On the menu tonight was London broil marinated in red wine and served with red wine gravy, creamed spinach, and a fresh vegetable casserole (it’s just veggies smothered in a cheese sauce!).  It was fantastic.

The cocktail for tonight was a good old fashioned Bloody Mary.  Now I know that there are 1,000,001 recipes out there for homemade Bloody Mary mix.  If you want to go through the trouble of testing them and finding the right one and going through a bunch of crap to get a good Bloody Mary, be my guest.  Or, you know, you could listen to your old pal Somer and buy a mix.  I’m not usually big on drink mixes.  Most of the time, it IS better to make your own…but not this time.  This time you have Mr. & Mrs. T’s Bloody Mary Mix!  You can find this stuff anywhere and it is seriously the BEST Bloody Mary I’ve ever had.  We buy the Bold and Spicy version because we like a bit of kick, but they make a milder version for you big babies out there.  (Note:  This is NOT a compensated endorsement of Mr. & Mrs. T’s.  I’m telling you to try this stuff because it really is kick ass.)

I love these drinks.  My father-in-law drinks one or two on Fridays and says that it is his vegetable serving for the week.  And that is all kinds of awesome.

Now on to the glorious dinner!

Like I said, this meal was fantastic.  I was so excited eating it because I couldn’t wait to write about it and share my two creations with you all!  Let’s start with the London Broil.  Here is the recipe!

Smell My Plate London Broil

My Recipe

1 London Broil

2 cups red wine

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup water

1 Tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried parsley

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

Red Wine Gravy (Recipe Below)

Have your London Broil defrosted by the night before you intend to serve it.  It needs to marinate over night.

Place the London Broil in a large freezer bag.  Mix all other ingredients in a bowl and pour into the freezer bag with the meat.  Seal the bag and be careful to get most of the air out.  Smoosh (yes that is a technical term!) the meat and marinade around so that the meat is well lubricated.  Then place the bag in a large dish and store in the refrigerator.  Turn the bag over once the next morning.

Lay the meat out to come to room temperature 15 minutes before cooking.  Set oven broiler on high.  Place meat on broiler pan and cook for about 9 minutes on each side for Medium to Medium Rare.

Reserve marinade for gravy!

Strain marinade through a fine mesh strainer and set aside.  Melt 4 Tablespoons butter in a saucepan.  Stir in 4 Tablespoons flour and stir.  Add 1 cup of the marinade and 1 can of beef broth.  Stir until thick.  Serve with London Broil.

Cooked to perfection and tasting oh so faintly of that wonderful Pinot Noir I used in the marinade.  Seriously, folks.  Everybody has been saying for years to only cook with a wine you would drink.  THERE IS A GOOD REASON FOR THIS.

Also, really and truly make sure that when you put the meat and marinade bag in your fridge that you put it in a dish so that it won’t leak.  Like this:

Or if you like to learn things the hard way you can ignore me.  It will only take ONE instance of having your refrigerator leaking with raw meat juice and marinade for you to never make that mistake again.  And yes, I DO know from experience.  Learn from my idiocy, people.

The other dish that I put together was Creamed Spinach.  Can you believe that I had never had it before tonight?  As much as I eat steak one would think that I would have had it by now, but no.  But seeing how I was serving a huge piece of red meat with dinner and Creamed Spinach is traditionally served with red meat, my opportunity was hard to ignore.  It’s not a fussy dish.  It’s really straight forward and seriously only takes a few minutes to make.

Creamed Spinach

My recipe

1 1-lb. bag frozen spinach

4 Tablespoons butter

1 shallot, minced

3 Tablespoons flour

2 cups half-and-half

salt and pepper

Wrap thawed spinach in a clean dish towel and squeeze as much water from it as possible.  Set aside.

Melt butter in a large skillet.  Add shallots and stir until soft.  Add flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring the whole time.  Add half-and half.  Stir until thick.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in spinach and heat through.

That’s it.  It’s really that easy.  And it’s really freaking good as well.  Win-Win.

The third thing that I served is a cheese-gooped vegetable casserole that comes from that cookbook I keep referencing lately.  It’s really good and really decadent.  I don’t usually serve my vegetables swimming in goopy cheese (even though I love it) so I really only make this dish around the holidays.

Fresh Vegetable Casserole

Favorite Brand Name Old-Fashioned Holiday Recipes 2004

8 small new potatoes

8 baby carrots (Did you know that baby carrots are actually mature carrots shaved down?  True story!)

1 small cauliflower, broken into florets

4 stalks asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 Tablespoons butter or margarine

3 Tablespoons flour 2 cups milk

salt

black pepper

3/4 cup (3 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese

Chopped fresh cilantro

Cook vegetables until crisp-tender.  (I steamed all but the potatoes.  Steaming is a good option.)  Arrange vegetables in buttered 2-quart casserole.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make sauce, melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in flour until smooth.  Gradually stir in milk.  Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add cheese, stirring until cheese is melted.  Pour sauce over vegetables and sprinkle with cilantro.  Bake 15 minutes or until heated through.  YIELD:  4-6 servings.

It looks goopy and decadent, no?

3 days to go!

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. The 5 Days of Decadence: Day 1
2. Cinco de Mayo Feast
3. Turning Lamb Leftovers into Indian Lovin’s

While looking at the shelves in my kitchen that I use for a pantry, my eye was caught by the large stack of tuna cans.  “I’ll make a tuna casserole to use up some of that, ” I thought.  I’ve never had tuna casserole before…unless you count Tuna Helper.  I’ve certainly never made a tuna casserole before, so I consulted cookbooks and the internet for a recipe.  There’s certainly no shortage of Tuna Casserole recipes on the world wide web, but to be honest, none of them really got me excited.  Each one had the same structure and basically the same ingredients and I just was not wowed.

First of all, most of these recipes called for peas.  I hate peas.  They are too sweet and when they hit the back of my mouth, I start gagging just as I do when I try to eat sweet potatoes.  I just can’t stand that weird starchy sweetness.

Second, most of these recipes only contained a sparse sprinkling of cheese.  Umm, excuse me, I thought Tuna Casserole was supposed to be a cheesy dish!  Why are these recipes telling me to skimp?  Not me.  No way.  I decided it was time to play mad scientist of the casserole community (ok, not really but I like that title) and make up a casserole recipe of my own.  It wasn’t a terribly ambitious undertaking.  It’s Tuna Casserole for crying out loud.  My two-year old could do it with relative ease.

Cheesy Tuna Casserole

My Recipe

2 cans of albacore tuna in water

1 can of cream of mushroom soup (cream of chicken will also work)

2 cups frozen chopped broccoli

2 Tblsp. butter (NOT margarine, you need real butter)

1-1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

6 slices American cheese

1-1/2 cups uncooked rice

Shredded cheese to top (about 1-1/2 cups)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook your rice.  You can use quick cooking or instant rice, but I use regular old rice that takes about 15 minutes to cook.  Because it’s cheaper and comes in bigger packages.  That’s not only economical, but keeps me from having to buy rice every time I go shopping.

In a large pot melt butter.  Add condensed soup and milk.   Stir to break up the soup.  Add salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.  Add frozen broccoli and heat through.  Drain tuna and add.  Add American cheese one slice at a time.

Beware!  This smells really freaking good.

Now add your cooked rice and stir to combine.  Pour into a casserole dish.

Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top.  Be as sparse or as liberal as you like.  I like the top pretty much covered.

Place in your oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Mmmmm.  Melted cheeeeeese.   Mmmmmmm.

Trust me on the addition of the American cheese.  It adds a very mild “cheese” flavor, but more importantly it adds a rich creamy flavor.  It’s just something extra.

I used rice instead of egg noodles….mostly because I had rice and not egg noodles.  Boy am I glad that it worked out that way.  This whole casserole was super creamy and smooth and was just so palate pleasing.  It really was very good and tasted much more interesting to me than a lot of the recipes that I looked at seemed.

I don’t have a final product picture because, well, it’s a casserole!  It basically just plopped on the plates and sat on the plates in a very un-pretty lump (delicious, but not pretty).  I do, however, have this picture:

Because I’d rather look at that than an overly thought out presentation of culinary mastery any day.  Also, I suck at pretty plating and I thought a picture of my beautiful family would be better!

I hope you try this recipe.  It’s easy, quick, and very economical.  It’s also a classic dish that anybody would appreciate at a potluck dinner.  Have a friend who just had a baby?  Make this for them.  You’ll be the best friend they have for like a year!  Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Chicken Enchilada Casserole
2. Red Beans and Rice

1 cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped green pepper

2 Tblsp. butter

2 cups cooked chicken

1 4-oz. can green chili peppers, rinsed, seeded and chopped

3 Tblsp. butter

¼ cup AP flour

1 tsp. ground coriander

¾ tsp. salt

2-1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup dairy sour cream

1-1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (6 oz.)

12 6-inch tortillas

In a large saucepan cook onion and green pepper in the 2 Tblsp. butter until tender.  Combine the onion mixture in a bowl with the chopped chicken and green chili peppers; set aside.

*HINT*  I cook the chicken by boiling it and using the cooking liquid as the broth.  Use some chicken stock and a little water to cook your chicken for more richness and lots of flavor.

For the sauce, in the same saucepan, melt 3 Tblsp. butter.  Stir in the flour, coriander, and salt.  Stir in the chicken broth all at once; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir 1-2 minutes more.

This is what the butter and flour should look like when it is ready for the addition of the chicken broth.

Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and ½ cup of the cheese.  Stir ½ cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture.

Dip each tortilla into the remaining sauce to soften; fill each with about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture.  Roll up.  Arrange rolls in a 13x9x2-inch baking dish; pour remaining sauce over.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree F oven for about 25 minutes or until bubbly.  YIELD:  6 servings.

I use a bit more cheese than what the recipe calls for.  I buy a 1 pound brick of Monterey Jack and shred it all and use it all, so my version of this dish is cheesy to the extreme.  I’d have it no other way.  It’s not the prettiest dish, I’ll grant you that.  But that doesn’t matter…not in this case.

Cinco de Mayo is coming up and this (and a pitcher of margaritas) is a great dinner!  Enjoy, everybody!

Related posts:

1. Chicken and Dumplings: Comfort on a Cold, Rainy Day
2. Roast Chicken and Vegetables
3. Chicken Stock