grilled steak with arugula, fennel and orange salad

This recipe ended up only being "inspired by" the original in Food & Wine magazine. I fully intended to try it unadulterated, but ended up finding a good deal on NY strip (as opposed to skirt steak) while at the same time NOT being able to find fregola. (Side note: while I couldn't find fregola at whole foods, I discovered they finally started carrying farro, which I've wanted to try in a risotto for a long time, so I consider it a wash.) For the original, you can read it online here, but I'll cover my variations on the recipe below. It would probably feed 4 normal non-bear appetites.

Grocery list: one pound strip steak, 1 T ancho chile powder, 1 red onion, 1 lemon, 1 fennel bulb, 1 navel orange, 2 radishes, 5oz baby arugula, black olive tapenade (fresh at the olive bar at our local WF).



Allow the steak to rest on the counter to bring it to room temperature while you prep the vegetables. Cut the stems off the fennel bulb, cut it in half, core it, then thinly slice. Peel the orange, quarter it to remove the center pith, then thinly slice crosswise. Wash and thinly slice the radishes. Juice the lemon.



Sprinkle the chile powder on both sides of the steak (pressing to adhere the seasoning).



Peel the onion and cut into 1/4 inch slabs. Grill both the steak and the onion slabs over direct heat. For the steak, it's a matter of preference and steak thickness to determine how long to cook (this one was thick, and took 12-14 minutes to get to medium). The onions should become tender and charred in spots - I put down a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil first so the onions couldn't fall through the grates, and they still achieved that charred effect.



When the steak is done, allow it to rest under a tent of aluminum foil while you assemble the salad.



Toss the arugula with several tablespoons of good quality olive oil and the lemon juice. Let the onions cool, then chop them. Add the onions, fennel, orange and radishes to the salad and toss well.



Spread about 1/4 cup of tapenade across the steak, and slice on the diagonal. Mound the salad on each plate, then serve several steak slices on the top.

football sunday marmalade meatballs

We're officially in my favorite sports time of the year - NFL is in full swing, and college basketball is just getting going. I start planning my meals around the games, since making sure you've got some great snacks is just as important to me as making sure you've got your jersey on (for the record, I alternate between Julius Peppers' Panthers jersey, Heath Miller's Steeler's jersey, and a UNC hoodie). Anyway, I remember having a neighbor's family recipe for meatballs years ago at a Super Bowl party, and he told me the secret ingredient was grape jelly. I still haven't tracked down that original recipe, but I found one I could use as a starter. I make my own meatballs (half beef, half pork, minced onion, garlic, parsley, fresh bread crumbs, a couple eggs, and a tiny bit of milk, then sauteed in olive oil), and then added them to the slow cooker with this sauce for a couple hours. They were great on their own, and the slow cooker meant you could graze all Sunday afternoon.

Grocery list: 2 pounds of meatballs, a 16-oz bottle of french dressing (original says Catalina, but WF doesn't carry much by way of super processed dressings), orange marmalade, worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes.



Add meatballs (either your own or prepared frozen ones) to a slow cooker with 1 16-oz bottle of dressing, 1 cup marmalade, 3 T worcestershire, and red pepper flakes (as hot as you like). If the meatballs are already cooked and warm or room temp, cook on high for 30 minutes to an hour; if you're using frozen ones, the recipe says to cook them on high for 2-3 hours. Turn the slow cooker to the warm setting for as long as the games are on.

roasted halibut with citrus olive tapenade

In my quest to eat fish once per week (our previous trend of steak 3 times a night was probably more fun for me than my arteries), I've discovered the simple pleasure of this combination: olives and fish. Yes, really. This unique tapenade would work well on top of any white fish, either pan fried or roasted. If you have a very thin, skinless piece of fish, like tilapia, I would recommend just dusting it with flour and then pan frying it. Halibut is finally back in season, so I had to go with that, and since this is typically a much thicker cut of fish, roasting is my favorite method. It keeps the fish so tender and succulent, but still a little crispy outside.

Grocery list: handful of green olives, 1 navel orange, 1 lemon, a few sprigs of parsley, 2 garlic cloves, red wine vinegar, olive oil, fish (about 1 pound for 2 people).



Start by prepping the tapenade (it will only get better as the flavors steep later, when you're cooking the fish). Mince the garlic, zest the orange and lemon -- about 1 tsp of each. Finely chop the parsley. Over a bowl, so you can catch all the juice, start peeling the orange. You want to remove all the white pith, even the stuff inside in between pieces. Little bite size pieces of orange go in with the other ingredients. Add a splash of the reserved orange juice, a squeeze of 1/2 lemon (save the other half of the zested lemon for the asparagus, if you serve that on the side), and a little (1 T?) of red wine vinegar. Stir and set aside.

To roast the halibut, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, then heat a heavy skillet over med-high heat. Add a T olive oil and 1 T butter. Salt and pepper the fish, then dredge in just enough flour to coat. Cook skin side up for 4-5 minutes, until brown, then flip the fish over. Place in the oven and cook for about 10-12 minutes more.

When you remove the skillet from the oven, the fish should easily separate from the skin (if, like me, you don't like that part). Top with the tapenade to serve.