So, I have never been a good cook. I am the kind of person who has to take precise measurements, and stand beside the food, watching it simmering, instead of going off to do something else.

But recently I have made a deal with my boyfriend, that each of us will cook twice a week and his housemate will cook once a week. So I have had to find recipes on my own to try and cook. And some of them have turned out really nicely.

I intend to list the recipes here, in part for my own sake, because I tend to forget them, and in case someone comes along who, like me, is just looking for a quick and easy recipe that they just cannot screw up.

The last one I tried, which ended up pretty well was a Portabello Mushroom Steak recipe, which I made with carrots and mashed potatoes. The recipe follows:

2 tenderized steaks
1 cup dry red wine
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup beef stock
1 teaspoon each of worchestershire, tomato and bbq sauces
1 teaspoon ground mustard
120g mushrooms

Though the original recipes had alternative ingredients in some of the cases, I adjusted them to suit my meagre budget, and though it might not have tasted quite as lovely as I am sure that original would have tasted, it was delicious none the less.

Brown the steaks on both sides over medium-high heat. Remove and keep warm.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add wine to the pan, stirring to loosen the browned bits. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Combine the flour and the stock and mix until smooth in water, then whisk into pan juices. Add worchestershire, tomato and bbq sauces and the mustard. Bring to the boil.
Return steaks to the skillet and add mushrooms. Cook in the sauce for about 2 minutes on each side or until meat reaches desired doneness.

I personally found the steaks to be fairly salty due in large part to the worchestershire and bbq sauces, and did not feel the need to add any salt. However, the recipe suggests adding salt and pepper as desired.

The mashed potatoes had my own slight twist, which I am sure that many people do. But my friend was fairly surprised to see me adding cream cheese to the mash. I find that it gives it a nice added flavour, particularly when it is flavoured cream cheese, such as chives, as it was in this case.