Night 4

Recipe 123

Steaks with Two Tapenades, Arugula Salad, and Crusty Bread

Matt rating ****

Ingredients used:

Kalamata black olives

Anchovy fillets

Capers

Flat leaf parsley

Lemons

Jarred roasted red bell peppers

Basil pesto

Medallions of beef tenderloin or New York strip steaks (I used eye of round steaks cause they were on sale)

EVOO

S&P

Arugula (I used red-leaf lettuce since I still had it on hand)

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Crusty bread

How can you go wrong with steak, right? Well, a smoke filled house is one way!!! The directions call for a "screaming hot pan" to cook the steaks in so I cranked it up. My entire upstairs filled with smoke in a matter of seconds, but once I blasted the fan and opened the sliding glass door we were in the clear. The steaks ended up with a great caramelized crust and were super juicy, and the tapenades were really tasty. Of course I didn't tell Matt that anchovies were in one of them, and guess which one he picked that he like the most...the fishy one! We are making progress, one meal at a time :) It was a hard choice for me to pick which tapenade I like the best (one was an olive/anchovy tapenade and the other was roasted red pepper). Both were really good. I applaud Matt for trying everything, but he has always said that if steak needs a topping, then it's not a good steak. He likes his naked as long as they are cooked right.

I think the best part about this entire meal is that it took all of about 15 total minutes to make! And cleanup was the easiest it's been all week.

Well my baby is getting cranky and needs mommy time. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Mandy

<><