Recipe Recap Week 5

Sunday I spent several hours in the kitchen doing some cooking.  I was making dinner for a friend who recently had a new baby.  I decided to make Pasta e Fagioli, it is relatively easy to prepare and it makes a ton so I figured that would be a good meal.  Leftovers can freeze easily giving them several meals instead of just one.  I also thought I would include a sweet to go along with it.  This was kind of a selfish act on my part because I had just seen a recipe for the Chocolate Toffee Shortbread Bars that I really wanted to try.  Finally I prepared our dinner for the night.  While flipping through my latest issue of Southern Living I came across a recipe for Grits and Grillades.  Normally this might have been something I would have gone right past not knowing anything about what it is, but I had seen a recipe on a blog a few months back for the same thing and I thought it sounded interesting.  Even though I have had some recipes for years that I have yet to try this got to cut in line.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have really been graving grits for the past week!

While the Pasta e Fagioli is not a new recipe for me I am linking the recipe below if you want to try it.  Like I said it makes a ton, and it is good!

http://annies-eats.net/2009/01/30/pasta-e-fagioli/

The Toffee Shortbread Bars are a new recipe this week.  They are so good!  I have a major sweet tooth so I have to limit the amount of things I will bake because it is dangerous to have them in the house!  These are addicting.  There are some sweets that I am fine just having one of and then I am fine giving them away or whatever and then there are ones that fall into the “you can’t eat just one” category.  These definitely fall into the latter.  I immediately ate two and then found myself sneaking small little bites for a while after that.  They are super easy to make and most of the ingredients you are likely to have on hand.  Anything with toffee is a winner to me though.

Chocolate Toffee Shortbread Bars (Source:  Annie's Eats)

Yield: about 30 bar cookies
Ingredients:
For the shortbread base:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used chocolate chips)

For the topping:
6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used chocolate chips)
1½ cups toffee bits

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.  Line a 9 x 13″ baking dish with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  To make the shortbread, combine the flour, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl; stir to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugars and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Blend in the vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Stir in the chopped chocolate until evenly distributed.

Transfer the dough to the prepared baking dish and press into an even layer covering the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the shortbread is bubbling.  Remove the pan from the oven and transfer to a wire rack.

Sprinkle the 6 ounces of chopped chocolate evenly over the top of the cookie base.  Cover the pan with foil and let sit for 5 minutes.  Remove the foil and use an offset spatula to spread the melted chocolate evenly over the crust in a thin layer.  Immediately sprinkle the toffee bits over the melted chocolate and press down gently to adhere.  Let the bars cool to room temperature.  Once the pan has cooled, you may speed chilling by transferring to the refrigerator or freezer.  When the topping is set, remove from the pan, transfer to a cutting board and slice into bars.

The Grits and Grillades were another new recipe.  These were very good too.  Kevin really liked them as well.  He wasn’t too sure about the grits part but we both agreed that they were good and definitely something different.  I looked on the web for some other grillades recipes just to see how much they differed and I learned that it is a popular dish in New Orleans.  It is often served on brunch menus…but makes a perfectly good dinner as well. 

Grits and Grillades (Source:  Southern Living)

1 1/2  pounds  top round steak (1/2 inch thick), trimmed  (I used cube steak instead)

3  tablespoons  all-purpose flour

2  teaspoons  Creole seasoning

2  tablespoons  vegetable oil

1  (14 1/2-oz.) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1 (10-oz.) package frozen diced onion, red and green bell pepper, and celery, thawed  (I used fresh:  1 stalk celery, ½ onion, ½ green pepper, and ½ red pepper)

3  garlic cloves, pressed

1. Place steak between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and flatten to 1/4-inch thickness using a rolling pin or flat side of a meat mallet; cut into 2-inch squares.  (I skipped this b/c the cube steak was already tenderized, I did cut it into smaller pieces though)

2. Combine flour and Creole seasoning in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag. Add steak; seal bag, and shake to coat.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of steak, and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until browned; transfer steak to a 4- or 5-qt. lightly greased slow cooker. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and steak. Add tomatoes and next 2 ingredients to slow cooker, and stir.

4. Cover and cook on HIGH 3 hours or until steak is tender. Meanwhile, prepare Asiago Cheese Grits. Serve steak mixture over grits.

I made my own recipe for grits.  I did half whole milk and half water.  At the end of cooking I stirred in a little bit of butter and a little bit of grated parmesan cheese.