Took the new neighbors out on the boat Saturday. The original plan was to do a quick steak dinner when we got back to the house. By the time we got back all of us were pretty well whipped from the heat. It was wicked hot. Neighbors just headed home and Tracy and I headed for the pool. After a quick discussion before they left we decided to do dinner Sunday (yesterday) instead of Saturday so we could have a bit more time to work out a decent meal and be able to enjoy it. Looked through the freezer and decided to do a sirloin roast on the Santa Maria. Since I had more time to work with I figured I'd make make a little nicer meal, but still kinda basic. Turned out to be an epic meal when all was said and done.
The roast
A nice dose of my beef rub
Cut up some taters, boiled them, mixed with butter, minced garlic, salt, and pepper then into a large CI skillet
Drizzle with beef gravy
Top with cheddar cheese and set off to the side
Came up with a crazy idea for appetizers. Took about 6 oz. cream cheese then mixed in some finely chopped scallions, dill, kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Looks kinda ugly but it was really tasty
I'd sliced a nice batch of dried beef that morning so got out a pack of that. Put the cream cheese mixture on the slices of dried beef and roll up
After rolling them up, place on a fresh celery stalk. Here's the appetizer plate. I ran out of room on the platter so the last 4 were without celery. These were amazingly good!!!
Decided to make some sliced Portabellas in a port wine reduction.
Folks relaxing in the pool while I'm slaving away
I did get some pool time, I just want everybody to feel sorry for me
Y'all know what this is!!
While the fire is getting going I put together the Caparese salads with fresh basil Tracy just picked from her herb garden
Roast going on the grill
About 20 minutes in it's time for a flip. At this point I check the temp at the grate. It's running 785 degrees. Exactly what I want...super hot for a nice sear
Skillet with the taters on the grill
Roast at 122 IT. Bring it in the house and tent it to finish. Time to get everything else ready to go. With the high residual heat I'm guessing it'll finish out at about 130 to 132
Made the balsamic reduction for the Caparese salads and dress them
Taters all done
Slice the roast. OMG!! So tender and juicy inside with a nice crunch on the outside. This is exactly what I was shooting for when I decided to go this route.
The whole spread. Mushrooms are in the small red bowl
Folks are looking kinda happy, but there's no noise except knives and forks chiming against the plates. Hmmmm....
Money shot. My first plate
All I can say is wow. This was gonna be basic, and I guess to a point it was. Not a whole lot of different menu items but the ones we had were done correctly. Roast was nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked. The taters were just stellar, which is kind of a surprise because I've never cooked them like this before. Mushrooms had a perfectly balanced flavor between the beef sauce and the port wine. Just a nice hint of the port but not overpowering in any way. I'd almost have to say that if there was one thing that really stood out as the best aspect of the meal, it'd be the appetizers. Those also were a first time addition also but holy smoke they were good!! Any of us could have just made a meal out of them.
Oh well, it was long but hopefully worth the time. Have a great day everybody, stay safe, and we'll see y'all on the next installment.
Robert
The roast
A nice dose of my beef rub
Cut up some taters, boiled them, mixed with butter, minced garlic, salt, and pepper then into a large CI skillet
Drizzle with beef gravy
Top with cheddar cheese and set off to the side
Came up with a crazy idea for appetizers. Took about 6 oz. cream cheese then mixed in some finely chopped scallions, dill, kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Looks kinda ugly but it was really tasty
I'd sliced a nice batch of dried beef that morning so got out a pack of that. Put the cream cheese mixture on the slices of dried beef and roll up
After rolling them up, place on a fresh celery stalk. Here's the appetizer plate. I ran out of room on the platter so the last 4 were without celery. These were amazingly good!!!
Decided to make some sliced Portabellas in a port wine reduction.
Folks relaxing in the pool while I'm slaving away
I did get some pool time, I just want everybody to feel sorry for me
Y'all know what this is!!
While the fire is getting going I put together the Caparese salads with fresh basil Tracy just picked from her herb garden
Roast going on the grill
About 20 minutes in it's time for a flip. At this point I check the temp at the grate. It's running 785 degrees. Exactly what I want...super hot for a nice sear
Skillet with the taters on the grill
Roast at 122 IT. Bring it in the house and tent it to finish. Time to get everything else ready to go. With the high residual heat I'm guessing it'll finish out at about 130 to 132
Made the balsamic reduction for the Caparese salads and dress them
Taters all done
Slice the roast. OMG!! So tender and juicy inside with a nice crunch on the outside. This is exactly what I was shooting for when I decided to go this route.
The whole spread. Mushrooms are in the small red bowl
Folks are looking kinda happy, but there's no noise except knives and forks chiming against the plates. Hmmmm....
Money shot. My first plate
All I can say is wow. This was gonna be basic, and I guess to a point it was. Not a whole lot of different menu items but the ones we had were done correctly. Roast was nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked. The taters were just stellar, which is kind of a surprise because I've never cooked them like this before. Mushrooms had a perfectly balanced flavor between the beef sauce and the port wine. Just a nice hint of the port but not overpowering in any way. I'd almost have to say that if there was one thing that really stood out as the best aspect of the meal, it'd be the appetizers. Those also were a first time addition also but holy smoke they were good!! Any of us could have just made a meal out of them.
Oh well, it was long but hopefully worth the time. Have a great day everybody, stay safe, and we'll see y'all on the next installment.
Robert
