Basil Balsamic T-Bone Steak and Blue Cheese Pasta (Alternatively Titled: It's His Birthday and You Be Killing It!)

Oh the pressure of creating the perfect birthday meal! You can execute a total masterpiece of a dinner on a boring old Monday night with a few rotten carrots and odds and ends you found in your refrigerator, but it seems like the pressure of cooking for special occasions so often ruins the meal. I made it really simple for myself but still managed to burn the garlic toast, undercook the steaks, buy the wrong peas for the potato salad, serve the meal cold....
After I sent him off for a relaxing bath, my husband walked into a smoky mess and me flapping my arms like a herniated chicken squawking "Dinner's ready." Luckily my husband reminded me that I had gotten the day wrong. His birthday was tommorow, which made me feel like I was in Groundhog Day. I could look forward to once again trying to execute the perfect birthday meal all over again tommorow....At least I'd had a trial run at it. Obviously I needed it.
What I finally came up with - and what I was aiming for - was a classic manly comfort meal that was still elegant and fresh. These marinated grilled T-Bones, with blue cheese pasta and a simple yet timeless tomato salad really struck the perfect note.

Not to mention the whole blue cheese, steak and tomato flavor combination has really got it going on....
Anyways if you are planning on executing that perfect birthday meal any time soon I recommend you give this a whirl, but also have a back-up plan that involves a take-out menu just in case, because lets face it: you just never know.

Classic Tomato Salad

3 ripe tomatoes cut in "apple slices" (We never put our tomatoes in the refrigerator as it gives them that "mushy" texture)

Dressing:

2 TBSP olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregeno
2 tsp dried rosemary (or 1 fresh sprig if you have it)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together dressing and add to tomatoes. Refrigerate until serving.

Blue Cheese Pasta

300 g pasta
300 g blue cheese
1/3 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 small white onion cubed
1/4 cup green onion (to garnish)

1) Boil water for pasta. Add pasta to boiling water.
2) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil once butter is dissolved.
3) Add garlic and sautee for a minute
4) Add onion and sautee until starts to caramelize
5) Add chicken stock and let simmer for a moment
6) Add cream and let simmer on low heat until pasta is ready
7) Melt in blue cheese right before serving
8) Toss with pasta and garnish with green onion

T-Bone Steaks in Basil Balsamic Marinade

2 Large T-Bone Steaks

 

Balsamic Basil Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup worchestershire sauce
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
3 TBSP dried basil
2 cloves garlic
Dash of hot sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper

1) Mix together marinade and let steaks marinate at least 8 hours, or preferrably overnight.
2) Set broiler to high
3) Grill steaks for 4 minutes a side for medium rare doneness (5 mins. for medium, 6 for medium well etc.)

Start grilling steaks around the time you start boiling your pasta and you will be killing it!

Mediterranean Prawn Pasta with Kale (so good he'll think it was his idea)

Ohhhh pasta. I love pasta for that quick and easy pick-me up mid-week meal. My husband and I also find it is a great crowd-pleaser for last-minute company. Lately we have been experimenting alot with Mediterranean flavours, but I also have a newfound obsession with kale as of late. I find with anything outright and downright "healthy," I really have to sneak it into my dishes gradually in small doses until eventually the next thing I know I will be sitting having coffee with my husband and in-laws, and he's telling them all about how good kale is for you and how he's been using it alot in his cooking lately and how they should really start adding it into some of their dishes (pip pip). So, without further exeunt, this is probably one of my best pasta recipes to date. I hope you enjoy it. It sounds somewhat healthy, but actually tastes really indulgent. I wouldn't hesitate to serve this to company (after you have already cooked it at least once, to avoid any Bridget Jones-like fiascos).

Mediterranean Prawn Pasta with Kale

40 pre-cooked prawns (tail off if you prefer)
1 cup and a half chopped kale
1/3 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
3/4 cup whole olives
3 cloves finely chopped or pressed garlic
2 TBSP chopped fresh basil
1 TBSP fresh dill (optional)
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1 tomato chopped
2 small scallions chopped
1/2 cup feta
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small box pasta (about 500 g preferrably spaghetti)
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt

1) Boil water for your pasta.
2) Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a saucepan on medium heat. Add your garlic and sautee for a minute
3) Next add your kale, sundried tomatoes (which if they don't already come in oil, I like to pre-soak in olive oil for 20 mins or so), basil and dill. Sautee this for another minute until your kale is wilted.
4) Make sure you have removed all excess moisture from your prawns before you add them in along with your olives. Sautee for another couple of minutes making sure everything is mixed together and set your saucepan to warm while you finish cooking your pasta (I like spaghetti for this meal as I find it the best conduit for grasping all the ingredients, so you don't end up with no pasta and a bunch of toppings at the end of the meal).
5) Once you have cooked and strained your pasta add the remainder of your olive oil and salt and pepper until your noodles are coated.
6) Mix the contents of your saucepan in with your noodles
7) Plate your pasta and garnish with crumbled feta, tomatos, cashews and scallions

Bon Appetit!

Blue Cheese Pineapple Salad (for the Armchair Activist)

Pineapple and blue cheese really seems like an unlikely combination. I was in bed, going over in my mind the contents of the refrigerator and what I could make for dinner. Lately, we have been trying to eat up the everything before we go shopping. If you stretch it out like this you really are saving a significant amount of money, not to mention how much food is thrown out and wasted by the average family on a regular basis. When we recently moved across the province, we pledged to eat the entire contents of our refrigerator; we were able to eat (in fairly high style I might add) for about two weeks, highlighting the fact when you think that there's nothing to eat you'd be surprised.....
I hate to ring that old bell again, but there are starving children in the world. Food is soo convenient and sooo cheap in our part of the world. My husband illustrates it quite nicely when we come home from a big grocery shop with 15 bags of groceries. He says he always wonders how long he would have to forage to get this amount of food....probably quite a while.
So with these thoughts and my armchair activism in mind, the unlikely combination for this salad occured to me: simply because they were two of the only things I could think of left in my kitchen. I decided to google it, which is my way of safeguarding my family against my unbridled creativty in the kitchen (also against that coffee buzz in the morning that occasionally shines too much optimism on a bad idea).I figured if I could find one dish with these two ingredients, I would give it a whirl. There really was only a few hits on this combination which is rare considering you can usually find almost any flavour combo you can think of. So I courageously gave it a whirl and the results were pleasantly surprising.
Once again, this recipe was hubby approved. I topped it off with some quick buffalo chicken drumsticks (which I won't give you the recipe for because - ahem ahem, dirty little secret - they were from a packet, please don't judge me!) But, the blue cheese salad did nicely complement the wings and it made for a super easy, quick and delicious dinner....

Pineapple Express: Blue Cheese and Pineapple Salad with Almonds

Salad:

2 cups chopped romaine
2 cups chopped iceburg
200 g crumbled blue cheese
3/4 can pineapple
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup chopped spanish onion

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper