January 9, 2012 Dinner – Broiled Steak feast

January 9, 2012  Dinner – Broiled Steak feast

I thawed out a 3.5 lb. (4 inch thick) rib roast I had bought at Sunflower Market before Christmas during the day.  Susan and Charlie Palmer invited us over for dinner.

At around 5:00 pm I cut the roast in half leaving two halves leaving a rib bone in each half.  Then I sliced about 1 ½ cups of white mushrooms and minced a large double clove of shallot and two cloves of garlic and put that aside. 

I then cut the hard ends (nibs) off two cups of Brussels sprouts and sliced and diced three slices of onion.  I then ran the Brussels sprouts through the food processor with a slicing blade and sautéed the Brussels sprouts and onion in a sautèe pan with some butter and olive oil.  Unfortunately or not, I scorched the Brussels sprouts and they were a little more browned and toasted than usual, even after I cleaned the black bits out of them. Fortunately, the char broiling of the sprouts did not diminish their flavor dramatically, it only really altered their texture somewhat; and one could argue for the better because the olive oil and butter penetrated into their flesh more fully.

I then sautéed the mushroom, garlic and shallots in another sauté pan with two or three Tbs. of butter and 1 Tbs. of olive oil.   I then added to the mushrooms about ¼ cup of Amontillado sherry and some thyme from the garden.

When we arrived with our prepared dishes and leftover shrimp mold and a bottle of Pennywise Pinot Noir at the Palmer sat 6:30 p.m., we found that Susan had prepared fluffy mashed potatoes, and a casserole roasted beets, carrots and turnips au gratin.

Plus Susan had thawed out a Marquis cake made by their daughter, Lisa to go with the leftover coffee flavored crème anglais I had leftover from the Christmas party. 

For appetizers: we brought the last of our shrimp mold and Susan had made wonderful family dip recipe of garlic, cream cheese and cream. 

We snacked and drank for the 25 minutes while we broiled the steaks to medium and even a bit beyond (Suzette says that 21 minutes would have produced a better medium rare result).  Then we sat down for a sumptuous dinner capped off with a slice of Marquis cake coated with crème anglais.

A really wonderful feast.

Bon Appètit