Cookin Up A Storm

I paired this with fresh berries and a goat cheese panna cotta as a dessert option for a recent event. It was very well received. Be sure to use a wine that you would like to drink because even with all the sugar and flavorings, the taste of the wine still comes through. I used a well-priced cab from Napa and reduced it to a syrup consistency. One change I will make for next time is to use a cinnamon stick instead of the ground cinnamon. Then I will fish it out before serving and not be able to see the "grains" of cinnamon in the sauce. This one is a keeper.

Using the sirloin in this dish, you really have to be careful about not overcooking it. Since it has very little fat and the bison has even less fat than beef, it can get dry quickly. I did not use the frozen green beans as I had fresh on hand. This was a pretty good recipe, but I needed to use more red curry paste to get the zip in our curry that we like.

We loved these. My potatoes were a little larger than bite sized, so after par-cooking them (I steamed them) and wrapping them in par-cooked bacon, we tossed them on the grill to crisp them up. This was a huge hit with everyone at my table. We skipped the ranch mix on the potatoes and served them instead with a blue-cheese-ranch dip and they were fantastic. I'm pretty sure this will be asked for again and again by my family. These would also make a great appetizer for any party or gathering and could easily be cooked in the oven if the grill is not an option.

This is a nice recipe for flat iron steak. I did, however, cut back on the amount of liquids in the sauce (to 1/2 the stated amounts) and skipped the flour entirely. I prefer my sauces without flour and just cooked the sauce down to the proper consistency. I also added a splash of dry sherry as we really like that flavor in our mushroom sauces. We did the steak on the grill (along with another steak we had done asian style) and it turned out fantastic.