Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce and Fried Onions

   The school year is almost over, and it's absolutely insane how fast college has gone by. I am excited for what's to come but am starting to feel pretty sad about leaving and really growing up! We've all been just trying to make the most of the time we have left - which needless to say is making the actual "school" part of college seem less of a priority. Like a gorgeous day of spring skiing or doing homework..... you tell me? (Don't worry Mom, my grades are fine and I will graduate.)

   With all the procrastinating and nights of going out instead of studying for exams, somehow we've managed to do well and make it through, and even get lined up with jobs we're really happy about for post graduation. And this is where the amazing steak recipe comes in....

     My boyfriend got offered an engineering job at the company he interned for, and we knew the best way to celebrate was with some quality steaks, (when is it not?) and this recipe was perfect. The blue cheese sauce is so flavorful, with the distinct tangy flavor balanced out with some good white wine and garlic, and it's just as good on the potatoes as it is on the steak. (Consider it for homemade buffalo wings or a salad). It was really easy to make as well, just melting the cheese with garlic and wine and keeping it warm until serving.

    I chose to use a wedge of Gorgonzola cheese for this recipe and I recommend the same. "Blue Cheese" is really an unprotected term, so basically any cheese with blue mold in it can be packaged with that name. Gorgonzola (or Stilton) on the other hand is a protected term so it is a safer bet in terms of flavor and quality for the recipe. The 8 oz wedge I bought was around $6 and was totally worth it.

 
     Unfortunately we were out of propane so we were unable to grill, but broiling the steaks worked fine. You could prepare the meat however you prefer. We had some steak tips I marinated (soy sauce, worcesterchire, lemon, olive oil, garlic) and also a porterhouse steak. Just season them well and they'll surely go great with the blue cheese sauce, regardless of the cut.  

     I also made some fried onion strings with gluten free flour and bread crumbs to top the steak with for added flavor and crunch. This definitely enhances the dish, (Also amaaazing dipped in the cheese sauce) but don't feel it completely necessary if you're not looking for extra work. For special occasion purposes though, I say go for it! Just slice up an onion, dredge it in flour, then dip in a mixture of 1/4 cup milk and an egg, then in a mixture of 1/2 flour, 1/2 breadcrumbs seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Fry in about 1" of oil on the stove over medium heat until lightly browned.

     We came to a quick agreement that this dish was one of the best things I've made, so I'd say it was meal worthy of celebrating!




Blue Cheese Sauce (for steak)
Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz wedge of decent quality blue cheese (Gorgonzola or Stilton)
2 tbsp dry white wine
2 tbsp steak drippings (Optional)
Fresh cracked pepper

Directions:
In pan over medium heat, add olive oil. Saute garlic for a minute, add in wine and stir.
Add cheese wedge and reduce heat slightly. Let cheese melt and stir to combine.
Add in steak drippings (easy if you're broiling, if you're grilling, use the juices from the plate that the steaks are resting on after cooking).
Season with pepper.
Keep warm until serving.
Pour over steak and top with fried onion strings.

Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur

     One of the main lessons I've learned in college is that many special occasions/holidays that you thought were awesome when you were a little kid are ten times better, and more appreciated in college. Examples include Halloween, snow days, sporting events, weekends in general and of course, St. Paddy's Day. No matter what day of the week St. Paddy's falls on, you can fully count on nearly the entire student population (regardless of their lack of Irish heritage) spending the day celebrating.....as in drinking. Some are up as early as the sunrise and tossing back car bombs before they've even had breakfast. Needless to say I was a complete waste of life on the day-after-St. Paddy's day. But I did make some pretty good hash out of the leftover corned beef....

    I decided to contribute to the festivities by making some homemade Baileys. It is SO simple to make, and it tastes amazing. Also, if you think about the cost of making it yourself vs buying a bottle, you save quite a bit of money. To put it in perspective, the fifth of whiskey we got cost just about the same as a fifth of Baileys, but it's nearly doubled in volume once you make the actual recipe, so your costs are cut in half! (And it's stronger than the 17% alcohol volume in Baileys when you use whiskey that is 40% - it would be just above 20%)

    We used Paddy's Irish Whiskey for this recipe. I hadn't heard of it before buying it, and I found out it is more commonly known in Ireland than it is in the US. Jameson would be great too, or any other Irish whiskey you prefer.

 

     Us college kids love any excuse to celebrate. I'm happy that my last St. Paddy's day at UMaine was a blast, and though I spent the entire day today being a baby, nursing my hangover, it was well worth it!! 

PS- I'm thinking little decorated bottles of this stuff would be perfect for a thoughtful holiday gift! :)






Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur
 Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups Irish Whiskey
1 cup heavy cream (don't try and diet here... use the heavy cream, no half and half or anything!)
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp strong brewed coffee
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Place all ingredients in blender and mix til smooth.
Store in fridge. It's best if you wait overnight to drink it so flavors can set!

Puerto Rico & Pastelon

     It seems that more often than not my posts begin with "sorry it's been a while since I've written, I've been busy." Well as a senior in college, it seems to be a pretty legitimate excuse. I was very busy with school up until spring break, then I took some time off in Puerto Rico (which I depicted as much deserved).

Here are some photos of the trip. Needless to say we absolutely fell in LOVE with the island. It was so diverse in landscape, from beautiful beaches to historic Old San Juan to rainforests with seemingly endless hills. And not to mention 80 degrees warmer than Orono, Maine.

 

Spectacular view from our condo balcony (thanks Airbnb)

 

Riding bikes to Old San Juan

 

Cemetery in Old San Juan

 

Corona Pro Surf Contest in Rincon

 

Under a rain shelter in our hike up El Yunque

 

The view from the top!

 

Our last supper :( The bottom dish is Mofongo which I will mention below (Favorite thing ever)

 

Snorkeling on Steps Beach - I am freaking out because we swam with a sea turtle!!!

 

One of countless beautiful beaches - this one we were lucky to have nearly to ourselves in Pinones

      I'm sure you can imagine that one of (if not my number one) priority is to truly experience the culture and therefore the food. This is the main reason that I found my Puerto Rico vacation to be much more fit for me than Cancun - which was still amazing. I had not known much about Puerto Rican food until the trip and I can say I fell head over heels for just about every single thing I tried. A main staple in their diet that we don't often use in the states (at least the Northeast, I don't know about you southerners) is plantains. They look like bananas but are less sweet and more starchy, and you don't eat them raw. Instead, you often fry them and they lightly brown and caramelize and basically become the most amazing things on earth. We had them in many different ways, such as: fried crisp as a dipper for ceviche that blew my mind, as mofongo (which is a classic Puerto Rican dish that you need to try absolutely as soon as possible), as a "canoa" stuffed with ground beef and topped with cheese and bacon served with a tomato dip, mashed and rolled into balls stuffed with crab meat, etc etc. 

     So I'm guessing you see where this post is going. I got home, reminisced about food and realized I needed to make some authentic Puerto Rican food before I cleared my bank account to fly back there just for the mofongo. I was cooking dinner for my family and grandparents (9 people total) so it seemed to be too much to make mofonfo for each person. I decided a Pastelon (accent over the O but I'm not computer savvy enough to know how to insert that) would be perfect instead. It is like a lasagna but instead of noodles, you use sliced and fried plantains. Some people use mashed plantains, I've heard it depends on the region of PR. (It's also naturally gluten free so BOOO-YA!) The recipe is a little extensive compared to most "college friendly" recipes, but it is definitely worth it to create those more authentic flavors. Everyone who tried it was seriously impressed! 

     (It's also important to mention there are both green plantains and sweet plantains. The green ones are - you guessed it - green, and the sweet ones look more like bananas and for this recipe it's good to have riper ones with more black on the outside.)

Just layer the fried plantains with the beef mixture, top with cheese and repeat!

How I'd like to have a big slice of this right about now.....

      I prefer to serve it with hot sauce. In Puerto Rico, many of the local restaurants make their own special hot sauce known as "Pique". It is absolutely the most amazing hot sauce in the world, but I will save the details of that for another post. (Hint- I'm going to try making my own)

    I also made rice and beans with a roasted sofrito sauce, which is also for another post. I was really proud of the entire meal because the tastes and smells really brought me back to PR. (You could serve it with a salad instead of rice to lessen the amount of starches) It's so good, everyone is going to be begging for more..... 

     The pups are just begging to go on vacation now....

     My mom brought leftovers to my Grammy and sent me this photo saying "Grammy is loving her Puerto Rican supper and so am I!! Mmmmmmmm." Getting this up at school made my day :) 

 

       Overall, the trip was one of (if not THE) greatest weeks of my life, and I am beyond excited to continue cooking Puerto Rican food from home. And of course I plan to return to the island one day! Keep your eye out for roasted Sofrito sauce and PR beans and rice recipes! Maybe mofongo if I get really ambitious! 

 PS- the recipe below won't make as big of a dish shown in my photos - I was cooking for 9 people!

Pastelon (Sweet Plantain Lasagna)

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped fine

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

2 bay leaves

1 1/4 lean ground beef or turkey - or both

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1/3 cup green olives, chopped + 2 tbsp of brine from the jar

2 tbsp raisins or craisins

1/2 cup tomato sauce

Salt and pepper

4 ripe, sweet plantains (Black dots are good!)

Oil for frying

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tbsp milk

1 1/2-2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

Directions:

Heat a tbsp of oil in large skillet. Add onions and bell pepper and stir. 

Add in minced garlic, bay leaves and cilantro, and cook just a couple minutes until fragrant. 

Add in ground beef and cook through, breaking up bigger chunks to small pieces.

Season with oregano and cumin, and add in the chopped olives with brine, raisins and tomato sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Set aside.

Cut the plantains in half lengthwise and remove the peel. Slice them in half again so they are about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.

Heat oil over medium heat to cover the bottom of a large skillet and fry the plantains until just browned on each side, about 1-2 minutes each side. 

To assemble the Pastelon:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease bottom of a 9x9 baking dish. Layer plantains, top with ground beef mixture, then top with cheese. Repeat again, and top with plantains. The plantains should be the top layer.

Sprinkle the plantains with cheese. 

Mix together beaten eggs and milk and pour over the top. This acts as a binding agent which is important, so don't skip! 

Bake for about 35 minutes in preheated oven. Sides should be bubbling!