Hmm, what am I gonna make for Christmas dinner?
Improvised Cooking
Since it's Christmas, I'll start with these ingredients. I like to KISS with Christmas Cooking, don't you? That's a Tomahawk Ribeye, 3+ lbs, about 2" thick. Wine? What wine? Oh.. that's for cooking. Yeah, okay.. Too.
I got the artichoke going on the back burner, and started with the EVOO in the pan where I'd prepare the ribeye topping. After nosing around the 'fridge, I chose the Cholula Sauce to infuse in the olive oil to add some spice, along with the thin sliced, stripped, cross-chopped garlic clove, ..
I sliced some onion of various piece-sizes, the smallest to melt into the sauce, larger to add crunch later, and sprinkled it around the simmering central Cholula-infusing mushrooms, then sliced a couple different sweet peppers halves into strips and added them over the onion in a ring.. (sic)
.. then piled the dry-cleaned quartered mushrooms in the middle on the infusing oil so I could drizzle some red wine and soy sauce right on them to soak up flavor as they sizzle-cook in the medium hot oil. Salt draws out the moisture, so don't salt 'shrooms.
I had preheated the Barbeque Grill closed until its thermometer was almost maxed around 500 degrees F and put the Ribeye in the center, pushed back so the lid would close.. I had used the local meat shop seasoning rub and added some Italian Seasonings, rubbed into both sides and around the edges. I turned the burners down half way to sear the outside but not burn it as the Barbeque cooled and the beef grilled and baked for 10 minutes, where I flipped it, turned the grill down half the rest, another quarter, and gave it another 10 minutes.
Last, I sliced a thicker ring of onion and kept the separated circles around the top for the crunchy onion spicy flavor rings surrounding the topping on the Steak I was cooking on the Grill.
I finally stirred it together and simmered the mixture while the steak finished.
I plated the beast on a serving platter and added the topping, running the sweet pepper strips up from the bone and circling the mushroom-sauteed onion-in-garlic-red-wine-Cholula-infused-EVOO with the rings of sizzled mild spicy onion. I served the artichoke in a large glass bowl, to hold it first, while holding its resulting leaves, the dipping mayo in a festive red plastic bowl, squirted playfully around in an artistic fashion. A Chef's Knife to carve the three pound Tomahawk Ribeye, and, you know, since the wine was already open..
Medium rare to rare, which is good for leftover reheating to end up with Medium, hot.
Eggs Peek-a-Boo Cheesy Side Up
For Leftovers, I divided the hand-held from the knife-and-fork parts.
I thought for breakfast, "Eggs Peek-a-Boo Cheesy Side Up!" sounded good, with RibEye Steak meat, country potatoes, and veggies.
I sprayed olive oil in the non-stick pan and added thin-sliced potatoes for country-fried potatoes with onions and mushrooms. Italian seasoning go well with the potatoes.
I added bite-size pieces of steak, tomatoes, and for Californication - Avocado.
After it sizzled a bit, I made a peek-a-boo place for the eggs and added a little butter to sunny-up their down-sides, added 3 eggs ..
.. then put pinches of shredded cheese over the eggwhites so they'll cook faster - and, you know..
Cheese!
Salmon-Bacon-Mushroom Fried Rice
Garlic-Onion-Beer-Wine Sauce
I measured a cup of water to boil the 1/2 cup of rice in, and got it going first.
I sliced up a couple of strips of bacon to add some flavor to the salmon rice stir fry..
Then, I sharpened the knife like every time, sometimes between items. It's a few strokes for good luck - and I thin sliced up a garlic clove then cross hatched it, smashed it with the blade, and added it to the pan sprayed with Olive Oil.
Then I added onion sliced into rings of various sizes and sweet peppers chopped and sliced. Salt and Pepper to taste.
..and put some halved button mushrooms on one side and drizzled a little red wine just on them to soak up, with the soy I dashed on top, then sliced up some bacon and started it cooking on the other side - soon to use its oil.
I cut the salmon into bite-size cube-chunks and added it to the stir-frying vegetable mix.
To make the base for fish (not meat), I added some beer for a special treat, to the light salmon, mushroom, tomato chunk sauce, with onion and pepper to the garlic bacon broth.
Of course, the rice I added in to stir-fry with the rest of 'em, and, ya know, butter couldn't hurt with rice, onion, mushroom, salmon, peppers.. and room left for desert!
Salmon-Bacon-Mushroom Stir-Fried Rice
with Garlic&Onion and Sweet Peppers
Grlled Cheese and Grilled Ribeye Sandwich
I sliced up a small Russet potato for Air-Frying without oil - except for the spray Olive Oil I coated it with so the Italian Seasonings, Salt, and Pepper would stick.. Then into the Combo-Oven for 20 minutes.
I thin-sliced the rest of the Grilled Tomahawk Ribeye Steak, and got some onions going for the Grilled Cheese Grilled Steak Grilled Onion sandwich soon to be..
.. then buttered one side of the California Sour Dough bread (received from Mom via USPS) and got it grilling with the rest. I added the BBQ Rub to the mayo for the sandwich and fries.
After a sizzle, I put the steak/onion/pepper mix on top of the grilling sourdough, buttered and added the other piece of bread, topping it with the sliced tomato and avocado, for proper California, well, er, prop's, with shredded cheese over both halves to make it a Grilled Cheese Grilled Steak Sandwich!
The healthy "French Hot Air" Fries weren't nearly as good as McDonald's' American Style..
BBQ Pork Spare Ribs with Yellow Squash & Mushrooms
I decided to make a Dijon mustard-based Barbeque sauce for the pork ribs, and added Cholula for tingle, Worcestershire Sauce for aroma, Heinz 57 Sauce for the BBQ, and Sweet&Sour sauce for the sweet.
I just sliced up a washed-and-dried yellow crookneck squash and quartered some mushrooms to saute with Soy Sauce and a little beer for flavor, with salt, pepper, and Italian Seasonings to taste.
I basted the BBQ sauce on both sides of the ribs and squeezed the rack in under the hood of a preheated hot BBQ, then turned it down half to sizzle and cook at the same time, without burning.
After flipping the ribs and basting the previous underside with the Dijon BBQ Sauce, I mixed some sour cream and Ranch dressing with ground peppercorns for the final baste of savory flavor.
After basting with the Sour Cream/Ranch pepper sauce, I flipped it for a few minutes at a higher heat to sear in the top. Total cooking time for the Pork Spareribs was about 45-50 minutes.
Everything was Juicy, tender, and delicious!
BBQ New York Strip Steak & Mashed Potato Medley
Ingredients:
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New York Strip Steak
-
Bell Peppers
-
Sweet Peppers
-
Garlic
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Onion
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Yellow Crookneck Squash
-
Mushrooms
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Tomato
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Potatoes
Wine ;-)
To cut down on cholesterol, I used an olive oil spray on the non-stick pan instead of EVOO and added some Cholula for mild spice, Worcestershire, and soy sauces and got it heating.
To cut down on cooking time to make the mashed potatoes, I sliced them like I would for home fries, so they boil up soft in the time it takes the steak to grill.
I started with thin slicing a garlic clove then finely stripping it, cross-cutting, and smashing it with the knife a little before adding it to infuse in the sauces. Slice and chop the onion and squash, clean the mushrooms with a paper towel (never water) and get it all going before throwing the New York Strip steak on the pre-heated Hot grill.
I turned the hot grill down about a third when I started the steak, and flipped it after 5 minutes, turning down the grill to half. By then it was time to get the mashed potatoes done, so I drained them and added the potato to a pat of butter and some sour cream instead of milk.. A trade for EVOO..
I cleared a space for the mashed potatoes in the pan with the medley of vegetables and let it simmer too for just a few, finally folding the mixture together.
The steak had charred to a nice medium rare after 5 more minutes on the second side.
BBQ New York Strip Steak & Mashed Potato Medley
BBQ Pork Chops &
Mashed Potato Medley
BBQ Pork Steak with Dijon BBQ Sauce, and
Broccoli with Melted BBQ Cheese
I started with a Pork Steak from the local meat market, and decided to make a BBQ Sauce with a Dijon Mustard base, which goes well with pork, with Worcestershire for the aroma and Cholula for the tingle..
I added lemon squeeze, Italian Spices, Paprika, Curry, and Ground Pepper, and brushed the Pork Steak, both sides.
For the broccoli's cheese sauce, I blended shredded Mexican Blend with Soy sauce and some A1 Steak Sauce as a counterpoint to the Dijon Sauce for the pork. I melted it in the microwave for 30 secs, then blended it all together and waited for the thin Pork Steak to BBQ at 4-5 min/side and the broccoli to steam not quite crunchy tender. 30 more sec's before topping.
I just boil/steamed the broccoli.
After 4 minutes on the very hot grill I flipped the pork steak and brushed a little more sauce on top to keep it hot and juicy inside, while letting the Dijon sauce char just a bit for flavor while on top.
Baked Potato with sour cream and shredded cheese, with the Broccoli BBQ Cheese Sauce and Pork Steak.
