ONE NIGHT ONLY! Recipie Review! Shannon's T-bone w/ balsamic choc glaze & Leanarda S.'s Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Tonight is the night! I got the urge to splurge!

I sought out the decadence of chocolate, with two recipies that I found on Shannon's Cookbook Group and her Whats for Dinner daily postings!

I gave an impromptu cucumber, red fig pear, red onion and gorgonzola cheese salad a toss...

and a FEAST was born!

CAN WE TALK!

First I want to say....I was( really I was) totally stoked to see Steak and Chocolate on the same plate, but I had no idea that I would be as enthused as the kid who got the first warm chocolate chip cookie out of the oven when I took my first bite of the T-bone(medium-rarish) with the melted gorgonzola cheese and chocolate balsamic glaze!

You know I did the taste the glaze thing as I prepared it, but there is something to the combination of the steak, the cheese WITH the glaze that made it...undeniably one of my favoritest...taste sensations in a very VERY long time.

Shannon, I throw roses at your feet, and if you were here I would HAVE to hug ya!

I ended up dipping everything in the plate drippings, even the green beans.

Noting that this IS gardening season....I marinated my steaks in some fresh chopped red onion, garlic, a shake or two of chili dill seasoning( by archer farms) and fresh ground peppercorns and garlic olive oil( very little).

 I cut up one small cucumber and 6 red fig pear tomatoes from my garden, minced some red onion and tossed it in some white vinegar, a touch of sugar, cracked pepper, and the chili dill seasoning and about 1/4th cup of the gargonzola cheese and  chilled it. VEry nice, very light addition to a rich beefy meal.

I cut up four small potatoes that I had recently harvested from the garden also...and tossed them with again the chili dill seasoning, garlic salt, cracked pepper, and garlic olive oil and let them set for a few minutes while everything heated up....I chose to  saute them till they browned up a bit on the outside...then put a lid on and steamed them in their seasonings, tossing in 6 large cut up green beans towards the end. I don't know what it is about fresh potatoes, but they were perfect!

 Now to be honest, I did feel like I was back in the restaurant biz..bowls and pans, ovens and burners all going at it....

And lordy, it was over way to soon...not a smidge of left over.'cept for some of the sauce. I think for just two steaks I would cut it in half, unless you have any more of the likes of me in the house, I went back for more than I orginally thought would DO for the steak alone....(NOT!)

I also have been in the mood for brownies for the longest time, but unwilling to heat up the house. Since I chose to broil the steaks tonight, while I ran back to Shannon's steak post, I ventured into her Cookbook group and thought I would grab a brownie recipie.....Well about 2 pages in to the posts I saw Leanarda's Hot Fudge Pudding Cake recipie and melted. Quickly scribbled it down and headed to the kitchen. The only thing I played with was the subsitution of 1/4 cup kahlua' for 1/4 cup of the hot water( I have a thing about baking with it, 'specially in chocolate stuff.)

 Listen to me....YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS...it is very easy...and for someone who wants to waller in chocolate like I do sometimes....THIS IS IT...not just for the quick fix mind you, this is simplicity at its very finest. Follow the directions exactly..lock the doors and close the curtains....well...thats all I am going to say about that.

I MIGHT, might like to try and make it with a really dark choc cocoa and serve it with some coffee ice cream sometime.....but that is just not an experience I would be able to share with anyone....(giggle)

Ladies, you made my day, thank you for your red carpet contributions  to my dinner( and my review!) 

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976848506

 Leandra's hot fudge pudding cake

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977084023

Shannon's Peppercorn T-Bone with chocolate chocolate glaze.....