I love taking simple dishes and putting my own signature on the dish.  When I grew up Beef Stroganoff looked and tasted a lot different than it does today—and my mom was a really great cook.  Somehow I have bad memories of cream of mushroom soup (and I don’t think it was from my mom)…anyway, no more cream of mushroom soup required—this pasta dish is fresh, light and full of flavor!

I make my stroganoff with thinly sliced grilled flat iron steak, roasted shiitake mushrooms scented with thyme, caramelized red onions, fried capers, and linguine tossed in a Madeira creme fraiche sauce.

As with any dish, it helps if you start out with a really good foundation and in this case, a dark, rich veal stock. To start, I grill my flat iron steak to a medium rare to get a nice smoky flavor.  Let the steak cool completely and then slice as thin as possible.  Meanwhile, thinly slice shiitake mushrooms and toss in canola oil, minced thyme, salt and pepper. You can either pan saute the mushrooms or roast in the oven until caramelized and crispy.  Next, julienne red onions and saute over medium-high heat until caramelized.  Toss some capers into a saute pan with olive oil and cook over medium heat until crispy.  However, keep the pan partially covered because once they start to fry they’ll pop and jump out of the pan.  Drain the capers on paper towels and salt lightly and set aside.

To finish, start cooking the linguine in plenty of salted water.  In a saute pan with a small amout of canola oil, over medium heat, add the steak, onions, and minced garlic and deglaze with Madeira.  Reduce the Madeira and then add the veal stock and reduce to a sauce consistency.  Add the mushrooms, a small amount of creme fraiche (you can use sour cream instead, but it should be added at the very end because sour cream will break under heat).  Toss in the pasta and finish with parsley, fried capers, lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Enjoy!

I know it’s the day after Thanksgiving and you are probably not thinking about food, but there is nothing like a big, fat, juicy, flavorful burger and this one has it all. Melted feta cheese, caramelized red onions, juicy heirloom tomatoes, crisp arugula and a tangy cucumber-mint yogurt sauce. It was a big hit at the restaurant last week when I served it as a chef special. This burger has big, bold flavors and is not for the faint of heart, but I guarantee that once you make my version, you’ll never look at burgers the same way!  I start with freshly ground chuck, but you can use a combination of chuck and lamb. If using a combination, I prefer a ratio of ¾-pound chuck to ¼-pound lamb, but half and half is fine.

In a pan with olive oil, sauté finely diced onion and garlic until soft.  Add lots of chopped fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, mint, dill and parsley, as well as fresh ground cumin and salt and pepper to taste. If you want a more North African/Moroccan flavor then add a small amount of freshly ground cinnamon.  Cook the mixture for a few more minutes on low heat until the flavors combine and then set aside to cool. Once cooled, add the mixture to the ground meat and form into uniformed eight-ounce patties. Chill until ready to use.

To make the cucumber-mint yogurt sauce, combine authentic Greek yogurt found at most gourmet grocery stores. The consistency of the yogurt is incredibly thick and smooth and the flavor is sweet and mellow. (My husband and I traveled to the Greek Island of Crete in May and we fell in love with Cretan yogurt and the cuisine, but I'll save this discussion for another blog post in the near future.) If you can’t find Greek yogurt, then line a sieve with moistened cheesecloth and place over a large bowl. Spoon the yogurt into the cheesecloth and refrigerate for several hours. Make sure that the bottom of the sieve does not come into contact with the liquid that is drained from the yogurt. The end result will be a thick creamy Greek-style yogurt.

In a food processor or blender, combine the yogurt, diced cucumber (skins and seeds removed) chopped garlic, mint, lemon juice, a few dashes of red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth and chill until ready to use.

To finish, cook the burgers to the desired doneness with melted feta cheese and pile on all the other ingredients, and lots of the cucumber-mint yogurt sauce!

For the Greek fries, finely mince garlic and oregano and sauté in olive oil over low heat to mellow the flavors. Be careful not to burn the garlic or it will become bitter. Deep fry or oven roast the fries and then toss immediately with the garlic/oregano mixture, salt and a large squeeze of fresh lemon juice to finish.

Opa!