Beef Steak with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

One of our favorite dinners in the YOUVEGOTMEAL kitchen is a tender, juicy, delicious beef tenderloin steak. And when paired with some crispy on the outside, tender on the inside potatoes, these 2 make for a memorable dinner (red wine also helps- it ALWAYS helps). We had 3 pieces of beef, about 150 grams each, 500 grams of potatoes, cut into wedges and washed 2-3 times in cold water, 4-5 garlic cloves, a couple tbs. of fresh rosemary, olive oil, 2-3 tbs. of red vinegar, salt, pepper. 

This whole meal screams comfort food, and you can choose to add some ingredients both to the meat or to the spuds -  for example use some herbs to crust the meat or change the flavor package for the potatoes (I’m gonna get to that in a while). 

Take the meat out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking it, heat up a non-stick pan with 2-3 tbs of olive oil and fry the steak on medium-high heat for 1 minute on all sides. Next, pop the meat in the same pan that you’ve seared it in for 7-10 minutes (depending on how rare you want it)- make sure the pan doesn’t have plastic components.

The potatoes- put them in salted water and boil them for 7 minutes, then remove them and let them steam for 3 minutes- make sure you give each wedge plenty of room. Next, put the potatoes in an oven tray, again, making sure, they have enough room, and give them a small splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook the potatoes on medium heat for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, lightly crush the garlic cloves and mix them with the rosemary leaves and the vinegar, plus a little more olive oil. Sprinkle this mix on top of the potatoes and cook them for another 10 minutes. 

We served everything with a fresh and crispy salad made of salad leaves (something lettuga bowl) and  endives with a simple lemon-olive oil dressing. Sometimes, less is more, even in the kitchen.

Enjoy,

Healthy Beet Juice | You've Got Meal!

I am not a juicing addict, but I have to say I do appreciate from time to time the benefits of a whole salad in a glass. When I drink them, I like my juices simple. I like to add apples almost every time, I use carrots for added sweetness and a quarter of a lemon every time to neutralize other tangy tastes. Actually, I have learned that I am pretty tolerant to any juice, celery being my least favorite, but if I know it is good to me, I am gonna drink it.

For one super simple version of your morning juice you will need (besides a juicer):

• 1 medium beet
• 2 medium apples
• 2-3 carrots
• 1/4 lemon

I know not everybody loves beets, but I think that it is one of those foods you need to discover and acquire tastes for in order to fully appreciate it. And you better appreciated it, because when it comes to health benefits nothing beats the beets. It is a fuel for your body without any saturated fats, it can actually fix your sugar cravings without harming you, it is rich in iron, magnesium, calcium, and not to mention folic acid.

So, go ahead and just juice all of that one at a time. Now you have a nice, pink, energizing drink to start your day properly. I promise it is not that bad, you would actually enjoy the taste after the second one.

Enjoy,

Noodle Soup with River Bass | You've Got Meal!

River bass is one of my favorite fish. The meaty, lean, white, subtle fish is very versatile and can be cooked in so many ways that is too bad that I don’t get my hands on bass very often.

And considering the fact that Mrs. G’s name day was coming, I decided to turn this fabulous fish into an Asian style noodle soup. To say she loves those is an understatement, and I would really like to see what she would do in a Ramen restaurant.

Cooking this soup is super simple and it’s composed of 3 parts: the fish, the stir fry, the boiled ingredients and the broth (the base of the soup). This feels like actually building the soup from different parts, the ingredients for each being: green onions, carrots, chili, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce  (1 teaspoon each for the last 3) for the stir fry; broccoli and instant noodles to boil; cardamom, allspice, star anise, pepper, salt for the broth.

Start of by  gutting and cleaning the fish. Next, take all the ingredients for the broth and put them in a tea satchel. Place it in salted water and boil until the liquid has been infused by the spices. Next, massage the fish with some salt and a hint of 5 spice and place it in the oven, high heat, on a rack that has a tray under. Depending on the size of the fish, it will take to cook from 8-15 minutes.

Remove the fish from the oven and set aside. The next 2 parts take literally 2 minutes. At  the same time, boil the broccoli in the broth and stir fry the vegetables in a wok, in a little peanut oil .

Time to plate your soup. First, place the vegetables from the wok, then the instant noodles (that’s the kind I used here, but you can choose a different kind- just be careful with the ones that take longer to cook – boil them in the infused broth before adding them to the soup ), soup (up to 90% of the bowl), pieces of broccoli and flaked pieces of bass. Let the noodles cook- it takes 2-3 minutes, they will absorb a fair amount of liquid so feel free to add more broth to the soup if you feel like necessary.

Now, I’m gonna go and say here that the resulting dish was a comforting, savory soup. Thing is, in order to fully demonstrate this would be to actually show you Mrs. G just munching it away in under a minute (but she hid the recording). Like I said before, she LOVES her noodle soups.

Enjoy,

Beer Bread- Simple Recipe | You've Got Meal!

For some time, I've been saving on Pinterest some recipes for simple, beer bread. I never tried it before, although I am a big fan of homemade bread that does not require yeast and a lot of time. I was really curious to see if you could identify the taste of beer in the bread. The outcome was worth it!

What is great about the recipe is that it requires just a few ingredients, it is super easy to make and it is not time-consuming. The preparation it takes less than 15 minutes and after baking you have a great bread you made and of course, a lovely homemade bread smell for your kitchen. Who does not find that comforting, especially now that winter is knocking on our door?

Ingredients:

• 350 g all purpose flour
• 50 g rye flour (optional, or you can use 400 g ap flour )
• 125 g sugar
• 330 ml beer
• 2 tbsp melted butter

When I started making the dough I realized I didn't have enough flour so I also used some rye flour, but you can use all purpose flour only.

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the beer and the sugar. The resulting dough will be sticky. Place it in a buttered loaf tin or use some baking sheet if it makes you feel safer. I used baking sheet and it turned out ok. Place it in the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes take it out and pour the melted butter on top and return it in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes.

My oven has some issues, being old and grumpy, and it tends to burn in the back, but that only affected the aesthetics of it all, the taste being amazing.

No, it does not taste like beer :), but rather like sugar. It is a bread more on the sweet side, perfect for some butter and jam. I have to say I will try it with less sugar and maybe some added salt and other flavors and keep you posted. Considering the minimum effort and the total cost of this bread it is a recipe to try and to save, the bread actually makes itself.

Enjoy,