Kate's Cuisine

1 flank steak $7.85
1 jar sliced roasted red peppers, drained $3.47
1 1/2 cups blue cheese $4.88
3 cups baby spinach, plus 1 for garnish $4.44
3 tablespoons olive oil $0.09
Salt $0.01
Black pepper $0.01

Total Cost    $20.75
Cost per Serving $5.19

1.) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) Lay the flank steak out flat between two sheets of parchment paper. With a rolling pin, gently pound the steak until it’s about 1/4″ thick. It will take about 20 minutes, but make sure you do not tear the steak, just pound it to an even thinness.

3.) Once the steak has been pounded to the desired thinness, spread 3 cups of baby spinach over the entire surface of the steak. Then top with blue cheese, and then red peppers. Then, start rolling the steak. Begin with the long edge and roll it as tightly in on itself as you can, tucking the edge underneath itself and then continuing to roll. Roll the entire steak this way, tucking and rolling as tightly as you can along the way. This will help the pinwheel keep its shape as it cooks.

4.) Once the entire steak has been rolled, make sure that the seam is on the bottom, flipping if needed. Then very carefully, slice the steak into pinwheels that are 1″ thick. As you slice each one, place it on a baking sheet, cut-side up, and then continue slicing the next one.

5.) After all the steak has been sliced and placed on the baking tray, drizzle the surface with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Then, turn pinwheels carefully onto their other side and bake for another 10 minutes.

6.) When pinwheels are finished cooking, remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

7.) Serve on a bed of spinach, and enjoy!

Read my Flank Steak Pinwheels review here

One of my favourite things on earth is the combination of blue cheese and steak, and that’s why I chose to stuff my pinwheels with gorgeous creamy Danish blue cheese. And well, spinach and red peppers just seemed like a natural fit to go along with those two ingredients. I was right – they are! I can’t begin to describe how much flavour is in these wonderful little meat wheels and if you don’t like my combo, you can put whatever you want inside yours.

These are also pretty easy to make, as long as you don’t go into it thinking that pounding that steak out is only going to take a couple of minutes (as I unfortunately did.) Don’t be intimidated to flip them mid-bake either. It does seem a little scary at first, but they’ll hold together okay.

This Bialetti stovetop espresso maker that I got a few weeks ago is not the first that I have ever owned. I did have one, way back when I was in college, but as I remember I gave it away because I could never get it to work. Wanting an espresso machine one more time so I can make tiramisu, but not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on one, I bought this one. And just hoped that it would work for me.

So I got it home, took it out of the package, read the instructions very carefully, and started getting it ready. According to the few package instructions, you’re to fill the bottom portion of the carafe with cold water (only to the marked line,) then spoon enough espresso into the funnel, but do not tap it down or force it in there. Then, carefully drop the funnel into the bottom portion of the carafe and screw the top portion on top of the funnel. All of this is perfectly fine, and this is how you should start making the espresso. However, here’s where it gets tricky and, if you haven’t gotten awesome instructions such as these here, you kind of have to figure it out on your own.

The instructions say at this point, once your pot of espresso is ready, you should place it over low heat on the stovetop. Trust me when I tell you that if you do this, you will be waiting a very, very long time for your espresso. And you probably won’t ever get any. I know I didn’t the first time I used mine, even though it steamed and everything else. I did read somewhere else though that with any stovetop espresso maker you have to throw the first batch away anyway. Maybe it’s got something to do with that why my first try didn’t take, but still jack that element up to the boiling point.

Once the Bialetti starts to boil, it will steam rapidly. Keep it going for just a few minutes. I find that when it stops steaming, the espresso is ready to be poured! Just remember to be extremely careful with that handle. It can get pretty hot, so don’t be too eager to just grab on to it.

The only problem I had with the Bialetti stovetop espresso maker was that I didn’t get any espresso the first time I made it. Again, that could be because you’re just simply not supposed to. Since though, every time with my Bialetti has been successful and espresso is delicious! (still haven’t tried the tiramisu though…) Mine cost $31.99 and was worth every penny. Just remember to only use hot water and a soft cloth to clean it – otherwise you could damage it. Wipe it off with a soft, dry cloth afterwards to make sure it doesn’t air dry and then reassemble to store, without screwing the top on too tightly.

Lastly, Bialetti doesn’t tell you how to take your espresso, and I’m not going to either. I like mine with a bit of whipped cream and a teaspoon of sugar because that stuff is stroooong! But take yours however you like – enjoying it black can be a nice way to sip the beautiful crema that the Bialetti leaves behind.

8 eggs, room temperature $1.60
4 whole wheat English muffins $0.60
4 cups baby spinach $4.44
4 egg yolks $0.80
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice $0.04
1/2 cup butter, melted $0.45
1 tablespoons vinegar $0.03
Salt $0.01
Pepper $0.01

Total Cost    $7.98
Cost per serving $1.99

1.) Place three pots of water on the stove. Bring one to a rolling boil; one to a boil, and then down to a bare simmer; and leave one nicely simmering.

2.) Toast English muffins and as they come out of the toaster, place each half open face on a plate.

3.) To the pot that’s at a rolling boil, add the spinach and blanch for one minute. Drain, sprinkle with salt and pepper; and divide evenly among English muffin halves.

4.) Meanwhile, to the pot that’s nicely simmering, add one tablespoon of vinegar and stir. Gently add eggs, one by one, waiting until the whites slightly set around one before adding another. As eggs finish poaching (you’ll know when the white has completely set around the yolk,) remove with a slotted spoon and place each on a muffin halve topped with spinach. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

5.) Meanwhile, make the hollandaise sauce: place a glass bowl over top of the pot that’s barely simmering, making sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Add egg yolks and lemon juice to the bowl and whisk rapidly, until ribbons begin to form in the eggs. Be careful not to get the eggs too hot or they will scramble. Slowly add butter and whisk until yolks are double in volume. Remove from heat and whisk in salt. Drizzle over top of poached eggs.

6.) Serve and enjoy!

Read the Eggs Florentine review here

I saw a recipe for Eggs Florentine in a really old magazine that my grandma gave me (when I say “really old,” I mean I think it was from the early 80s.) Unfortunately, the magazine got lost somewhere along the way, but I still really wanted to make the dish. The only thing that’s not really self-explanatory might be the hollandaise, and I knew how to make that so how hard could it be?

Not hard at all! This is one of those recipes that really does come together faster than you can set the table, especially if you already have a nice salad waiting in the fridge to go with it. This one’s good for breakfast, lunch or dinner though; so depending on the meal, you could even just have it on its own.

Now that we’ve got the delicious and easy part out of the way, here’s some interesting history about the dish.

When Henry II of France married Catherine de Medici of Florence, she came to live with him and brought with her many of her best chefs. These chefs brought with them all of the best ingredients that they were used to in Florence – artichoke hearts, truffles, sweetbreads, and even ice cream. One of those ingredients was also spinach.

When the chefs started serving the spinach, the king’s palace wasn’t used to it, and didn’t really know what to make of it. After eating it and enjoying it, the king and everyone in the palace started calling it “Florentine,” in honour of the queen’s birthplace. And it’s not just eggs that were nicknamed “Florentine” either, but any dish that was made with spinach and Mornay sauce – which is a cheese sauce, not a yolk and butter sauce. But with this unique piece of history, it’s still fun – and fitting – to call this dish “Florentine!”

1/2 cup butter $0.45
1 package of cream cheese $4.99
2 teaspoons garlic powder $0.26
2 cups milk $0.56
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese $2.25
Freshly ground black pepper $0.01

Total Cost    $8.52
Cost per serving   $1.06

1.) Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long. Toss with hot pasta.

2.) Serve and enjoy!

Read the Alfredo Sauce with Cream Cheese review here

Before you go embarking on this recipe (that I found from All Recipes,) be forewarned that this is not an authentic Italian Alfredo sauce. It looks like it, and it tastes like it, but it’s not. What it is, is a delicious sauce that is exactly like Alfredo sauce  - so it’s perfect for weeknight dinners, or weekend dinners when you just don’t want to do too much. And while there’s nothing that I love more than an authentic recipe – cooked exactly step by step as per tradition – this one’s pretty hard to beat!