Celebrate with Simplicity

 We celebrated  Leslies birthday on Sunday, with a slight nod to St. Patrick's Day. Since she is busy at school, and we were bringing in dinner to prepare at her aunts house, we decided that it was the perfect time to try out our new "30 minute", or "Dinner tonight" style of menus. (We will come up with a better name later!)
We decided to stay with the old tried and true favorite of many students, Grilled Striploin Steaks, and build the rest of the meal around that. It is a no-brainer when it comes to putting together Leslies favorite dinner - Steak, grilled asparagus and grilled potatoes.  We added  a delicious garlic butter sauce and some savoury/sweet braised carrots to the menu, and Jane prepared a delicious spicy Chick-pea and Couscous Stew, so that there would be lunches for the kids throughout the week. What a great aunt!
We ended the meal with Andreas famous Pavlova - lots of fruit, so surely it is healthy!!!

As always, follow this link for instructions on how to grill The Perfect Steak.  We added this delicious Garlic Butter sauce and the consensus was that it was a winner. The simple flavour of the sauce worked beautifully with the steak, roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus.

Garlic Butter Sauce

6 medium cloves garlic
 4 Tbsp salted butter
1 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Peel the garlic cloves and smash them with the side of a chef’s knife. Sprinkle the garlic lightly with salt and mince it.

In an 8-inch skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Add the garlic and cook, swirling the pan frequently, until lightly golden, being careful not to burn the garlic.  about 4 minutes. Lightly salt to taste.
Spoon the garlic butter over the steak, sprinkle with the parsley, and serve.

 Orange-Maple Glazed Braised Carrots
These savoury-sweet carrots are colourful, healthy and super easy to prepare. We put everything together at home and quickly braised them when we arrived at Janes. Everything else was grilled in 30 minutes, starting with the potatoes.

1 lb. carrots, cut into 1/2-inch rounds (about 2-1/2 cups)
1 cup orange juice

3 Tbsp butter
1-1/2 tsp. maple syrup

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 sprigs fresh thyme

Put the carrots in 4-quart saucepan or sauté pan and arrange snugly. Add the orange juice, butter, maple syrup, 1/2 tsp. salt, and thyme.  Bring to a boil over high heat.

Cook over high heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until the liquid has reduced to a syrupy glaze and the carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.

Lower the heat to medium low, season to taste with salt and black pepper and serve.

Even Dakota enjoyed the party!

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