Dinner!

Last night's dinner was another great success. Recipes from Great Food Fast - so quick and easy. I  did have a few pots going at once which was a little hectic (and makes for a messy clean up) but everything was so easy and simple to prepare it's ok. Steak with sauteed mushrooms and asparagus (steamed and in a simple olive oil/salt/pepper drizzle).  GFF separates recipes by season, I used the steaks & mushroom from the same spring recipe and the asparagus from a summer. Mix and match it's fun :) The book has great pairings if you just want to stick with those too. 

Steaks: drizzle with oil, coat with salt and pepper. That's it, so easy! I cooked them on a grill pan till medium/well done. I bought strip steaks as the recipe suggests when I was planning my grocery list earlier in the week. 

Mushrooms: recipe called for some fancy mushrooms but all I had were baby bellas. Trim into small slices. I cooked them in olive oil, salt, pepper and 3 cloves of garlic. Recipe called for shallots didn't have those either. I heated them for a few minutes than transfered to the steaks. 

Asparagus: Wash and trim ends, cut in half. Toss in a large bowl with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Bring water to boil, places asparagus in steamer basket and cooked till semi-tender. I made them not raw but still with a small crunch. Whatever you like. 

Rice Pilaf: so much of this on my plate, should have had more veggies, oh well. I like to make this quick and easy so I buy it in a box. Shocked? :) I believe this was a mushroom and herb flavor so it went well with the steaks. Since these boxed foods can sometimes be high in sodium, etc I try to read the labels and by the healthiest - Near East is usually what I buy. 

I didn't make it to the wine tasting earlier in the week so the tiny bit of the wine bottle you see in the pic is the Chardonnay. It was a great wine! I know we usually think of reds with steaks and other red meats but it was very refreshing to have a white wine with a steak.