Cooking~
I misread the recipe for the Outback molasses rolls, and thought they only needed 60 minutes to rise once. Not 60 minutes to rise twice. By the time I realized my mistake, it was almost 6, and I knew dinner was going to be incredibly late (apologies to Darling Husband, who is extremely patient with me...) I mixed the steak marinade in a gallon size zipper bag, tossed the steak inside, and put it in the fridge. We used Crown Royal for the whiskey. I'm not a fan of any whiskey, but that's what DH drinks, so it was on hand.
Next, we started the bread process. My kitchen tends to be a little chilly, so we proofed the yeast in the KitchenAid bowl (which I rinsed in hot water first) and then covered the bowl with foil to help keep things warm. While we mixed the dough I turned the oven on to it's lowest setting, and warmed the bowl we planned to rise it in. I was hoping using a warmed oven would cut down on the rising time. Per Red Star Yeast's Tips section on Rising Dough, we decided to turn off the oven after a few minutes. I think next time I make this bread, I will just leave it on all the way through. We also added a pan of water to help keep things moist. We let it rise for 60 minutes, and then pounded it down, and shaped it in to rolls, and let it rise another 60 minutes. 30 minutes in to the second rising, we pulled the marinating steak out of the fridge, because the recipe said to have it at room temperature before cooking.
The asparagus required very little prep work - simply wash, cut off the woody ends, and wrap in the prosciutto (which we did cut in half length wise, as the recipe recommended). Darling husband heated oil in two pans, and seared the steak in one, and the asparagus in the other. While he did that, I mixed together a quick honey butter, and did the prep work for tomorrow's crockpot dish, so all I would have to do is dump it in the crockpot in the morning.
Our review~
We overcooked the steak a bit, which was our fault. Chris thinks we had the pan on too high... The recipe calls for it to be grilled, and neither one of us felt like using the actual grill, so we did it in a pan. But no temperature or timing was really indicated. In terms of flavor, it was good, but not the best steak marinade we have made. I think I just don't like whiskey. Or maybe I don't like whiskey mixed with balsamic mustard sauce. I'm not sure. It was ok, but I probably won't make it again.
The bread was pretty good. It's not quite what Outback serves, and I'm not enough of a baker to know what to tweak to improve it. But in terms of bread being bread, it was tasty and complimented the rest of the meal well. We'll have plenty of leftovers (I actually took some to work this morning to have with soup for lunch). It is drier and more crumbly the second day, even though it was sealed in an airtight zippie bag overnight.
The butter was ok... I think Outback uses whipped butter, and I used softened stick butter. That may make a big difference. Many of the recipes call for condensed milk, but the one I used called for powdered sugar. I'll have to play around with this a bit more to really get a flavor and consistency I like.
The true hero of the dish was the asparagus. It was incredible, very fast, extremely easy, tender and flavorful. This one gets marked in my recipe book as a "favorite" and will become a regular at our table. I've never done asparagus in a pan before - we normally steam it (which I hate) or broil it on a cookie sheet (which can be pretty tasty!). This blew my mind.
Scoring~
Overall, I'd have to give the meal a 7/10. There was a lot of prep work in the bread, and the steak was just "meh". The flavors of the meal worked well together. Individually: Steak 5/10, Rolls 7/10, Butter 6/10, Asparagus 10/10
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