Giada’s Italian-style grilled steak

So I am thumbing through my People magazine yesterday. I am devoted to People magazine, although it is starting to lose some of its luster because there are now way too many stories about ordinary people losing weight. I don’t want to read about ordinary folks in People magazine, especially if they are on a diet. I want to read about deranged celebrities trashing hotel rooms and the preparations for Prince William’s wedding.

However, I turn to page 103 and see right there a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis for rib-eye steaks with smoky arrabiata sauce. And it says that the recipe is one of the reasons Giada’s husband asked her to marry him. Really? Steak with what amounts to spaghetti sauce? Is that even a good idea?

But I trust Giada de Laurentiis. I have two of her cookbooks and she has never steered me wrong. In fact, a few of her recipes are now a regular part of my repertoire. I cannot live without her lemon spaghetti and her marinara sauce is the basis for my award-winning (at least in my house) spaghetti sauce.

It’s been cold and drizzly here and all of us in Middle Tennessee are slightly more than a  little depressed so I decided to splurge and get some steak and just see how well this recipe works out.

Oh, my God. I rarely invoke the Almighty’s name when it comes to food, but this steak and arrabiata sauce is unbelievably delicious! I mean we barely got some on a plate because we were so busy just dipping the slices of steak into the sauce pot. I just don’t know what else to say. It was that good.

The sauce recipe makes more sauce than you’ll need for the steak, unless you are tempted to just drink it (as we were). But the leftover sauce would be just dandy with some pasta or on a homemade pizza. Or chilled as a cocktail with a little vodka. OK. Maybe not the last one.

 

Giada’s Rib-Eye Steaks with Smoky Arrabiata Sauce

1 3-inch serrano pepper

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tablespoon capers, drained, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

2 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning

2 one-pound ribeye steaks, each about 1-inch thick

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Remove stem and half the seeds from pepper; coarsely chop. Pulse pepper and next 7 ingredients in a food processor until mixture is chunky. Bring tomato mixture to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes or until thickened. Salt to taste. Cover and keep warm.

Heat grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat or preheat grill to 350-400 degrees. Drizzle each side of steak with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill 5-6 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Cover steaks and let stand 5 minutes. Slice steaks across the grain into ¼-inch slices and serve with sauce.

Lemon Spaghetti

So the boys are both off working and I am left to my own devices. I will freely admit that when they’re both home for supper I can take a heavy hand to the meal. Chicken fried steak with sour cream mashed potatoes. New Orleans BBQ shrimp, which I believe requires a stick and a half of butter for one pound of shrimp. Hot chicken salad, which must include a bag of the greasiest potato chips you can find and a gallon of mayonnaise. What? It has celery in it…

But tonight, the night before the big Mayhew Christmas Eve feed, I am all by myself and I feel the sudden urge for Giada De Laurentiis’s Lemon Spaghetti.  I am the only one in our household that loves this dish. In fact, I crave it. The recipe is from Giada’s first cookbook, Everyday Italian. However, it contains no meat which immediately cancels it out in Mark’s opinion. It is a recipe that if you were a professional chef you would call “clean” in that it has clean flavors. You taste the pasta, the lemon, the olive oil, the Parmesan cheese, the basil. It’s simple yet so enticing.

I make it. I do not even put it on a plate. I eat it out of the bowl it was mixed in. It is my pre-Christmas Eve treat. And I don’t want to share.

You will want this recipe. I promise you.

My Peeps Are Leaving Me

I’m very excited. Tonight is the season finale of Top Chef Masters and the premiere of the next Top Chef series!  My in-laws are coming to spend the night and I’ve already told them not to plan on seeing much of me unless they want to watch the shows – QUIETLY. Is that rude?

So, I’m thinking about the way these chefs just improvise incredible dishes with combinations I’d never think of while I’m making lasagna for Noah’s friend, Austin, who is getting ready to fly the coop for the University of Kentucky.  And I’m pretending, in my own sad little mind, that I am competing on Top Chef making lasagna! I’m also watching Ina Garten on Food Network, so I’m very conflicted. I’d like to be her, too. So, the first thing is I make spaghetti sauce with two pounds of ground chuck (do NOT drain – let the beef brown in the fat) and some finely diced carrot.  I learned that from Giada de Laurentiis (am I fixated with these people or what?). Then throw in some diced onion, and lots of garlic. After the beef browns, douse it with red wine and let that cook down a little. Then add a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, a lot of oregano, some salt and pepper and the secret ingredient (except it’s not secret because I’m going to tell you), smoked paprika. Just a little bit.

At the same time, I saute some diced red pepper and chopped mushrooms in a little olive oil. And in my Top Chef moment, I deglaze the pan with Madeira. I want to flame it but I fear that will be going overboard. So, now Down Home with the Neelys is on Food Network and Pat is making his daughter’s favorite Sloppy Joe recipe and I’m thinking how much my spaghetti sauce looks like Sloppy Joe’s, which is not a good place to go in my head.

Then I make the ricotta filling with whole milk ricotta. The term “part skim” just isn’t in my vocabulary. I’m feeding this lasagna to a boy who, I promise you, will not gain an ounce after eating about half the pan. And I decide to add a beaten egg (that’s pretty standard), some grated Parmesan cheese and sour cream! Just a little bit.

Now it’s time for the lasagna noodles and this is where I think I am a complete genius. I use the kind that you don’t have to cook. They’re really thin and you layer them in with the sauce and the ricotta and they cook themselves in the oven. For some odd reason, there’s only one company that makes them that I can find at the Publix. You’d think this idea would have caught on like wildfire.

I wasn’t going to add this next photo, but Max looks so cute sitting in his chair and observing every move I make. Sort of like an audience…on Top Chef.  Sort of. At any rate, layer the sauce, noodles, ricotta, peppers and mushrooms (Bunny’s coming for supper, too, and she hates mushrooms but I’m going to goof on her – she’ll never know), more noodles, sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese (WHOLE MILK), more noodles, the last of the sauce and more mozzarella.

I’m writing this early because I have to go make the salad and garlic bread and have everyone fed by the time Top Chef starts. I will not get accolades from Padma and Tom. Giada just had a baby – she won’t even care about her secret carrot thing that I stole. But Austin will love it. Noah will inhale it. And that’s really the only thing I care about anyway. This is the last night I’ll be able to feed Austin until Thanksgiving break. Where are all my peeps going? College is overrated.