I don't know about you but Monday night dinners here are the Absolute Worst. I never know if I'm going to be done with work around 5pm (like I should be) or if it will drag on until 6 or 7. Trust me, it never works out that I'm done at five o'clock. Particularly not when I didn't manage to go to bed until 4AM (Again!! Something in me is So. Broken.).
As I'm trying to get myself back into a blogging schedule of some sort, I thought it'd be fun to post what I do for Monday Night Dinners. They're normally quick & simple and... best of all... CHEAP.
Now, don't get all ahead of me and expect a post every Monday night after dinner. In a perfect world, it'd TOTALLY happen. In my world, if there are leftovers from Sunday night... we are SO having them instead of me having to cook.
Tonight, I had a little more time than usual but a lot less enthusiasm for cooking so I took some sirloin burger patties out, along with my favorite rice (Jasmine), broccoli, and carrots. Here's what I ended up with:
4 Sirloin burger patties
1 lb sliced mushrooms (white or cremini, your choice)
1 can Campbell's French Onion soup
1 can Campbell's Beefy Mushroom soup
1 cup beef stock
1 individually sized bottle red wine* (Cabernet or Merlot)
1 heaping tsp. minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 T. butter
Olive Oil
Salt (I like Kosher)
Pepper (freshly ground)
1. Season patties on both sides with salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper (really, go nuts with the pepper). Press into meat.
2. Heat a little olive oil (2-3 Tb.??? I don't measure, I just do two or three swirls) in a skillet on medium-high.
3. Sear sirloin patties on each side until nicely browned; about 2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
4. Add butter to hot pan. Once melted, add mushrooms and saute until golden.
5. Add garlic and saute 1 minute more.
6. Deglaze pan with about 1/2 to 3/4 of the bottle of wine, scraping up all the yummy bits.
7. Add soups and stock; bring to a boil. Continue cooking until sauce is reduced by half.
8. Add sirloin patties back to pan, making sure they're nicely settled down in their saucy hot tub. Give the whole thing a whirl with the pepper grinder to season.
9. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes on low.
10. Serve over buttered rice or with mashed potatoes!
* The best money I've ever spent is buying those little 4-packs of individually-sized wine bottles. They are perfect-perfect-perfect! for cooking. I always keep a 4-pack of Chardonnay and one of either Merlot or Cabernet on hand and they have never let me down.
** A variation on this recipe: Instead of deglazing with wine, use 1/2 cup of brandy. Then, at the end, add a little bit of cream for a nice Brandy Cream sauce.
As I'm trying to get myself back into a blogging schedule of some sort, I thought it'd be fun to post what I do for Monday Night Dinners. They're normally quick & simple and... best of all... CHEAP.
Now, don't get all ahead of me and expect a post every Monday night after dinner. In a perfect world, it'd TOTALLY happen. In my world, if there are leftovers from Sunday night... we are SO having them instead of me having to cook.
Tonight, I had a little more time than usual but a lot less enthusiasm for cooking so I took some sirloin burger patties out, along with my favorite rice (Jasmine), broccoli, and carrots. Here's what I ended up with:
Sirloin Patties w/ Mushroom Gravy
4 Sirloin burger patties
1 lb sliced mushrooms (white or cremini, your choice)
1 can Campbell's French Onion soup
1 can Campbell's Beefy Mushroom soup
1 cup beef stock
1 individually sized bottle red wine* (Cabernet or Merlot)
1 heaping tsp. minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 T. butter
Olive Oil
Salt (I like Kosher)
Pepper (freshly ground)
1. Season patties on both sides with salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper (really, go nuts with the pepper). Press into meat.
2. Heat a little olive oil (2-3 Tb.??? I don't measure, I just do two or three swirls) in a skillet on medium-high.
3. Sear sirloin patties on each side until nicely browned; about 2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
4. Add butter to hot pan. Once melted, add mushrooms and saute until golden.
5. Add garlic and saute 1 minute more.
6. Deglaze pan with about 1/2 to 3/4 of the bottle of wine, scraping up all the yummy bits.
7. Add soups and stock; bring to a boil. Continue cooking until sauce is reduced by half.
8. Add sirloin patties back to pan, making sure they're nicely settled down in their saucy hot tub. Give the whole thing a whirl with the pepper grinder to season.
9. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes on low.
10. Serve over buttered rice or with mashed potatoes!
* The best money I've ever spent is buying those little 4-packs of individually-sized wine bottles. They are perfect-perfect-perfect! for cooking. I always keep a 4-pack of Chardonnay and one of either Merlot or Cabernet on hand and they have never let me down.
** A variation on this recipe: Instead of deglazing with wine, use 1/2 cup of brandy. Then, at the end, add a little bit of cream for a nice Brandy Cream sauce.
The whole thing took me a little more than 30 minutes to cook. Not bad for Monday night. Now, I don't know about you but I'm ready for some ice cream!!
