football sunday onion dip

A loves french onion dip: the gnarly, plastic-y "helluva good" brand french onion dip in a can. I can barely stand to look at the stuff, not to mention taste it. The label includes about 57 chemicals and "powdered" flavoring. Needless to say, I don't buy it unprompted. When I saw an article in December Food & Wine, where they suggest several different themes for parties and accompanying menus, I jumped on one that called for a homemade onion dip. It was simple enough, just caramelize some onions and mix with sour cream and cream cheese. I'd rather spend 10 minutes making this than ever buy the canned stuff again.

Grocery list (adapted from the original): 2 large onions, worcestershire sauce, 4oz softened cream cheese (half a block), 3/4 c sour cream, handful parsley, butter.



Start by thinly slicing the onions. Heat 2T butter in a dutch oven over medium heat, then add the onions.



Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are golden, about 20 minutes. Add a couple tablespoons water, and stir until the liquid cooks out. Remove from heat.



When the onions have cooled, move them to a cutting board and chop finely. Stir them into the sour cream and cream cheese.



Add about 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley, a couple dashes worcestershire, and season with salt and pepper. I also added a pinch of dried red pepper flakes for kick. Refrigerate until ready to serve - with lots of salty potato chips on the side.

grilled strip steaks with argentine chimichurri

A and I spent his birthday last year in Buenos Aires. If you've never been, imagine gorgeous architecture (European though, not American in any way, and very classic, 19th century influence), cafes on every corner with young hip-looking people taking espressos with their friends, and best of all, a preference for steak and good wine at every meal. We had some of the best steaks ever (EVER), and these would normally cost around 10 USD. After A left, I stayed a few more days to work, and one of the meals I had with my coworkers was so good I have seriously considered taking a trip back there just so A could try this -- steak with chimichurri. I decided to grill a strip steak (not the thin skirt steaks the Argentines use), and find the best chimichurri recipe I could. The result wasn't exactly authentic (I mean, it's an Emeril recipe after all), but it was a way to share the experience with A, without flying him all the way there again.

Grocery list: couple of steaks (about 12 ounces each, I used local grass-fed strip steaks from WF), 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 1 T fresh lemon juice, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 2 T chopped fresh basil leaves, 2 tsp fresh oregano leaves, 3 garlic cloves, 1 shallot, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes. [Note, I made a half batch of the Emeril recipe and it was more than enough for 2 steaks - could have probably worked for 4 steaks at this amount also...]



One great thing about chimichurri: you can make it in the food processor, so it only takes a few minutes. Start by chopping the garlic and shallot, then pulse in the fresh herbs. Then, pour the olive oil and vinegar slowly in the top while continuing to pulse the food processor. Remove the bowl and blade, then stir in the lemon juice, followed by generous amounts of fresh ground pepper, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes; then season with salt to taste.



Put your steaks in a ziploc bag, then add enough of the chimichurri to marinate the meat (1/2 to 1 cup). Cover the rest of the chimichurri and set aside at room temperature. Refrigerate the steaks for at least 2 hours. Remove from the marinade, brush off any excess, then grill over medium-high heat for about 6-7 minutes per side, until cooked to medium or medium-rare. Let the steaks rest on a cutting board for 5-10 minutes before serving. On the side, we had white asparagus (the kind you have to peel first), tossed in olive oil and grilled. This was perfect with the chimichurri sauce covering the plate.

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.

parsley-lemon sea bass

This is a simple pan-fried fish (any white fish, I used chilean sea bass but you could use halibut, grouper, etc) with a delicious and not-too-unhealthy sauce based on a recipe I found in Food & Wine magazine. This makes about enough sauce for 4 fillets, but it's so simple it would be easy to adjust for a smaller/larger batch.

Grocery list: fish, 1 big bunch flat-leaf parsley, lemon, cream, 2 shallots.

To make the sauce, slice the shallots and saute in olive oil for 4-5 minutes. Add 1 cup water and simmer until reduced by half, 5-6 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup cream and simmer 5-6 minutes more. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Stir in 4 cups of loosely packed parsley (that's about all the leaves from one bunch of parsley). Put all this in a blender and process, then return to pan. Add the juice of 1 lemon (about 2 T) plus salt & pepper, then keep warm.

Simply pan fry the fillets in olive oil till they are cooked through, about 4-5 minutes per side, then serve with sauce.