
Well done:  Just don’t do this…please.

To give you some guidance, I like my steak cooked to medium and 6 minutes is usually perfect for a small/medium filet.

So that’s it! The next time you’re craving steak (but don’t want to shell out $40), try making it yourself! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Love always,
Erica

5-5-15 Recipe: Truffle Butter Pasta with Parmesan

Use These 5 Simple Ingredients to Create an EASY 5 Star Meal

Believe it or not, every once in a while, I don’t really feel like spending a ton of time cooking. As a result, I’ve created a bunch of recipes I like to call 5-5-15 recipes. These dishes are what I consider to be 5-star quality made with only 5 ingredients and can be assembled in 15 minutes or less!

The first one I’m going to share with you is my amazing truffle butter pasta with parmesan!

Whenever I’m having guests over last minute or feel like something delicious, but don’t have the energy to cook, this pasta dish is my go to! It’s super easy to make and it’s simplistic flavor rivals any pasta dish you can order at an fine Italian restaurant.

What You’ll Need (for 4 servings)
1 box of your favorite pasta (I love shells)
2 Tablespoons of butter
2 tomatoes
1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
1/2 table spoon truffle salt (give or take the amount depending on how strong you like it)

What You’ll Do

1) Boil the pasta

2) Dice up the tomatoes

3) Drain the pasta and put into a bowl immediately. Combine all ingredients and let the butter melt naturally as you mix it all together.

4) ENOJY your amazing and simple creation!

Truffle Butter Pasta with Parmesan

It’s literally that simple and I easy you people will think you spent much longer putting this dish together. With the butter and the cheese, it’s almost like an upscale mac and cheese (but you can get it made in no time at all)!

Do me a favor, the next time you don’t feel like cooking, give this recipe a try and I bet you’ll crave it even when you do have the energy to cook!

Love always,
Erica

My Journey with Food

My Dad, Sister and Mom hanging out at a family dinner

Since a lot of you are just starting to get to know me, I figured I’d give you a little more background and insight into who I am and what drives my passion for food and cooking.

My Dad in 1993  with my sister and I cooking up a storm!

I was raised in Western, MA and lived with my Mom, Dad and Sister. My upbringing was pretty traditional and my family always had a blast together (and we still do). My Dad is a self-made entrepreneur which meant he worked a lot (like 14 hour days). My Mom spent her mornings working as a perfume consultant at a major department store and her afternoons schlepping us all over town for dance class, acting class and Hebrew school (to name a few).

Despite their busy schedules, my Dad and Mom would do the best they could and try to cook at home.

However, the reality was, my Dad was busy and couldn’t always make it home for dinner and my mom was pre-occupied being superwoman, so our family ended up eating out a lot. It was nice, because this meant we could also meet my Dad (who would take a break) and all have dinner all together. When it came to going out to dinner, we weren’t heading to McDonalds either. My parents know good food and always took us to the cities best restaurants (this was before my Dad turned Vegan).

As a result of all this exposure to fancy restaurants, I had a pretty sophisticated pallet at an early age. Although a little bit meticulous about my order, at 5 years old, it wasn’t uncommon for me to order chicken marsala (no mushrooms) or french onion soup (no onions). I knew what I wanted and I wasn’t afraid to order it. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever ordered off of a kids menu (until I wasn’t a kid anymore, but would pretend I was to get a discount).

As a little girl ordering off of the adult menu, I’d get some funny looks from the waitstaff, but my parents always spoke to me like an adult and encouraged me to order like one. I think this coupled with the fact that I grew up only watching the Food Network set me up to be a complete and utter foodie.

When I headed off to college and finally had a kitchen all to myself, I started cooking and just never seemed to stop. My picky attitude towards trying different types of food slowly dissipated as I was forced to try new things in order to evolve my cooking techniques. I would literally cook for anyone who asked and I was constantly experimenting with lots of different ingredients and flavors. Since I’m not much of a recipe follower, I would just head into my kitchen, see what I had and create my next recipe.

Cooking eventually became an outlet for me and has actually got me through a lot of difficult times (2 hard break-ups and a really rotten friendship to be exact). Besides cooking to cope, I also cook because one of the greatest feelings in the world is watching someone you love enjoy your creation. If you’re someone who enjoys cooking, you know exactly what I mean.

So in a nutshell, that’s a little bit more about me. I know this isn’t a recipe you can use or a fantastic food review, but it’s a little bit more insight into my “life’s recipe.”

Love always,
Erica

5 Dishes Turned Into Tiny Appetizers

Photo Credit: hyperallergenic.com

If its one thing I love, it’s throwing a party that people will talk about the next day. One surefire way to make sure your food keeps people buzzin’ is to make tiny versions of everyones favorite classics.

Here are 5 favorite dishes to turn into tiny treats:

1) Caprese Lollipops: How cute and easy is this? All you need to make this is toothpicks or small skewers, cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil.

Just simply cut the cherry tomato in half, put half the tomato face-up on the stick, then layer in a tiny circle of mozzarella and basil. Finish the stick off with the other half of the tomato. Serve with a little balsamic dipping sauce on the side. SO adorable.

Caprese Lollipops
Photo Credit: myrecipes.com

2) Chicken and Waffles: You know those Eggo waffles you’d eat as a kid (or still eat) that have 4 mini waffles attached to each other? How cute would it be to break those apart and put a little piece of fried chicken on each and make MINI chicken and waffles? Adorable.

Top them with a honey mustard maple syrup and you’ve got yourself a tiny gourmet delight!

Mini Chicken & Waffles
Photo Credit: mintlovesocialclub.com

3) Chicken Pot Pies Cupcakes: Theres nothing I adore more then good American comfort food. Serving it as a cupcake? Bonus! Just follow my simple chicken pot pie recipe and instead of baking it in a large pie dish, bake the pie in little muffin tins! You could also do the same thing with shepherds pie as well!

Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes Photo Credit: tablespoon.com

4) Taco Cups: Whether you want to keep this simple or fancy, this will be a crowd pleaser regardless! You can use those tiny Tostitos scoops (to keep it simple) or bake off some wonton cups and fill them with all your favorite taco toppings! In mine I would do chicken, re-friend beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, my famous guacamole and a tiny bit of spicy ranch!

Mini Taco Cups
Photo credit: tasteofhome.com

5) Mini Banana Split: What’s a mini food meal without a little dessert? This simple sweet treat is easy to make, but your guests don’t have to know it! Just take a firm banana and cut it into about 1 inch sections (you should be able to get about 3 per banana).

Take a small teaspoon and hollow out the center. Dip the base of it in melted chocolate and then in sprinkles. Once it hardens, fill the banana cup with vanilla ice-cream and top with whipped cream and a cherry!

Mini Banana Split Bites
Photo Credit: bakersroyal.com

With mini dishes, the possibilities are truly endless. For your next party, let your imagination run wild and see what you can come up with!

Until next time…

Love always,
Erica

Recipe: Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes w/ Goat Cheese

Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes
Photo Credit: theshiska.com

I am always looking for new and fun things to do with quinoa. If you don’t already know, quinoa is one of the world’s super foods. Although most people think it’s a whole grain, it’s actually a seed and provides all 9 essential amino acids (making it a complete protein). There are lots of things you can do with this wonder seed, but one of my favorites is stuffing it inside of a tomato!

This recipe is great, even for those who have never tried quinoa or think they don’t like it.

What You’ll Need
3 large tomatoes
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup liquid (either water or tomato juice from actual tomatoes)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon grated parmesan
3 tablespoons goat cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste

What You’ll Do
1) Cut the tops of the tomatoes off and remove them. Take a small knife and cut around the inside edges and remove the inner core/seeds from the tomato with a spoon. Make sure to leave the walls of the tomato intact. Set the tomato core/seeds aside in a separate bowl (you will need these).

Hollowed out Tomato
Photo Credit: Mary Cokenour

2) Take the seeds/core of the tomato that you reserved and put it through a wire mesh strainer. This will get you the 1 cup of liquid you need to cook the quinoa. If you don’t get a full cup, add water to top it off.

3) Pour the tomato liquid/water mixture into a sauce pan and add crushed garlic.

4) In the same wire mesh strainer, rinse quinoa under cold water for a couple of minutes and add to pot.

5) Bring the quinoa to a boil and reduce the heat to medium/low. Cover the pan and let the quinoa cook for about 20 minutes (you will know it is done when all of the liquid is gone and the quinoa is soft).

6) While the quinoa is cooking, pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Then, take your hollowed tomatoes and brush them with a little bit of olive oil.

7) When the quinoa is finished, full with a fork (like you would with rice) and then gently fold in the parmesan cheese. At this point I would taste it to see if it needs salt and pepper.

8) Place the cooked quinoa in each of the tomatoes and top with 1 tablespoon of goat cheese. Bake in the oven until golden brown (about 20-25 minutes).

I hope you enjoy this recipe! It’s one of my favorites and I will be excited to hear about what you think!

Love always,
Erica

Crispy Lemon Kale Chips

Crispy Kale
Photo Credit: YaYa’s Dream

Everyone once in a while, I decide to go carb-free and stick to mostly a veggie-based diet (this usually lasts about 72-hours and then I want pasta). Whenever I do make this diet change, my saving grace is my delicious crispy kale chips.

If you haven’t had these before, you’re missing out! Not only are they super nutritious and delicious, they don’t really take much skill to make!

What You’ll Need

1 bunch of kale
1 tablespoon of EVOO
1/2 tablespoon of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

What You’ll Do

1) Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and put a cooling rack on top of your baking sheet.

2) Carefully remove the stems from the kale and shred into bite-sized pieces.

3) Wash your kale and let it dry thoroughly. If you have a salad spinner, use that (if you don’t have one of these, you should get one)!

4) Place kale in an oversized zip-lock bag or bowl with a lid. Add your olive oil, lemon zest, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Seal the bag or bowl and shake to coat the kale.

5) Place kale on the cooling rack and bake until the edges are brown (about 15-20 minutes).

Kale on the cooling rack
Photo Credit: http://mcmillerpdx.blogspot.com/

That’s it! I promise you, these chips will be a life saver when you’re looking for a salty snack but don’t want to ruin your diet.

Until next time…

Love always,
Erica

How to Make Fresh Pasta: Butternut Squash Ravioli

Erica’s Goat Cheese and Butternut Squash Ravioli

Last year, one of the most mystifying dishes to me was anything involving fresh pasta. I just couldn’t get the courage up to try making it and sort of skirted the subject whenever anyone asked me if I knew how. This all changed when my boyfriends Mom, Wendy, told me I had to learn to do it and that it was simple (I wasn’t about to argue with my new boyfriends Mother).

So on one rainy Sunday afternoon, I headed into her kitchen and she taught me how to make pasta. Not only is it easy, it’s actually really relaxing and involves only 4 ingredients (and I bet you have all of them in your house right now)! Once I learned how to make it, the possibilities were endless. I started experimenting with different recipes and found that my favorite was my Goat Cheese & Butternut Squash Ravioli w/ Sage and Candied Squash.

So now, I am here to share! First I will show you how to make the pasta itself and then for those culinary dare devils, I’ll go on and tell you how to make my signature ravioli’s!

Basic Pasta Recipe

My first time making fresh pasta

What You’ll Need

3 eggs
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp EVOO

What You’ll Do

1) Mound the flour onto a clean surface and make a well (a hole) in the center of it.

2) Crack your eggs into the well, drizzle with 1/2 tsp of EVOO  and beat with a fork (be careful not to break the well)

3) Once the eggs are lightly beaten, start to SLOWLY incorporate the flour from the walls of the well.

This process should take about 5 minutes or more. If it’s any shorter than that, you are putting too much flour in at one time.

4) Once the flour is fully incorporated and you have a cohesive dough ball,  it is time to knead the dough (the most relaxing part).

Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. You may need to add more flour if the dough is sticky or extremely pliable.

The kneading process takes about 8-10 minutes.

5) Let the dough rest (about a half hour).

You can store it in the fridge for up to 24-hours, but if you do, make sure it comes to room temperature before you roll it out and make your pasta!

Goat Cheese & Butternut Squash Ravioli Recipe

Rolling out fresh pasta with Kitchen Aid attachment

What You’ll Need

Dough
Fresh Pasta Recipe (see above)
A pasta roller (don’t have one? no worries! I’ll give you an alternative solution)

Filling
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
3 ounces of goat cheese
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup half and half
Salt/Pepper to taste

Sauce
4 tablespoons of butter
5 fresh sage leaves

Topping
2 tablespoons diced butter nut squash
1 tablespoon sugar

What You’ll Do

1) Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Place your butternut squash cubes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake until tender (about 25 minutes). Reserve a couple of cubes for the candied topping!

2) Take the reserved butternut squash, cut them into even tinier cubes and place into a skillet over medium heat with the sugar. Str sugar and squash with a wooden spoon until the sugar caramelizes and candies the squash.

Finely diced butternut squash ready to be candied!

3) While the squash is baking, use your pasta roller to roll your pasta dough out into long thin sheets (about 1/8 of an inch thick).

Don’t have a pasta roller?  No problem! Put a dusting of flour on your countertop and cut the ball of dough in half. Cover one half with a moist towel and roll out the other half of the dough with a rolling pin.  If it gets sticky, you can always add flour.

Keep rolling until your sheet of pasta until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. The dough may be difficult and bounce back after you roll it. If so,  just keep rolling it and stretch it gently with your hands until the dough is about 8 inches wide and 16 inches long. Repeat with the remaining dough.

4) Once the dough is rolled out, it is time to make your filling and fill your pasta! To make the filling, blend together the butternut squash, goat cheese, cinnamon, minced garlic and half and half until smooth. If mixture is too thick, add more half and half. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

5) Fill your ravioli!

I think the easiest way is to place 1 tablespoon dollops of the filling along the entire sheet about 1 inch apart. Top with second sheet of dough and use a circular cookie cutter to cut out your raviolis (see photo below). I place a tiny dab of water on the edges before sealing to help them stay closed. Once cut, keep under damp cloth with flour to keep them from sticking.

6) Make the sauce! Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and sage leaves over low/medium heat until it turns brown

7) Once your ravioli are all cut out and the sauce is almost browned, place the ravioli into boiling water for about 3 minutes each (they will float to the top when they are done). Use a slotted spoon to drop them into the brown butter and sage sauce.

6) Top with candied butternut squash and serve!

Whether you prefer butternut squash ravioli or a classic spaghetti and meat sauce, my simple pasta recipe can help you rid yourself of the processed box pasta and open up the door to try all sorts of italian creations!

Until next time…

Love always,
Erica

The Most Perfect Caramelized Onions

Photo: http://ciaoflorentina.com/

I figured there is no better way to start the “recipe” section of my blog, then to show you one of my most requested recipes, my caramelized onions! Once completed, this sweet treat can elevate almost any of your current dishes (try them mixed into your Mac and Cheese, on top of a pizza or even tossed into a salad).

For years now, every time I host (or even go to) a dinner party, my friends always ask me to make something with these onions and then proceed to ask me for my recipe. Until now, I’ve sort of kept it under wraps, but it’s so simple (and I love you all so much), so why not share!?

What You’ll Need

2 softball sized vidalia or sweet onions (they cook way down, trust me)
1 Tablespoon of butter
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Teaspoon white sugar
A Pinch of salt

What To Do:

1) Thinly slice your onions. Take your time on this step! The thinner and more even you cut them, the better they will caramelize. Eventually I will start posting videos on here, but in the mean time, I found this great video on how to thinly slice an onion. This is exactly how I do it!

2) Drop the butter and olive oil into a pan and cook over medium until butter is melted. (I use both butter and olive oil because the oil has a higher cooking temperature, but the butter helps the onions not burn).

3) Add the onions to the pan. Turn the heat up a tiny bit and sauté them around a little bit. Once they start to soften (like 2 minutes), turn the heat down to medium low.

4) Add both the brown and white sugar. To be honest, I’m not totally sure why I use both kinds, but for whatever reason, when I do…they come out PERFECT.

5) Cover pan with a lid (or tinfoil if you don’t have one). I’ve found that covering the pan helps keep the moisture in and the onions won’t burn as they caramelize.

6) Keep them covered for about 30-45 minutes. Every 10-15 minutes you should pop the cover off, stir them up a bit and recover them. Once they’ve started to turn a carmel color, add the salt and remove the lid. Cook for an additional 10 minutes so that the remaining liquid evaporates.

That is it!

NOTE: It is important to wait until the end to add the salt. Salt draws out liquids and will make your onions cook much slower if added in the beginning (aint’ nobody got time for that)!

Well, that’s all for now! I’d love to get your feedback and learn how your onions came out or what other recipes you’d like to see on my blog.

Love always,
Erica