Bison Steak-n-eggz

My sister and I had a craving for steak and eggs last night, so we decided to hit the butcher shop. We wanted something lean so that the meal still had redeeming nutritional qualities, and once we laid our eyes on the bison steaks calling us from inside the deli counter, there was no turning back.

We salt and peppered the steaks and brushed them with olive oil. We grilled them on high heat for about 3 minutes per side to a nice rare. (Because Bison is so lean it's important to cook it rare-med rare so that it remains juicy.)

I pan fried the eggs to over easy in olive oil and bacon fat to a nice crisp. We ate the meal with some toasted baguette in order to soak up all the yolky goodness.

I should probably mention that we snuck in a little appetizer of yellow fin tuna tartare as well. The tuna was diced and mixed with avocado, chopped scallions and minced jalapeno. We incorporated a spicy citrus sauce, mixed it all up and served with crostini.

Spicy citrus sauce:
(we pretty much eyeballed the amounts)
olive oil
limes zest grated
freshly squeezed lime juice
wasabi powder
soy sauce
sriracha
salt and pepper to taste

Saturday Extravaganza

I probably do not need to remind you how much we love McCall's. Let's just let the photos speak for themselves. Homemade steak tar tare with a fresh egg yolk and arugula salad tossed with a Dijon vinaigrette (dijon mustard, minced garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.)

Pan fried soft shell crab lightly seasoned with salt, pepper and dredged in flour. Served over fresh corn salsa with avocado.

We are gonna cook the shit outta you.

Finished off the night with some pan seared local black cod served over kale from our garden and quinoa.

We roll fancy.

Quick and Super Delish Pizza: Part Deux

Alright people, Friends Who Feast has come full circle. Kaitie and I made Chelsy's pizza from her very first post. Contain your excitement. This is the purpose of this blog isn't it? I thought so. So why not post about it.

We made the Veggie Version and used cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, purple asparagus, green peppers and feta cheese. Same preparation. Naan bread and all. West Coast style.

We ate the pizza with salad a la Kaitie. Arugula with sauteed mushrooms and Manchego cheese tossed with aged balsamic vinegar, olive oil salt and pepper.

Tofu Tacos!

Sometimes it can be very exciting to just use what you have in the fridge and make a weekday dinner, depending on what sorts of goodies you have in your fridge, of course. This time the outcome was good ol' tofu tacos.

I drained, chopped and marinated the tofu in Lawry's seasoned salt. I then cooked it in a cast iron skillet while I separately sauteed onions, red bell peppers, garlic, mushrooms and chard in olive oil, salt and pepper, and later added the veggie mixture to the tofu.

I seasoned the veggie-tofu concoction with some more Lawry's, garlic powder and cumin. Meanwhile, I threw some corn tortillas dipped in oil onto another hot cast iron to crisp. I served the tacos with some pinto beans, sharp cheddar, chopped Romaine and topped them with Greek yogurt "crema" and fresh corn salsa.

The corn salsa consisted of fresh corn, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper.
The tacos were simply awesome. Don't forget about tofu next time it's sitting in your fridge, lonely on the shelf just waiting for you to do something more inspired with it than stir fry and serve it over rice.

Greek Crepe and Black Bean Salad

Here is an interesting endeavour.  Not sure how this idea developed, perhaps it was the lack of inspiration over the last week to cook, or Rob saying "do something different, be creative, you never cook with chicken!"but this little play on a wrap came to be.
Start by marinating a couple breasts of chicken.  I used olive oil, a tablespoon of brown sugar, juice of 2 limes, some rice wine vinegar, dried rosemary, a dash of garlic, and salt and pepper.  Let it sit for about 25 minutes before putting the chicken with all the marinade juices in a pan.  Cook at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile whip up the crepes:
1/2 a cup cold water
1/2 a cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 flour
2 tbls melted butter
Combine water, milk, eggs, and salt first.  Then flour, and lastly the melted butter.  Whip up until smooth and keep in the fridge till needed (this is an excellent crepe recipe from Julia Child and great for sweet breakfast crepes as well)
When you cook the crepes get the pan nice and hot and use butter.  Pour some batter into the center of the pan, grab the handle and swirl around till it perfectly fits in the bottom of the pan and is thin thin thin.  Make sure both sides of the crepe are nice and browned.  I keep them in the oven on low and covered with tin foil until I'm ready to eat em.

Sautee some onions in butter, salt and pepper.  Shred the cooked chicken and add to the onions to heat it up again.  I also poured the juices from the pan onto the chicken and onions.  Once everything is properly heated you can assemble your wrap!


 This one had the chicken/onion medley, feta cheese, tomatoes, and black olives (hence the Greek name) Roll up like a burrito and enjoy!

Black Bean Salad
This recipe isn't perfected and is missing a few things, in fact I was debating whether or not to even put it up here.  I also would say to not eat it with the wrap, too many ingredients and flavors going on. It has been really good in the past, and is a nice summer snack. 
So here it goes:

Grill up a cob of corn, slice the kernels off and put in a large bowl.  In the same bowl add black beans that have been washed off, diced onions, chopped tomatoes, fresh parsley, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.  When ready to eat toss in some avocado as well.  I would recommend making this a few hours before eating, cause the flavors increase and get better as it marinates.  This time I put the salad on some romaine lettuce.  Pretty tasty. 

ELVIS SUNDAY BRUNCH

I present to you Elvis' favorite sandwich.  Sweet and easy, it falls somewhere between the categories of brunch, lunch, and dessert. Simply butter up 1 side of 2 pieces of bread.  Before throwing then on a heated pan, put a layer of peanut butter on 1 of the un-buttered sides.  As the bread is sizzling and toasting up put sliced banana on top of the peanut butter.  The final step is putting a light layer of chocolate, in this case Hershey's sauce, on the bananas.  When the bread is nice and browned put the pieces together and you have a lovely late Sunday afternoon snack.  Enjoy!

Dinner from the neighborhood butcher shop

I have fallen in love. With a butcher shop. McCall's Meat and Fish opened last Winter in my neighborhood and in result I seem to cook at home a lot more often. Their display features incredibly eye-catching local and imported items that range from veal shanks to sea urchin. Last night it was fresh Diver Scallops and Wild Alaskan King Salmon. We cooked both very simply to showcase their natural flavors.


I marinated the scallops in aged balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper (shout out to Ms. Bakula for this recipe idea back in the day,) and cooked them on both sides in olive oil to a nice sear. Served with a little of the aged balsamic on the plate for dipping purposes.



The salmon was cooked in olive oil, salt and pepper skin side down to get a nice crispy char, and then finished on the other side. We served it cooked to medium over cous cous with preserved lemons, toasted pine nuts and parsley.



All in all, the seafood was simple, fresh and delicious, and the best part is that we have NY steaks in the fridge for tomorrow night!
Ahem...is anyone else out there? Let's get some posts up ladies!

McCall's Meat and Fish
2117 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
http://www.mccallsmeatandfish.com/