few things i would cook. well one ONLY if you do not have NON-stick pans...
meat & mushroom stuff
1 - 2 lbs ground beef (depends on how hungry you are and how many people you are feeding.
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
assorted bell peppers (i often use 1 ea red, green, orange/yellow, seldom do i use more then 3 peppers unless cooking a double batch. that would be 4 lbs meet)
2 - 3 stocks of fresh carrots
2 - 4 stocks celery
Worcestershire sauce
fresh ground pepper
salt (Kosher salt prefered)
sour cream (about that much)
cumin (not required, but i like the added flavor it gives to the beef)
1 beer (i prefer to cook with becks, not the dark or light stuff just regular becks as it adds loads of flavor without watering things down to much)
1lb portabela mushrooms
brown the beef and drain off any excess fat/grease. afterwards add the cumin to taste.
add mushroom soup and between 1/2 - 3/4 of the beer bottle. do not make it to watery. yes use the beer instead of water, water bring zero flavor to the mix. if you can not drink beer (yeast infection issue) or just really do not like beer then some good red wine should work as a replacement, i have never used the wine and it will change the flavor drastically if you use wine instead of beer.
add your carrots, worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper at this time. bring to boil, stir, reduce to simmer for about 5 - 20 min depending on how large your carrot bits are. the smaller you cut them, the faster they will cook, the larger you make them the better looking the presentation. i normally cut my carrots in about 1/4in width circles and then cook for about 5- 7min before i add the rest of the ingrediants.
sautee the mushrooms (you can use any kind of mushroom you want i often go with a 50/50 mix of portabela and random off the shelf shrooms here)
add the mushrooms & bell peppers stir and let simmer for a few more min. add salt/pepper to flavor. at the end you can add the sourcreame to taste (i normally add 1 - 2 large spoons worth), mix in completly, remove from heat and let sit for about 5min before serving.
this can be served over noodles, mashed potatos or just on its own over a bit of bread.
2nd thing is a top sirlion steak with a sauce.
1. 1 - 4 lbs top sirlion (depending on how many people you are serving)
2. 2 TBS of FRESH cracked pepper corn (best to use whole pepper corn and then crack them open with a mallet)
3. 3/4 cup Cognac
4. 1cup heavy cream
butterfly the sirlions or just medialion them into 1/2 - 1.0lbs size steaks. and bring them to ROOM temperature. DO NOT COOK THEM COLD. that will ***** up the cooking proccess and cause them to cook uneven and not taste near as good as they will.
crack your pepper corn NOW
lightly salt the steaks (again Kosher is best for this job)
and press firmly, without squishing, the steak onto the pepper corns. you want good even covering on both large sides of the steaks.
heat pan to Med.High with 1 line worth of unsalted butter and 1 tsp (teaspoon) of olive oil. bring to heat (once butter is a bit brown and starts to smoke just a tad).
add the steaks spread out enough to leave about 1/2in between ea steak and the edge of the pan. YOU CAN NOT MAKE THIS WORK IN A NON-STICK PAN DO NOT TRY IT WILL NOT WORK WITH THE PAN SAUCE.... YOU CAN NOT DO IT, DO NOT TRY IT, IT WILL BE BAD IF YOU DO. let the steaks sit for about 4min. then flip. repeate (DO NOT MOVE THEM AROUND, let them sit and sizzle and sputter, etc...) after the 2nd side is done remove the steaks and place in a bit of tin foil close that off and keep them warm.
drain off any excess fat (should not be much) leaving as much of the "crust" left behind from the steaks as possible. add the cognac now and have a long reach lighter handy to burn off the alcohol. you may not want to do that part inside the house. i have to take mine outside and put it on the sidewalk in my front yard as the flames tend to reach about 3ft in the air. NOT SAFE. allow the flames to FULLY die off on their own swirlling the pan around to ensure you have burned off all of the alcohol before returning to the heat of the stove.
BIG NOT HERE, EVEN IF YOU DO THIS PART INSIDE THE HOUSE, TURN OFF THE STOVE BEFORE ADDING THE COGNAC AS YOU DO NOT WANT IT TO CATCH FIRE BEFORE YOU ARE READY FOR IT
add the cream and mix with a wire wisk until it is thickened. add salt/pepper to flavor and at the very end add a lid full or 2 more of cognac, stir and serve over the steak.
both are great. the top one works best in a cast iron skillet as does the second one, but the top one will taste good in a more modern skillet as well.
enjoy.