Manhattan Cocktail
As Woody Allen said, “Man cannot live on bread alone. Frequently, there must be a beverage…” Stories vary on the origin of the Manhattan, but the one thing that virtually all of them agree upon is that the drink WAS invented in the city that bears its name. Easy, delicious, classic!
MANHATTAN
6 parts bourbon whisky
3 parts sweet vermouth
A couple dashes Angostura bitters
Maraschino cherry juice/liqueur (to taste)
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir or shake briskly. Strain into two chilled cocktail glasses. Garnish with maraschino cherry. Serves two.
Like martinis, varying the amounts of vermouth, bitters, and maraschino juice can alter the flavor of the drink significantly. Less vermouth = dry, more vermouth = sweet… You’ll have to experiment to get it the way you like it. (The experimentation is the best part of the process!)
As always, enjoy (responsibly, please)!
Brett & Kelly
Pan Seared Tuna Steak with Spinach & Lentil Salad
This is another one of those restaurant dishes we’ve always loved, and always wanted to see if we could re-create at home. Turns out it’s really easy, really tasty, and really pretty good for you, too…
Our tuna steaks ran us 9.99 a pound, which may seem steep, but one pound of fish is PLENTY for this dish, and it serves two with room for leftovers. But when you consider that at the restaurant, this dish runs $19 a plate, the savings become pretty evident.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb tuna steak
4 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 bag of baby spinach leaves (5 oz bag)
Juice from ½ a lemon
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup lentils, cooked
Salt & pepper, to taste
To prepare lentils, boil for 20 mins, until al dente (firm to the bite). Set aside.
Add spinach to a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice and all but 1 Tbsp of olive oil until thoroughly blended. Pour over spinach, and gently toss to coat.
Heat a skillet or non-stick frying pan. Lightly brush both sides of each tuna steak with remaining oil. Sprinkle sesame seeds over tuna steaks to coat. Add tuna steaks to hot pan, searing for 90 seconds on each side for rare… (A little longer to get it a little closer to medium).
Remove from heat and let rest on a cutting board. Add bed of spinach to a plate, and sprinkle lentils over the greens. Slice tuna steaks and lay over bed of spinach. Salt and pepper to taste. (Serves 2-4)
As always, use the video to help you along, and comment below, or e-mail us to let us know how you made out, at stayhomeandeat@yahoo.com
Enjoy!
Brett & Kelly
Oven-Roasted Beet Salad
This is a very easy, very inexpensive Beet Salad recipe we adapted from a dish served at one of our favorite local restaurants, Perrihouse in Bangor, Maine. As with all our restaurant-inspired recipes, this is just our interpretation of the original, and not actually “their” recipe.
Ingredients
5 oz. Mixed Field Greens (“Bag Salad” is fine!)
One 8 oz. can sliced beets
Lite balsamic vinaigrette dressing (to taste)
Bleu cheese crumbles
Sliced almonds or chopped hazelnuts (optional)
Cracked black pepper
Simply divide field greens and arrange on two plates. Layer the sliced beets over the field greens, and sprinkle each plate with crumbled bleu cheese. Dress with balsamic vinaigrette to taste, and add almonds or hazelnuts to finish. Season with cracked pepper, and dig in! (Serves Two)
As always, comments are most welcome. Let us know how you made out!
Enjoy,
Brett & Kelly
“Number 12″ Pizza
So named because that’s what it rates on a scale of 1 to 10, “Number 12” Pizza is a favorite recipe of ours, and an absolute can’t-miss for everyone we’ve ever served it for. Whenever the kids would bring home a new boyfriend or girlfriend to meet us for the first time, this was (and still is) the requested “First Meal.” It blows away anything the take-out places make, and it’s way less expensive. Here’s how we make it:
For the crust, we use a bread machine, but if you don’t have one, you can go with whatever’s easy for you. The pizza places will sometimes sell you an uncooked dough, so if you have a favorite place, ask ‘em.
The Bread Machine Recipe (Makes 2lb dough, enough for 2 pies)
4 Cups Bread Flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/3 Cups water
1 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
Combine all ingredients in bread machine, set it to “Pizza” or “Dough” setting, and start ‘er up.
When cycle is complete, remove dough, punch down, cover in plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Preheat over to 425 degrees.
After 10 minutes, remove plastic, and divide dough in half, and either make 2 pizzas, or freeze one of the halves for use later.
With your hands or a rolling pin, flatten dough to about 18 inches in diameter, and transfer to an oiled pizza pan. Build up edge of dough. Poke holes all over the dough. This’ll keep it from getting those huge air bubbles as it cooks. Bake the dough by itself for 12 minutes at 425 degrees. THIS IS CRUCIAL TO GET A PERFECT CRISPY CRUST!
Remove dough from oven, and add toppings. Cheese, seasonings, sausage, onion, mushrooms… Use whatever you like here. For sauce, we’ve tried a bunch, and we’ve found Casa Visco makes one we really enjoy. Once your pizza is topped, return to the oven for another 12 minutes at 425 degrees.
And that’s it! Take it out, slice it up, and share! We’re sure you’ll love it. Don’t forget to leave a comment and let us know how you made out!
And you can always shoot us a note at stayhomeandeat@yahoo.com
Enjoy!
Brett & Kelly
Introducing Stay Home and Eat
For the most part, we’re a couple who’s a lot like you. Both employed, middle-class, homeowners, two kids, dog, the whole deal. We’re both big fans of many kinds of cuisine. We both like to cook, and we both also enjoy eating out. And until recently, we’ve probably spent a little more than we should on restaurant food, too.
After a recent job change for Kelly, our household income took a bit of a hit, which required us to take a second look at those extraneous expenditures like the weekly (and sometimes twice-a-week) trip to our favorite restaurant(s).
We were at first a little disappointed with the notion that we’d no longer be able to indulge in our accustomed fashion, but something very interesting has been happening: We’re actually [gasp!] enjoying staying home and eating! It’s something fun that we both enjoy and can do together, we can exercise a little creativity, and it doesn’t involve a remote control. And best of all, we’re realizing just how easy it is to recreate some of our favorite restaurant dishes, and save some money in the process.
And that’s the impetus behind us starting this blog – to share some of our favorite dishes, and show you how much fun you can have with your significant other, while saving money that we, like many others, can ill-afford to part with these days.
We’ve provided videos of these recipes, as well as a more detailed written piece to accompany each one. We encourage you to try whichever of these dishes strike your fancy, and we hope you’ll share your experiences, your feedback, and your own recipes as well.
Enjoy!
Brett & Kelly Slater
