Many, many years ago……O.K., 16 years and one month to be exact, my husband and I were transferred away from our families. I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with our first child and, as you can imagine, less than impressed. Living so far away from family and not wanting to leave our precious bundle with a strange babysitter, we usually dined at home. And it wasn’t long before my husband was entertaining work colleagues, and we couldn’t exactly serve them take-away pizza now could we? Not to worry, because this is what prompted me to start cooking. As it turns out, I’m not too bad at it, and I love it so much I feel the need to photograph my dishes and share my favourite recipes.
Enough of the history lesson, now days, with 6 kids it’s even more unlikely we will be able to wrangle a night out together, and taking the whole family would require selling our first born to pay the bill. So, we have Date Night At Home. We give the little kids an early dinner, let them watch a movie of their choice to kill the mother guilt, then pop them off to bed so that we can have a special meal together. And this dish is my current favourite. The Pepper Steak is so simple, yet AMAZING!, and I have decided the Parmesan Scalloped Potato Stacks are a must for our Christmas table. They are so impressive and devine, and perfect for when you are cooking for a large number of people because you can have the potatoes and sauce mixture pre-done and ready to go, leaving you to concentrate on the rest of the meal and entertaining.
Pepper Steak with Parmesan Scalloped Potato Stacks
Serves: 4
Pepper Steak
Ingredients:
4 x 160g Tenderloin, Eye or Round Steaks, at room temperature
1 1/2 Tbl Green Peppercorns in brine, drained and rinsed
60 mls Red Wine
Salt
125 mls Beef Stock
125 mls Crème Fraiche
Directions:
Soak the peppercorns in the wine while you prepare the steak.
Heat your pan to high, and season both sides of your meat.
When the pan is very hot, fry your steaks until cooked as desired.
Remove from pan and set aside to rest.
De-glaze your pan with the stock and let it reduce to a generous tablespoon, about 2 minutes.
Reduce heat, drain your peppercorns and add them to the pan with the cream.
Allow your sauce to heat through.
Serve your steaks with your side dishes and dress with your sauce.
Source: http://www.bestrecipes.com.au
Parmesan Scalloped Potato Stacks
makes 12
50 minutes cooking time
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Shallot (or one small onion)
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Cream
1 1/2 Cups Freshly Grated Parmesan, divided
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbl Fresh Thyme Leaves
3 to 4 Medium Baking Potatoes
Directions:
Preheat oven to 200C.
Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.
Peel and finely dice the garlic and shallot.
Place the diced garlic and shallot in a large bowl along with the cream and milk, 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and thyme.
Stir to combine and set aside.
Peel the potatoes and slice into 2.5cm thick rounds with a knife or mandolin.
Stack about 7 to 8 potato slices into each muffin tin.
The number of slices will vary depending on the thickness of the cut.
Stack them tightly but not any higher than the muffin tin itself.
Next, spoon the cream and milk mixture into each muffin tin over the potato slices, being careful not to overflow.
Loosely cover the muffin pan with foil and place in the oven.
Bake for 35 minutes.
Remove the foil and carefully top each muffin tin with the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
Place back in the oven without foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is golden brown, the potatoes are tender, and the liquid has absorbed.
Allow to cool in the pan for an additional 5 minutes, then carefully slide a knife around the edges to loosen, then remove and serve.
Add additional thyme sprigs as garnish if desired.
Source: http://www.insockmonkeyslippers.com
I’m sharing this recipe at http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com.au/