I wish I had a more elegant sounding name for this sauce since the grocery-list style name seems pretty blah to me.

When it comes to steak, everybody has an opinion about how to prepare, what should go with it, and so on. I tend to appreciate a thoughtfully prepared sauce with my steak (mmm, bernaise) and I think that this one fits the bill. Flavor-wise, this sauce is rich, dark, earthy, and kind of heavy on the mouth, but it really stands up well with a good steak.

• 1.25-1.5 cups of a full-bodied, dry red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz is preferable–something nicer than cooking wine, but nothing too fancy/expensive)
• 4-6 garlic cloves
• 2-3 shallots/chives (the greens, not the bulb)
• a handful of coarsely chopped baby bella (or some other small kind) mushrooms
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
• a pinch of flour

recommended, but optional:

• italian flat-leaf parsely
• basil/tarragon
• oregano

Finely mince up the garlic and fry very briefly (like 2 min) in some extra-virgin olive oil to

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Posted by mike on August 28th, 2007 in Beef, Sauce

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Fries are about as common-place a food as can be and not the sort of thing that you’ll get terribly excited about cooking with dinner. You can have them any time from just about any place on the cheap without any of the hassle of a deep fryer and that whole mess. But hey, sweet potato fries–now that’s another story. Something about sweet potato fries always seemed like a real treat to me. Maybe that was because I grew up in the northeast where you don’t really chance upon much sweet potato anything all too often outside of Thanksgiving.

Well anyways, this side dish is really easy to prepare, and despite being called “fries,” there’s no frying. Although given the size, maybe I should just call them wedges. Whatever the case, this is just a nice and easy way to dress up your veggies. So gather:

• One sweet potato per person/serving
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Creole seasoning
• flour

Preheat your broiler to something like 415? F (or

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Posted by mike on August 28th, 2007 in Side dish

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