Foodin' with Lawblog: Your 5 Favorites in recipes!

So, Thisismynightmare asked if people sent their 5 favorite foods, would I make a recipe using them? I said “sure." Keep in mind I do not have the time, money, or inclination to test all of these. These are things that I think would taste good if combined, prepared this way. Some of these recipes contained elements I’ve made before, but never combined quite in this way. That's basically a convoluted way of saying, "Don't blame me if these taste terrible." I don't think they will. In fact, I think they will be delicious. "When it comes to food, I am never wrong about anything." -Marcel and Lawblog. Without further ado, our first two recipes after the jump.

1) CHRIS TRASH: “Steak, Soy Sauce, Buffalo Chicken, Lime”

Thinking about this, I immediately thought of a delicious vaguely Vietnamese sandwich-type thing, as Vietnamese cuisine has a lot of those flavors prominently featured. This doesn’t include buffalo chicken directly, but there are many of the same flavors. I call it “Soy-Lime Steak ‘Banh mi’ “ (Super creative title)

STEAK

1 lb. flank, skirt steak, or sirloin tips

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 Tbl. Lime Juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. fresh ginger, grated

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek or Sriracha

1Tbl. Olive oil

1 Tbl. Bourbon

½ cup chicken broth

SLAW

2 cups carrots, julienned

2 cups daikon, julienned

¼ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbl. Sambal Oelek or Sriracha

OTHER INGREDIENTS

¼ cup cilantro

1 jalapeño, thinly sliced

Baguette, sliced into 6” pieces and sliced in half long-ways

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 lime, quartered

FOR STEAK:

Combine all of the ingredients except for the broth into a Ziploc bag, and let marinate for at least two hours, turning the bag occasionally.

Preheat broiler.

Remove steak from marinade. Save marinade. Coat broiling pan with cooking spray or olive oil.

Take your reserved marinade, add the stock, and boil in a medium saucepan until reduced by 25% or so and it is somewhat thick and syrupy. This should take close to 20 minutes. Brush half on the steak.

Put steak on pan and broil until desired doneness. Depending on the thickness of the steak, 7 or 8 minutes per side for medium rare for the flank steak or the sirloin tips, slightly less if you use skirt steak, brushing with the remaining syrup half way through.

When cooked to desired doneness, remove and place on a cutting board. Let stand AT LEAST five minutes. If you forget this step your steak will taste bad. Then, carve across the grain into thin slices.

FOR SLAW:

Dissolve sugar and salt in the rice vinegar. Add the carrots and daikon. Refrigerate for an hour. Then drain out most of the liquid.

Combine mayonnaise and Sriracha.

ASSEMBLE SANDWICH

Spread sriracha/mayo mixture over both halves of the bread.

Add steak

Top with slaw

Garnish with scallions, cilantro, fresh squeezed lime, and jalapeño if desired

You could even add buffalo chicken tenders to the sandwich and not mess with the flavor profiles too much.

2) THISISMYNIGHTMARE: “avocado, goat cheese, dark chocolate, French bread, bacon”

These ingredients are unique in that most of them can go both ways. TWSS. By that I mean, they can function very well in both sweet and savory dishes. I decided to make a dessert-for-breakfast type indulgence. I call it “Honey French Toast with Berry Goat Cheese and Chocolate Bacon” Served with an avocado shake.

FRENCH TOAST

4 Tbl. Butter

3 Tbl. Honey

3 large eggs

¼ cup milk

¼ tsp. salt

pinch of nutmeg

6 (¾ inch) thick slices of French bread

BERRY HONEY GOAT CHEESE SPREAD

4 oz. Chevre

¼ cup dried berries, such as cranberries or blueberries or a mix

½ cup water

1.5 Tbl. honey

CHOCOLATE BACON

8 oz. thick cut bacon

8 oz. 70% or darker chocolate

2 Tbl. Butter

AVOCADO SHAKE (makes 1)

1 ripe avocado

1 c. crushed ice

1 c. milk

3 Tbl. Sugar or to taste

FOR FRENCH TOAST

Preheat oven to 375

Combine honey and butter in a 9 x 13 dish, place in oven until butter melts and honey bubbles, approx. 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine next four ingredients in a dish. Dip the bread in, letting it soak for 2-3 minutes per side.

Set each piece in the honeyed pan and bake until well browned, approx. 20 minutes.

FOR GOAT CHEESE

Soak berries in the water and microwave for 30 seconds. Drain berries, reserving a couple teaspoons of water.

Combine berries and goat cheese with the teaspoons of water, and process in a blender until smooth, drizzling in honey to taste.

FOR CHOCOLATE BACON

Cook bacon in a skillet until desired crispness. It helps to cook over medium low heat, as it helps to avoid “curling.” Drain on a plate of paper towels.

Set up a double boiler. That means fill a saucepan at least halfway with water and bring to a boil. Over that you place a stainless steel bowl so that it is not touching the water, but is being heated by the steam.

Place butter and chocolate in double boiler and melt, stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn.

When fully melted, dip bacon into the chocolate using a pair of tongs. Remove and let harden on a cooling rack.

FOR AVOCADO SHAKE

Blend all of the ingredients. Durrr. Note: you can also use coconut milk instead of regular milk.

ASSEMBLY

Invert French Toast onto plate, so that the honey side is facing up.

Spread with the goat cheese

Top with two pieces of chocolate bacon

Garnish with more berries, if desired

Serve with shake

Like I said, I have no idea if these will be good. I think they will be. But that is all. So, if you guys end up making these, please let me know! Also, feel free to send me more things that you want combined together somehow. For clarification, “garlic” is an acceptable ingredient, “gazpacho” is not. If you want to include a food that contains multiple elements to give me an idea of the types of flavors you like, that’s awesome, and I encourage it. However, it won’t be included in the recipe.