Produce Pete's Advice

Produce Pete came to our school about a month ago to give a little assembly about fruits and vegetables. For those of you who don't know, Produce Pete had a veggie stand in Bergenfield for the longest time and appears on NBC.  His grandchildren go to our school so we were lucky enough to learn some tips for picking the best veggies and fruits.  One thing he said before he wrapped up his show was that he encouraged us to try something new.  I decided we would try a new veggie that night.  I had made broccolini once before and it didn't turn out too well so I decided to try it again.  I mixed it with olive oil, garlic, onion powder, and chili flakes and roasted it for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.  While I liked the flavor the stems were a little too crunchy for me. I think next time I would try a longer time at a lower temperature.

White Wine and Beef...Who Knew

I decided to splurge and actually buy one of the magazines I look at while on the checkout line at the supermarket.  I ended up with a $12 issue of The Best of Cooking Light.  I went through and marked all of the recipes that I figured we would try and to my surprise, Rob went through and added a ton more.  He also continued to cross out parts of the recipe that he didn't want me to include, like the mustard and beans, stating that he was SURE it would taste good without them.  The first one I tried was a white wine marinade for steak.  Intrigued, I started on this super easy marinade.

White Wine Marinade:
3 tbsp white wine
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Marinade the steak for 10 minutes (I did it for about 15)  They also suggested using chuck but I had a NY strip in the fridge.

Next, cook the steak in a pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Remove steak and add one sliced shallot to the pan to soften.

Add the reserved marinade and 1/4 cup of beef broth.  Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid by 1/2.  (If I was cooking for more than 2 I would definitely double or triple the marinade and beef broth so I had enough sauce)

Slice steak and serve with sauce and shallots on top.

This was SO good (and only about 230 calories).  I was so surprised that the white wine paired well with the beef.  This one definitely gets added to the frequent pile.