Beautiful bison

Most people have heard of the phrase "Pork, the other white meat."  However, I'm not cooking with Pork today.  I'm cooking with Bison!  Meet the better red meat!
Have you ever had beef bison! Of course you have (unless you're a vegetarian). This month I was able to work with the The Bison Council, and if you've never had bison you're missing out on some yummy goodness!!  Often called Buffalo, Bison is the same.   

The folks at High Plains Bison shipped a package of their Bison top sirloin steaks to me, and the folks at Allrecipes.com requested that I make the Caprese Bison Sirloin Steak with Bow tie pasta using my bison.  At that point it was game on!
In making the suggested recipe I cheated.  Did I just say that?  Yes I did.  I didn't want so much pesto in my pasta so I reduced the amount to 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of pesto.  It was MORE than enough.   Once my pasta was cooked, I allowed it to cool slightly and then mixed in my pesto.  I placed the bowl in the fridge to chill, while I did some research on bison.
In cooking with Bison you have to be aware of one extremely important factor. 
It is a lean meat!  For every 100 grams of Bison there is 1.35 grams of fat (contrast that with Beef which has 11.1 grams of fat per 100 grams)
What does this mean for the carnivore meat lover?   It means that it has a totally different preparation method!  It will take 1/3 LESS time, and 1/3 less heat.    The bonus:  You can now have your steak and eat healthier!  Remember how I said I cheated in making the suggested recipe?  I chose to marinate my bison steaks, in typical fashion. If you want the marinade recipe, click here.  After I allowed my bison to marinate and get happy, I cranked up the grill. 

In knowing that these steaks cook faster, and use less heat I made sure to keep an eye on them.  I'm typically a well done kinda gal, but for the bison I made an exception and cooked them to medium rare, meaning the internal temperature was about 110°-115°.   Don't the steaks look mouthwatering!

After letting my steaks rest for the nominal time, I then proceeded to slice them. One slightly important note to make.  This recipe calls for fresh mozzarella, so please don't use the brick stuff, use the fresh stuff.  Back to the center of attraction: Voila!  Bison Caprese Farfalle salad - it's the same recipe, just renamed *grins* doesn't it look yum!  The bison council twitter group thought so!!!

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Crank up the heat!

Summer is the perfect time for grilling, and nothing beats a crisp, refreshing salad on a hot day!

Mouth watering Pork Chops

A couple of days ago I posted about a McCormick product that I had tried.  I had a little bit of leftover seasoning so I figured I would morph it into another meal.

I'm all about the "less is more" philosophy when it comes to cooking.  I don't think something that tastes good should require a lot of ingredients.

Presenting: Apple Bourbon Pork Chops.

To make you'll need:

2 Tbsp Four Roses Bourbon
5 Tbsp Apple Juice
2 Tbsp McCormick Bourbon Spice seasoning mix
2 (4-5 ounce) pork chops

Pour the Bourbon, Apple Juice and seasoning into a ziploc bag.  Knead to combine.  Add the pork chops.  Allow to marinate a minimum of 30 minutes up to 5 hours. 

Bake at 375° F for about 35 minutes.   Feel free to try this on a grill if you wish.

Shaking up the salmon

A couple of months ago I heard of a new line of McCormick gourmet spice packets.  I am selective about who I give my business to as I prefer companies that acknowledge the "two or less" households.  McCormick seems to cater to families while largely ingoring the growing community of singles and couples so I rejected purchasing the spice packets until I had a coupon.  I saw a coupon for $1.25 off any McCormick product which meant that McCormick would pay ME to buy the product - I couldn't argue w/ the savings and bought the spice packet.

I decided that I wanted salmon for dinner, and figured the spice packet would make an interesting marinade.  I placed my salmon fillet in a quart sized ziploc bag and then poured in 1/4 cup pineapple juice and 2 Tbsp of the bourbon spice seasoning mix.  I let my salmon marinate for 5 hours and then baked it at 375° for 25 minutes.  During the last 5 minutes I took 2 Tbsp pineapple juice  and 2 tsp of the bourbon spice seasoning mix and brushed it on top of my salmon fillet.    I served my salmon
along side homemade macaroni and cheese, roasted potatoes (yes those are PURPLE, gold, and red baby potatoes!!!), and a yeast roll   Talk about a fast meal for one!