Easter Dinner - 3 Cheese Potato Gratin

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Yum. This was just heavenly. I thought there was no way 3 of us would kill this entire dish, but we did. It was absolutely delicious and will definitely be a new favorite! I followed the directions for the most part, but did switch up the cheese a little. I also used all yukon potatoes, instead of using one yam. Nick isn't a fan of yams, so figured I'd just stick to regular potatoes. This is a real treat, enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Butter, for greasing the baking dish
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds (about 1 1/4 pounds)
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated gruyere cheese (about 5 ounces)
• 1/2 cup finely grated fontina (about 1 1/2 ounces)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, optional

Directions:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Butter a 2-quart glass or ceramic baking dish. Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and stir 1 minute. Add the cream, broth, rosemary, salt and pepper. Remove the pan from the heat. Mix all the grated cheeses together in a medium bowl.

Arrange one-third of the potato mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with one-third of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layers twice more ending with a layer of the cheese mixture. Pour the cream mixture over the layers and cover the pan with foil.

Bake the gratin until the potatoes are almost tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until the potatoes are tender and golden on top, 20 to 25 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let the gratin rest, 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley, if using, and serve.

 

Easter Dinner - Roasted Beef Tenderloin

Courtesy of Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman)

I cannot find words to describe how delicious this Easter Dinner was...it was difficult to stop eating! If you've never made a beef tenderloin, you are missing out big time. Do not let it intimidate you. It's not the cheapest item by any means, but it was so worth it! Most tenderloins you see are between 5-6 pounds. I asked the butcher to cut one of them down to about 3 pounds. This fed 3 very hungry people, and we had a serving left over. You can either ask the butcher to trim the meat for you, or you can do it yourself. This is definitely one of my favorite things I have ever made. This will now be our Easter tradition :) and maybe Christmas too since it was so delish. I served this with a homemade potato gratin dish, which can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole (3 lbs.) Beef Tenderloin
• 4 Tablespoons Salted Butter, or more to taste
• 1/3 cup Whole Peppercorns, More Or Less To Taste
• Lawry's Seasoned Salt (Or Your Favorite Salt Blend)
• Lemon Pepper Seasoning
• Olive Oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Rinse meat well. Trim away some of the fat to remove the silvery cartilage underneath. With a very sharp knife, begin taking the fat off the top, revealing the silver cartilage underneath. You definitely don’t want to take every last bit of fat off—not at all. As with any cut of meat, a little bit of fat adds to the flavor. (Hint: you can also ask the butcher to do this trimming for you if the process seems intimidating.) Sprinkle meat generously with Lawry’s. You can much more liberally season a tenderloin, because you’re having to pack more of a punch in order for the seasoning to make an impact. Start with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. Rub it in with your fingers. Sprinkle both sides generously with lemon & pepper seasoning. (There are no measurements because it depends on your taste, but be sure to season liberally.)
Place the peppercorns in a Ziploc bag, and with a mallet or a hammer or a large, heavy can, begin smashing the peppercorns to break them up a bit. Set aside. Heat some olive oil in a heavy skillet. When the oil is to the smoking point, place the tenderloin in the very hot pan to sear it. Throw a couple of tablespoons of butter into the skillet to give it a nice little butter injection before going in the oven. A minute or two later, when one side is starting to turn nice and brown, flip and repeat. Place the tenderloin on an oven pan with a rack. Sprinkle the pummeled peppercorns all over the meat. Press the pepper onto the surface of the meat. Put several tablespoons of butter all over the meat. Stick the long needle of the thermometer lengthwise into the meat. Place it in a 475-degree oven until the temperature reaches just under 140 degrees, about fifteen to twenty minutes. Stay near the oven and keep checking the meat thermometer to make sure it doesn’t overcook.
Let meat stand ten minutes or so before slicing, so the meat will have a chance to relax a bit. To serve, you can spoon the olive oil/butter juices from the skillet onto the top of the meat for a little extra flavor.

Maple-Mustard Glazed Chicken

Courtesy of Cooking Light

I have had this recipe on my list for a while now and tonight I finally decided I was in the mood for chicken. So, maple mustard chicken it was! It was nice in that it has a sweet, yet hint of mustard taste. I used deli mustard instead of stone ground, just because that's what I had on hand. I literally had every other mustard besides stone ground, but this one worked just fine. If I made this again, I would probably add more mustard. It was a quick and easy chicken dish, which is great during the week! As always, this makes great leftovers :) NOTE: I was not able to use the sauce after taking this out of the oven - it was way to syrupy and thick already.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil 
• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth 
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 2 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced 
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon deli mustard (or your favorite mustard, but not honey mustard, that would be sweet overkill)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Sprinkle chicken with pepper and salt. Add chicken to pan; sauté 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan. Add broth, syrup, thyme, and garlic to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add vinegar and mustard; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return chicken to pan, and spoon mustard mixture over chicken. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until the chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; let stand 5 minutes. Place pan over medium heat; cook mustard mixture 2 minutes or until liquid is syrupy, stirring frequently. Serve with chicken. 

Eli's Asian Salmon

Courtesy of Ina Garten / Food Network

I feel like most of my postings start off with "I was watching the Food Network and knew I had to make this...". Well, that is exactly what happened, so I apologize if there's a trend. I love salmon and it's an added bonus that it's healthy :) I served this with some sauteed spinach, but you can serve it with whatever you desire. I will say  one thing about this recipe...while it was delicious, I did feel that the panko was a bit soggy, so be careful not to overdo it with the panko (I think that was my problem). Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 pounds center-cut salmon fillet (1 1/2 inches thick)
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon toasted (dark) sesame oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili paste (I used sriracha)
• 1/2 cup sliced scallions (2 scallions)
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (8 large cloves)
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Directions:

Line an 8 by 12-inch baking pan with aluminum foil. Place the salmon in the pan. In a mixing cup, combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon juice, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, scallions, garlic, and ginger. Pour 1/3 of soy sauce mixture over the salmon fillet. Sprinkle the panko evenly over the fillet. Pour the rest of the soy sauce mixture evenly over the panko. Be sure to soak the panko completely and if any runs off, spoon back onto the salmon. Set aside for 15 minutes, leaving all the sauce in the pan. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Roast the salmon for 18 to 20 minutes, or for about 12 minutes per inch at the thickest part of the salmon. The internal temperature will be 120 degrees F on a meat thermometer when it's done. Remove from the oven, wrap tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.*NOTE: I would be careful with the cooking time - be sure to check it since mine actually took less time.

Lobster Vegetable Spaghetti

Courtesy of Plated Perfection

Lobster. Yum. Harris Teeter, my BFF, had buy one get one free lobster tails...obviously those went in my basket! Usually we broil them (Nick broils them), but this go around I wanted to do something different and had some vegetables to use up. I decided to throw some zucchini and carrots into the mix. I decided to wing the sauce, and it came out well! My only improvement for next time would maybe be to add more ingredients for more sauce but this was sufficient! I'm just obsessed with sauce. This is definitely a great spring or summer treat!

Ingredients:
2 lobster tails, approximately 4 ounces each
dash of lemon pepper seasoning
dash of garlic powder with parsley seasoning
1 tb olive oil
2 tb butter, each tb used separately
1 large garlic clove, diced
1/2 cup carrots, sliced in halves
1/2 cup zucchini, sliced in halves
3 fresh basil leaves, roughly torn or chopped
approximately 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (I used grated)
1/2 pound pasta (I used spaghetti)
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
dash of Italian seasoning

Directions:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta as directed.

Cut the shell of the lobster tails down the middle. Gently pull away the meat as much as possible. Rub a little butter on each tail and sprinkle each tail with a dash of lemon pepper and garlic powder. Broil on high for approximately 5-10 minutes (depending on size). Once done, remove the meat from the shells, cut into pieces, and set aside.

While the water is coming to a boil, heat 1 tb butter and 1 tb olive oil in a skillet. Cook the zucchini and carrots until barely crisp or beginning to get tender (your own preference). Remove from heat. Bring the pan back to a medium heat and add the garlic. Cook for approximately 2 minutes making sure not to brown. Toss in the white wine and lemon juice and bring to a simmer to reduce down if need be. I decided to use all of the liquid, so I added the lobster meat, Italian seasoning, a dash of pepper, and stirred together. Remove from heat. Toss in the pasta, vegetables, basil, and cheese. Serve and enjoy!

Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce

Adapted from SkinnyTaste.com

Pork, fresh thyme, dijon...these things are just made for one another! Pork chops were buy one, get one free at Harris Teeter yesterday, so I couldn't resist. I figured I would cook a batch of these pork chops up for lunch and have them for leftovers later this week. This sauce was absolutely delicious and full of flavor. I altered some of the measurements and ingredients, but nothing too major. I could eat this sauce with a spoon, and I may have done just that...just a few bites :)

Ingredients:
1 tb olive oil
1/2 tb butter
3-4 lean pork chops (I used boneless)
few dashes of salt and pepper
3 tb chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 Swanson Flavor Boost packet, chicken flavor
1-2 tb fresh herbs (I used thyme)
few dashes of dried parsley

Directions:
In a large skillet, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Raise heat to medium and add the chops to the pan and sauté for 3-4 minutes per side. Turn and cook until chops are browned and done to about medium. Remove the chops and cover with aluminum foil. Add the butter and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the broth and Flavor Boost packet and simmer about 2 minutes. Stir in the mustard, herbs, and 1/8 tsp pepper (optional). Place the pork chops back in the skillet and let simmer in the sauce for about 2-3 minutes. Put the chops on a platter and pour the sauce over the meat. Enjoy!

Asian Marinated Pork Chops

Courtesy of Melissa D'Arabian - Food Network

I saw this on the Food Network this week and it looked delicious. I really enjoy making pork chops since they are so lean, and the marinade for this just looked full of flavor. I also had all of the ingredients - score! I will say that I marinated my chops much longer (16 hours). This was due to the fact that it was gorgeous out yesterday and I just had to get out and about, which interfered with my cooking :) I ended up making these for lunch today instead, and they were still delicious! You need to watch out for the acidic marinades "cooking" really thin pork chops or making them tough, but mine ended up just fine! I think this would also be good on chicken.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• Eight 4-ounce thin pork chops, bone-in is great, but I used boneless
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)
• 2 green onions, sliced for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Place 1/4 cup vegetable oil, sugar, vinegar, ginger, sriracha, sesame oil, garlic and orange juice and zest in a food processo,r and process for 15 seconds. Put the pork chops in a heavy-duty resalable plastic bag. Add half of the marinade and reserve the other half until serving. Squeeze out the air, seal and move the chops around in the bag to coat evenly. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes, and up to 8 hours.

Remove the chops from the bag. Place the reserved marinade in a small saucepot. Bring to a boil to reduce and thicken the sauce a bit, about 2 minutes. Heat large stainless saute pan over medium-high heat and add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Brown the chops in the hot pan, cooking 2-4 minutes per side (depending on thickness). Cook until done (155 degrees F internal temperature). Serve with a spoonful of the glaze, with cilantro and sliced green onions sprinkled on top.*NOTE: You can also brown the chops and then bake off until done in a 375 degree oven.