Cooking For One Again

Hedonism...this meal had it.  But, I'll come back to that later.  Yesterday I dropped The Bride off at the airport, and will be alone for the bulk of the next three months.  She will come back at two points in time, but for now, I have to adjust my recipes so that I am cooking for just me, unless any of you would like to join me.  I have two guest chefs lines up for August, but right now it's June and I'm already getting lonely.  

Today is also Father's Day.  While I am not a father myself, I happen to have a kick-butt father who I know loves steak, so this meal was dedicated to him.  In honor of my father, I picked out the Sizzling T-Bone With Mustard Butter on page 103, even though I am fairly confident that my dad doesn't like mustard.

The Weber Book instructed me to first make the compound butter.  I microwaved the butter until it was soft, and then added the mustard and black pepper.

Your next instruction is to use a fork to blend together the ingredients.  I did the best that I could, but recalled reading in the Julia Child cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking that whenever you make a compound butter you need to make sure that you reach the "creamy" stage of the butter.  I find this painfully difficult to do with a fork, and gave up.  This would cost me a little later.

In reality, this is super easy, and making compound butters can really take your dining to the next level.   When done, place the compound butter in plastic wrap.

Then twist and roll it up into a "log" of deliciousness!  I would suggest doing this with various fruits to make compound butters for your breakfast bagels or English muffins.  You can also add various herbs for dinner occasions.  My favorite compound butter story comes from one of the guys in my golf league, where he went to a local restaurant that makes a Manhattan Butter for their steaks.  This butter apparently was compounded with bourbon and cherries, which sounds amazing to me.

The log was set in the fridge to firm up, so I went about making the paste for the T-Bone.

Here's a hint for you...use your measuring spoons to mix.  They're already dirty, so why not use them to stir and save yourself another dirty spoon or whisk?

 

 Believe it or not, there's a 1" thick T-bone steak inside that bag!

The T-Bone was set in the fridge for several hours.  When it came time to start dinner, I began assembling my side, the Artichokes with Lemon-Dill Mayonnaise on page 332.

Since I was making a compound butter, I figured that it would be a good idea to use a recipe that called for a compound mayonnaise as well.  Similar to the T-bone, you begin the recipe by making the topping.

I've shown you before prepared artichokes, but if you need refreshing (or if you're new to this blog) you can check it out here.  Here's my artichoke, trimmed and ready to go.

Using your steamer insert, set that baby in!

When complete, make sure to "shock" your artichoke in ice water.  This will keep the chlorophyll green in the cells; otherwise your artichoke will turn grey.  This is also true for green beans.

Curiously, the recipe instructed me to cover it and stick it in the fridge for at least half an hour.  I'm not exactly sure what this accomplishes, but I obliged.

I tried to time the two recipes on the grill so that the T-Bone would finish resting when the side was done on the grill.  Thus, the first thing to come off the grill was the T-Bone, and it looked rather nice!  I then retrieved my compound butter, and when I took it out of the plastic wrap was pilled and mealy (not pictured) instead of one log from which I could cut "discs."  As I previously mentioned, I didn't achieve the creamy stage, and while it tasted fine, aesthetically it was a little displeasing.

A few minutes later, the artichokes were done!

I plated, poured the wine, sat at my table, and fended off the various four animals that also live here.

Once again, in word, this meal was hedonistic.  Flavors from all over the spectrum flowed together, intermingled, interwove, and impressed.  I simply cannot describe how awesome this meal was, so I will simply show you what was left after the carnage was complete.