Father's Day

Father's Day is the best day of the year. My beautiful 10 year old daughter who is an aspiring Taylor Swift woke me with a song she had written for me:

"You give me lots of love everyday. I just want to say I love you. But things are changing. I am older and taller and you can't catch up to say I love you too. But maybe I'll wait just a little while for you. I don't need any help to say I love you too much to forget you. So Daddy, Oh Daddy, on Father's Day, I just wanted to say I'm not too old."

She later caddied for me during my round of golf and did not complain when I took her shopping for summer clothes as a tip.

  A special day requires a special meal so I picked up a beautiful bone in rib-eye steak. This is what I like to call the Flintstone cut.  It was about 4" thick and beautifully marbled. For a perfect steak, rub some olive oil on both sides and season with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Let it sit out for about 45 minutes until it reaches room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to about 475 and put your cast iron skillet in the oven until the oven reaches the full temp.

Once your oven is hot, carefully remove the skillet and place it on the burner set at on high. Sear the steak on both sides for 1-2 minutes and place in the oven until you reach an internal temperature of 140 degrees. How long is really dependent on the piece of meat you choose so always consult your meat thermometer. Remove from the oven and set aside to rest.

Tonight I made Taylor's favorite french fries cooked in duck fat to go with the steak. I know it sounds fatty but it tastes sooo good! You can't live on just salads. So start with gold yukon potatoes and cut them into 1/2" "french fry" strips with the skin on. Soak them in ice cold water for about an hour and then rinse until the water runs clear. This will remove the starch from the potatoes.

Heat the duck fat to about 275 degrees and blanch the potatoes for about 6 minutes. Remove them to a plate with paper towels. (Cook in batches if necessary). Now heat your oil to 350 and put the fries back into the fat for 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove them again to a plate with fresh paper towels. Season liberally with Sea Salt and serve immediately.

You will need a sauce to go with your steak. I make a sauce in the cast iron skillet I used for the steak. You will need minced shallots, chicken stock, red wine and butter. On high heat, cook your minced shallots until soft. Add about 1/2 cup chicken stock and 1/2 cup of red wine, reduce down by about 1/3. Whisk in about 3 tblspns of butter and salt/pepper to taste. To serve this very thick steak, I like to carve 1" pieces along the bone line and then line them up on the plate. Dribble your sauce over the steak and if you are feeling fancy you can put some along the side as well. Arrange the fries on the plate and serve with a nice cold salad on the side.

Tonight I served this meal with an Italian Barolo. I like a big wine with my steaks and sometimes Cabernet is just not enough.

Pizza Revisited

Update 6/11/11:

Practice in Cooking Potentially Makes Perfect:

I have been working on rolling up the ends of the Pizza to create a nice dough. Once you put the toppings on and brush the edges with olive oil, allow the pizza to rest for about 5-10 minutes before putting it in the oven. The fresh dough will continue to rise and the crust will continue to expand.

You can see the difference. The crust was nice and thick like you get in New York. Now I just have to figure out the recipe for sauce from one of those New York Pizzerias!




Here is a link to my first post on Pizza where you can find my recipe for homemade pizza from scratch:

http://tallcookingtales.blogspot.com/2011/05/pizza.html

Dinner

It's Thursday and there is nothing in the Fridge again. I really have to stop doing this. Taylor is looking at me like I have the answers. I don't.

I remembered that I am the same guy who writes a Food Blog so I cannot be a sell-out and call Dominoes.

I am thinking I could butterfly the Cornish Game Hens sitting at the bottom of the Fridge. Perhaps cook them in some kind of sage and butter sauce. I wish I had some Bacon. That would bring it all together. The problem is that I had a taste for a BLT last weekend.

Maybe potatoes tossed in olive oil and rosemary. I found some brocoli. That will help.

Taylor appears in the kitchen doorway. She stares at me with that particular pre-teen disdain that is both irritating and cute.  She reminds me that she is hungry then grabs her DSI and storms off.

The Cornish Game Hen is a small bird that perfectly serves one. The recipes and variations are legion. In light of circumstances, I knew that I would need to do something very simple and quick. You may remember when I cooked a chicken by butterflying it and roasting it in the oven. I decided to do something similar with these two birds.


I started by removing the backbone from each bird. You do this by flipping the hen over and cutting along both sides of the backbone. Remove it and save for your chicken stock. Lay your birds flat on a plate and put them back into the refrigerator uncovered for about thirty minutes. (This will make the skin super crunchy when you cook it).

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.  In a pan set on medium to medium-high, heat 3/4 stick of butter and about a 1/4 cup of chopped fresh sage until melted. (Use 2 tblspns dry Sage if you have no fresh). Sprinkle olive oil over the skin of your hen and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Now brown the hens skin down for about 10 minutes. Once nice and brown put them in the oven for about 30 minutes. Baste your hens with the butter sauce before you pop them in the oven.

At Taylor's request, I made mashed potatoes and blanched brocoli dressed with fresh lemon juice. I spooned a bit of the butter sauce onto the hens and potatoes before serving.

I promise you that this very simple recipe will absolutely blow your mind. The skin was crispy and the sage/butter combination gave it a rich and satisfying flavor. For a quick afterthought, it turned out to be a pretty special meal. Definitely an awesome date-night meal.

I could see a really nice Pinot working perfectly with this meal. Unfortunately, I am in a "cleansing" phase right now so no drinks for me with dinner.