Cheese Stuffed Butterfly Steaks with Chilli Sauce

My husband and I spent a lot of time travelling up to Newcastle quite a bit last year. We used to stop in the same petrol/services station, it has a small W.H.Smith, which is a book store for those of you that aren’t aware, they sell books, magazines, small gifts, arts and crafts stuff, and such like. I always have a look regardless which W.H.Smith it is I like to go in and have a look because I love a bargain book. On this particular occasion I saw a Mexican cookbook, we love Mexican but it’s not something I have ever really looked into until now – the odd recipe for sure but I wanted to experiment a little more. I’ll be honest I was very tempted to buy it there and then but I had a gift card at home which I wanted to use, so I decided to wait until I got home and order it online instead – I wasn’t disappointed but it wasn’t the same recipe book as I had seen in the store! A month later though we went back and I bought it plus three other cookbooks for a total of £20.00 hundreds of recipes in each, a bargain I couldn’t refuse. Turns out half the reason I didn’t think the one I bought online was the same is because it wasn’t, although both books have many of the same recipes, the one I bought in store has so many more. Including Caribbean recipes all yummy stuff any way this is one of the Mexican ones.

 

Cheese Stuffed Butterfly Steaks with Chilli Sauce

4 fresh serrano steak

115g/4oz/ ½ full fat Philadelphia

30ml/2tbsp tequila

30ml/2tbsp oil

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

5ml/1tsp dried oregano

2.5ml/ ½ tsp salt

2.5ml/ ½ tsp black pepper

175g/6oz/1 ½ cups cheese, cheddar

4 fillet steaks, at least 2.5cm/1” thick

1. Over a moderate heat, dry roast the chillies in griddle pan, turning them often. Until the skins have blistered but not burnt. Put them in a sturdy resealable, freezer bag, and seal so as to keep the steam in and place it to one side for 20 minutes to do its thing.
2. Take the chillies out of the bag, cut in half and scrap out all the seeds, and cut into long narrow strips, then cut them into shorter lengths.
3. Place the Philadelphia into a heavy based pan, and stir it over a low heat until melted, add the chilli and tequila and mix into a smooth sauce.
4. Cook the onion, garlic and oregano in the oil, over a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring often until the onion has browned, season with salt and pepper.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated cheese so that it melts into the onion mixture.
6. Cut each steak almost but not quite all the way through, butterfly cut, because once it is opened up it looks like a butterfly, preheat the grill to highest setting, or use a George Foreman type grill if you have one.
7. Spoon ¼ of the cheese and the onion filling into each of the steaks and fold shut, Place the steaks under the grill for a few minutes each side 3-5, or 3-5 minutes on the George Foreman type grill in total, timing totally depends on how you like your steaks cooked. Serve with sides of your choice and the chilli cheese sauce.

Steaks with Smoked Oyster Relish

This is one of those recipes where one of things will pop into your head, oyster relish….. YUCK! Or steak and oyster relish yummy, which it is! I love smoked oysters in olive oil, my mother would sometimes buy them, but they were never on our menu, they were an adult only dish, as were many things back then. You’d have to take a sneaky taste here and there whenever the opportunity to do so arose. My hands are covered in scars from my covert operations of sneaky tastes, jumping at creaking floor boards, the key in the lock, or the wind through the vent. Regularly bashing my hand on a loose nail, the fact I jumped is a clear sign that I was up to no good and I knew it, I could honestly sit here and say that I rarely did such things, I genuinely don’t really remember doing it THAT often, however the scars on my hands tell a different story!

Steaks with Smoked Oyster Relish

4 6oz/175g boneless steaks

Salt and black pepper

2 garlic cloves, mashed

1tbsp olive oil

FOR THE OYSTER RELISH

3 ½ oz/100g can smoked oysters

1 small very finely diced onion

Handful of parsley sprigs, finely chopped

1. Season the steaks with salt and pepper, then massage the mashed garlic into the steak, finally brush with the olive oil. Place to one side.
2. Drain the can of smoked oysters and chop roughly. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine, stick it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
3. Put a skillet over a high heat and then once it is hot, cook your steaks according to how you like them done.
4. Generously spoon the oyster relish over the steaks and serve with potato wedges.

 

My Steak and Kidney Pie

As a child my least favourite things my mother would cook for dinner, were what my Grandma called “fage” a potato cake thing, I just googled it and the recipe I found said to fry them in a skillet, but my Mum and Grandma would grill/broil them. I hated the dry potato skin that forms when you bake mashed potato, and it is also the reason I hated my Mum’s Shepherds/cottage pie, the crispy mashed potato on top just makes me gip. I make it every now and again but I have to get the timing absolutely perfect or I can’t eat it. Then there was the liver and onions with bacon, my worst nightmare, I hate most things that involve offal. My Mum would say it’s not that bad chicken liver is milder than other types of liver. To me however, liver is liver and it’s not nice, Glen loves liver and onions though so I make it for him and Mum 30 odd years later is still telling me that chicken liver is milder. I marinate mine in milk overnight which seem to help. Incidentally I did try cooking with chicken liver a little while ago, foolishly I bought two pots because they were super cheap, turns out I really don’t like chicken livers, I would rather just buy whatever else is on offer at the time. I hate broad beans, they were always a horrific and traumatic ordeal as a child. I lived in a different time to kids these days, my Mum didn’t make 5 different meals because one of us didn’t like fish or Shepherd’s pie, she cooked one meal, and we were all expected to sit at the table together and eat everything that was put in front of us, we usually had a dessert for afters, which I suppose was an incentive to eat all our dinner, because the rules were eat everything on your plate and you get pudding,  pointless rule really because we always got to eat pudding and the reason, we always got to eat pudding was because of the other rule, which was we weren’t allowed to leave the dinner table until we had eaten everything on our plate. Even if that took hours and it was stone cold by the time we had finished. Broad beans were right up there with the vilest ingredients for me and I would struggle for hours, trying to eat them. And last but certainly not least would have been steak and kidney pie, although my Mum didn’t like kidneys either, but she liked the flavour infusion they gave the pie. I don’t understand that, but I guess it’s the same as saying, I don’t like tomatoes but love tomato soup? This is my recipe for steak and kidney pie.

Steak and Kidney Pie

2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

750g stewing steak, cut into cubes

250g kidney, cut into teeny tiny pieces

30g plain flour

200ml beef stock

250g button mushrooms, quartered

2tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

100ml double cream

Shortcrust pastry

And a beaten egg for glazing

1.       Heat the oil in a large frying pan/skillet, add the onion and cook until it is glassy, stirring occasionally.

2.       Now add the beef and the kidneys cooking until just starting to brown, then add the mushrooms and carry on cooking until the mushrooms are soft and the meat is properly browned. Sprinkle in the flour and stir well to coat all the ingredients in the flour and then add the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce, season to taste, bring to a boil, whilst stirring, partially cover and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 2 hours.

3.       After 2 hours check that the meat is done, it should be tender, if necessary leave for a further 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed, stir in the cream and leave to cool.

4.       Next roll out your pastry (I buy store bought, because so far it’s the one thing I am yet to beat). Don’t forget it shrinks during the baking process a little so make sure it is big enough.

5.       Spoon your beef filling into your pie dish and top with your pastry, using a knife, poke a few holes in the middle of the pastry. Finally brush the top with the egg and bake in the oven at 200˚C/400˚F for about 30 minutes, the pastry should be crisp and golden.

Chilli Con Carne

I apologise now for NO PICTURE boooo hissss to me.......... (Will add one at a later date)

I watch a few cooking shows, the two I really enjoy watching are, (Laurrie I apologise to you personally I know you don't like them) diners, drive ins and dives and Guy's big bite. I was watching Guy's big bite one night and watched how he made Chilli, I've since changed the way I make mine and it's for the better. I'm learning new things all the time about the way things can be done! When I first started making Chilli, in my mind it was made with mince, tomatoes, kidney beans and chilli powder, well the basics anyway. I now add chunks of steak and chunky bacon bits and jalapeno peppers if I can find them (Germany seems to rarely have them) It would never have occured to me, to do it this way. Guy did add a lot more to his but I didn't fancy the other ingredients, I don't really remember what they were, but it was probably bell pepper since I am not a fan?

Chilli Con Carne

225 grams ground beef
1 beef steak (not very specific I know, I just bought a steak chopped it up and stuck it in)
150g Chunky bacon bits
1 large onion
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Garlic powder
450 ml sieved tomatoes
425 grams red kidney beans
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp sour cream (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
225 grams rice
grated cheese to serve

1. Dry fry the mince, steak, bacon bits and onion until cooked (about 5 minutes)

2. Stir in the chilli, cumin and oregano for another minute.

3. Stir in the sieved tomatoes, beans and tomato puree, salt and pepper.

4. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat, gently simmer for 20 minutes, add sour cream if desired, serve on a bed of rice, topped with the grated cheese.

Servings: 4