Sunday Dinners

I have really wanted to get into the mode of making nice family dinners. Last week was Halloween so we just had pizza but this week I had a plan.

I had a nice London Broil and decided it was time to make it.

Pepper Crusted Steak with Horseradish cream on Garlic Crostini

Marinade

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1 Tablespoon peppercorns, cracked

1/3 cup of olive oil

2 lbs of London Broil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a Large ziploc bag completely covering meat. Let all air out of bag and let sit at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Preheat grill or broiler for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle meat with salt, grill or broil until med rare (or however you prefer your meat to be cooked). Cooking time will depend on thickness of the meat.

Let the meat stand for at least an hour, then slice thin. Serve on Crostini. Top with Horseradish sauce.

For my Crostini I had some roasted garlic from my butternut squash soup that I mixed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

I cut the bread on an angle and then with my silicone brush put the garlic/olive oil mixture on them. I then put in the broiler (Our grill did not have any propane).

The Horseradish sauce I made was

1/3 cup of horseradish

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/2 pepper

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 cup of sour cream

I also made a Butternut Squash Soup. The recipe is from my husband (who attended Culinary school - The Culinary Institute of America)**

1 Butternut Squash

1 1/2 head of garlic

1 onion

1 leek

salt

pepper

1/2 ginger

2 sprigs of thyme

1/2 lemon

Olive oil

32 oz Chicken Stock

Preheat oven to 350. Oil, salt and pepper squash. Place on a baking sheet and bake, rotating squash every 15 minutes until tender. Sweat the onion and leeks in olive oil, season with salt and pepper. When squash is tender, immediately remove squash from skins - very hot but it comes out easier this way. Add squash to onion and leeks. Puree squash, onion and leeks. Simmer 15 minutes. Add warm chicken stock, slowly, pureeing as you go. I tend to like it think but make it a little thinner because you will let it simmer for 20-30 minutes and it thickens up then. You don't need to use all the stock but I usually do. While it simmers I put the ginger (chopped) into a sachet and the same for the thyme (2 separate sachets).

I do another puree in the middle of simmering. Serve warm with Cream Fraiche on top. It is great to keep in the house during the winter. It is one of my favorites. Enjoy.

Enjoy.