I had bought six nice rib steaks at Albertson’s last week
($5.98/lb.) and Suzette brought home fresh yellow and zucchini squashes from
the garden at the Center for Ageless Living last Thursday. Since we had been picking ripe tomatoes,
onions, and cucumbers from our garden, my idea was to make a simple dinner with
as many fresh ingredients as possible.
We invited our neighbors, Charles and Susan Palmer old
friends from college days in Austin, to join us. Susan wanted to try an Argentinian steak
sauce called Chimichurri and they offered to bring some wine. 
At around 5:30 we swung into action. Suzette chopped and sautéed the squashes in
butter and olive oil in a large skillet.
I chopped some tomato, onion and cucumber from our garden and Suzette mixed
those in a bowl with a simple vinegar, sugar and olive oil dressing. Suzette had baked a lovely bread pudding with
PPI Zucchini Bread made at the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery using Paul
Prudhomme’s recipe from his Louisiana Kitchen cookbook on Sunday and Suzette made
his lemon sauce and Chantilly cream sauce from the PPI whipped cream I had made
for Strawberry Shortcakes on Saturday or Sunday.
I thawed out the steaks during the day and at around 6:15
Suzette put them on the grill.
The Palmers arrived at 6:30 with a small covered plastic tub
of Chimichurri Sauce and a bottle of 2011 Santa Julia Uco Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Reserva from Mendoza, Argentina. In
minutes when the steaks were ready we carve them up and plated them with spoonsful
of sautéed squash and took them out to the gazebo in the back yard, where
Suzette had set the table for dinner. We
poured glasses of the cab and put the bowl of tomato, onion and cucumber salad
on the table with the Chimichurri sauce.
We spooned the salad onto our plates and liberally doused the steak with
the sauce and had a wonderful al fresco fresh meal. I even rained a little bit during dinner,
which refreshed up further, especially with the few drips of rain through the open
folds of the gazebo. I have always
thought that the tradition of good beef links Texas and Argentina and the Argentinian
sauce and wine made me feel as if I was experiencing that great Argentinian
beef tradition directly. The wine was fabulous, rich and smooth. Cabernet Sauvignon is my favorite wine with grilled steak.
After this simple but elegant dinner, Suzette served small
bowls of her lovely bread pudding topped with the lemon sauce and Chantilly cream,
made with powdered sugar, crema (sour cream), whipped cream and splash of vanilla extract.
Bon Appétit
No comments:
Post a Comment