Friday 27 February 2015

T-Bone Steak with Green Beans



Beef steak is delicious when cooked properly. Every one has a favourite kind of steak and its T-bone for us.
I usually serve it with different side options like potatoes, mushrooms, green beans, spinach, fresh salad, garlic bread etc.
Thickness of the steak depends on your choice, i normally go for 3/4 inch of thickness. cooking time also varies according to your liking of done-ness of the steak. For 3/4 inch thickness you need 15-18 minutes of Cooking time for medium rare and 20-22 minutes for well-done.


Ingredients


T-Bone steak                 1   3/4 -1 inch thick
Salt                                2 big pinches
Black pepper                 2 pinches
Olive Oil                        1 tbsp
Worcestershire Sauce    1 tsp
Soy Sauce                     1 tsp
Lemon juice                   1 tsp

For the Green Beans

Green beans                  1 cup
Butter                            1 tsp
Salt                               1 pinch
Chili Flakes                    according to taste (optional)
Garlic clove                   1

Method

Using a paper towel dry the steak. Mix worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and lemon juice and apply all over the steak. Let rest for at 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
Preheat your oven at 400.
Heat a heavy bottom skillet on medium high. Rub olive oil on both sides and sprinkle salt and pepper on both side of the steak.
When skillet turns hot, put the steak in. Do not touch until you can see edges getting nice golden colour around 5-7 minutes. Flip and brown on the other side around 4-6 minutes.
Transfer steak in an oven proof dish if your skillet is not oven proof.
Put the pan in the oven and let cook until the desired done-ness is achieved. Cooking time for well done would be 10-12 minutes in the oven.

For the beans, trim the edges and wash.
Add butter in the pan let melt. Add chilli flakes if using. Add chopped garlic clove and cook till it softens.
Put washed beans and sprinkle salt. Pour 1/4 cup of water and cover. Let steam for 5-8 minutes until beans are bright green in colour. Beans should be tender but still crisp.
Serve steak and beans with brown butter parsley potatoes.

Thursday 19 February 2015

Naan Khatai


Shortbread cookies or as we call it 'Naan Khatai' is my most favourite cookie. There are many reasons I adore this cookie. One of the easiest to make with least number of ingredients with no chilling or relaxing the dough involved. It truly takes less than 20 minutes from prepping to accompany your cup of tea :)
They look like soft snow balls and thats how they taste like too. Melt in your mouth, light as a cloud, very subtly sweet, rich and buttery...all I can say is YUM!
There are many variations to these cookies like adding nuts, eggs, chickpea flour etc. You can also add spices like cardamom, nutmeg and cloves to add aroma. I favour these ones as they can go in school lunch boxes with out worrying about any allergies. I can go on and on praising them :)

Ingredients


All Purpose Flour                            1 cup
Ghee                                               1/2 cup
Sugar                                              1/2 cup
Baking Powder                                1/4 tsp
Cardamom Powder                          1 pinch


Method


Preheat oven at 350 F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Sift sugar, flour, cardamom powder and baking powder.
Add 1/3 cup of Ghee to the four mixture and knead together. Add more if required but no more than 1/2 cup. Mix until it all comes together.
Divide the dough in 18 portions for medium size cookies. Roll into balls and flatten them slightly by pressing with your fingers.
Place cookies an inch apart and bake for 10-12 minutes. For crispier naan khatai, add 2 more minutes of baking time.
Take out of the oven n let them cool in the tray completely before removing to a plate.

Note: 
Traditionally naan khatai is white so make sure to take them out of  oven on time before they start browning.
Since they have just a few ingredients, quality of Ghee matters a lot in the end result so please make sure to use good quality ore preferably home made.