Crews' Kitchen: Meat 'n' Potatoes...'n' Asparagus

When I said I'd post more recipes, I meant it! Thanks to Pinterest for being the source of all things new and creative and fun and TASTY...I was able to dig up some good looking recipes to try. I picked THREE that seemed to go well together, and crossed my fingers that all went well...and guess what? IT DID. Joe loved it, I loved it, and it is being chalked up as a success in my short little book of recipes I've dared try.

I found recipes for no-grill sirloin steak {pinned here}, "crash hot potatoes" by the Pioneer Woman {pinned here}, and a self-proclaimed "best recipe ever for asparagus" {pinned here}. While I cannot take credit for the original recipes, I can give you my tweaked-to-fit-my-schedule-and-abilities versions! Without further ado, I give you "my" recipes:

**Please excuse my lack of/quality of/need for more photos. I was late coming home from work, rushing, and am currently using only the camera on my iPhone. Bear with me, people.**

 

NO-GRILL STEAK:

{I thought the texture of this was very similiar to Outback steaks! Next time I will try a higher-quality cut and I bet it will be almost identical to their recipe!}

 

you will need:

- steak of your choice {I choose a mid-grade sirloin; not the nastiest of cuts, but not the cream of the crop either.}

- butter

- olive oil

- salt {I used garlic salt!} and pepper

 

instructions:

1. Preheat the toaster oven to 350 degrees.

2. Put a few "dollops" of butter in a frying pan, and drizzle some olive oil in there as well. Sprinkle some pepper and some {garlic} salt in the mix. Turn the stove burner somewhere between "almost really hot" and "HOT." Allow the butter/oil mixture to begin simmering and bubbling.

3. Place your steak{s} in the pan. Allow them to sizzle and get a brown bottom.  

4. Remove from heat. Place the BROWN SIDE UP on a toaster oven tray, and place a "dollop" of butter on the top. Sprinkle again with {garlic} salt and pepper.

5. Put the steak tray in the toaster oven for approximately 6 minutes. *You may want to shorten or lengthen this time, depending on how you like your steak. 6 minutes gave me a light pink middle, with some very scarce deep pink/red. Shorten the time for more red; keep it in longer for less pink.*

6. Remove from heat and VOILA! Awesome steak.

 

 

SMASHED TATERS:

 

you will need:

- small red skin potatoes {I bought a small, sealed bag of about 20 potatoes, about 2 inches long each.}

- water

- olive oil

- potato masher {The original recipe says if you don't own one, you can use the bottom of a cup! I used a masher.}

- salt and pepper

- toppings for potatoes {I used a package of baked potato toppings and some parmesan cheese sprinkles; the original recipe calls for herbs such as rosemary. I HATE HERBS. But more power to ya if you want to use 'em.}

 

instructions:

1. Salt a pot of water and bring it to a boil. A watched-pot never boils, so occupy yourself by drizzling a baking sheet with olive oil. Go ahead and turn on your oven, and preheat to 375 degrees.

2. Toss in your potatoes and allow them to boil until they are very soft.

3. Lay them out on your baking sheet in rows, much like you would do while baking cookies, leaving some room between each potato.

4. With 1-2 "smooshes" of the masher, smash those little taters to make what resembles little cakes.

5. Using your fingers {carefully, because they are hot!}, generously dab olive oil onto the tops of the smashed taters. {The more oil, the less dry/crunchy your taters will be when you eat them!}

6.  Salt/pepper the potatoes, and sprinkle the toppings of your choice.

7. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes.

8. Remove and enjoy!

 

 

BEST ASPARAGUS IN THE WORLD:

 

you will need:

- fresh asparagus

- olive oil

- parmesan cheese sprinkles

- salt and pepper

 

instructions:

1. Cover a small baking sheet in aluminum foil. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. {I made this right after I put the potatoes in the oven, and set them in the oven after the potatoes had been in for 5 minutes, so that they'd be ready about the same time.}

2. Lay out the asparagus in a row on the baking sheet.

3. Drizzle olive oil, cheese, and salt and pepper all over; move the asparagus around to evenly coat the veggies.

4. Place in the oven for approximately 10-15 minutes.

5. Remove and enjoy!

Is your mouth watering yet? It was SO GOOD. I had some A-1 on hand because that's just my go-to steak sidekick, but it didn't really need it! The potatoes were a little dryer than I would have liked, but I will put a little more olive oil on them next time.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

xo

NOTE: Blogger's image upload system is not currently working; but you CAN see a photo of the finished project here.