These Steaks Are Worth A Lot More Per Pound Than I Am
As our Longtime Readers might have suspected, under this brooding exterior of mine I am somewhat of a sentimental sap, you know the old crusty exterior/gooey interior bit. One of the ways this manifests itself is that, while I don’t give a hoot about the various Hallmark Holidays (Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Aardvark’s Day, whatever) that have been imposed upon us I do care about silly things like…the “anniversary” of my first date with my Bride. My Bride, of course, being a down-to-earth realist, patiently tolerates this sort of heart-pang saccharin (now FDA approved) drivel from me because she groks that by doing so she stands to score some better-then-standard grub and hootch. So it’s win-win.
We are blessed to have an extremely generous relation who sends us occasionally some steaks from Stock Yards. As y’all know I am a big eater fan of Costco’s meat, and by nature a cheap Scottish SOB, and I would never by these steaks for myself.
But I sure as hell will enjoy the dog-snot out of them if someone buys them for me.
I’m big that way.
So I took out these Prime NY Strips and just gave them a light dusting of Montreal seasoning, and I decided just to grill them on the kettle, indirect, with no added wood smoke and a quick sear to finish.
But what to wash them down with? As You, Dear Reader, are aware I lurves me some big brawny fruit bomb pushing cough syrup wines, so I decided to try another wine from one of my favorite vintners, Molly Dooker
For $23 this is a stupendous wine IF you like ’em thick and chewy and fruity…and high test. It is a blend of Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet Savignon.
and it clocks in at 16% alcohol.
Yeah, baby!
Now I figured I’d try a new recipe for spuds. First get some yukons a’boiling
Get some snippets from the conveniently-placed-on-the-kitchen-table rosemary tree
Dream on, baby. I love you dearly, but you ain’t getting any of these steaks
Anyhoo, when the spuds are just about ready schmear some olive oil on a foiled cookie sheet
place the cooked spuds on the greased sheet
and indulge your inner Phil Sheridan and smash ’em up
well, crush them gently, really; I used the ‘tater masher and smodged down once (not all the way flat, mind you), rotated it 90 degrees and squaged it again to keep the rough pattern. Then sprinkle on that fresh rosemary, a goodly amount of sea salt, some pepper, a little thyme, etc., and pop those babies in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes
damn this stuff is good
In the meantime I got the charcoal going for the grill; I decided not to use any wood for smoke since I wanted pure beefy gooditude. I also had some asparagus marinating in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lime and lemon juice which I threw on as the steaks were getting ready. Daughter doesn’t like asparagus, so she got her Green Thing Of Choice
after the spuds had cooked for 20 minutes I turned the oven off but left them in there. This allowed them to continue to crisp up and still be piping hot for when everything else was ready. I always have timing issues when I’m cooking things due to my hap-hazard approach; having a part of the meal that I can put on ‘cruise control’ like this really makes things easier.
Also reducing my stress level is finishing off a bottle of 16% alcohol wine.
the steaks sat for 5 minutes while the asparagus grilled up nicely, and the plates appeared thusly
The steaks were divine, the asparagus very yum, and the potatoes were really a treat: crisp, crunchy, salty and savory; a nice change from baked/mashed and definitely a method that will be used again.
Swill Food and Grog | Mr. Bingley | 
December 22, 2010 10:09 am
Subscribe
I stand 100% beside your daughter. I prefer canned cut green beans to any other vegetable on the earth or in it.
I saw some time-filler on the History Chanel last night. somebody was visiting a restaurant and the chef took high-quality steaks like yours, painted them with softened butter and then sprinkled on the seasonings. The butter made the flames jump up and when the fat burned off, a dark lovely char had developed.
Looks great!
GORGEOUS plate all around, Bingster!! And you’re right, Suzanne ~ canned green beans will get us through the Apocalypse.
I really like how those spuds came out. I think next time I’ll use Spring Potatoes so each person will get a couple of spuds.
You are an inspiration for the children, Bings.
If I turn up on your doorstep begging like Claude, you’ll know why. This is nectar for the gods.
That looks TERRIFIC!!!! Except for the asparagus, of course.
And my condolences to Claude. But I’m sure that he’ll get a double portion the next time Dad cooks.
All I can say is, “wow!”
I make those potatoes with fingerlings and sprinkle with garlic and chives. I call them Crashed Potatoes.
Do you smash them with T-Rex’s feet? That would be so cool!
You totally made me forget what I had for dinner tonight. *drool*
Can I invite myself to your house for dinner
Lovely dinner! And from the look on Claude’s face, I think he knows he’s S.O.L.
I can say this without fear of reservation or equivocation;I have never heard an Aardvark speak ill of you. Just what is the issue here? Is it healthy to carry these feelings into this yearly transition period of apparent non characterization?