Saturday Recipe

Unbelievably, we went to Matt’s appointment with the surgeon and he wasn’t there. Nor does he appear to have a secretary. We were not amused.  UPDATE the surgeon called us in the evening and apologised. He was in surgery all day and his secretary was supposed to have called everyone to cancel. Anyway, Matt now has an appointment for 9 a.m. Monday and we think he may go in for the colonoscopy on Thursday. Fingers crossed pleased.

This is a very simple but sophisticated recipe which came from MyRecipes. The steak in the picture is more than 4 oz I bet.

Pan-Seared Steak with Chive-Horseradish Butter

Top tender filet mignon with a chive-horseradish butter for an indulgent, 4-ingredient recipe that comes in at only 220 calories per serving. Serve with roasted, thinly-sliced sweet potatoes and Broccolini.

Cooking Light JANUARY 2013

• Yield: Serves 4 (serving size: 1 steak and about 1 tablespoon butter mixture)

Ingredients

• 5 teaspoons butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
• 4 (4-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate 20 minutes or until firm.
2. Sprinkle steaks evenly with salt and pepper. Heat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steaks to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove steaks from pan; let stand 5 minutes. Divide butter mixture evenly among steaks.

Have a great weekend

Nephrologist, Movies, Cleaners.

I am not happy. The visit to the specialist was OK. It turns out that I have a bit of a dysfunction in my kidneys, at my age it should be at 75% and I am running at 60% which means I might have to have kidney dialysis when I am 120-130 years old, so I'm not worrying about it. He quoted some other stats which I honestly don`t quite remember but I am not worrying about that either. I also have a high uric acid reading which necessitates yet more pills for a couple of months. He took my blood pressure and decided I should be much lower and therefore I should have a 24 hour blood pressure monitor. Don’t like that, but.. what I am really pissed about, the monitor will cost me $60. Matt has had one twice and it cost $50 each time. I know it is not refundable on insurance and I don’t know why the government won’t pay for them. He kept saying “well it’s a $4,000 machine` like I give a damn! I guess to those of you who live in the States, this is nothing, but it is to me. So, as I said, I am not happy. Not that I want to wear one anyway. I think they go off every half hour and every hour at night.  I have to pick up the monitor at 9:30 am and return in 24 hours later. At least it`s not as bad as Matt, his are much earlier in the morning 7:30 I think and it`s also in another town. Oh, and just to add to my current displeasure, I seem to have a UTI again.

I have just rented Gravity and The Butler from iTunes.  I haven’t watched them yet of course. Gravity sounds like a pretty scary movie. The Butler is one I was going to see in a theatre and then didn’t get to go in the end. There are a lot of other movies now available, but I wasn’t sure which ones to rent. I know everyone has talked about Thor, but reading the blurb, I’m not too sure about it. After what I read about the Lego movie, I don’t think I will be renting that when it becomes available. Must check some more out later.

I was going to spend today making Tourtières but now I have to go have some bloodwork done this morning and I have the cleaners calling this afternoon. I felt pretty guilty about this, but Matt really wanted our previous cleaner back, she was very, very good, and now she seems so much better and back to normal that we agreed that she would start again on Friday. I apologised profusely to the other couple who have done cleaning for us lately and explained what had happened. They were very reasonable about it. I am getting my keys back. They too were very good at the job but… also a bit more expensive.

I found this on Food Network Canada and thought it sounded really good, the Chestnut sauce in particular appealed to me.

Pan-Roasted Tuscan Chicken with Chestnut Sauce  

serves 4

A terrific and impressive meal that's perfect for both a simple weeknight meal and more extravagant weekend dinner. Tips: For a more adventurous version of this recipe try slicing a lemon very thinly, almost see-through, and inserting a slice under the skin of each breast before cooking. You can find peeled roasted chestnuts in the frozen food section of most grocery stores. Courtesy of CookWithCampbells.ca

Ingredients

1 tablespoon (15 mL) olive oil
4 (16 oz/450 g) chicken breasts, boneless, skin on
1 ounce (30 g) prosciutto, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
6-8 peeled and roasted chestnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon (5 mL) fresh thyme, chopped
½ carton (240 mL) Chicken stock.

Directions

1. Warm oil in a large heavy bottom oven proof skillet, sear chicken skin side down only, until well browned, about 6-8 minutes. Do not turn chicken breasts over! Transfer to 375°F (190°C) oven and roast for about 20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm.
2. Pour off excess oil and add prosciutto and shallots to pan. Sauté over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes. Add chestnuts and thyme and sauté 3-4 minutes more.
3. Add stock to deglaze pan, scraping any brown bits from bottom of pan, and simmer over medium-high heat until sauce is reduced by half, about 4-5 minutes.
4. Arrange chicken breasts on serving platter or plates and spoon sauce over chicken.

Have a great day