St. Patrick's dinner - on the GRILL!

I've never been one for changing up traditions, especially ones that preceed me. Take corned beef and cabbage for instance. From what I understand, this is not really a traditional Irish celebration meal. It was, in fact, popularized by the Americans.  So in honor of the American culture, we thought it would be a good idea to start our own St. Patty's Day dinner celebration. Now I am married to an Irishman who cannot stand corned beef or cabbage so  we altered the preparation a little. We thought, "let's GRILL a corned beef!" ... and we did. Here's how it started:  Corned beef is a beef brisket that has been salted and seasoned to preserve it. In fact the term “corned” comes from the very coarse salt used long ago in this process. In the Old English, corn referred to grain (American corn or maize was still unknown to Europe) about the size of the coarse salt used, hence, “corned” beef. The secret to cooking corned beef is to get that salt back out. This is typically done by boiling it with potatoes and other vegetables. Potatoes are particularly good at absorbing salt. Tradition dictates that cabbage is then boiled in the water you boiled the beef it. This flavors the cabbage. So I bought a 6 lb. corned beef and soaked it in warm water for a few hours, changing the water every hour or so, and then patted it dry and seasoned it with my own bbq spice rub. I am having issues with my husband in regards to a new grill (a totally long story) so since I was grilling this beef low and slow, and was so afraid of flare ups, I put it on a grill pan. We used an indirect grill method keeping the temp at 225 for about 3 hours.

In the mean time, Mary had some beautiful BBQ Baked Beans cooking in her crock pot. We transferred them into a preheated oven to thicken up while the beef cooked. She uses a combination of black beans and red beans with chiptole peppers and sauce for a nice smokey, spicy kick. There was a sweet hint of molasses and brown sugar that perfectly paired with the spice.

Earlier in the evening, instead of watery, boiled up cabbage, I made a nice and crispy fresh cole slaw.  Half head green, half head purple mixed with slivered carrots, red onion, poblano pepper and sweet red pepper. Add a nice handful of sugar & celery seed, 2 handfuls of dill, a little onion powder, salt and pepper to taste. Add equal parts of real mayonaise and sour cream, mix thoroughly. This tastes best if left in the fridge for an hour or so. The end result is gorgeous and DEE-LISH!

The drinks of choice were interesting. We did a few nice Black & Tans with Guiness and Harp, some

Smithwicks, and a couple odd ones we picked up along the way. You know, we love to sample!

                                  

We weren't supposed to opent the Reuben beer because it's a collectors item. I kinda wish we didn't because it was really bad. Oh well, whatever!

I know you've been asking "Where's the beef?" (sorry, I couldn't resist) and HERE IT IS:

This, my friends, is the way we'll be serving up St. Patty's day dinner at my house from now on. It wasn't quite a regular bbq'd beef brisket, it still had a lot of the corned beef attributes to it that set it apart and we really like that. Plus, Mary's family said the leftovers made fabulous corned beef hash topped with poached eggs for breakfast the next day. Damn, wish I'd have tried that!

Thanks for joining us. Not sure what we're cooking next so check back during the week. We'll have your seat at the bar and a nice chilled glass ready for you!

Shall we "dress for dinner"?

Welcome back! Hope you're hungry. I need to start by saying, that I had sweet beef dreams last night and a full, satisfied belly. Oh... what a  night! 5 1/2 sticks of butter and 27 cloves of garlic later, we feasted. My hands still have a faint smell of garlic and I have no problem with that at all! Occasion? Our local grocer had a sale - beef tenderloin for $4.99 per lb. That's all the reason you need for a dinner like this.
We were going to be eating a little late so we needed a good starter. Fresh raw oysters. Topping a Saltine cracker with a dab of spicy cocktail sauce, a swish of horseradish and a beautiful, meaty, fresh oyster, we assembled perfect little hors d'ourves. Hopefully Phill doesn't need stitches in his hand. That's all I'm going to say about that.

 There's a restaurant on Hilton Head Island that we love, called Steamers. One of the very best Creole sauced shrimp dishes EVER! The sauce is heaven. You get your rolls and you dip, slop, slurp whatever is left after the shrimp is gone until the bowl is wiped clean.  It's a "must have" every time we go. Needless to say, that put us on a mission - duplicate that shrimp! Alas, Mary has done it. She has made it a few times now and I do believe, the one last night was the best. You start by browning garlic in butter (lots and lots of butter!) and a bit of sugar for carmelizing. Add in your celery, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper of course, creole seasoning and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Pour this mixture over the shrimp and bake for a few minutes until the shrimp are pink. We also warmed some nice, crusty rolls for dipping. I must have been too busy licking my bowl, because I forgot to take pictures of the finished product! So here's an "in progress" shot:

About the time we finished off the shirmp, the rest of our dinner was coming together nicely. Mashed potatoes. Using Yukon Gold, she diced the potatoes and ran them under water to get rid of as much starch as possible. Sauteed them in an iron skillet with, of course, butter and lots of chopped, fresh garlic. Instead of using water, we finished cooking them with half and half. Beat 'em up with a good old hand mixer and you have the perfect accompaniment, creamy, fluffy, garlicky mashed potatoes.  Along with that, I steamed some broccoli florets and tossed them with some fresh chopped garlic as well.

And now I present, the star of the show, Mr. 5 Pound Beef Tenderloin:

Isn't that a thing of beauty? For a dollar a pound more, they would trim it up for you, but we just brought it home as is and did our own work. First, let's work on the sauce. Start with a pound of shallots, covered with olive oil and roasted in the oven, a few slices of crispy bacon, a cup of Porto, butter, garlic, fresh thyme and beef stock. Simmer until reduced, about an hour. Transfer into a blender, whip to desired consistency. Please note, that it WILL look like a chocolate milk shake at this time but trust me to say, it won't taste like it haha! Now, season the beef with salt, pepper and chopped fresh rosemary and brown all sides in the iron skillet with the bacon grease.  As soon as you get a nice sear, pop it into a warm 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

When it comes out, transfer meat to a platter and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. By now, the men are just hovering around the counter like a pack of hungry wolves and the aromas filling the house are making our tummies rumbly! A few minutes before serving, pour the blended sauce into the hot skillet and whisk into a nice gravy, serve on the side. As you see below, we don't bother with setting fancy tables or doing things formally. It's all about the food and drink. Oh, and we did have to drink the rest of the bottle of Porto. Why let such a thing go to waste right?

                              

Now we're not always dessert people, but on this night, I thought a nicely presented, little something sweet, would finish this dinner off perfectly. Enter my non baking skills. I love to cook, grill, fry, roast WHATEVER but when it comes to baking... not too good. So why not try making something like a Lemon Molten Cake with Simmered Blueberry Sauce. Yea, go right for the big stuff. I knew it was going to work out perfectly when, the recipe had called for 2 whole eggs and 1 additional yolk, I broke the 2nd egg into the bowl and it was double yolked. To me, that was a good omen. I don't have a stand mixer so I had to stand at the counter and beat the eggs, fresh lemon juice, vanilla, sugar and flour by hand for 14 minutes. Luckily, my son who just turned 4, is the overly helpful type. He was able to get beer for me from the fridge so I didn't have to stop mixing. That's a handy thing to have around. Meanwhile, I have blueberries, sugar and water simmering on the stove. The recipe called for using 12 brioche molds so you can invert them onto plates but all we had were a few ramekins. Being the creative geniuses that we are, we used silicone cupcake trays.

 

They only have to bake for 8 minutes but we had refrigerated the batter and didn't account for the chill. I'd say they baked for about 10 minutes, just until they felt a little spongy. They flipped out of the molds nicely, plated each one, topped with  a little blueberry sauce and a  touch of powdered sugar and lo and behold:

I made dessert!

A couple dozen beers and a few bottles of wine later, I'd say it was a great night. Although, we didn't get to do any outside cooking last night, I'm letting this one slide because DAMN it was good!
Come back next week when we'll be serving up GRILLED CORNED BEEF. Your table is waiting!
L&M

Open Season on the Que

Well hello! Thanks for coming. I'd like to introduce ourselves. I am Lisa and joining me is Mary, we'll be your servers throughout grill season. But this is March you say? And we live in the Chicagoland area you say? Yes, that's correct. Like many die hards, our grilling season is year round. It doesn't matter if it's cold, snowy, rainy or icy... we like our food cooked on FIRE! Our families agree as well. They really don't care what or how it is we get it to the table, as long as it's good and it's ALWAYS good! Wouldn't you love to join us? Let's start by talking about our latest adventure. This past Saturday, which was actually still February, we started with 4 deliciously marinated flank steaks. Covered in teriyaki, garlic, sesame oil, lime juice and pineapples, they sat overnight in the fridge bathing in the wonderous flavors. For sides, we made a black bean and corn salad and grilled veggies and potatoes. Mary also brought her famous "salsamole" for some dipping - or for those of us who used it on our fajita (SOOOOOO yummy!)

Just look at that beautiful beef!

Perfectly done with bean salad on the side.

Potatoes, poblanos, red bells & purple onion

So what could be better to wash it all down with? A nice cold beer!

Mary has the good taste in brews. I on the other hand will settle for ice cold....

Coors Light!

The boys hit the Margarita's with fresh fruit pretty hard, and there was wine and vodka in there somewhere too. Like I said, we like to induldge a tad bit.  So there's the first recorded Que of the year.

Oh by the way, we are also dorky food photogs so you'll be seeing random shots of our outings as well.  At least the ones that are picture worthy!

Come back and visity again, there's always room for more at our table...

L&M