Are you looking to elevate your next backyard BBQ steak to that steakhouse quality steak? A quick and easy way to finish that steak off and bring it to the next level is by simply topping it with a little homemade compound butter right at the end.
What is compound butter you ask? Simply put it is  a mixture of butter and other ingredients. These other ingredients are whipped into the butter, reformed in plastic wrap, chilled, and then melted onto meats (steak in this case) or into various sauces. It is relatively simple to make and infinite combinations of flavours can be added to the butter to compliment whatever meat you are serving.

Since I was making steak, I decided to infuse flavours that would complement steak into my compound butter such as rosemary, garlic and shallots. Here is what you will need:
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of salted butter (1 stick) room temperature 
• ​2 TBSP minced garlic 
• 2 TBSP finely chopped rosemary
• 2 TBSP diced shallot
• 1 TBSP white wine vinegar

Directions:
Place room temperature butter in a small mixing bowl. Mix all ingredients thoroughly into the butter.

     Years of watching Hell's Kitchen had finally influenced me to give Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington a try. After a little researching online I came across this recipe from an apparent insider who worked on the set of Hell's Kitchen and reviled how this infamous dish is made (www.popsugar.com/food/Gordon-Ramsay-Beef-Wellington-Recipe-486092). What better time to give this recipe a go than on Valentines Day right? Why not pair it with Lobster Risotto and Beef Carpaccio? What a great Valentines Day kitchen challenge sure to leave your significant other impressed. Here is what you will need to make the Beef Wellington portion of this meal happen.

     Jay Eatz was lucky to be invited to instruct this special edition of "Casserole Cooking Class" with the London Home Economics Association.  First of all a big thank you to Maja and her team for putting together such a fun evening.  It was great to network with LHEA and SHEA (Student Human Ecology Association) members.  I always enjoy getting together with future PHEc's.  We were also lucky to have Lisa Mardlin Vandewalle from Grain Farmers of Ontario come and present to us a little about what her organization is up to.  I never new Ontario had 28,000 grain farmers, that's something to be #AgProud of.

      As promised here is the recipes for the four casseroles that we (and when I say we I mean YOU) made. 

Macaroni Pie

     I made a batch of fresh Calabrese pasta sauce (here is the recipe: www.jayeatz.com/blog/so-this-mangiacake-decided-to-make-pasta-sauce-and-meatballs) last week and to my surprise it had quit the yield.  I got tired of pasta fairly quickly and had to come up with some ways to use it up and chicken parmesan seemed like a great option because it is easy and delicious.   

     Have you ever Googled a recipe for traditional scalloped potatoes?  All this talk of making a roux, gradually adding milk to flour and butter, whisking constantly for 8 minutes?  Jay Eatz says forget about it, scalloped potatoes don't have to be that hard.  Don't get me wrong, the traditional way is far from the wrong way but there is a faster and easier way.  This recipe should yield 4 to 6 servings and fill a 2 quart casserole dish.

     You have probably seen corned beef brisket at the grocery store hanging out with the hams in the meat cooler.  You probably also walked right on by the brisket too, unaware of how delicious it taste and how easy it is to make.  So easy to make that Jay Eatz almost guarantees you can't screw this one up. 

     One of the great takeaway's from my days at the banquet hall is making roast potatoes quickly for 400 people.  Thank you Chef Marylyn for teaching me the ins and outs of the potato.  I came up with my own take on what Chef Marylyn taught me, I am calling these:
Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients:

• Potatoes (The mini potatoes are the easiest to use but large ones will work fine, you want approximately one large potato per person.  If you are using the mini potatoes I would guess approximately 4 to 5 potatoes per person.)
• Oil (I used Wicked Gourmet's Roasted Garlic Oil, if using olive oil use virgin and not extra virgin to avoid reaching the olive oils smoking point)
  
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• Rosemary

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash potatoes.  Cut mini potatoes in half (if using large potatoes, cut potatoes approximately into 1 inch cubes.  Place cut potatoes in a container that has a lid.

     During my last BBQ Spices and Rubs cooking class one of my students asked about doing baked potatoes on the BBQ.  We talked about twice baked mascarpone cheese baked potatoes which are amazing but not something you would throw on the grill every night.  What about something way easier and less expensive?  My easy BBQ baked potatoes elevate a simple baked potato to another level with few ingredients and even fewer minutes of prep time.
Ingredients:

• 1 Potato per person (I used red potatoes)
• 1 Onion
• 1/2 Clove of garlic per potato
• Stick of butter 
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Rinse and wash the potatoes and cut off any sprouts or bad spots.  Using a pairing knife, cut into the potato on a slight angle about half way through starting close to one end of the potato.  Now make another slice adjacent to the previous slice creating a small wedge in the potato being careful not to slice all the way through the potato.

     Back at the end of April I was off to the grocery store to make Michelle Kay's "Easy Bacon Egg Cups".  http://domesticexecutiveonline.com/2014/09/15-fantastic-recipes-that-make-breakfast-for-dinner-a-winner/I had the idea of turning these cups into a variation of eggs Benedict.  Salmon steaks were on sale and I got side tracked and made Hollandaise Salmon Steaks instead.  Many months have since passed, but finally I got around to making my variation of this dish.  I should have got on this one sooner but late is better than never.

     I had the pleasure of feasting on Beef Carpaccio multiple times while in Mexico as the Canadian Beef Blogger Ambassador.  I have to admit that I have become somewhat of an addict and have been jonesing a fix of the good stuff ever since.

     I love mussels and I love Carib Lager, so why not put the two together?  The results, some of the best mussels I have ever had.  They were also quick and easy to make.  Here is how you too can make this harmonious meeting of ingredients happen.

     Welcome to Jazz your veggies class.  I hope everyone finds the recipe summary from last weeks class as the website has changed.  As mentioned last Thursday, www.jayeatz.com is the new site going forward.  All previous class summaries will still be available and if you visit the old site it will redirect you to the new one as well.  I hope everyone enjoyed last weeks class, here are the dishes we covered.

Glazed Carrots:

     Welcome to week 4, the final week of casserole cooking class.  This week we returned to "easy casseroles".  Hopefully these time savers become some of your favourites.  Hopefully everyone enjoyed our 4 weeks together and I look forward to seeing some of you next week for "Jazz your Veggies" class.  Although I would like to take the class's advice and play Jazz music while we make veggies I am not sure if the others in the class will find that as funny as we did.
     We started this weeks class with a request from one of our absent class-mates for pie.  Not exactly casserole but the group consensus was: no objections.    

     With our quick and tasty sidetrack we returned to the topic at hand.  Our first casserole was Macaroni Pie.  This dish is one of my Caribbean favourites and is usually enjoyed cold although we enjoyed it warm.

     Welcome to week 3 of casserole cooking.  This week was the vegetarian casserole week as requested by class.  Although none of us are current vegetarians (1 former or recovering vegetarian lol) we now all have 4 recipes under our belts for the next time we celebrate meat-less Monday or are entertaining a vegetarian for dinner.  One of the 4 dishes is even perfect if one finds themselves with a vegan coming over for dinner.  Each dish could stand as a meal by itself but all would be a great side dish to a larger meal.
Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole: