Elle's New England Kitchen

This was a lot of fun, and something I definitely want to keep doing. Having some ingredients put in front of me that I didn’t choose, and trying to come up with something edible was a great exercise for my brain. And I surprised myself. Not only did I come up with something edible, but it was delicious, too!

Here’s what I started with…

First, I rubbed the steak with one of our favorite rubs. (Remember, in Chopped, you get full use of the pantry!) Let that sit for a few minutes.

Trader Joe’s sells boxes of frozen, cooked Jasmine rice. I pulled one of those packets out and heated it up—I think there’s about 2 cups in each packet. Then I took about 4 or 5 of the figs and chopped those up with kitchen shears. I roughly chopped about 1/4 (maybe a little more) of the sweet and spicy pecans, and tossed both of those things into the rice. Then I threw in a couple handfuls of gorgonzola—about 1/2 cup. A little salt and pepper, about 1/4 tsp cumin, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar were added next. This is the mixture I stuffed the sweet peppers with.

Those baked at 350 in a slightly oiled pan for about 15-20 minutes. Turn on the broiler for an extra few minutes for some color on the peppers.

Now for the gorgonzola garlic butter. Get some butter to room temp, toss in some crumbled gorgonzola. Heat a little olive oil in a pan, add a couple cloves chopped garlic and let it slowly sauté. When that’s done, spoon it into the butter, leaving the oil behind. But looking back, I could have easily added that oil to the butter as well.

Broil the steaks for about 11 to 12 minutes. Turning them over every couple of minutes, and when they’ve reached the desired doneness, remove from oven and let them sit for about 5 minutes.

Serve the steaks with the gorgonzola butter and the peppers on the side.

I’m definitely going to keep this up. It’s good to get the creative juices flowing, and leave the safety of recipes behind. Even more fun when you’re presented with ingredients you may not necessarily choose yourself.

The next time I do it, I’ll see what my husband picks up for ingredients, and then post them just like I did here. If any of you want to participate, let me know, then when you post what you came up with, I’ll link them in my post. Sound good?

One word. Fabulous!

This recipe is from Zen Chef at Chefs Gone Wild. Check out his blog--it's loaded with mouth watering recipes and great stories! As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to make it. It wasn't one of those "I should make that someday" recipes. No. It was love at first sight. It was one of those recipes that you just know you need to try. We all run across recipes like that. The ones you just can't stop thinking about until you make them...

So I found some ribeyes on sale the other day, and had everything else on hand--it all fell into place. Yeah, the ingredients are all pantry staples--nothing out of the ordinary here. Though to taste it...the spicy rub, the fresh tasting sauce that wakes up your taste buds--it'll seem like you slaved over it.

Totally not the case. This is so simple! Make the rub, which takes about 2 minutes, rub the steaks, and throw the sauce together in the food processor. And the steaks only take minutes to cook. You'll be dining in style in under 30 minutes. I cut the sauce recipe in half because I didn't think we'd need that much--it was just my husband and I having this. We still had plenty, but it was so delicious, that we barely had any left. We both went back for more sauce--it's addictive! You can see Zen Chef's recipe here, also.


Seared Ribeye Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce

Piri-Piri Spice Mix

• 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground piri-piri pepper (or cayenne pepper, add more if you wish)

• 1 large bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley, washed, stemmed, and dried
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 5 tablespoons distilled white vinegar or more to taste
• 5 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil