I told myself that I was going to go to bed early last night, to make up for the previous two nights that I didn’t get home until the wee hours of the morning. Sadly, I did not get to bed as early as I would have liked (say, 10 o’clock…) but I came close. And then, the alarm went off and I remembered that I had to be at work to let the carpet cleaners in. Bummer. But that gave me an early start to my weekend, and a few hours to get organized for the tasks of the day, with no DVR to distract me. And what better way to start of this day than to share with you this month’s Daring Cooks challenge!!
Our April 2012 Daring Cooks hosts were David & Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. They presented us with a very daring and unique challenge of forming our own recipes by using a set list of ingredients! There were three lists, and we were to choose at least one ingredient from each list in order to create our own, original recipe. The idea behind this challenge was that we learn how to combine flavors with ingredients that may not look particularly complimentary by themselves. To give you an idea of what we were working with…here are the lists:
List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant, Cauliflower
List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle peppers
List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas
Upon first glance, I was a little intimidated and unsure of what I would make but it didn’t take long for me to zero in on the balsamic and vinegar, goat cheese and cauliflower. And thus, a meal was born! I’ve seen mashed cauliflower around the blogosphere and always wondered how it matched up against mashed potatoes, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to give it a try! And Maple Syrup and Balsamic Vinegar as a marinade/sauce was a no-brainer for me!!
I will admit I was nervous about the cauliflower mash, but I was pleasantly surprised and so glad I took the risk to try it. Thanks to David and Karen for a great challenge!!
Maple-Balsamic Steak with Goat Cheese-Cauliflower Mash
A Sweet Beginnings’ Original
For the steak:
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2 sirloin steaks
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2 cloves garlic, minced
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1/2 cup maple syrup
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1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
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3 Tbsp orange juice
Preparation
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In a medium bowl, mix together garlic, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and orange juice.
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Place steaks in a plastic storage bag and pour all but 1/2 cup of marinade mixture in the bag to coat steaks. Set the remaining mixture aside for later use.
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Place the bag in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
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Heat a skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Remove steaks from marinade and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side, until desired doneness is reached.
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Meanwhile, pour the remaining 1/2 cup of marinade into a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until the sauce thickens and is reduced by half.
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Serve steak over cauliflower mash with sauce drizzled over the top.
For the Goat Cheese-Cauliflower Mash:
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1 head of cauliflower
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1/2 cup goat cheese
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2 Tbsp low-fat greek yogurt
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salt and pepper, to taste
Preparation
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Cut cauliflower into bite-size pieces, place in a steamer and cook 10-12 minutes, until tender.
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Remove from steamer into a bowl and mash with a potato masher.
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Add goat cheese and yogurt and mix thoroughly, then add salt and pepper to taste.
Wow the steak looks good but I'm loving the goat cheese cauliflower mash-YUM! I've been enjoying reading your blog and am awarding you The Versatile Blogger Award, you can check it out here: http://www.hezzi-dsbooksandcooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/versatile-blogger-award.html
Sounds delicious! I love the idea of adding an extra dimension to the cauliflower mash with the goat cheese. Cor, that steak as well! Yum!
Goats cheese and cauliflower mash sounds amazing! And the steak looks fantastic!
Love the recipes you made! The steak looks delicious!
So glad your cauliflower mash turned out good. I'd never done anything like it before this meal either, and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was — especially because I don't really like cauliflower.