Fancy Dinner Part 2 - Steak, Hollandaise, Asparagus

All the girls in our family agreed that our fancy mousse made in the morning needed a fancy dinner to surprise Daddy. We had previously decided to make rolls, steak strips, asparagus, and hollandaise sauce. Mmmmm

Taste of Home Easy Potato Roll Recipe

There it was, in my fridge, staring at me. The scooped out leftovers of the Potato Skins made here. What to do, what to do. Potato Rolls!

Ingredients:
2 pks active dry yeast (1/4 oz each)
1 1/3 cup water (used separately)
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 1/2 tsp salt
6 cups flour

 Add yeast to 2/3 cup of water. Make sure water is 110-115 degrees. My mom can do this by feeling it on her wrist. I turn on the hot and put a meat therm. under it.

 Yeast should start to fizz and bubble. It is okay to stir it gently to get it all in the water. I use to be scared to do that.

This is my oldest girl mashing our scooped out insides a bit. Not pictured is the sugar. It is measured at 2/3 cup and in my kitchen aid. Next add your 2/3 cup shortening and cream. Add eggs, potatoes, salt, yeast mixture and 2 cups flour. Whisk till smooth. Add remaining 2/3 cup water and replace whisk with dough hook. Gradually beat while adding remaining flour. Don't worry about kneading this dough (I have learned the hard way that not all dough has to be kneaded) but keep it up until you have a soft dough that forms into a ball. Add up to 1/2 cup more flour or Tablespoons of water if needed. Put your ball of dough into a bowl and cover for one hour. Punch down and cut into 15 pieces. My girls helped roll pieces and put them in a dish. Cover and let rise again, about 30 minutes.

Once risen they should look something like this. Give them a quick brush with olive oil or melted butter. Bake in a 375 preheated oven for 20 minutes. I turn mine around halfway through since my oven browns the back half faster.

 While the rolls are cooking we looked up our recipe for mock hollandaise sauce. I'm pretty sure I found this on allrecipe.com a long time ago but sadly did not credit the cook. It is not nearly as good or thick as the original but nice in a pinch and much easier. (I made homemade with my brother over Thanksgiving. It's kinda sad that he's a better cook than me!)

Blender Hollandaise Sauce

 

Ingredients -

Remember the egg yolks you didn't use in your mousse from earlier today? You're gonna need them. Yep, all 6

1 squirt Dijon Mustard

1 Tb lemon juice

2 dash hot sauce (such as Tabasco)

3/4 cup melted butter

 

Blend egg yolks with mustard, Dijon, lemon juice, and hot sauce. Pour melted butter into blender in a steady stream. Put blender in a bowl of hot tap water to keep warm.

 

 

 Asparagus

For some crazy reason my kids love asparagus. I think it is best slightly crunchy and not mushy. To do this wash your asparagus and break off the lower tougher end. It should snap off easily. Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add asparagus and reduce to a simmer. A simmer is when the bubbles are just wanting to break into a boil but can't seem to muster enough energy. Parboil 2 minutes and immediately get those babies out of there.



 

 As soon as asparagus is done put it into a water bath. It slows the cooking down and keeps them firm.

Since the oven was still occupied by my potato rolls I decided to pan fry the 1/4 inch thick sirloin steak. Add a little olive oil to the bottom of the pan and turn to medium high heat. Season with whatever you have on hand. I used Adam's Reserve Sear N Crust. Cook 7 minutes on one side, flip, season 7 minutes on the next side. Grilling is really the way to go for steak but if you are pan frying keep checking it. If you push on the top and it feels like the fleshy part of your hand below your thumb it is medium rare - which I think is perfect.

Make sure to get those rolls out of the oven!

 

 At the last minute I fried a few leftover sausages we had. I have to admit to eating a few bites off my plate before remembering to take a pic. There was more green on that plate I promise! The girls loved the rolls and I forgot how much they fill you up! Daddy was surprised and everything was perfect. I do admit that we just couldn't finish the mousse after a meal like this. Everyone ate about half a cup and we put them back in the fridge to be finished tomorrow.



Salsa!

I think I could eat chips and salsa every day. Totally not kidding. But I'm kind of picky about my salsas. I like tangy, and fresh, sometimes sweet. My mom brought us some mango salsa, pineapple salsa and peach salsa. They're really good, but I can eat only a little because they're pretty sweet.

I decided to make some Salsa Verde (that's green salsa to you non-Spainglish speaking people...) the other day. I had some cilantro, tomatillos, and jalapenos on hand, so it was perfect. I made up the recipe, without measuring, like normal, so here's some approximate measurements...sorry.

SALSA VERDE

1 bunch cilantro, chopped
6 jalapenos, seeded
6 tomatillos, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
lime juice
salt
black pepper

Blend all ingredients together.

I also love just regular tomato salsa. I received this recipe a year or so, and it's delicious!

FRESH TOMATO SALSA

1 yellow onion
2-3 jalapenos (seed them if you want to reduce the heat)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. sugar
1- 28 oz. can whole tomatoes (or just slice up some ripe tomatoes)
1- 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tsp. white vinegar

Chop all ingredients up, or just dump into a blender and blend.

I'm Feelin' Saucy

Last night we did chicken nuggets. Seriously. Tyson, all white meat, super yummy chicken nuggets. You'd have thought the children were in heaven. Apparently they have no idea how their enthusiasm for all things store bought and premade makes it really hard to slave over a hot stove on all of the other nights!

We paired the chicken yumminess with some fresh, steamed asparagus and garlic-cheese mashers. The chicken nuggets were still the hit of the night, even the babies each had seconds!

If you've read this blog much you know I have some weird taste issues. Chocolate and fruit together? Nasty. Milk chocolate? Not so much. Tomato soup? Ick. Barbeque sauce? Blech. (No need to remind me I married into the wrong family and live in the wrong state for a couple of those, I know...trust me, I know)

I don't know what you put on your nuggets, but my family loves barbeque sauce. We have plenty of options in the fridge....

I made my favorite nugget dip - Cranberry Mustard. Yeah, I was feeling a little Thanksgiving-ish yesterday. The cranberry mustard is a throw-back to my mom and Hickory Farms. For me it's the only way to go with nuggets...and turkey sandwiches which we all know will be on the menu two weeks from today. (trust me on the sauce for turkey sandwiches...amazing!)

CRANBERRY MUSTARD

Mix 1/2 cup jellied cranberry sauce with 3 tbsp. honey mustard. You can add more of one or the other to get just the right mixture for you.

Next week I'm thinking of surprising the kids with fish sticks...maybe I'll make some homemade cocktail sauce. You know, just to feel saucy again.

COCKTAIL SAUCE

1/4 cup horseradish (I'll use wasabi - you get the same effect)
1 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup ketchup

Mix it all together - chill, then serve.

Or, if you prefer tartar sauce with your fish...

TARTAR SAUCE

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. dill pickle relish
1 tbsp. minced onion
2 tbsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

U = Utah

Do you know how many jokes I've heard about Utah food? Fry sauce, green jello salad, funeral potatoes...joke away, it's all good. Feel free to try all of these recipes if you've never experienced them before, it'll make you homesick too!

FRY SAUCE

1/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup miracle whip

Mix together...duh! :) Great with onion rings and french fries.

FUNERAL POTATOES

6 medium baked potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 pint sour cream
1/3 cup green onion, chopped
1 1/2 cup cheese, grated
2 cups cornflakes, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Heat butter and soup. Blend in sour cream, onion and cheese to soup mixture. Grate potatoes on a large hole grater. Stir potatoes into soup mixture. Place in buttered 9x13 inch pan. Mix crushed cornflakes into melted butter. Sprinkle on top of potatoes and bake 45 minutes at 350°.

GREEN JELLO SALAD

1 small package lime jello
1 cup boiling water
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 small whipping cream
1/2 large package softened cream cheese

Mix jello and water. Put in freezer to get soupy. Add pineapple. Whip whipping cream and add cream cheese. Mix together with jello and pineapple. Set in refrigerator.