Dinner with Alex's parents went v.well last night.
The Menu:
Fresh Garden Salad tossed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinager,
Beef Tenderloin Steaks topped with Melted Gorgonzola Cheese,
Oven Roasted Assortment of Small Potatoes tossed with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Rosemary,
Steamed Green Beans,
and for dessert, French Vanilla Ice Cream topped with Grand Marnier, served with Vanilla Wafer Cookies and garnished with a Slice or Orange.
The recipes came from Rachel Ray's Thirty Minute Meals 2 book (Lake Isle Press, 2003). The food came out excellently. I was v.happy with the results. The tenderloins were just perfectly done, which was such a relief because that was some freaking expensive meat! I had no idea. But that's what the recipe called for and I wasn't sure how to modify the cooking times for another cut of beef, so I went with the tenderloins even though they were god awful expensive (the meat alone cost more than the lunch Alex and I had at the Olive Garden earlier in the day), so I'm v.glad they turned out great. The potatoes were divine: a bit crisp on the outside and deliciously hot and soft on the inside. The green beans also came out great - I'd just picked them up at the store and they were super fresh and I managed to steam them until they were still crisp but hot and delicious. The only thing I wasn't that hot for was the dessert. I think the Grand Marnier alone on the ice cream was a bit much... If I want to make that again I'd try and make a sauce with the Grand Marnier to sweeten it up a bit.
But yeah. Here's a picture of the main meal plated:
I actually forgot to take a picture of it last night, so I plated up some leftovers this morning and took a pic. I know, I'm really a dork. But I really had wanted to take a picture because I thought that I'd start a new thing with my blog (either here or on
Metamorphosis or on a new blog) where I'd take pictures of all the new things that I cook and put the pictures and a review of the recipe up. That way I'd know if I liked the recipe and if it was hard and how it looked when it was done for the next time I wanted to try the recipe.
So... Notes to Self for Next Time: Beef Tenderloin is freaking expensive. Know that if you want to try this again. Also remember that you can't use your oven and your broiler at the same time, so start the potatoes early enough that they'll just need to be kept warm by the time you stick the steaks in the broiler to melt the cheese. Also consider getting one of those cast iron griddles/grill pans that were like $19 at Macy's because that would have been much better for carmelizing the steaks at the beginning of the recipe. Altogether was a v.easy meal to make that turned out beautifully and was v.tasty.
