Chicken Fried Gourmet

Cocoa Crusted Flat Iron Steak, french fry "onion rings",rosemary olive oil pudding with other stuff.....

This is what we had for Father's Day last weekend. I had the butcher at Kroger slice a Flat Iron steak thinly and then I combined it with Activa, rolled it up then marinated it with a mixture of cocoa, worchestire, garlic, olive oil and a few other things. I made french fry "onion rings" a rosemary olive oil pudding inspired by the Alinea cookbook and a reduced beef stock red wine jus. For an appetizer I made the Mango Soy Bonito dish from the Alinea cookbook as well. Since it calls for a piece of equipment that is obviously out of my range for purchasing - an Anti-Griddle- I improvised and used a sheet pan on top of a piece of dry ice. With the leftover dry ice I just threw it in the pool....cool...smoke :) The frozen mango puree is topped with soy sauce pudding and shaved/dried bonito ( I skipped the sesame oil). This was a really interesting flavor combination and one I would like to experiment with other flavors. For dessert we had fresh watermelon topped with tomato sorbet, reduced balsamic vinegar and a basil sweet syrup.

Rosemary grilled beef tenderloin with mushroom ravioli & popcorn sunchoke puree

Just playing around in the kitchen with some new flavors/techniques......

Guinness and Happy St Patrick's Day

I had this idea to make a dinner around a few Irish ingredients, okay really just potatoes and Guinness beer. I went to the store and picked up some oxtails (google it) and a 4 pack of Guinness Draught beer in a can.  I planned on making a ravioli filled with Guinness braised oxtails, a Guinness brown butter sauce and diced potatoes cooked in duck fat. Nice concept right? Well after cooking the oxtails in my slow cooker I realized that the weather outside was very "springy" and thus this dish seemed really heavy and more suited for colder weather. I will figure out something else for this Guinness braised beef but in the meantime I need to take care of the rest of the "ingredients" so they do not go to waste ;) My name is O'Boyle isn't it........

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steaks marinated in Duck Fat with Cheesy Grits and Grilled Scallions

This was supposed to be part of our recent anniversary dinner for my wife and I this past weekend. Ann ended up being sick the whole weekend and is just now starting to recover so while I had steak for dinner on Sunday she had chicken soup.

I had an idea for a steak preparation that I have not seen done before. I am not saying it has never been done before, if it has I have just not come across it.

When we buy steak we usually just buy a really thick Ribeye or New York Strip and cut it half. Not only does this save money but you also get a smaller portion so while I cannot say it is healthy, it is better for you than a whole steak. The trick is to find a really thick cut of steak with even marbling throughout, unless you really enjoy fat. Speaking of fat and healthy my idea for this steak was to coat it in Duck Fat.

What is duck fat ? Duck fat is the rendered fat, usually from a duck breast that is primarily used in making duck confit.

I seasoned the steak with salt and pepper and grilled till it was medium. I was going for medium rare but this one cooked a little fast. I threw some green onions on the grill to get a light char and start to caramelize the natural sugar in them.

I paired the steak with some Monterey Jack cheesy grits that I spread thinly across the plate and the grilled green onions/scallions.

Balsamic Fig marinated ribeye with corn tortilla puree

So the other day I was at the store and came across a thick piece of ribeye that was priced fairly well. Since the ribeye contains more fat than I should consume on a daily basis (yes I know I contradict myself with previous posts) I usually only buy one and cut it in half to split between Ann and I.

I have this Fig-Balsamic vinegar in the fridge and decided to use this to marinate the steak along with some red wine,the usual spices  and olive oil. It ended up marinating for about 4 days before we decided to grill it. The weather here in Louisiana is crazy,last Thursday it snowed , the weekend was nice and sunny with temps in the 70's, this morning was 40 and ended up with a high of 70. You can see why outdoor grilling can be sketchy.

Anyway I usually pair grilled steak with some sort of grits concoction, but not this time. I am not sure why I thought of it but I took some corn tortillas and tore them into small shapes and added them to a pot with a little bit of olive oil. I sauteed these for about 5 minutes then covered with chicken stock. I brought it to a boil then simmered for about 10-15 minutes. I pureed then strained this mixture and kept it at a simmer while the steaks were cooking.

When ready to serve all I did was add a touch of milk to loosen the puree and added salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

For the sauce all I did was add the leftover marinade and some red wine, brought it to a boil then reduced to a syrup like consistency.

For an additional side I made a simple zucchini soup flavored with garlic and jalapenos. I was not too impressed with it as it was too "grassy" for me but Ann loved it.

BTW, my wife pointed out the seemingly "risky' pictures" of the puree........