Caramelized Onion and Blue Cheese Sauce (with steak)

Submitted by Heather

My family has a tradition each Christmas season, where every member of the family randomly picks a dinner category (main dish, beverage, etc.) out of a hat.  This allows each person full license to pick whatever they want to in that category - it doesn't have to match the rest of the meal.  Some years we've had really wacky combinations - smoothies, Cheetos, burritos, scalloped potatoes, etc.
This year we actually had a very traditional meal.  Except for the strawberry and raspberry shakes which were our beverages, that is.  One of my children picked steak for the main course.  I rarely make steak, so I looked around for some recipes, since I didn't want to just plunk down a hunk of meat for the meal.  I found a few good suggestions, but was won over by the praises given to this caramelized onion and blue cheese sauce.

If you think the potatoes look weird, just hold on!  They're wonderful and my family LOVED them.  Recipe coming soon!)

Even if you think you don't like blue cheese, give this sauce a chance!  I wasn't super excited about a recipe with blue cheese.  I don't hate blue cheese, but I don't love it either.  But I was looking for something to jazz up the steaks, so I went for it.  I'm so glad I did, because most of the family ended up loving it.  And I ate it for days (since I'd doubled the recipe)!  If you really, really don't like blue cheese, I think you can safely substitute another cheese for it, though it may be best to have an easy melting cheese rather than cheddar, etc.  Even just the caramelized onions with cream are good enough on their own, maybe with a little extra salt and pepper thrown in.  When the steak was gone and we still had some sauce left, we just slathered our leftover potatoes with it and might have loved it even more.

Ingredients:

2 whole Ribeye Steaks
2 Tablespoons Butter
Salt
Pepper
4 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Very Large Yellow Onion, Sliced
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Crumbled Blue Cheese

Preparation Instructions:
Salt and pepper both sides of the steaks. Grill in 2 tablespoons butter until medium rare.

Saute onions in 4 tablespoons butter over high heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until dark and caramelized. Reduce heat to simmer and pour in cream. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Stir in blue cheese until melted. Serve steaks on generous portion of sauce.

Source:  thepioneerwoman.com

Tomatillo Chicken Stew

Posted by Lisa
Source: www.simplyrecipes.com

I received a bag full of tomatillos from my father.  The first night I made a variation of chicken chili (with tomatillos) inside an egg roll wrapper...although good, it wasn't blog worthy.

Still having 3/4 of a bag left, I searched for a new recipe and found this one.  The whole family was leery to eat it because we are not very familiar with this little vegie (or fruit?).  

Everyone (except Haley) agreed that they liked the flavor and found that it had a natural savory/sweetness to it.  I will be putting this into my "make again" recipes.

(mine was more like a soup because I added lots more chicken stock, and we served it with a buttered roll)

Ingredients:

Tomatillo Sauce:

1 1/2 lbs tomatillos

1-2 jalapeno chile peppers or 2-3 serrano chili peppers ( I used 1 can green chilies)

1 clove garlic chopped

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp lime juice (or lemon)

pinch sugar (didn't use that)

Stew:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs (I had cooked /shredded chicken already in fridge so I used that)

Salt and Pepper

olive oil

2 yellow onions, chopped (I added 2 tbsp flour when onions were cooked, then added the stock)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander (didn't use...was out)

1 1/2 c chicken stock (used about 4 to 6 cups )

2 cups tomatillo sauce (above)

1 tsp dry oregano (didn't use...was out)

1/2 c packed chopped cilantro (about 1 bunch rinsed and chopped, stems and leaves..I didn't use the stems)

(I added 1 bag of shredded carrots also, it added a nice texture)

1 Make the tomatillo sauce. Remove the papery husks from the tomatillos and rinse well. Cut the tomatillos in half and place them cut-side down on an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan. Broil for 5-7 minutes until blackened in spots. Let cool enough to handle. Place the tomatillos, any juice they have released, chile peppers, garlic, salt, lime juice and sugar in a blender, and pulse until well blended. If you make ahead, refrigerate until needed.

2 Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large, thick-bottomed pot on medium high heat until almost smoking. Pat dry the cubed chicken parts with paper towels. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them. Working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, and adding more olive oil when necessary, brown the chicken pieces on two sides. When you place the pieces in the pan, make sure there is room between them (otherwise they will steam and not brown), and don't move them until they are browned on one side. Then use tongs or a metal spatula to turn them over and don't move them again until they are browned on the other side. Do not cook through, but only brown. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan and lower the heat to medium. There should be a nice layer of browned bits (fond) at the bottom of the pan.

3 Add the onions to the pan, and a tablespoon or two more olive oil if needed (likely). Add ground cumin and coriander. Cook a few minutes, stirring occasionally until onions are softened and the browned bits from the chicken have been picked up by the onions and are no longer sticking to the pan. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more, until fragrant.

4 Add the browned chicken, the tomatillo sauce, chicken stock, and oregano to the pan. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Add the cilantro to the stew in the last minute or so of cooking.

Serve over white rice, accompanied with sour cream if needed to offset the heat from the chiles. The stew will thicken as it cools.

Egg Rolls...with variations

I am a huge fan of egg roll wrappers. I use them quite often for the left overs in the fridge. The recipe I am posting is not using leftovers, but is a delicious way to make a meal everyone will enjoy.

2 stalks celery chopped small

1/2 large onion chopped small

2 carrots chopped up small and even

Cabbage..about 1 1/2 cups chopped

olive oil

1 tbsp butter

4 long dashes soy sauce

3 quick dashes balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

1 tbsp garlic

2 tsp ground ginger

2 cups shredded pre-cooked chicken

1 pkg egg roll wrappers

1 egg..beaten with 1 tsp water

1. Chop the onion, celery, carrot, cabbage. Add about 2 tbsp olive oil to pan, once hot add the chopped vegies. Saute for a couple of minutes.

2. Add butter, 1/4 cup water and 3 dashes of balsamic vinegar and put lid on and let it steam for about 4 minutes. Stir and check tenderness. If still firm, add a bit more water if needed and the soy sauce and put lid back on.

3. Once tender, add salt and pepper as needed and the shredded chicken, garlic and ginger. Stir well. Turn off heat and replace lid. Let sit until ready to make the rolls.

4. Set up a cutting board, empty plate, pastry brush, egg/water in small dish.

5. Take lid off the chicken mixture and let cool a bit. If too hot, it will melt a whole in the wrapper as you try to put them together.

6. Take out the egg roll wrappers and assemble per package directions. I brush the edges of the wrapper with the egg wash, put a spoon ful of the mixture in the center and roll it up with one corner over the mixture, fold in the side corners and roll towards the last corner. Once rolled up, set on the empty plate, and start again until all the wrappers are used.

7. Clean out the pan you were cooking the vegies in. Add enough oil so the egg rolls will be sitting in oil 1/2 way up the side of them. Heat till hot, about med/high temp.

8. Add the egg rolls and fry until golden, flip over and fry the other side. Don't crowd the pan! You will cause the oil temp to drop and end up with soggy egg rolls. yuck.

9. Once you have some fried, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain, then transfer to warm oven to keep heated while you fry the rest.

**Variations**

1. You can use left over stir fry. The day after, chop up the stir fry so it is small and uniform. Mix in a bit of the rice and wrap in the egg roll wrappers
2. Take refried beans, smashed black beans, saute some onion and garlic, add a can of diced green chiles and mix with the beans. Add this with a touch of cheese and taco sauce to the egg roll wrapper and fry them up.
3. You can use left over beef roast, grill up some red and green peppers, add some taco seasoning and cheese and wrap these up. Delish!