Wednesday, July 16, 2008

London Broiling

Jen is working late tonight interviewing some celebrities. They're fashion celebrities so I don't actually know who any of them are but one time she interviewed Seal and I know who that is. I believe on that night we were both "kissed by a rose."



Tonight I made a quasi-greek salad to start. We had some olives in the fridge and I figured they'd go well with the cucumbers, tomatoes, goat cheese, green onions and red leaf lettuce. I used a little lemon and olive oil as dressing. Since I hate cucumbers (almost as much as I hate it when people call them "cukes") I made myself a separate salad sans cucumbers.



I decided to use one of the kohlrabi bulbs raw. I sliced it thin and combined with some grapefruit slices, olive oil, honey, green onion, garlic scapes, salt and pepper. I served a tiny portion as a second course to cleanse our palates between courses*.

*Note: it is idiotic to cleanse a palate after having a refreshing salad with citrus elements but I just like to say "cleanse the palate."



I made almond dust by smashing up some almonds with my mortar and pestle. If you don't have a mortar and pestle you can achieve the same thing by using a hammer and a plastic bag. Just like that time I watched Mr. Rogers make peanut butter using that same method!



I wish I could say I grilled the London broil over wood but instead I broiled it over a teflon-coated piece of George Foreman's home cooking empire. I marinated the broil for about a day and a half with cracked black pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt and rosemary. I served it with mashed Red Bliss potatoes generously drizzled with truffle oil, almond dusted beets and wilted beet greens and kale with garlic scapes.



I then used my patented pick-the-wine-with-the-coolest-label pairing method to select this fine $9.00 bottle of wine to accompany our dinner.

I also cleverly did all this before Jen even got home so she will be shocked to discover the blog is completed before we even eat dinner! Mama mia! This has never been done before!

9 comments:

Lisa Marie said...

I use the "coolest label" method of buying wine as well! I gravitate towards labels with animals on them. For my birthday Adam bought me a riesling that came in a bottle shaped like a cat. It was delicious, and I don't usually like riesling!

Unknown said...

It's the only true method of picking good wine. There are like 40 million wines out there, what other criteria are you going to use? Taste? Pfft!

Lisa Marie said...

Picking wine on taste is for chumps.

caolan said...

Apparently like 90% of girls pick wine based on the label. I guess the gentlemen (Nate excluded?) tend to like to use more scientific methods, but that's dumb because their scientific method is probably that they read the wine was good in, like, the New York Times food section or something. Or they went to a class once and smelled the wine?

That meal looked SO DELICIOUS. I wouldn't have eaten the London broil but I would have wanted to, and those salads and mashed potatoes and almond-crusted beets looked AMAZING. Wowza. Maybe when I am officially moved to NYC you can give me a lesson in cooking beets? because I really like to eat them but am kind of flummoxed by them when they are not in a can.

Jen said...

Last night's dinner was SO GOOD. I was so tired and hungry when I got home last night (it was past 10) and to see this amazing feast spread out in front of me was like a vision. I almost cried. And when I saw he had already written the blog, I think I really did cry in gratitude. The salad was so delicious and flavorful, and the kohlrabi/grapefruit was so fresh! And the steak was peppery and great. I did not deserve such a meal.

The wine, naturally, was fantastic. You really can't go wrong with the label method. (Well, you can, but in this case, it worked like a charm.)

Jen said...

Also, Nate forgot one thing! He made a horseradish cream with scallions to eat with the steak. It was bangin'!

And Caolan, I'm sure he would be happy to teach you the ways of beats. (Shhh -- you mostly boil them! But you have to do more to make them delicious, but I don't know that part.)

Unknown said...

Yeah, Caolan. Come over. We have a MESS of vegetables to use up every week. We need help!

Lisa Marie said...

How come I never heard about you interviewing Seal? Was he awesome? He seems like he would be awesome.

Steve M. said...

We use the same method for picking wine. Although sometimes the name is used too. (Layer Cake is a smoky red wine that goes really well with some of the cheeses we've been buying.)

Cindy wants me to set up a blog for us to keep track of wines, beers, cheeses, and chocolates we've tried. (I want to set one up for the ice creams we've been making :) )