Rants Raves and Recipes

December 14, 2014April 16, 2015

Teriyaki Steak

Teriyaki steak is not a throw together meal. it does take a little forethought and time to prepare, but the results are usually spectacular. A well thought out marinade, done not too long, a properly cooked steak, and a delicious glaze all combine to transform an ordinary steak into a truly great meal. It works particularly well with top sirloin steaks and as in this recipe with the Tri-tip top sirloin.

Ingredients for Teriyaki Steak

For the Marinade:

1 cup Soy sauce
3 -4 Tbs garlic salt
3 -4 Tbs fresh cracked pepper
¼ cup Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)
1 tsp ground ginger (optional)

For the glaze:

2 Tbs soy sauce
¼ – 1 cup dark brown sugar
½ tsp ground ginger (optional)

Directions for Teriyaki Steak

For the Marinade:

When I put meat into marinade I like to “Jaccard” the meat ( by piercing with a fork to help break up the connective tissue and allowing the marinade to penetrate the meat).

Find a pan that will hold all the meat in a single layer. Pour the soy sauce into the pan, if using the ginger add in and stir to combine, place the steaks in and then turn so that both sides are wet. Sprinkle the top with the garlic salt, pepper and ½ the sugar. Allow to sit for about half an hour, then turn and season the other side. Marinate for another half an hour, then turn and rotate sides soaking in the marinade every hour. Marinate for 4 – 5 hours.

You can also use a large plastic storage bag to marinate the meat just be sure to rotate every hour or so and be sure to have it on a plate or dish to guard against leaking.

For the Glaze:

Put ingredients into a small sauce pot and on low heat melt the sugar and stir to combine. You want a very thick sauce , if it looks to thin add more sugar until you have the consistency you want. Keep warm.

Teriyaki Steak

Cook the steak in any manner you are comfortable with either grilling or under a broiler. Cook to your desired amount of doneness. Remove from the grill if using a larger piece of meat allow to rest for 10- 15 minutes, Individual steaks can be serve almost right away.

Once the steak is removed from the grill baste the top with the glaze and serve the extra glaze in a sauce boat on the side.

Here are a few items to help make this recipe:
Good Cook Classic Set of 2 Pastry / Basting Brush
Cuisinart CGS-5014 14-Piece Deluxe Stainless-Steel Grill Set
Cuisinart 735-16OP Chef’s Classic Stainless 1-Quart Pour Saucier

Now this is a recipe I can sink my teeth into! Cooked to perfection a 5 paw effort.

If you enjoy our site and are thinking of purchasing anything from Amazon, please use the link to Amazon from our site. It doesn’t cost you anything and we profit from the ads and purchases .

Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.

December 10, 2014December 15, 2014

Rigatoni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Roasted Red Peppers don’t last too long around here as I love to use them in all sorts of recipes. For this one I decided to make a sauce for pasta. A sauce like this needs a hearty pasta like rigatoni.

Ingredients for Rigatoni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

5-6 Roasted red peppers, skinned and seeded
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 medium onion diced
salt and pepper
1 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 Tbs butter
1Tbs Olive oil
1-3 cups chicken stock
1 pound pasta (your choice of shape)

Directions for Rigatoni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Roasting Peppers

To roast peppers I like to use my grill set on high. I place the peppers on the grill and close the cover, turning the peppers as the sides closet to the fire blacken. Once the peppers are completely blackened remove them to a double lined paper bag, close the bag and allow to steam and come to handling temperature. Once they are cool enough carefully remove the skins and seeds.*

If you don’t have a grill place them on a sheet pan and place under your broiler turning as they blacken. Again once blackened place in a paper bag.

Or you can place on a sheet pan and roast in oven on high, turning again as they blacken and then allow to steam in the paper bag.

By placing the peppers in the paper bag allows them to steam and loosen the skins making it easier to remove the skins. But whatever you do DO NOT RINSE THEM UNDER RUNNING WATER! You’ll rinse off most of the taste.

Red Pepper Sauce

Take the butter and Olive oil and bring up to medium high heat. Add the onion , garlic and sauté until onions are softened. Once softened remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. You can at this point use any number of techniques. A one pot method with an immersion blender or in a food processor will work just fine.

Add the sautéd onion and garlic, the roasted peppers and about one cup of stock together. Blend and if it looks too thick add more stock until you have a sauce with a consistency that you want. Put into a sauce pot add the pepper flakes and bring up to heat.

In a pot with well salted water cook the pasta. Once cooked, drain well and put back in the pot over medium heat. Add ½ cup of the sauce and stir to combine allowing the pasta to soak up the sauce.

Serve with additional sauce over the pasta and Parmesan on the side and a sprinkling of parsley for garnish.

If you want you can add a little extra flavor to your sauce. Try a little chiffonade of fresh basil or some dried oregano .

*If you don’t have large paper bags available find any large tupperware with tight fitting lid, and place a layer of paper towels on the bottom and seal tight and allow the peppers to come to handling temperature, but whatever you do don’t use plastic bags as they will melt on to the peppers and render them useless.

Here are a few items to help make this recipe:
Certified International Garden of Olives 5-Piece Pasta Sets
Sur La Table Stovetop Pepper/Tortilla Roaster
Rubbermaid 7J76 Easy Find Lid Rectangle 24-Cup Food Storage Container

I think that I have oft waxed eloquently on vegetables, Nuff said?

Rigatoni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

2014-12-09 17:52:28

Serves 4

Write a review

Save Recipe

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

40 min

Ingredients

5-6 Roasted red peppers, skinned and seeded
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 medium onion diced
salt and pepper
1 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 Tbs butter
1Tbs Olive oil
1-3 cups chicken stock
1 pound pasta (your choice of shape)

Instructions

Directions for Rigatoni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Roasting Peppers
To roast peppers I like to use my grill set on high. I place the peppers on the grill and close the cover, turning the peppers as the sides closet to the fire blacken. Once the peppers are completely blackened remove them to a double lined paper bag, close the bag and allow to steam and come to handling temperature. Carefully remove the skins and seeds.
If you don't have a grill place them on a sheet pan and place under your broiler turning as they blacken. Again once blackened place in a paper bag.
Or you can place on a sheet pan and roast in oven on high, turning again as they blacken and then allow to steam in the paper bag.
By placing the peppers in the paper bag allows them to steam and loosen the skins making it easier to remove the skins.
Red Pepper Sauce
Take the butter and Olive oil and bring up to medium high heat. Add the onion , garlic and saute until onions are softened. You can at this point use any number techiniques. A one pot method with an immersion blender or in a food processor will work just fine.
Add the sauted onion and garlic, the pepper flakes, the roasted peppers and about one cup of stock together. Blend and if it looks too thick add more stock until you have a sauce with a consistancy that you want. Put into a sauce pot and bring up to heat.
In a pot with well salted water cook the pasta. Once cooked drain well and put back in pot over medium heat. Add ½ cup of the sauce and stir to combine allowing the pasta to soak up the sauce.
Serve with additional sauce over the pasta and Parmesan on the side and a sprinkling of parlsey for garnish.

Notes

For extra flavor add a little basil or oregano to the sauce

Rants Raves and Recipes https://www.rantsravesandrecipes.com/

If you enjoy our site and are thinking of purchasing anything from Amazon, please use the link to Amazon from our site. It doesn’t cost you anything and we profit from the ads and purchases .

Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.

December 6, 2014

Cauliflower and Pasta

Because of my usual exuberance while shopping at the green grocers I end up with more vegetables that I can eat in the time they will stay fresh. So I did end up roasting a number of red peppers while I was at the grill making grilled eggplant Parmesan, and I still had a large head of cauliflower to use.

So a meatless meal was in order. I also like any meal I can make into a one pot project. If you don’t have a good steamer pot, you can boil the cauliflower and still do this in one pot. The pasta also is your choice, any shape will work for this I used Bow-Ties. For a great color contrast in the meal use a whole grain pasta.

Ingredients for Cauliflower and Pasta

1 large head cauliflower cut into florets
1 larger shallot finely diced
2-3 garlic cloves minced
salt and pepper
Pepper flakes (optional)
Pasta ( your choice)
¼ cup Olive oil approximate
1 cup pasta water
Parmesan cheese (grated)
Parsley finely chopped

Directions for Cauliflower and Pasta.

Perfect Cauliflower Every Time

Cut the cauliflower into florets and place in the steamer basket. Place over pot with highly salted water and cover with lid. Turn heat on high and bring the water up to a boil. Once a boil is reached allow to cook for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat keep covered and let sit for around 10 minutes. Cauliflower is done when a knife pierces the florets easily.

Once the cauliflower is cooked remove the steamer basket or if boiling scoop cauliflower out of the water. Leave the water in the pot and add enough new water to allow the cooking of the pasta.

Bring water up to boil, add the pasta and cook. Just before draining the pasta reserve about a cup of the pasta water.

Take the cauliflower and cut into small bite size pieces

Take the empty pot and return to the burner on medium high heat and allow all the remaining liquid to steam off. Now add the Olive oil allow to heat up then add the shallots and garlic , cauliflower, and pepper flakes and begin to brown. Once the cauliflower begins to brown, add in the pasta and stir to coat all with the oil. If it looks too dry add some of the pasta water and if it’s still dry add a little more oil. Once all is heated serve with a drizzle of Olive oil and a sprinkling of Parmesan and chopped parsley.

Here are a few items to help make this recipe:
Certified Interntional Primavera 5-Piece Pasta Sets
Cuisinart 77-412 Chef’s Classic Stainless 4-Piece 12-Quart Pasta/Steamer Set

This fascinaton with all things vegetable is quite discouraging. A little chicken would have gone along way; but alas it was not to be.

Cauliflower and Pasta

2014-12-06 16:07:51

Serves 4

Write a review

Save Recipe

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

1 large head cauliflower cut into florets
1 larger shallot finely diced
2-3 garlic cloves minced
salt and pepper
Pepper flakes (optional)
Pasta ( your choice)
¼ cup Olive oil approximate
1 cup pasta water
Parmesan cheese (grated)
Parsley finely chopped

Instructions

Cut the cauliflower into florets and place in the steamer basket. Place over pot with highly salted water and cover with lid. Turn heat on high and bring the water up to a boil. Once a boil is reached allow to cook for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat keep covered and let sit for around 10 minutes. Cauliflower is done when a knife pierces the florets easily.
Once the cauliflower is cooked remove the steamer basket or if boiling scoop cauliflower out of the water. Leave the water in the pot and add enough new water to allow the cooking of the pasta.
Bring water up to boil add the pasta and cook. Just before draining the pasta reserve about a cup of the pasta water.
Take the empty pot and return to the burner on medium high heat and allow all the remaining liquid to steam off. Now add the Olive oil allow to heat up then add the shallots and garlic and cauliflower, pepper flakes and begin to brown. Once the cauliflower begins to brown add in the pasta and stir to coat all with the oil. If it looks too dry add some of the pasta water and if it's still dry add a little more oil. Once all is heated serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan and chopped parsley.

Rants Raves and Recipes https://www.rantsravesandrecipes.com/

If you enjoy our site and are thinking of purchasing anything from Amazon, please use the link to Amazon from our site. It doesn’t cost you anything and we profit from the ads and purchases .

Please help us keep our blog going by letting your friends know we’re here and by checking out the links on our front page.