Manliest Meal Yet?

Every Wednesday in the summer is my golf night.  I have been playing with a fine group of gentlemen for around ten years now, and we usually end up going out for burgers and beers afterwards.  This week, however, I invited them over to grill out after golf.  Figuring that I should capitalize on this unique opportunity, I wanted to grill something worthy of such a great group of guys, using a recipe that would normally be overkill for just one or two people.  With that in mind, I went down to Findlay Market and picked up a nice beef tenderloin for the Holiday Beef Tenderloin on page 138.

I was going to be limited on time in that we would be arriving at my house after golf, and it would already be evening.  I had to work during the day and could not have any time to do any prep work, so there was a lengthy step that I needed to take care of last night because I didn't think the gentlemen would have the patience to sit around and wait for the garlic to roast before even beginning the rest of the grilling.  So last night I knocked out this extra hour, and added the roasted garlic cloves to some olive oil to make a paste.  Later, I would use the immersion blender to make this into a smooth, spreadable paste.

Here it is, in all its glory.  It was even fun ordering it.  I walked up to the butcher who inquired how he could help me.  I replied that I desired one beef tenderloin, trimmed.  He smiled appreciatively, acknowledged the awesomeness, and went immediately to work.  In the picture below, you can see the garlic oil paste after its encounter with the immersion blender.

I rubbed the paste all over the tenderloin, and then spread on the red peppercorn and rosemary blend.  This was done in secrecy, in an attempt to surprise the gentlemen later.

The recipe said that you needed to cook the tenderloin to 135 degrees Fahrenheit for medium rare.  I started checking the temperature at the half-hour mark.  The first time I checked, it was only at 110.  So I let it cook another ten minutes, and it was at 130 at that point.  Giving it another five minutes allowed it to reach 135, so I pulled it off the grill.

After the appropriate oohing and ahhing from the gentlemen, I began slicing this beautiful piece of cow into six approximately equal sections.  Upon the first slice, I was immediately disappointed.  It was far beyond medium rare, and most definitely medium well.  I guess I need to check my temperature probe.  Well, there wasn't more I could do, as you can't exactly uncook meat, so we each plated for ourselves and sat down for dinner together.

Weber also provided us with some other features in the final meal assembly.   The black eyed peas were seen earlier this summer.  In fact, I recently had a conversation with a friend who mentioned that she found it rather entertaining that during my write-up of that recipe that I kept talking about this salad instead of the main dish that entry and how I mentioned that it would show up again.  See?  It did!  In another entry I learned that the filet cut tastes so good with a Bearnaise sauce, so I modified the one that Weber gave me earlier by substituting rosemary for the tarragon, as I had rosemary in the rub for the filet this evening.  I figured that it might help tie the meal together.  The potatoes are my own recipe from a long time ago, and are baked instead of grilled.

To aid in the final review, I had the gentlemen give me some notes:

(1) "Lovely."

(2) "Peppery, but it didn't dominate the dish."

(3) "I was pleased that the peppercorns were easily flicked off."

(4) "For the first half of the dish I thought that it was awesome, but by the second half I was kind of done with them."  (in reference to the peppercorns)

(5) "The rosemary Bearnaise was a success!"

Overall, I was happy.  Again, I thought that the meat was overdone, but either the gentlemen were being polite, or they just didn't mind.   There are a couple of other tenderloin recipes left in The Guide, and I can't wait for another opportunity to use them!

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner = Pork, Pork, Pork

I had a goal.  I wanted to make all three meals in day on the grill.  The Guide doesn't have too much in the way of breakfast items, but there were a couple of options.  So for the morning grilling session, I wanted to make the Chorizo Quesadillas on page 65.

The first thing to do is to cook down the scallions and mushrooms.  The mushrooms will, after some time, release their liquids.  Once the pan starts to become dry again, you can continue.

 Set the mushrooms and scallions aside for now, and cook the chorizo and peppers.

Once the sausage is browned, return the mushroom mixture and combine.

Lay down your first tortilla shells, and then lay in the filling, making sure to leave about a one-inch margin around the edge.

The cheese and cilantro goes on next.

Lay on the top tortilla shell, and at this point you should do yourself a favor.  You should practice flipping the quesadilla BEFORE you try cooking it!  I tried with just one spatula, and let's just say that the quesadilla needed some serious reassembling.  I finally figured out a two-spatula technique so that the quesadilla did not fall apart.  

They should come off the grill lightly browned, crispy on the outside, and gooey on the inside.

Cut them into nice wedges and enjoy!  The only thing I added was some sour cream as I ate them.

So how good were these?  Well, take another look at the picture above.  I ate all of it.  Need I say more?

A few hours later, when I was ready for lunch, it was time to prepare the second grilled meal of the day, the Maple-Glazed Pork Chops With Succotash Salad on page 187.

Succotash is a vegetable mixture of lima beans and corn, which are two things I'm not exactly fond of, but I went into it with an open mind.  The recipe actually calls for you to use frozen lima beans and corn, so you begin by cooking them.

While the vegetables are cooking, you can use the spare time to make your maple-dijon glaze.

What I found odd about this recipe was that there was no marinade time.  Pork chops can be a little plain-tasting, but all you do for this recipe is brush on the glaze and head off to the grill.

 While the pork chop was on the grill, I began to mix the salad before adding the dressing.

The dressing is simple and once added in, the salad has a nice sheen to it.

The pork chop was finished, and so I plated and had my lunch!

Overall, it was a little disappointing.  You know it was not all that impressive when the salad - made primarily of two ingredients that I'm not all amused by - was the best part.  The pork chop simply lacked flavor.  The glaze is nice, and does its best to impart flavor, but has too big of a task.  I ate about half of the pork chop, and actually had two helpings of the succotash.

Right after lunch, I had to start dinner.  This time there was a lengthy marinade time, so I had to make sure that it would be ready for when I was finally hungry in the evening.  Dinner was going to be the Adobo Pork Steaks With Peach Salsa on page 177.

 Bring together what you need for the marinade and then whisk away.

I used the Ziploc bag technique, and then went about my business for several hours.

I've never really had a fruit salsa, so I was intrigued to try this.  Peaches are in season right now, and I acquired some from a local farmer down at Findlay.  While The Forge was heating up, I chopped up the ingredients for the salsa.

The "steaks" came off the grill smelling absolutely fantastic.

Pork steaks and salsa...not too sure what I was going to think about that.  But, I plated and was sat down for my third grilled (pork) meal of the day!

This was, by far and large, the best meal of the day.  In fact, this steak had quite possibly the best flavor in a Weber recipe in quite some time.  The marinade made the pork steak super tender (it was almost falling off the bone before I placed it on the grill), and imparted the flavor all throughout the meat.  It was properly spicy, juicy, and perfectly seasoned.  As a bonus, this was dirt cheap.  I think I paid about $1.50 for the steak.  This would be a great way to entertain a group of people on the cheap.  To make a long story short, I will be making this again!  As for the salsa, I am definitely copying this recipe down for my own personal cookbook.  It is phenomenal, and I now know that I love fruit salsa.