My husband had his birthday on Monday, which is rather lame, since it's not like you can take a boy out, get him shnockered and keep him up all hours with birthday lovin' when he's got to work in the morning. Well. I guess you CAN, but Debs tend to respect the sleep patterns of their bread winners. To do otherwise might disrupt any potential we have at becoming a trophy wife.
I did the next best thing -- I cooked him dinner. What did I make, you ask? Oh-ho. What DIDN'T I make.
1. Ceasar Salad
2. Roasted Squash
3. Blue Cheese and Portobello Stuffed Steaks
4. Tortellini in a browned butter sauce
5. Homemade Chocolate birthday cake with caramel frosting
The last three are the most impressive (especially considering that my ceasar dressing came out of a bottle), so those are the three I'll list here.
Blue Cheese/Portobello Stuffed Steaks
You'll need:
4 top sirloin fillets
5 oz. blue cheese
6 oz. drained jar of sliced portobello mushrooms
1 C. red wine (use a nice, drinkable wine)
2 T. Good Seasonings, divided
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
First things first, get your steaks marinating. Before they go into the bag, though, cut a 1/2" slit in the side of each steak, and use your knife to hollow out a nice space in the interior of the steak, like a little pocket. The bigger the pocket, the more cheese you can fit in later... but DON'T cut the initial slit any bigger than a 1/2" inch or you'll have a mess on your hands when it comes time to cook them. Trust me. I've spent hours scraping charred blue cheese off my Calphalon. Not a recommended activity for anyone's birthday. So. Once they've got their little holes/pockets, place them in a large zip-loc bag with the wine and 1 T. of the Good Seasons, using your pepper as desired. Make sure that you flip them once halfway thru the day so that both sides of the steaks get good and soaked.
Once they've marinated, then you want to pull them out before making your tortellini to let them get room temperature. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Once at room temp, you want to combine the cheese and mushrooms and last T. of Good Seasons in a small bowl, spooning this amply into each steak's pocket. Secure with a toothpick if necessary.
Then, let a skillet get good and hot. Add 1 -- 2 T. of olive oil and let this heat as well. Finally, add the stuffed, secured steaks to this hot pan. TURN YOUR FAN ON. It will be smooooky. Only let them sear on one side -- the crust side. About 4 minutes. Make sure the last of the oil cooks away (you don't want any left in the pan when you place it in the oven). Place the whole skillet into your heated oven and cook for about 10 minutes for medium. They should come out just perfect. Tent them with foil just prior to serving to let them settle and to keep them warm.
After placing the steaks in to marinate, I made the cake, because it has to chill for a few hours. The frosting is the same as for the Peanut Butter Cupcakes (see below), except I used caramels in the melting process, vs. chocolate chips.
Birthday Boy Cake
Preheat your oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 x 13" bake pan.
You'll need:
2 C. sugar
1/2 t. salt
2 C. flour
1 stick butter
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1 C. water
1/4 C. cocoa
2 eggs
1 t. baking soda
1/2 C. buttermilk (You can also use 1/2 C. regular with either a 1/2 T. of vinegar OR lemon juice mixed into)
1 t. vanilla
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
6 oz. jar caramel topping
Combine sugar, salt and flour in large bowl. In a saucepan, bring butter, oil, water and cocoa to a boil (this makes your house smell SOO good). Add to flour mixture. Beat eggs, baking soda, buttermilk and vanilla on medium, gradually adding in the dry ingredients. Pour into your bake pan when well blended, but not overmixed. Bake for 25 -- 30 minutes. When cake is out of the oven and still warm, pierce it all over with a toothpick, making sure you hit the bottom of the pan with each poke. Pour the sweet milk over top, letting it sink in and settle. Pour the caramel over top. Chill for about 3 hours before serving. Frost after chilling. I'm sure this is about a million calories, but he only has one birthday, after all, and I had only one tiny piece.
Next you can make your tortellini...
Tortellini (in brown butter sauce)
1 large refrigerated package of tortellini or tortelloni (I like the chicken and parmesan type with this recipe, thought three-cheese is a close second favorite)
1.5 sticks of butter
1 C. dried cranberries
1 C. chopped, toasted walnuts
1/4 C. fresh chopped parsley
Cook your torellini according to the package and keep warm. Don't drain it completely, it needs to be a bit damp to not stick. Then melt your butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Here it the trick -- you really have to watch the blasted butter. It's got to get nice and brown and smell nutty, but just as soon as it does (turns brown and smells nutty), yank it off the heat. You don't want it to burn because then it will be bitter, oily and just plain sad. Yank it off the heat and add in your nuts, berries and parsley, stirring rapidly to coat completely. Add in your warm, damp pasta and mix well. Again, about a million calories but DELICIOUS. I brought this to a reading club meeting once and there was a near bludgeoning over the last serving of it. Teeb (that's my husband, Stephen's, nickname) loves this almost more than the actual steak.
So they say it's your birthday -- it's my birthday too! At least, I'm going to eat like it is...
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