Valentines: Scott edition:)

So my "Valentines memory dinner inspiration" last night came from...another man.

Yes, it's true.

Albeit one we BOTH enjoy, howeverJ  hehhehehehehehehe....see, a few years ago we had went to see a Guy Fieri cooking demonstration at the NYC Food & Wine Festival...

Guy's dish of the day???  Peruvian Beef.  We both thought it looked soooooooooooo good that we VOWED to come home and make it ASAP!!! 

That was 2009.  And as of February 13th, 2012, we had made the dish a total amount of times of: ZERO!

So last night I decided to roll up my sleeves and FINALLY put that dish on OUR table...

"Peruvian Beef"....sounds complicated, no???  Well, this recipe could NOT be simpler OR more delicious.  Ironically, I couldn't actually find a GUY FIERI recipe for it (must have been his special for the day)...so I scoured the web, took bits & pieces of my favorite parts and merged em together to create ONE. FABULOUS. DINNER.

Ready for the most LENGTHY part of making this dinner??  Making French Fries!

Lengthy, yes?  Difficult, NOPE!  Just dice up 3 potatoes into 'fry-like' strips, toss em around with a little olive oil & salt and pop em in the oven at 450 for about 40-50 minutes, turning once.  I'd let these cook a little extra because you're going to want them extra crispy...I'll show you why in a sec!

Anyway...while the potatoes are cookin, we get to the LAST "difficult" portion of the meal:  Dicing everything up!  Once that's all done...you are pretty much HOME CLEAR!J

I diced up:

• 1 1/2 pounds of steak, diced into long strips
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic

And now the SUPER easy part:  you just stir fry everything together!  First, I browned up the beef, tossing with some salt & pepper...

I wanted to get it nice and browned, so I worked in two batches.  (that was about as 'fancy' as I got yesterdayJ)  Once they were cooked through, I set the meat aside...

Into the same pan went the peppers & onions and I let them soften for about 8 minutes...

Next into the pan, I added the diced clove of garlic along with a can of drained diced tomatoes (in this case, a DRAINED can of whole San Marzano tomatoes that I broke up with my hands and RE-drained so it wasn't a lot of excess liquid)

For WHATEVER reason, I had been someone leery about the tomato portion of this dish...but I'll tell you:  the second they hit the pan, my house went from smelling GOOD to "HOLY S&*&, THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD!!!!!"  For realJ

Next into the pot went your 2 'seasonings':

• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar (more or less, depends on how tangy you want the dish)
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce

Mix everything, including the beef, back into the pan for a few minutes...

Before adding....

Oh, are you ready for this???????

Those SUPER CRISPY FRENCH FRIES!!!!!!!!!!!

What man (or carnivorous lady) wouldn't love STEAK, ONIONS, PEPPERS AND FRENCH FRIES ALL IN ONE DISH?????????????

Let me tell ya:  This dinner KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was certainly one of our favorite dinners EVER.  Tender steak, smooth peppers & onions, tangy tomatoes and salty & CRISP fries???  Just go home and make this tonight.  That's all I can tell youJ

It will CERTAINLY NOT take another 3 years to have this dish again.  Absolutely AWESOME!!!  (and again..pretty darn easy for a 'steak dinner'!)

And to round down our Valentines day, I always have to make SOME sort of chocolaty dessert...this time in the form of one of Scott's FAVORITE treats:  A Tastycake CandyCake CAKE....

I've had this before and I have to say it was better (Aunt Joni's!)...I think I made the cake too thick and the peanut butter layer NOT thick enough.  Oh well...it was still enough chocolate bliss to end the dayJ

Now I can't wait till SCOTT'S turn for his "Valentines plans" for Saturday afternoon...it's always so fun!

Hope you guys had a great night!  I'm off cooking duty tonight as I'm going to celebrate "Valentines: Round 2" with some other special folksJ  Have a good MID WEEK Everyone!!