Steak on the Barbie + Mysterious Shadows

I had not had a steak in a long time. Last night just seemed like the right night. A little nip in the air, a glass of red wine. Let's fire up the grill.

I had this steak waiting for such a day, I'd taken it out of the freezer a day or so ago, and out of the fridge an hour before prepping. It is huge and will serve 2.

A little salt and pepper, and get the cast iron pan on fire. Start the grill as well.

It fills the pan!

Two minutes a side.

Add a pat of butter, and into the grill, pan and all until internal temp of 125.

While the steak was finishing in the covered grill, I was surprised to see the evidence of a thought to be extinct creature, the Backyardasaurus.  It appears mates were moving through the neighborhood. While they look like herbivores, perhaps they were drawn by the smell of the cooking steak?

With the steak off the grill and resting, a quick sauté of spinach and Korean greens, with a little olive oil and garlic.

Time to carve and serve! It looks charred but it is just a nice crust

Delicious!


I am getting found of the pan to grill technique. It works well for me.

Eat Well and Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Grilled Baby Octopus

After a shopping spree to Super H Mart - (which it turns out has been there for years, I've just been uninformed) I have some frozen baby octopus that I want to make in two styles- Basque and Greek.

Ingredients
baby octopus -  I had 16

For poaching liquid
4 cups water
1.5 cups white wine
.25 cups lemon juice.

Marinade
3/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic
3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
splash of lemon juice

Greek style
Olive oil and lemon

Basque style
Boiled new potatoes - sliced into rounds
Sweet paprika
olive oil.



Thaw, rinse and drain octopus.

Add poaching liquids in a pot, add octopuses and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 45 minutes-hour while poaching, combine marinade ingredients in big seal top bag.

Drain and cool octopus, add to marinade in bag.

Put in refrigerator for at least 4 hours, overnight works too.

Prepare charcoal grill (you can use gas but it won't have the same flavor)

Drain and place octopuses in grilling basket.

Grill over high heat for minutes until crispy and there is some char on them.

Remove from heat and basket.

To serve

Greek style
Halve octopus
Drizzle with  olive oil and lemon juice.

Basque Style
Arrange sliced potatoes on plate
Rough chop the octopus, put on potatoes sprinkle with sweet paprika, drizzle with olive oil.

They both were good. The Basque style is  a little darker in flavor as would be expected from the smoked paprika. The Greek style was a little brighter flavor; perfect for a summer day.

Personally, I preferred the Basque style. Damn fine!

Until next time Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener