Sunday, July 31, 2005
The Mom Meal
Cuisine:
I'm always nervous when the centerpiece of the meal is a huge piece of meat that costs as much as nineteen pounds of dry-aged prime rib does. It's one thing if one or two servings don't come out as I intend, but the chance of ruining that much food is a little nerve wracking. Well, by all accounts, I didn't.
While it looked like an enormous amount of meat, especially as it sat on the platters before being cut, we only had a little left over. Of course there were those that left with doggy plates, so that helps. The meat itself was fan-FREAKING-fantastic. I have yet to go wrong with the Raichlen book. If anything it cooked a little bit slow, but that only made the smoky flavor more prevalent. The crusty "nut" pieces held so much flavor, it almost incited violence.
The asparagus was as it usually is, and that's a good thing. The cheesy hash brown casserole may seem like an odd choice considering the quality of the meat, but it worked. We'd had heart attack mashed potatoes two weeks prior, and smashed red potatoes the night before. we knew we wanted to do potato but were looking for something a little different. I also have to admit that watching Food Network as often as we have been lately is starting to influence the Sunday Dinner. Alton Brown had done a whole casserole episode, and that probably planted the seed in my mood. Anyway, the potatoes probably could have baked a little longer, and had a few more spices, but against so many other competing flavors, it wasn't an entirely bad thing to have a blander side.
The double chocolate gooey butter cake is another thing that started with the Food Network. This time it was the southern woman whose name I can't remember. The thing that freaked me out was that she is from Atlanta, and gooey butter cake is supposed to be strictly a St. Louis thing. At first I thought that she must be calling something else "gooey butter cake", but the recipe was absolutely identical. The "double chocolate" part is just a variation on the classic recipe. Making what is actually a fairly small tweak (use chocolate cake mix instead of yellow and add a little cocoa powder to the gooey) opened a whole new world. Now I want to try any number of variations (peanut butter, mint, espresso, etc.).
Oh yeah. My mom was here. Her visit was good. She apparantly enjoyed all the food we made her. And then she bought us stuff. Right on.
- Grill-roasted, bone-in prime rib
- Salt and peppered broiled asparagus
- Cheesy hash brown casserole
- Mixed green salad
- Double chocolate gooey butter cake
I'm always nervous when the centerpiece of the meal is a huge piece of meat that costs as much as nineteen pounds of dry-aged prime rib does. It's one thing if one or two servings don't come out as I intend, but the chance of ruining that much food is a little nerve wracking. Well, by all accounts, I didn't.
While it looked like an enormous amount of meat, especially as it sat on the platters before being cut, we only had a little left over. Of course there were those that left with doggy plates, so that helps. The meat itself was fan-FREAKING-fantastic. I have yet to go wrong with the Raichlen book. If anything it cooked a little bit slow, but that only made the smoky flavor more prevalent. The crusty "nut" pieces held so much flavor, it almost incited violence.
The asparagus was as it usually is, and that's a good thing. The cheesy hash brown casserole may seem like an odd choice considering the quality of the meat, but it worked. We'd had heart attack mashed potatoes two weeks prior, and smashed red potatoes the night before. we knew we wanted to do potato but were looking for something a little different. I also have to admit that watching Food Network as often as we have been lately is starting to influence the Sunday Dinner. Alton Brown had done a whole casserole episode, and that probably planted the seed in my mood. Anyway, the potatoes probably could have baked a little longer, and had a few more spices, but against so many other competing flavors, it wasn't an entirely bad thing to have a blander side.
The double chocolate gooey butter cake is another thing that started with the Food Network. This time it was the southern woman whose name I can't remember. The thing that freaked me out was that she is from Atlanta, and gooey butter cake is supposed to be strictly a St. Louis thing. At first I thought that she must be calling something else "gooey butter cake", but the recipe was absolutely identical. The "double chocolate" part is just a variation on the classic recipe. Making what is actually a fairly small tweak (use chocolate cake mix instead of yellow and add a little cocoa powder to the gooey) opened a whole new world. Now I want to try any number of variations (peanut butter, mint, espresso, etc.).
Oh yeah. My mom was here. Her visit was good. She apparantly enjoyed all the food we made her. And then she bought us stuff. Right on.
