Italian Broil with Sweet Sauce and Homemade Mashed Potatoes

Today was the first day I actually had the chance to make something, I decided to make some of my favorites and make a big dinner for Mi Famiglia. We had some left over steaks in the freezer from Labor Day weekend and I decided to put them to use.

Tenderloin & Italian Marinade

Recipe Ingredients:
-3-4 Beef Tenderloin Steaks

Italian Marinade (see below)
-Italian Dressing
-Favorite BBQ sauce
-Spicy Mustard (Golden)
-Ketchup
-Beer (optional, can never hurt)
-Salt & Pepper





Sweet Sauce (Marinara)

Sweet Sauce

-Homemade
-8-10 Tomatoes
-Sugar
-Fresh Basil
-Salt & Pepper
-Chopped Onion
-Garlic

Pop's Homemade Mashed Po's
-8-10 Peeled Potato's
-Butter
-Salt & Pepper
-Parsley

So, it may seem like a lot for dinner, but you don't know how we LOVE to eat!!! SUO TUTTO MANGIARE!!! IT'S ALL TO EAT!!! It was actually quite funny watching me cook today and my Pop had quite a couple laughs at me running around the kitchen taking pictures of everything, thought I was nuts...It was pretty challenging cooking and running around to right down everything for you guys, needless to say I loved it...haha

So with this recipe and any other, I always find it best to follow some basic rules, no matter what your cooking, Lets just call these the Golden Rules:

The Golden Rules of Cooking as Per freddy g
1. Always wash your hands and cook with clean utensils. especially when dealing with Meat or Poultry.
2. Always use the Freshest ingredients you can. Sometimes you can substitute, but remember you are also substituting flavor.
3. Always have a plan. Be organized and have an idea what you are trying to achieve. Sometimes its best to just Freestyle which I love to do, but for the most part it makes things easier to have a plan.
4. Always BE YOURSELF IN THE KITCHEN. Remember you should enjoy cooking, LOVE what you EAT and EAT what you LOVE.

After looking over the Golden Rules, just remember to respect your food, know your ingredients and add your own twist onto the food you love to eat.

But anyway back to the recipe:

Italian Broil

For the steaks its pretty simple, defrost the steaks depending on the size and weight it may take longer or shorter, While Steaks are defrosting, Mix in a mixing bowl, 2 cups of Italian Dressing, 3 TSP of your favorite BBQ Sauce, 2 TSP of Spicy Brown Mustard, 1/2 Cup of Beer (I usually use a Lager, but any Beer wont hurt) & throw in some Salt & Pep. Mix bowl until all ingredients have been blended together. you can also set your stove to broil and let it heat up. Once the tenderloins have been defrosting Salt & Pepper them and place them in a broiler safe bowl or pan. Once in the pan then place a 1/4 stick of butter in the middle of the steaks, then dress the streaks with the Italian Marinade that you have made. Place the Pan into the broiler and wait until steaks have a nice sear on them, make sure you keep a close eye and not to burn them, In about 10 minutes the steaks should have a nice color on them and will needed to be flipped and finished off with some more Italian Marinade and placed back in the broiler for 5-8 minutes depending on how you like your steak.


Sweet Sauce (Marinara)
For the Sweet Sauce, this is one of my favorite things to make and EAT!!! This sweet sauce is a staple of my Pop's and my cooking, you can find it on our Pizza to our Stuffed Shells.

Fresh Tomato Growing!

It can be made two different ways depending on the time you have. The first way is the old fashioned way, pick 8-10 fresh tomatoes we use our garden and anytime you can I suggest you use your own personal garden if possible. After you Pick your tomatoes you need to wash them, De-core them which is basically just removing the vine from the top. Bring a large pot filled with water to a boil, then place the De-cored tomatoes into the boiling water, after 8-10 minutes they should be plumbed and ready to be cooled and peeled. Again use your eye and best judgment, once they are ready, drain the water and split and peel the tomato. Let Cool, and once you can handle, mash with hands until the tomatoes are broken down. Now you can start adding, Fresh Basil (also from garden), 4 TSP of Sugar, 1/2 cup of fresh chopped onion, 2-3 chopped cloves of garlic, Oregano and Salt & Pep to taste.

The second way is much less time consuming and less laboring. Instead of using fresh tomatoes, you can use 2 cans of tomato sauce and 1 can of tomato paste. Then repeat the last steps and flavor to taste.

Onion, Garlic and Fresh Basil Chopped

Mixing the sauce and the pasta always adds flavor to the dish

BELLA!

Pop's Homemade Italian Mashed Potatoes

Heating up Pop's Mashed Po's

This is a favorite of mine and is great for the holidays coming up. For this you need to Peel 8-10 Potatoes and place in boiling water. Once boiling for 10 minutes, the potatoes should start to become more buoyant and float to the top of the water. Drain the potatoes and place them under cool water to make it easier to handle, begin to mash with hands in separate bowl, then continue to mix with a electric mixer. Add 1/4 to a 1/2 stick of butter and Salt & Pep to taste. The secret ingredient's for this is Parsley, sprinkle a little in and mash to liking some like it real fluffy and others a little more chunky, but to each is own haha...

FINISHED PRODUCT!

Well the finished product, was running around, a little hectic and a lot of love but all well worth it for a dinner with Mi Famiglia. It definably opened my eyes and hopefully as I continue to log these, I will be more and more efficient at running around cooking and Bloging...maybe we can call it "Cloging"? or "Blooking"?...I don't know but what I do know is that there will be much more where this came from, please let me know if you have any comments or questions...Once again remember "Suo Tutto Mangiare"...ITS ALL TO EAT!!!

Finished Product, Italian Broil with Sweet Sauce, Mashed Po's & an Anti Pasta

If your plate looks like this at the end of the night you did something right...Til next Time!

-freddy g