What's for Dinner?

[sour_grapes]

Pick A! Pick A!

Personally, I prefer a flat pan. You don't get the nice "grill" marks, but you get a crust over more of the surface of the steak. But, de gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum.

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm all about 'A' as well and prefer the flat pan.

BTW: one of the best accessories I got for my Weber Performer was a cast iron grate. Awesome grill marks from that bad boy!

 

[Steve_M]

After a very long and late night of work to replace some EOL equipment ( home at 2:30 this morning) dinner tonight was simple

Wine is Scaia Corvina 2013 paired well with what we picked up at Arthur Ave in the Bronx yesterday or molto bene

Steve

 

[Boatboy24]

After a very long and late night of work to replace some EOL equipment ( home at 2:30 this morning) dinner tonight was simple
View attachment 26131
Wine is Scaia Corvina 2013 paired well with what we picked up at Arthur Ave in the Bronx yesterday or molto bene

Steve

That just makes me feel all warm inside and makes stress melt away.

 

[ibglowin]

Porterhouse steak, sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and oven roasted fingerling potatoes

 

[sour_grapes]

Porterhouse steak, sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and oven roasted fingerling potatoes

It looks like you picked option "C." Correct? It could still be A or B, I suppose....

 

[JohnT]

Wine is Scaia Corvina 2013 paired well with what we picked up at Arthur Ave in the Bronx yesterday or molto bene
Steve

Steve,

I have many friends that go to Arthur Avenue for all of there old world needs about once every 2 months. They swear that you will never find better Italian groceries this side of the Atlantic.

I have talked about going out there, but never seemed to have the time.

 

[JohnT]

It was chilly on Saturday, which got me thinking... HMMM, chili!

(Chilly / Chili, get it?)

After some thought, I remembered that my cousin's wife not only has won medals in local chili cook offs, but she is also a chili judge. I called her up for some tips. Here is the result...


Pic 1: base ingredients.. My local grocery store sells packets of that they call "Meat Loaf Mix" which is simply equal portions of ground veal, beef, and pork. I got 2 of these plus 1/2 pound of 80/20 beef (just to make beef the dominant meat).

Pic 2: started off by browning the meat under high temp. I remove the fat as I go along so that I get real browning (if I left the fat in the pot, the meat would boil and not brown).

Pic 3: While the meat was browning, I diced up 1 onion, 1 red bell pepper, 2 poblano peppers, 2 Serrano peppers, and 4 cloves of garlic.

Pic 4: After meat is browned, I added in all my diced veggies. After the veggies have sweated, I added 1/2 bottle of red wine to de-glaze the pot (lots of nice, tasty brown bits were stuck to the bottom of the pot).

I then added a can of crushed tomatoes, a can of plumb tomatoes (that I mushed up in my hands), half a can of water, and equal portions of chili powder and paprika (about 4 tbsp each).

I then added 1 can of kidney beans (rinsed and drained) and then let the chili simmer for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, I added a dash of worcestershire sauce, a dash of balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp. of brown sugar, and another dose of chili powder.

I then let it slow-cook for another 3 hours.

Pic 5: Made a nice batch of sweet corn bread and served the chili with a nice lump of shredded cheddar cheese.

Very tasty!!! Nice glass of 2014 Chilean Cab

(chili / Chilean, get it?)

 

[ibglowin]

Actually Option "B". I bottled my 2015 LE Oregon Pinot Gris yesterday afternoon and by the time I got things all cleaned up it was dark and cold out. I do burners on high for about 3.5 min a side. Steaks turned out a nice medium to medium rare.

It looks like you picked option "C." Correct? It could still be A or B, I suppose....

 

[geek]

My bday dinner yesterday....oh man do I love king crab legs and salmon..!!!

 

[ibglowin]

Dang how many people were you feeding last night!

 

[Boatboy24]

My bday dinner yesterday....oh man do I love king crab legs and salmon..!!!

Happy Birthday Varis!!

 

[geek]

Only us, 5 with the mininos...
Thanks Jim.

 

[geek]

Some ribs, rice and veggies

 

[Steve_M]

Steve,

I have many friends that go to Arthur Avenue for all of there old world needs about once every 2 months. They swear that you will never find better Italian groceries this side of the Atlantic.

I have talked about going out there, but never seemed to have the time.

John,
You are not that far from the Bronx, you need to make that trip up!

Steve

 

[sour_grapes]

Well, a topsy-turvy day. SWMBO was working her tush off for the past weeks, and nearly 24/7 for the past week, with a colleague from another institution on a project that was due today. They were planning to turn it in this afternoon, all the paperwork was lined up from multiple stakeholders and institutions. This AM, my wife's colleague (after working on the project 'til about 5 am and catching just a few winks) was brought to her boss's office in the morning and told she was being terminated. End of project, end of job, end of story.
Yikes. We were in quite a shocked state. So, screw it, the colleague came over for dinner and we had a "screw it" (not our exact words) dinner. I made roasted potato slices, Brussels sprouts roasted with Parmesan cheeses, and ribeye steaks. I made a mushroom/shallot/red wine reduction/cream sauce for the steaks, which turned out very nicely. Lots of wine was harmed in the making of this meal (H3 Cabernet, Louis Martini Cabernet, my own CC Sterling Merlot). We just tucked her into the spare bedroom (although now I hear her blabbing on the phone to someone or other!).

 

[JohnT]

So sorry to hear about that. Just goes to show you that one should not confuse the company you work for as either friends or family. When in their best interest, a company will get rid of you regardless.


Any chance you could share that reduction sauce (how much wine, how much cream)?

 

[sour_grapes]

So sorry to hear about that. Just goes to show you that one should not confuse the company you work for as either friends or family. When in their best interest, a company will get rid of you regardless.

True dat!

Any chance you could share that reduction sauce (how much wine, how much cream)?

Well, I don't measure anything when I cook, so I will try to give some estimates.

I chopped one LARGE shallot and about 6 oz of Portabella mushrooms, and sauteed them with lots of butter and olive oil. Later, sauteed in 2 large cloves of garlic, minced. Seasoned this with dried thyme leaves, ground thyme, and marjoram. Left this off to the side.

I sauteed the steaks in a large cast-iron pan on high heat in butter (3.5 minutes one side, 3 minutes the other). Then poured about 1/4 cup brandy, and lit it to flambee. It was quite the spectacular fire -- a bit more than I bargained for, frankly. When the flames died, I put the steaks on a plate in the oven, poured about 1 cup of salted beef stock (made from "Better than Boullion") and 3/4 cup Merlot into that pan to deglaze. When this settled down a bit, I dumped all of this into the pan with the mushrooms/shallots. I then vacillated greatly on whether to add cream or not. In the end, I said "screw it, let's do it," and put about 1/2 cup heavy cream in the pan. All of this was now a bit too thin, so cranked up the heat to reduce for a few minutes or more. Meanwhile, the steaks continued to cook, so I wound up with medium steaks rather than medium rare as planned. (They were still fine -- lots of pink, but I wanted closer to rare.)

 

[JohnT]

Man, Now you got me craving a steak and it is only 9am!

Definitely gonna give this a try....


(Just flashed on what my man Rodney always said... Steak and Sex my favorite pair. I get them both the same way, very rare!)

 

[sour_grapes]

Man, Now you got me craving a steak and it is only 9am!

Definitely gonna give this a try....


(Just flashed on what my man Rodney always said... Steak and Sex my favorite pair. I get them both the same way, very rare!)

Ba-dump, dump. Ching!

It is based loosely on this recipe: New Basics Steak au Poivre, but without the "au poivre" part and adding the reduced wine. I do the "au poivre" part only on lesser cuts of meat.