Balsamic Skirt Steak with Polenta and Roasted Tomatoes

Some people were SURE that the SO ate the mini meatloaf meal, but nope, he wouldn't even try it. I am sure a lot of people think, how do you put up with that?! But other than the food nonsense, he really is a wonderful guy so I don't push it. I have been with him for almost 8 years and I realized several years ago this was just one thing he would not budge on.

I promised a little more beef action this week, so here we go! Bring on the red meat!


I cut this recipe in half.


this also came from the Everyday Food magazine.


Get your water boiling for your polenta first!


I assembled my ingredients. I love grape tomatoes, they are flavorful year round.


Green onions


I chopped them into white and green parts.


keep them separated.


Toss the tomatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper and the white parts of the green onion on a baking sheet lined with foil. I loaded that in the toaster oven that was preheated.


My water is boiling so time to grab the corn meal to make the polenta.


stir it into the boiling water


Now that this is going, grab your steak.


I have never worked with skirt steak before and I was unsure of how tough it was going to be. I shouldn't have worried, it was not tough at all and turned out moist and delicious. I will definitely be buying this cut more often. I totally missed photographing the meat while it was cooking!


Get your meat out of the pan and pour in the balsamic vinegar.


Let your meat rest, covering it with foil is a good idea to keep it warm.


your polenta should be thickening nicely, keep stirring it!


Here is my first failure so far, I totally burned the balsamic vinegar! It looks ok here, but in a few moments it turned into a sticky napalm like substance. FAIL! Back to the polenta...


Toss in the butter




stir in your parmesan cheese and let that hang out.


grab your veggies out of the oven and slice up your steak. since I burned the balsamic reduction I just poured a little of the vinegar straight from the bottle on to the steak.


This was very good. The roasted onions were one of my favorite things on the plate. Don't get me wrong the steak was outstanding, but I love roasted veggies. The polenta was creamy and delicious.

Mini Meatloaf with Roasted Potatoes and Spinach Salad

I realized that I have not posted any beef recipes yet, so here is my first. I don't eat a lot of beef but I have a couple of recipes coming up for all of you steak and ground meat lovers.


I subscribe to a lot cooking magazines and have a lot of cookbooks so don't fear that I may run out of recipes any year soon.


I cut this recipe in half.


This recipe is actually very easy and easy to time to have it all ready at the same time.


First thing I did was grate the cheddar.


A regular old box grater will work.


Next you need to get your egg. But, how do you only use half an egg?


It is very simple, get your whisk


and whisk it all up. Once you have it combined you can pour in half of the egg and then save the other half to fry up with your dog's dinner.


grab some honey mustard (or combine 1 part mustard to 1 part honey)


gotta be Heinz!!


get those two combined together to make your glaze for the mini loaf.




If you don't have Panko breadcrumbs you can use regular breadcrumbs. Panko are the latest food fad and are used a lot as breading in Asian dishes.


so into the bowl goes your egg, breadcrumbs, cheese and some salt and pepper.


mix it up with your hands and form it into a mini loaf on a cookie sheet. Get your hands washed and grab your potatoes.




get them washed and quartered


drizzle them with olive oil, salt and some garlic powder. Add whatever seasonings you like.


get them all mixed up and spread them on a cookie sheet. I put the potatoes in at this point while I finished the loaf.


I got my glaze and a brush. If you don't have a brush a butter knife will work.




once it is covered with the ketchup and mustard mix sprinkle it with the remaining white cheddar. Put it in the oven, you will start smelling this glorious thing very quickly.


While the loaf cooks get your salad fixings out. Olive Oil, Red Wine Vinegar and some more of the honey mustard.


I didn't have any Boston lettuce so I used spinach. I promise this photo was taken before the "enjoy by" date. I have meals queued up to share with you guys.


yin and yang


drop in your honey mustard and mix it up


dress the greens and set them aside until your meat and potatoes are ready.


This thing smelled so amazing I could barely wait to eat it. I let it rest for 5 minutes while the potatoes finished up.


serve it all up and enjoy!


The meat loaf was so incredibly good I did not finish the potatoes. It was so moist I am guessing you could do this with ground turkey or chicken. This is definitely on my list of things to have again and again!