Steak, Blue Cheese and Horseradish Cream Bites with Caramelized Onions
Monday, October 3, 2011 at 10:00AMWho doesn’t love steak, blue cheese and horseradish? It’s a fantastic combination, almost like they were meant to be together. There’s only one thing that could make them better.
Caramelized onions. Well, really, caramelized onions can make almost anything better, can’t they? They develop such a delectable sweetness. Once made, it’s hard for me to stay out of them. They’re ridiculously simple to make, too. All you need is a little patience. Can you spare thirty minutes for some onions that will turn any dish from fantastic to fabulous? Sure you can! Caramelized onions can even turn simple cheese and crackers into a snack that will have any food lover begging for more. Don’t forget to try your onions in a sandwich!
This month’s Kitchen Play focuses on storage onions. Now, I must confess--before this assignment, I didn’t even know there was a difference in onion types! I mean, different varieties, sure, but some that are good for storage as opposed to best eaten sooner than later? I had never thought of it that way.
Storage onions are lower in moisture, with thicker skins, making them perfect for braising, roasting, caramelizing, etc. Spring onions have thinner skins and a higher moisture content, making them more suitable for raw preparations. To be clear, we are talking about red, white and yellow onions, not green onions or scallions. Check out the National Onion Association for more information!
What is Kitchen Play? Kitchen Play is dedicated to connecting bloggers with PR professionals through different “assignments.” These assignments vary throughout the year, and highlight different products and seasons. If you’re interested, contact Kitchen Play today!
Read through to see how you can win one of six $100 prizes!
My assignment for use of the storage onions is appetizers or soup. I chose an appetizer using some of my favorite flavors. The components in this recipe all come together to make a bite sized appetizer that even the heartiest of meat eaters will approve of. Speaking of components, don’t be fooled by the wordy recipe. You’re caramelizing onions, which is non-thinking activity--you just need to stir them occasionally. The sauce takes two minutes, if that, to mix up. Cook the steak in under 8 minutes, then bake up the puff pastry squares. These bites will impress at your next get together, for sure!
Steak, Blue Cheese and Horseradish Cream Bites with Caramelized Onions
Makes 24 squares
Caramelized onions:
3 small to medium-ish yellow onions, peeled, cut in half, and thinly sliced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Horseradish Sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp horseradish (you can find it in the grocery store, usually near the mustards)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, thawed for 20 minutes before you work with it
1 petite sirloin (approx. 3/4 lb.), or the cut of your choice, at room temperature
Asiago, parmesan, provolone, fontina, mozzarella shredded cheese blend
crumbled blue cheese
fresh snipped chives
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Start by caramelizing the onions. In a large skillet set over medium low heat, add the butter and oil. Let it get nice and hot, but not burning, and add the onions. Sprinkle with a couple pinches of the salt, and add some pepper. Stir every few minutes. You should just hear a little sizzling action in the pan, but not too much.
Continue to do this for about 30 minutes. You should end up with about 1 cup of caramelized onions. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
While the onions are caramelizing, mix the sour cream, horseradish, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Cover and set in the fridge. A note about the horseradish--I saw some premade horseradish sauce in the store, and it's got HFCS syrup in it. No one needs that, so avoid it if you can.
Next, prep your steak. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. I used my small cast iron skillet, but use your favorite pan. Get it nice and hot, then add some oil, just to coat the bottom. Next let the oil get hot-this is very important for good searing.
This video from Gordon Ramsay pretty much covers the best way to cook steak in the house. My steak was about 1 1/2 inches thick, and I gave it 3 1/2 minutes on one side, then 2 1/2 minutes on the second. The butter basting adds such a nice flavor, so give it a try!
Set the steak aside to rest and cool.
Take the puff pastry sheet and, on a lightly floured surface, roll it out into a rectangle. Even the edges up with a knife or pizza cutter, and cut into as even squares/rectangles as you can. I used a very sharp knife and a clean ruler, and cut 24 squares.
Transfer the squares to a parchment lined baking sheet, and prick them with a fork a few times. Next, sprinkle some of the shredded cheese blend over each one. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and with a spoon, make an indentation in the middle of each square. Set pan aside.
Assembly:
Slice the steak into very thin strips, slicing across the grain. Take the strips, and slice each one in half, lengthwise, to make even thinner strips. Take the horseradish sauce out of the fridge, and spoon it into a small zip top bag. Seal the bag and snip off a very small tip on the corner. Set aside.
Divide the steak between the puff pastry squares. Next, using a fork, add some caramelized onions to each one. A nice dollop, but not too much-you don't want too much moisture on the squares. Top each with some crumbled blue cheese, and return to the oven, and bake for about 5 minutes, till the cheese is melted.
Remove from oven and using a small spatula (I use an offset spatula for small jobs like this.), remove each square to a cooling rack. Transfer the cooling rack to the baking sheet that you just cooked them on. Let the squares cool to almost room temp, this way the cream won't melt and slide off when you add it.
Pipe some horseradish sauce on top of each square, and top with the snipped chives.
- If you’re not into bite sized foods, or making individual bite foods makes you feel tired just thinking about it, consider taking the flavors of this recipe to a sandwich or flatbread pizza-type deal. You won’t regret it!
Be sure to check out Kitchen Play and sign up for fun food assignments! Also, please head on over to The National Onion Association for delicious ideas and recipes.
You can play along with Kitchen Play and WIN!
The National Onion Association is also sponsoring a wonderful giveaway at Kitchen PLAY. Simply recreate any one recipe from this month’s Progressive Party, post about the experience on your blog and provide a link to your post on Kitchen PLAY to enter. All qualifying bloggers in each course will be entered to win $100 (6 prizes total). The deadline is October 31, 2011. Please review the complete contest rules before entering. Good luck!
Reader Comments (19)
I could make an entire meal out of these steak bites, Elle. They have everything I want: savory steak, salty cheese, sweet caramelized onions and cool horseradish cream, all on that delicious puff pastry base. Heaven! Thanks for an amazing dish.
Best,
Casey
Kitchen PLAY
These look fantastic...and I agree with Casey that I could make a meal out of them!
Oh those looks so wonderful & full of flavors I love.
Amazing - one of my favorite combinations of all time. Bet it would all go equally well with chicken, too!
These are perfect little bites of heaven! So incredibly gorgeous!
Wow. We were on similar wavelengths for our dishes. I ended up doing caramelized onions and puff pastry too. The steak and blue cheese sounds amazing.
Looking at this dish makes me so hungry. I've actually been hearing a lot on how good caramelized onions are but I never had the chance to really get the ingredients. Thanks for sharing putting in a list. :)
heaven!... that is perfection. and probably the first thought (word) in everyone's mind after seeing and reading this post.
Oh, very cool about Kitchen Play! Thanks for letting me know! And oooh I love adding caramelized onions to almost anything; they really do add a fabulous flavor. Now I love steak with blue cheese and love it with horseradish, but I've never put them all together! These look so amazingly delicious that now I do have to try! Fab recipe, Elle... Helle yes ;-)
I'm making these this weekend. I have everything but the cheese. They'd go really nice alongside a spinach salad; however, as I'm thinking of them as more of a game-day pickie, I might make them to go on a plate with buffalo chicken chunks and some dipping veg. Really genius idea, Elle.
wow...absolutely flavorful n delicious..
first time here..love your space..awesome posts with
nice presentation..
Am your happy follower now..:)
do stop by mine sometime..
Tasty Appetite
Oh yum, you had me at caramelized onions :) I agree, they just make everything better. These are such cute little bites - love them!
love caramalized onions! these look absolutely delicious elle :)
These look amazing, but being a non horseradish fan was wondering what you might suggest for a substitution...I was thinking maybe some ranch??
What about just the plain sour cream with a nice twist of pepper? Or mix some dijon mustard through the sour cream? That might be tasty and it would tone down the bite of the mustard.
can you imagine me with a plate of these?
oh please.
not pretty.
Hi Elle, Wanted to drop by and see what have you been up to this season and you never disappoint. These bites are perfect and are a feast to the eyes.
These look amazing, Elle! I want to make these ASAP! Thank you. :)
I just did this delicious appetizer and posted it as my entry for the October Kitchen Play Progressive Party. Oh my goodness, what a delicious dish...we had it for dinner, and lunch, and dinner again! And I substituted crisp wonton wrappers for the puff pastry and it was so goooood! Thanks for sharing the recipe!