Monday's meal

When I got home Monday, I grabbed a bucket and picked up all the black walnuts that had fallen overnight. There are not a lot of them left on the tree, but enough that this preventative maintenance will be required until they are all down.

I changed clothes and started on a project I thought of over the weekend. It's almost time for our yearly order of meat to come in, and there is still a lot of meat left in the freezer. So, I took it out, put it in a laundry basket and sorted it out. Then I marked all the packages with a big '06 in black magic marker (the date is on each label, but not very noticeable). Then I packed my half into my refrigerator freezer (it took up about 1/3 of the space) and with some careful rearranging, got everything I took out back in. The other half (Jake and Carla's) I put in two Westborn bags and back in the chest freezer so they can grab them next time they are here. Other than a LOT of frozen fish (tilapia, cod, salmon, etc.) I've bought on sale but haven't yet used, the chest freezer is ready for the new batch.

What brought this all up was I grabbed a steak out of the chest freezer Sunday night to thaw for tonight's dinner. So, with that chore out of the way, I took out the steak, dusted it with Montreal Steak seasoning and let it sit out to warm to room temperature. Now, I know you haven't asked, but I'll tell you anyway: the reason that you let meat come to room temperature is that when it's cold and you throw it on the grille or in a hot pan, the cold creates steam which gives the meat a grey cast. So, if you want that nice golden-brown sear, it needs to be room temperature!

Next, I started the charcoal and prepared the potatoes. I took four medium-sized russet potatoes and cut them almost through every � inch (still practicing those knife skills, lol!). Then I slathered them with butter, making sure the butter got into the cracks and then seasoned them heavily with the house seasoning (there's something about the taste of garlic and potatoes I really like). I wrapped each up in tinfoil and, when the coals were ready, laid them directly on the coals, shut the lid and went and did other things for 45 minutes.

When the timer went off, I drizzled both sides of the steak with olive oil and cut two fresh stems of rosemary. This is a nice thick (maybe 1 inch) steak, so I put it on to sear for two minutes, then flipped it over and laid the rosemary on top. I grilled the second side for 6 minutes, removed the rosemary, then flipped it back and put the rosemary on that side. I let the first side cook 4 minutes more, then pulled it off, discarded the rosemary, covered the steak with tinfoil and let it rest. Then I pulled the potatoes out of the fire.

Oh, forgot to mention, while I was cooking, Robert yelled over to ask if I was making more ribs. I said not tonight. He said, "Man those were good. Why you always be grilling, anyway?" I said, "One, I like the taste and two, I'm making a mess out here, not in my kitchen." He laughed.

Anyway, I ate the steak and one of the potatoes (the other three went into the fridge for another time). I cut the potato the opposite way, opened it up a bit, added a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of fresh snipped chives. Most excellent!

I watched TV until 10:00 PM, and then went to bed.