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I don’t remember a lot of what we’ve had until Sunday when I made this recipe.  We had my salad from Carrabba’s Monday with Scallops.  Tuesday we had chicken sandwiches from Costco with corn on the cob as we were both tired from our drive to Lebanon for the doctor in pouring rain.  Tuesday we had the Chinese BBQ Pork Spare ribs that I have made before from the Paulette cooking lessons.  This recipe comes from the 5 ingredients Jamie Oliver cookbook.  It was so good.  It says feeds 4.  Jim ate it all.  It was delicious.  

Ingredients:

1/4# piece of rib-eye steak (ideally 2” thick), fat removed

4 sprigs fresh rosemary 

4 cloves of garlic

12 oz. mixed mushrooms (I just buy a 12 oz. sliced mushrooms.)

1 x 23 oz. jar of white beans

Directions:

1. Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat.  Rub the steak all over with a pinch of salt and black pepper; then sear on all sides for 10 minutes in total, so you achieve good color on the outside but keep it medium rare in the middle or cook to your liking turning regularly with tongs.
2. Meanwhile, strip the rosemary leaves off the sprigs, peel and finely slice the garlic and tear up any large mushrooms.
3. When the steak’s done, remove to a plate and cover with aluminum foil.  
4. Reduce the heat under the pan to medium and crisp up the rosemary for 30 seconds, then add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 8 minutes, or until golden, tossing regularly.  
5. Pour the beans and their juice, add 1 T red wine vinegar and simmer for 5 minutes, then season to perfection.
6. Sit the steak on tip and pour over any resting juices.
7. Slice and serve at the table, finishing with a little extra EVOO, if you like.

This is the first thing I have made out of Jamie Oliver’s book 5 Ingredients that was truly horrible.  It was a tomato/bread soup.

Ingredients:

4 cloves garlic

1 bunch of fresh basil (1 oz.)

2 (14 oz.) cans of plum tomatoes

8 1/2 oz. stale Ciabatta bread

1 1/2 oz. Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Peel and finely slice the garlic and place in a large pan on a medium heat with 1 T EVOO, stirring regularly.  
2. Pick the baby basil leaves into a bowl of cold water for later, then pick the rest of the leaves into the pan.  
3. Before the garlic starts to color, add the tomatoes 2 cans’ worth of water, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil gently mashing the tomatoes.  
4. Tear in the stale bread, stir, then leave to simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes or until thick and delicious.  
5. Finely grate and stir in the parmesan, then taste and season to perfection.  
6. Dish up, sprinkle over the reserved baby basil leaves, and drizzle each bowlful with 1 T of good EVOO.

I served it with corn on the cob.  I am wondering if it would taste better with fresh tomatoes.  

If you plug in under Search  and type in Jamie Oliver you will find under 3-11-2020 All Day Mexican Breakfast.  It was so good and easy that I made it again on Monday.  I’m trying to do the cooking again, but keeping it simple and Jamie Oliver’s 5 ingredients cookbook helps.  Today I had to go to the Wound Center and the eye doctor so I planned Chicken Pot Pie from this book.  No cream and butter like ours.  It was very good.  We have a lunch portion left over.

Ingredients:

2 onions

12 oz. mixed mushrooms

1 1/4# chicken thighs, skin off, bone out

1 bunch fresh thyme (1 oz.)

13 0z. block of all-butter puff pastry

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Place a 12” non-stick ovenproof frying pan on a high heat, with a smaller onion-stick pan on a medium heat alongside.
3. Pour 1 T of EVOO into the larger pan.  
4. Peel and roughly chop the onions, adding them to the larger pan as you go.
5. Roughly chop 2/3 of the thighs, finely chop the rest, and to the onion pan.  Cook for 6 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally.
6. Meanwhile place the mushrooms in the dry pan, tearing up any large ones.  Let the toast and get nutty for 4 minutes, then tip into the chicken pan and strip in half the thyme leaves.  (I had left over asparagus that I also added.  Mushrooms were all the same in a 12 oz. package.)
7. Remove the pan fro the heat, add a pinch of sea slat and black pepper, then stir in 1 T of red wine vinegar and 2/3 C of water.  
8. Working quickly roll out th pastry so it’s 3/4” bigger than the pa, then place it over the filling, using a wooden spoon to pus it into the edges.  
9. Very lightly criss-cross the pastry, then brush with 1 t EVOO.  
10. Poke the remaining thyme strings into the middle of the pan.  
11. Bake at the bottom of the oven for 5 minutes or until golden and puffed up.  (Mine took 10 minutes longer.)    

Saturday I also started a breakfast for Sunday.  I found this in the local paper and I thought it sounded good.  If I made it again I might mix the Apple pie filling a little more into the bread.

Ingredients:

Non stick cooking spray

1 package (20 oz.) French bread, cubed and divided

1 can (20 oz.) apple pie filling

9 eggs

1 C half-and-half

2 t ground cinnamon

1 C powdered sugar, plus additional (optional)

2 T milk (optional)

Directions:

1. Spray a 8” X 8” glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a baking dish, add half the cubed French bread in bottom of side.  Pour apple filling over the bread.  Top with remaining cubed french bread.  Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, shish eggs, half- and-half and cinnamon.  Pour evenly over bread.
4. Cover with aluminum foil and chill overnight.  
5. heat oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Remove foil and bake 50-6- minutes.
7. Let cool 10-15 minutes.  
8. You can add the powder sugar and milk icing, but I did not.

It sounded better than it tasted.  Probably needed the icing. 

Tonight was our anniversary.  We didn’t go out.  Jim went to Sperry’s grocery and bought himself a rib eye and me a fillet.  i really wanted shrimp but Jim want to open good red wine and in his eye that is steak.  I found under May 28, 2011 Hors D’Oeuvras Potted Pecan Shrimp.  I made it again for our appetizer.  We also had asparagus and baked potatoes.  Jim and Lucy helped me finish my meal.  Jim got mad that I gave her steak so he ate the rest of my fillet so she couldn’t have it.  She actually liked baked potato also.  we had a Lynch Bages, 2001 and a Lafite second growth 1998.  We finished neither and Jim has them on his preserving system.  i’m still very lame so it was good to stay home.