red potatoes

Skirt Steak- Grilled with Old School Steakhouse Flavor

25 Jun 2010
Sippity Sup's Grilled Skirt Steak

Skirt steak is a very flavorful cut of meat. You know it best in fajitas.

This is indeed true. But it makes a very nice steak as well. It’s got a bold beefy flavor. It is satisfyingly chewy. Which is not to say that it is tough. But be prepared to have it in your mouth a good long time. Which, with all that beefy flavor, is a very good thing.

Sometimes skirt steak is hard to find. Probably because Applebee’s buys it all up to satisfy our huge demand for– you guessed it! Fajitas.

But I hope you will put some effort into finding a nice skirt steak. When you do, keep in mind there is an inside, as well as an outside cut. They come from the plate, or lower rib of the animal. The outside portion is thicker and better suited to a steak, while the equally tasty inside cut is better for the aforementioned fajitas. Ask your butcher which he (or she) has and impress her (or him!) with your knowledge.

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Worcestershire Grilled Skirt Steak with Blue Cheese Potatoes

Worcestershire Grilled Skirt Steak with Blue Cheese Potatoes
By jgreghenry Published June 24, 2010
Prep time: 60
Yield:1 ()

Ingredients:

  • 4 clv garlic, peeled & minced
  • 4 T rosemary leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish
  • 0.5 c plus 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
  • 2 T extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
  • 0 freshly ground black pepper
  • 1.75 lb skirt steak
  • 3 oz blue cheese, crumbled
  • 1.5 lb small red potatoes
  • 0 coarse salt

Directions

Prepare and preheat the grill for high heat. Stir garlic, rosemary, Worcestershire sauce and oil in a non reactive dish; season with pepper. Place the steak in the dish, swirling to get the meat well coated. Marinate, turning once 1 hour, or up to overnight in the refrigerator. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a medium saucepan; add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain; let cool slightly. Slice potatoes in half, and brush lightly with oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill steak, turning once, to desired doneness, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Set aside. Meanwhile, grill potatoes, turning once, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Immediately sprinkle with cheese. Thinly slice steak against grain. Divide steak and potatoes among 4 plates. Serve, garnished with rosemary sprigs.

Notes:

serves 4 Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Meat & Potatoes: Pot Roast & The Manly Art of Survival

15 Feb 2010
pot roast with roasted root vegetables

It's February and half the country is snowed in. I heard there was snow in Florida last week! Well I live in Southern California and we are feeling the effects of some cold weather too. Not snow, of course, but chilly none-the-less.

Cold weather puts me in the mood for substantial dinners. Soup is good food and can be just the thing for a winter's chill. But snow and ice require real sustenance, the kind that sticks to the ribs, and gets our butts into endurance mode. I am talking survival of the fittest, manly meals.

Manly meals require animal sacrifice. I am sorry, that is just the way it is. We are the masters of the King Of The Hill mentality, and that mindset requires us to eat other creatures in order to show our dominance. I am not kidding. It requires that.

So I have a whole week of eating other creatures planned for you here. But not wimpy little creatures that my baby sister might eat. Little girly creatures like chicken, squab or fillet of sole. Nope that's not the kind of meat that I am talking about. In fact you won't see anything with feathers or gills here at all this week.

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Garlicky Pot Roast with Roasted Potatoes & Root Vegetables

pot roast serving
By jgreghenry Published February 12, 2010
Prep time: 180
Yield:1 ()

Ingredients:

  • 2 turnips or rutabages, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 lb red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 10 sprigs thyme
  • 12 clv garlic, peeled and halved or quartered lengthwise
  • 0 salt and pepper
  • 2 T vegetable oil
  • 0.5 c red wine vinegar
  • 3 c chicken stock, plus more if necessary
  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • 1 (3 to 3 1/2-pound) boneless beef chuck roast, or beef brisket
  • 12 pearl onions, peeled (optional)

Directions

Place the root vegetables in a shallow sided baking dish, large enough to hold them in nearly a single layer. Use about 1/2 of the time sprigs strewn on top. Drizzle it all with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Place in oven and roast for about 40-50 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and well browned. Remove them from the oven, discarding the thyme sprigs and set the vegetables aside in the baking dish. Using the tip of a sharp paring knife make evenly spaced slits into the top of the meat about 1 1/2-inches apart and just as deep. Insert pieces of garlic cloves into each hole as deeply as possible. Season the roast well on all sides with the salt and pepper Heat an enameled cast iron Dutch oven over high heat. Add the vegetable oil to nearly smoking. Add the meat to the pot with the garlic slit filled side facing up. Sear the on all sides until very well browned, about 4 to 6 minutes per side. Save the garlic slit filled side for last so it ends up face down. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, scraping up the browned bits at the bottom. Add about an inch of stock to the pan, letting it come to a boil. Toss in the remaining thyme sprigs , then lower the heat to a simmer. Cover the meat and cook until it is very tender, about 3 or 4 hours, depending on the cut. Turn the meat over two or three times during the entire cooking process. Checking occasionally to make sure there is always about 1-inch of liquid in the pot. About 20 minutes before the pot roast is fully cooked, add the roasted root vegetables to the pan and remove as many as the thyme sprigs as you can. Once completely tender, transfer just the meat to a deep dish serving platter, letting it rest. Add the butter to the pot with the vegetables stirring to get them well coated. Remove any linger thyme sprigs. Slice or pull meat apart into serving-sized pieces, then and pour the vegetables and all the juices over the meat and serve warm.

Notes:

serves 6 Source: Inspired by Emerile Lagasse

He Shows Signs of Neuronal Activity! Stuffed Pork Loin Chop with Chianti Sauce

14 Jan 2010
ingredients for pork loin stuffing

I finally did it. I broke the spell and actually cooked. I don't mean reheated, or cold poached or relied on default memories of pastas long loved. I mean sat down, thought it out and created a completely original recipe using all of my faculties.

I had my synapses working in both directions. And we all know that synapses are essential to neuronal function, and without neuronal function there would be no such thing as really good cooking. Because neurons are specialized cells that pass signals to individual target cells. And neurons use synapses as the means by which they pass along pertinent information.

Information such as: "Gosh these pork loin chops look fabulous". And because the neurons I was using to view those loin chops at the meat counter this morning were able to share that information with other neurons in my brain the inkling of a recipe was born.

And I want you to know that without synapses the information I gleened by staring at those beautifull loin chops would have just sat in the receiving neuron never actually meeting its destiny. And in this case the destiny of that information may have started with a mere visual cue, but that cue was able to travel back and forth between neurons, telling my body what actions to take to transform those fabulous pork loins into the luscious, delicious, (if I say so myself) recipe that required all my cognitive skills to bring to you today! I think I even spelled it all correctly...

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