Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Food Network Chef's Cooking Challange

Sarah at I Blame My Mother is doing a really cool weekly series where she makes a recipe from a different Food Network Star and then reports back on how it went and how she liked it! She has a link at the bottom of the posts so that other bloggers who want to join in can link back to their posts.

This week is Alex Gaurnaschelli. I'm a huge fan of Alex's show The Cooking Loft, and have made her 10 Minute Tomato Sauce a few times. In fact, I plan to make it tonight with ravioli!

Here's the recipe:

Directions
My mother used to make this sauce and throw browned pork chops in for a few minutes and serve them swimming in the sauce. I love, as well, to add a steak or two for extra fun!

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, peeled, grated
5 cloves garlic, peeled, halved and cut into thin slices
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
4 Roma tomatoes, cored, halved and diced
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 (20-ounce) can whole tomatoes
1/2 cup basil leaves, stemmed and washed
5 small NY strip steaks, bone-in, if desired

In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic slices and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook for about 2 minutes then add the fresh tomato, sugar and oregano. Stir to blend and add the canned tomatoes. Cook for an additional few minutes over high heat, stirring from time to time. Taste for seasoning, add the basil leaves.
After the sauce has finished cooking, cook the steaks using your preferred method. Add the steaks to the hot sauce and allow it to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Cook's Note: Like any tomato sauce, it always tastes better after it has had a "night's rest" in the refrigerator.

The first time I made this, I followed the recipe exactly. I normally do this when I try something new. The second time I made it, I tweaked it a bit, and also didn't cook steaks with it. We just had it with pasta. I think its okay to use any type of tomato you like. We have some growing in our garden, and I'll use a mix of what we have. I also added a little tomato paste the second time around, because my fiance likes his sauce a little thicker than this recipe turned out the first time. I also added more garlic, because I'm Italian like that. I'd certainly recommend this sauce, and Alex's show! She's great!

15 comments:

Suburban Princess said...

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A bento is kind of like a Japanese tv dinner - it is a box/tray with sections for each type of food in it. They serve tempura, rice, meat, veggies etc all separated - which is very cool for anyone who doesnt like their foods to touch lol! Google bento and check out picture of them :O)

Jennifer said...

YUMMY! I will have to try this!

Jessica Ryan said...

that sounds amazing!!!!

Go see Julie & Julia! I did end up taking Rebecca yesterday. It was AMAZING!!!

Susie said...

Sounds really good:-)

Polka Dots & Protein Bars said...

What a great post and idea. I live on the Food Network. This sauce looks amazing!

Sarah said...

This sounds great. I'm not sure why, but I never thought to pair steaks with a tomato sauce. I love Food Network but have never seen Alex's show....must be on when I'm already in bed :)

Thanks for participating in FNCCC. Next week is Alton Brown...who has a ton to choose from. Can't wait to see what you're cooking!

Unknown said...

What fun! The only food network star that I really don't like is RR. Every time I tried one of her recipes, it just wasn't good.

mub said...

This sauce sounds nice and simple, I bookmarked it to try next time I need sauce =)

Lucy Marie said...

Hey
I chose the same recipe for the challenge and I was quite happy with it. I made some changes though. I used minced onion because I was in too much of a hurry to chop, and I used a can of diced tomatoes that I canned because I haven't canned whole tomatoes yet so I did not have any. It turn out really well, although a bit watery. Probably because I used diced tomatoes instead of whole.

Chasing the Goose said...

Looks yummy! I will have to put this on my shopping list for next week.

Molly said...

I have ALWAYS wanted to make homemade tomato sauce, I'm thinking I'll try this the next time I'm home!

Anonymous said...

This sounds super easy and yummy, love the idea of throwing the steaks in there.

Rachel H. said...

Sounds delicious!! I'm going to have to give it a try!

SnoWhite said...

awesome! I'm excited to have a new alternative to my crockpot spaghetti sauce version!

by the way ... I'm a Michigander too :)

Headbands and Hand Bags said...

Fun fun idea! Very Julie and Julia!