Saturday night I decided to try a few recipes from my oh so favorite, foodnetwork.com
Shopping:
For the appetizer I decided to go for the Spinach and Artichoke Dip. First let me start off by saying Frozen Artichokes are hard to come by. I first started my shopping at Whole Foods, and they didn’t have any, so we headed to WinnDixie where I didn’t find them there either, so off to Publix, because Publix has to have them right? Ehhhh WRONG! They didn’t have them either, so as I ask people no one tells me that they come in a can, and I didn’t find this out until later when my boyfriends mom told us about it. So I bought baby artichokes because I couldn’t even find just one regular sized artichoke at Publix. I get home and find out that cooking this thing is going to take about 25-45 minutes. So we opted to return it and try buying the artichokes in a can at another Publix. While I was there, I decided to try and see if they had the frozen ones, and to my surprise, they did! YEAH for me, I can do the recipe as follows. So off to my house to start my first course.
BTW:
My other recipes included my Main Dish – Rib-Eye Steak with Black Olive Vinaigrette and for my side dish, Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic, Gorgonzola and Herbs. They ask for Roma Tomatoes but I couldn’t find those either in Whole Foods, so thanks to the help of one of their employee’s I found out that Roma Tomatoes is the same as a Plum Tomato which they did have. Don’t worry folks, I didn’t just take his word, my boyfriend looked it up on the iPhone and found the same thing. And just in case you are ever wondering, Red Pepper Flakes is the same as Chili Pepper Flakes. (Another item I couldn’t find). So on to the recipes…
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip:
Ingredients
* 1 cup thawed, chopped frozen spinach
* 11/2 cups thawed, chopped frozen artichoke hearts
* 6 ounces cream cheese
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
Boil spinach and artichokes in 1 cup of water until tender and drain. Discard liquid. Heat cream cheese in microwave for 1 minute or until hot and soft. Stir in rest of ingredients and serve hot. — Recipe courtesy Alton Brown (if you want to see the recipe click on link foodnetwork.com )
I followed the directions to a tee, and it did come out a little creamier then I thought, so if you don’t like too much cream cut the portions I say a 1/4 or 1/2 of what they ask. However, at first I wasn’t sure because it looked so creamy, but I have to admit, it came out DELISH! I added a few pitta chips on the side and get ready to dig in.
Main Dish – Rib-Eye Steak with Black Olive Vinaigrette:
Ingredients
Rib-eye Steak:
* 1 2-inch rib-eye steak, boneless
* 1 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Black Olive Vinaigrette:
* 1/2 cup black olives, pitted
* 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
* 1 garlic clove
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
For the Rib-eye: Preheat your grill pan on medium high heat. Coat the beef with olive oil and sprinkle with the Herbs de Provence, salt, and pepper. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes a side until the meat is medium-rare, remove from heat, and allow to rest.
For the Black Olive Vinaigrette: Combine the olives, red wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper in a blender and blend until mixed. In a small pitcher combine the olive oil and vegetable oil. Drizzle the oil into the blender with the machine running. Transfer the vinaigrette to a serving dish. Stir in the parsley and serve with the rib-eye. — Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis (for the recipe go to foodnetwork-everday-italian.com )
At first I wasn’t sure I would like the Black Olive Vinaigrette because I am not a huge fan of black olives, although I don’t mind a few in my salad or on my pizza, I am not one to just pick them out and eat them. So I didn’t add as many olives as she required, just a few less, not much a difference and instead of 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil (btw vegetable oil is very similar to canola oil) I only added 5, but boy was it good. I just wanted more on top of my Medium Rare steak which by the way also came out DELISH! The Rib-Eye is simple to make and depending how you like it cooked that’s the only thing time consuming. If you like it like my boyfriend and I do, Medium Rare, then the dish only takes about 6-8 minutes on each side, depending on how thick you bought your Rib-Eye.
My Side Dish – Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic, Gorgonzola and Herbs:
Ingredients
* 12 Roma tomatoes, sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
* 3/4 cup finely crumbled Gorgonzola or grated Parmesan cheese
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Using a teaspoon or grapefruit spoon, remove the seeds from the tomatoes. Place the tomato halves, cut side down, on paper towels to drain, about 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Using clean hands, gently toss the drained tomato halves in the oil mixture until coated. Marinate the tomatoes for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and Gorgonzola cheese.
Place the marinated tomato halves, cut side up, on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Fill each tomato half with the bread crumb filling. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until slightly softened and the underside of the tomatoes are brown.
Arrange the cooked tomatoes on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve immediately. –Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis (For recipe click on link Foodnetwork.com-everyday-italian )
Okay so my only problem was finding the Roma Tomatoes, also if you are only cooking for 4 people, 12 is way too many, 5 tomatoes are plenty. So I followed the directions and I used Gorgonzola NOT Parmesan as my cheese. It’s your choice but if you have never tried Gorgonzola I say try it, but make sure to get one that is not too strong if you don’t like a strong cheese, and if you do, go for it. But we opted for the creamer Gorgonzola. So because I used less tomatoes don’t use as many bread crumbs in your recipe. This plate came out good, but my boyfriend and I weren’t too in love with the bread crumbs, however the idea inspired me and next time I might use the garlic to season the tomatoes and the Gorgonzola cheese for the filling but I might add a few different items and leave out the bread crumbs. However, all in all the dishes came out DELISH!
I love trying new recipes and next Saturday I’ll probably try another.
xo,
kristin nicole
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