Every week, Executive Food Editor Keith Dresser pairs each main dish with a side to give you a complete, satisfying dinner without the guesswork. Look for the game plan section to learn tips on how to streamline your kitchen work so dinner comes together quicker.
Dinner This Week
Dinner This Week: Speedy Steak Tips
This week’s menus include Greek-Style Shrimp, Steak Tips, and Deviled Pork Chops for dinner in an hour or less.
By Published Mar. 8, 2019.
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Dinner 1: Greek-Style Shrimp and Sautéed Garlic-Lemon Spinach
Game Plan: Prep the ingredients for the spinach before starting to cook the shrimp. While the shrimp simmers in the covered skillet (step 3), sauté the spinach.
Greek-Style Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta starts by seasoning large shrimp with garlic, lemon zest, ouzo, and salt. Next, we create a sauce by sautéing onion, garlic, and bell peppers and rounding out the aromatics with dry white wine and more ouzo. Gently simmering the shrimp and sauce together allows for an exchange of flavors. Finally, we call for sprinkling a generous amount of feta on top: Some will melt into the sauce and the rest will remain as a flavorful presence. For our Sautéed Garlic-Lemon Spinach, we prefer the sweet flavor and hearty texture of flat-leaf spinach. After the spinach is cooked, we use tongs to squeeze it in a colander over the sink to get rid of its excess moisture. Once it is dry, we season it with a squeeze of lemon juice and some grated lemon zest, as well as a pinch of red pepper flakes for gentle heat.
Printable Shopping Lists: Greek-Style Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta and Sautéed Garlic-Lemon Spinach.
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Dinner 2: Steak Tips with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes with Scallions
Game Plan: Prep and marinate the steak tips and soak the dried porcini mushrooms (steps 1 and 2). While the steak sits, prep all of the remaining ingredients. Next, start simmering the potatoes and cook the steak tips through step 4. Finish the steak tips (step 5) once the potatoes are mashed.
Our one-pan Steak Tips with Mushroom-Onion Gravy calls for relatively inexpensive sirloin tips, which have lots of marbling for flavor and tenderness. We combine dried porcini mushrooms with deeply browned onions and white mushrooms for a rich sauce that we finish with sprinkles of minced garlic and woodsy thyme. Mashed Potatoes with Scallions and Horseradish start with rich, satisfying mashed potatoes made with just the right amounts of butter and half-and-half. We then jazz things up by adding two types of horseradish (fresh and prepared), along with fresh-tasting scallion greens.
Printable Shopping Lists: Steak Tips with Mushroom-Onion Gravy and Mashed Potatoes with Scallions and Horseradish
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Dinner 3: Deviled Pork Chops and Pan-Roasted Asparagus
Game Plan: Prep and roast the pork chops. While the chops are in the oven, prep and complete step 1 for the asparagus. Pan-roast the asparagus while the chops rest.
Our Deviled Pork Chops are slow-roasted in a low oven in order to keep the lean meat as juicy as possible. We “devil” the chops by painting them with a bold, balanced mix of spicy, sharp Dijon mustard combined with dry mustard (for an extra jolt of heat), minced garlic, and cayenne and black peppers. For textural contrast and visual appeal, we coat the tops of the chops with crispy toasted panko bread crumbs. Pan-Roasted Asparagus delivers crisp, evenly browned spears without the fuss of having to rotate each spear individually. The secret is to add just a little butter to the skillet. As the butter melts, it creates enough to steam to cook the asparagus to a perfect crisp-tender texture. Meanwhile, the butter browns, lending a nutty, roasted flavor to the spears.
Printable Shopping Lists: Deviled Pork Chops and Pan-Roasted Asparagus
To view more quick weeknight dinner ideas, check out the rest of the Dinner This Week series.
