Roast Beef and Butter Sandwiches

I remember the first time my mom made these.  And ever time since.  They are so freaking delicious I can't even deal.  AND IT IS SO EASY.  Like scary easy.  I remember making these when I was home alone one time.  I made myself a sandwich and I made one for my dog JoJo.  She was pretty pumped about it.  This was the first time I added cheese though, and I think this will be the new staple.  

Dear lord. 

So I know it sounds weird.  Roast beef.  In butter.  But something happens to the roast beef when you saute it in the melted butter.  The entire flavor changes and it becomes glorious. 

I would recommend buying rare roast beef from the deli counter.  That way, when you saute it in the butter it doesn't become super tough.  You are basically cooking it...twice...so you want to be careful not to over do it.

Saute the beef for about 2-3 minutes.  Just long enough for the butter to work into the beef.  This is what it'll look like.  Drooling.  I'm drooling.



Set the beef aside.  Get nice rolls...like these kaiser rolls.  I split them down the middle, added some provolone cheese....



...and toasted them in the oven for about 2-3 minutes at 325 degrees.  Just enough to heat the rolls through and melt the cheese.



Holy cow.  Literally.  Somewhere in Connecticut, Caitlin is scrunching her nose up at that joke.

 

Mmmm.

Here's the "recipe."  It's more about assembly, not the recipe. 

4 Tbs of Butter 

1/2 Lb of Rare Roast Beef, Sliced Thin 

2 Kaiser Rolls 

4 Slices of Provolone Cheese 

Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the roast beef and saute the beef gently for 2-3 minutes or until the beef cooks down and the butter fully coats it. While beef is cooking, toast kaiser rolls with provolone for 2-3 minutes in a 325 degree oven or until the cheese is melted and the rolls are heated through.  Pile the rolls high with beef and serve immediately. 

Stay hungry! 

French Onion Dip

This weekend we went out to dinner with some dear friends to a new(ish) restaurant in Chicago called the Tortoise Club. Per usual, I scoped out the menu a few days before and they had something yummy listed - homemade french onion dip with sea salt and vinegar chips.  I couldn't wait to try it. When we went to order it, however, they were out! W...T...F.  Anyway, it was stuck in my head so I thought I would whip it up myself and it came out great!  Score.  

Start by melting butter and a little olive oil in a pan. 

Next, add your shallots, garlic, and vidalia onions.  I love all of these ingredients...I mean, how can this dip not be good.

 Break up the onions so they cook nice and evenly...like this.  Add some salt and pep.

The trick is to cook the onions low and slow...you have to be patient here.  I cooked them over low/medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring every few mins. 

If the onions start to stick (which they will) add a little water to loosen them up, about two tablespoons at a time. This will help deglaze the pan a bit too.

Remove the onions from the pan and let cool.  While cooling, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic powder, Worcestershire and balsamic vinegar.  If you only have Worcestershire, use that. I like the tang of the vinegar, but don't go out of your way.  It's subtle.



This is optional, but I like green onions so I added some to the dip to freshen it up a bit and add some color.



Once the onions have cooled off, give them a rough chop and then add them to the rest of the ingredients.  Taste it and season appropriately with pepper and a little salt, if needed.

Cover and set aside in the fridge for 2-3 hours, or until it's nice and chilled and set up.  This is important because it takes a bit for the flavors to meld.   

YUMMMYYYY.  This was so delicious!  Never, ever ever ever, buy premade onion dip again.  This is soooo much better.

Here's the recipe YA'LLLLL.

2 Tbs of Butter
1 Tbs of Olive Oil 
2 Garlic Cloves, Chopped 
1 Large Shallot, Chopped 
2 Large Vidalia Onions, Sliced 
2 Cups Sour Cream
1 Cup Hellman's Mayonnaise 
1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbs Worcestershire
1 Tbs of Balsamic Vinegar 
2 Tbs of Chopped Green Onions 
Salt & Pepper to Taste 

Melt butter and olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic, and shallot.  Work the onions to loosen up the rings.  Lower heat to low/medium and saute for 20-30 minutes or until onions are a deep golden brown.  If onions stick, add a little water to deglaze.  Set onions aside to cool.  In a mixing bowl, add sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, Worcestershire, balsamic,  and green onions.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Once onions have cooled a bit, give them a rough chop and then add them to the rest of the mixture.  Cool in the fridge for 2-3 hours at least, but can cool for up to 24 hours.  Serve with sea salt and vinegar chips, celery, or any other goodies you like.

Stay hungry!

The Bomb Hotel Gift Bag: Seattle Edition

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was in Seattle for my friend Ams' wedding.  I would have been happy just to be back in the beautiful Emerald City, but I was especially thrilled to be there celebrating the big day with one of my dearest college friends.  The wedding was so awesome that I could probably just start a blog ONLY about the evening of April 26, but I'll try to keep it to a few awesome elements.

This is my second time posting about a wedding hotel gift bag (here's the first time).  I was so impressed with all of the thought and effort Ams and her now-husband Bret put into every detail of the wedding and this is no exception.  After a long flight from Boston to Seattle, it was so nice to come into my room welcomed by this:

Or, more importantly, by this:

PERSONALIZED note!  How nice is that?  There's nothing like feeling welcomed after a long day of travel.  (Also, as seen here, my college friends call me "C-Star" thanks to my old AOL Instant Messenger name.  I pretend to hate it but I love it.)

Here are two people who love Seattle like crazy and were so excited to share the city with many out of town guests.  The gift bag started with a schedule for the weekend as well as some basic wedding details...

...and the bag included some awesome local suggestions.  Seriously have you ever seen a more comprehensive wedding welcome letter?  From directions on taking the Clipper to British Columbia to Seattle's best hot dog, the bride & groom had their guests covered:

Since I hadn't eaten anything since Logan Airport, I was also delighted to see all of the tasty snacks included in the bag.  The wedding basics (Advil & water, much appreciated on both Saturday and Sunday mornings), Seattle Chocolates, Boston Baked Beans for Ams' hometown, tea, cookies, granola bars, chips, and a Sleepless in Seattle "Do Not Disturb" sign.  Plus lots of Skittles ("beast mode").

Nicely done, newlyweds!  Hope you had the most amazing honeymoon.  Let's do the wedding again this weekend?

Summer Sangria Recipes

Summer struck Chicago, but then it was gone.  Gone baby gone.  Like the waistband in the sweats I've been rocking.  BUT, summer will be back and it will be back soon so I think we (meaning me) should stop complaining about the roller coaster of weather and start prepping for summer.  I'm not talking about spring cleaning or anything adult like - I'm talking about booze.  Lots o' booze.  Here are some killer sangria recipes to check out:

1. Frozen Sangria.  UMMM HELLOOOO why didn't I think of this.



2.  Although this recipe was intended for Christmas, I love the idea of mixing rosemary and pomegranate in the summer.



3.  Ooooo apple and pear sangria.  I bet this is delish.  My mom would like this.



4. What up watermelon and basil sangria.  LOVE THIS.  Words can't describe how obsessed I am with fresh watermelon...'specially in my DRANK.



5.  I'm a weirdo and like lavender and herbs and other things in my drinks.  Check out these lavender and white peach sangria pops.

Are you guys licking your screen yet?  Oh?  Just me?  Cool.

Stay hungry!

Nico Osteria

We had dinner last week with some friends at Nico Osteria.  It was an incredible meal.  We are all still raving and dreaming about it.  I absolutely can not wait to go back.  MMM MMM MMM didn't have a bad bite the entire night. 

Below is a summary of the amazing dishes we had.  

This was a mix of the east and west coast oysters with celery and champagne vinegar.  

Yum.  Fresh bread including olive focaccia.  Forget it.

This was the La Quercia Prosciutto with gnocco fritto (little savory beignets), radish, clock shadow caprino, black currant-pepper jam. The waiter lovingly called this dish "ham and donuts."

This was SO good.  This was the Kanpachi crudo with crispy potato, and banyuls vinegar.  So different and interesting.  The fish was so fresh and clean and the little potato chips added this amazing savory crunch.

This was the stracciatella with brussels sprouts, trufflebert hazelnuts, parsley.

These were the glazed Veal Sweetbreads with salt roasted beets, smoked olive tapenade, and pistachio.

This was the beef Tongue with sepia, radish, and sea urchin aioli.  YES, beef tongue! It was nuts.  So delicious.

This was the rigatoni with northern ragu, which was similar to a bolognese.

So I was scared to try this.  This was the squid Ink Conchiglie with ramps, royal trumpet mushrooms, bigeye tuna.  I have never tried squid ink pasta because I always thought it was super overpowering.  It wasn't at all.  It gave the pasta a beautiful hint of flavor, but was not super fishy or over the top at all.  It was amazing.

This was my favorite.  I could have eaten the entire plate time and time again.  This was the stuffed Pappardelle with milk braised pork, carrots, black truffle.

By this point, the wheels fell off the wagon and we were just going rogue.  Instead of ordering meat dishes, we just ordered a mess of side dishes - all of them were so delicious.  I could eat veggies all day every day, especially when they are this good.  This was the broccolini with ricotta, hazelnut pesto.

Oh man.  I don't even know how they make potatoes this crispy.  Charlie was going NUTS.  He kept asking, "how did they make the potatoes crispy in the INSIDE??"  Very good question. Anyway, they were topped with a sharp pecorino.

These artichokes were amaze....they were pickled artichokes alla giudia with fennel aioli.  They were crispy, crispy, but nice and soft in the inside.

This was the peas and carrots with pine nuts, and green garlic.  I've never had peas and carrots like this before...so yummy.

This was a mixture of gelato and sorbetto.  68% Nyangbo Chocolate, Tonka bean cocoa nib, and Blackberry Sorbet.  Just insane.

This was one of the best meals I've had in a very long time.  So happy I tried it and can't wait to go back.

Stay hungry!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

Holy sheet cake.  These were just ridiculous.  And oh, by the way, this recipe is not from scratch. 

My mom has been encouraging me to do some semi-homemade baking.  Now, don't get me wrong, from scratch is always best, but this is a good little cheat recipe if you don't have time or the patience (like me), but want to make something special. 

Ok.  So.  First, press down prepared cookie dough in your pan.  I used a 9x13, but I'd probably use a square pan next time.  If you do a 9x13 I would recommend doing two tubes of cookie dough (14 oz each). 

Next, lay down your peanut butter cups.  I did face down.  I didn't want them to see what was coming.

This next pic reminds me of college.

Ok.  So, get two boxes of your favorite brownie mix, prepare per the box's direction, and pour on top. I love Ghirardelli brand.

Bake in a 325 degree oven.  Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet.  This will be about 45 minutes.  Take out of the oven and sprinkle with some chocolate chips (optional).  When chocolate is melted, spread with a spatula and the sprinkle with some chopped peanut butter cups. 

OMG you guys.  I mean.  I just can't even handle it.  These were nuts.  Pea-nuts.

Mmmm.

Ok here's the recipe!

2 Packages of Pre Made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
2 Boxes of Favorite Brownie Mix (plus oil, eggs, and water required by box) 
18 Peanut Butter Cups 
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips 

Pre heat oven to 325. Press cookie dough into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place 12 of the peanut butter cups on the cookie dough, distributing evenly.  Make prepared brownie mix per the box instructions and pour over peanut butter cups.  Bake for about 45 minutes, or until tooth pick (or fork or knife) comes out with only a few crumbs.  Immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips.  When they start to melt, spread evenly with spatula.  Let cool for a few minutes and then add remaining peanut butter cups that have been chopped up.

Try these.  You'll make friends.  Stay hungry!