Perfectly Cooked Steak

This year, Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, so we didn't go out.  Dustin offered to make dinner, and I wasn't going to argue with that!  He chose steak (big surprise) and baked sweet potatoes.  He found a recipe for a "perfectly cooked steak" and got sucked in.  And, I must say, it was a well cooked steak.  And pretty easy to accomplish.

Perfectly Broiled Steak

by: food.com

Steak

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

olive oil (or canola)

Move the rack in your oven to be 6 inches from the top.  Preheat your oven and your skillet by setting your oven to broil, with the skillet in it, for 15-20 minutes.  Using a paper towel, wipe any excess moisture from your steaks.  Rub your steak with the oil, salt and pepper (and any other seasonings that you want).  Once your skillet is extremely hot, lay the steaks on the skillet and sear them in the oven for three minutes per side.  Make sure that you don't stab them with a fork to turn them.  Use tongs to pick them up.  After you have seared both sides, turn your oven to 500 degrees and cook them according to this chart, turning them once: 

Rare (120-130F)1" 0-1 minute, 1 1/4" 2-3 minutes, 1 3/4" 4-5 minutes
Medium (140-150F) 1" 2-3 minutes, 1 1/4" 4-5 minutes, 1 3/4" 6-7 minutes
Medium Well (150-160F) 1" 4-5 minutes, 1 1/4" 6-7 minutes, 1 3/4" 8-9 minutes


And that should give you a perfectly cooked steak!

Bacon Wrapped Thanksgiving Turkey

I cooked a turkey.  That deserves it's own sentence because I think I've only done this one or two other times.  I am right smack in the middle of a big family, so I am never in charge of the turkey at Thanksgiving.  Pies, yes, sweet potatoes, yes (the day we ate this turkey, I nearly burned Jen's house down while roasting the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes).  For this turkey, I wanted to try something different.  Something daring.  Something involving bacon.  Actually, I found this recipe on allrecipes and it got amazing reviews and I happened to have what I needed, so it was the winner.  It is called Sherry's German Turkey Recipe.  Maybe they eat turkey this way in Germany?  If you are German, let me know.  I prepared it the night before, which was lovely.  And it was good.  Very good.  It was deliciously moist and flavorful.  So if you happen to be the turkey maker for Thanksgiving, give this one a shot.

Bacon Wrapped Turkey
adapted from: allrecipes.com (Sherry's German Turkey)

1 whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
1 onion, cut in half
1 large carrot, peeled and cut in half
1 stalk celery (I didn't use this)
1 apple, stem removed and cut in half
1 orange, yes, you guessed it, cut in half
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pepper
1 tsp. Lawry's season salt
1 pound sliced, smoked bacon
1 turkey oven bag

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels.  Shove the carrot, celery, onion, apple and orange into the cavity of your bird.  Think of this like a puzzle.  You may have to move things around to get it to work, but it will all fit in there.  Rub the oil all over the outside of the turkey and then sprinkle the salt, pepper and season salt on the bird and rub it all over as well.  Put the turkey into an oven bag (follow your oven bag's directions at this point.  Mine said to shake flour around inside the bag before putting the turkey in.  Just be obedient to the directions on the oven bag prep.)  Set the turkey (inside the oven bag) in a roasting pan.  Lay the strips of bacon all over the outside of the turkey.

One pound is a lot of bacon, so I was able to cover the turkey and then cover it some more.  Right now, you can either cook the turkey, or if you are doing this the night before, put it in your fridge until morning.  If you are cooking it, tie up the bag and make slits in it (again, follow whatever directions come with the bag).  Roast the turkey for about 4 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees (taken at the thickest part of the thigh).  When it is done, let it rest for 20 minutes, or so.

I didn't take any pictures of the finished product, but it looked just like this except the bacon was cooked!
Fruliche Geburtstag tsu dier!  (That actually means Happy Birthday to you, because I don't know how to say Happy Thanksgiving.)

Pork Chops in Orange Sauce

I'm Cooking Again!! My cooking space may look like this still (notice the counter top-less cabinets on the left and the rigged-up old counter tops on the right, ...and the drill), but it works when you haven't made homemade meals in a long long while.

This recipe was good, (I'm a big fan of sweet sauces), but next time I might add a little more orange juice and definitely the orange zest (I was out of oranges) to make it a little sweeter. I think the method of cooking them was my favorite; it made them so tender and it was very easy. I might experiment with different sauces to find my favorite.

Pork Chops in Orange Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 boneless pork loin chops (6 ounces each)
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold water

Directions

• Combine paprika and pepper; rub over both sides of pork chops. In a large nonstick skillet, brown chops over medium heat.
• Combine the orange juice, sugar, cloves and orange peel; pour over pork. Cover and simmer for 18-22 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160°. Remove chops and keep warm.
• In a small bowl, combine flour and water until smooth; stir into cooking juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Discard cloves. Serve sauce with pork chops. Yield: 4 servings.

Serve with Crash Hot Potatoes (below) or rice!