Mr. Hawthorne Fixes Dinner For Rosie.

Ya gotta love that Mr. Hawthorne.

I'd worked in the yard all day long and was tired

and wasn't doing anything for dinner.

Some evenings,

I'm perfectly happy with drinking my dinner..

I like a nice Cabernet Sauvignon.

Mr. Hawthorne stepped up to the plate.

Mr. Hawthorne makes a nice setting.

Nice touch there with the flowers.

He's serving me Flat Iron Steak,

which is one of the most flavorful cuts EVER,

and a baked sweet potato full of butter.

He put some nasty green beans from a can

on my plate for the color.

I took the green beans one by one and threw them on the floor.

That'll show him. 
Imagine putting canned beans on my plate!

Let the meat come to room temperature before cooking

and season with freshly ground salt and pepper.

The iron skillet was heated to 375 + degrees.

Mr. Hawthorne gave the skillet a light swirl and coating 

of ELBOO - that's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil.

When the olive oil just started to smoke,

he put in the meat.

Seared on both sides.

Mr. Hawthorne judges rare by touch. 

This piece of beef was an inch or more thick.

Maybe two minutes each side.

This is our favorite cut of beef.

We don't eat a lot of beef,

but when we do, we turn to the Flat Iron.

If you're wondering about Flat Iron Steak,

I'd never heard of it 5 years ago.

Then it started appearing in Food Lion.

I asked the butcher about it

and he recommended I try it.

"If you don't like it,

come back to me and I'll refund your money,"

is what he told me.

That was endorsement enough for me.

(And FYI, if I hadn't have liked the steak,

I would never have gone back and asked for a refund.)

We tried it.

We loved it.

It has a deep, rich flavor.

Surprisingly, the Flat Iron Steak is from the shoulder of the cow.

That means this is a highly exercised piece of meat.

The muscle is well-developed

and the connective tissues running through are very tough.

Exercised meat is tough meat.

A lazier cut of meat,

say the tenderloin, is quite tender.

Different cooking methods are required 

for the working meat and the lazy meat.

The tough cuts need to be braised or slow-cooked.

The tender cuts can be quickly seared.

The Flat Iron Steak,

even though from the shoulder,

is an extremely tender cut.

It was developed by teams at the

 University of Nebraska and the University of Florida.

Originally, this particular cut was a waste cut of beef

from the shoulder of the cow.

In 2002, the National Cattleman's Association

commissioned a muscle profiling study

in order to find better, more efficient cuts

from the Round and Chuck cuts.

Every major muscle of the cow was

analyzed separately for tenderness and flavor.

 

The teams learned how to deftly cut this steak.

The Flat Iron is from the Top Blade,

which is off the shoulder of the cow.

Normally, the Top Blade is cross-cut into steaks;

however, the Top Blade Stakes are tough 

and full of gristle (connective tissue).

Flat Irons are cut from the two layers of the Top Blade

and have all the gristle removed.

The Flat Iron is the second most tender cut of meat from a cow,

after the Tenderloin.

Tuesday Night Steak And Stir Fry.

Youngest Hawthorne arrived at home

about 5:15 the other afternoon.

Mama, are you cooking dinner tonight?

Why do they ask me this?

I always have dinner.

I need something now.

I can't wait.

He can't wait 45 minutes for dinner. He had to have something to tide him over.

So I boiled some rotini.

Here it is, drained and steaming.

I added some freshly ground salt and pepper

and some buttah.

While it was still hot,

Mr. Hawthorne grated some Il Villagio Parmesan cheese over top.

I had some pesto left from a few days ago

when I made the pesto pizza for all the Xmaskaties.

And Mr. Hawthorne forked the

greeny, herby, nutty, cheesy goodness of the

pesto into the pasta.

The lovely thing about rotini pasta

is that the shape of the pasta

holds the sauce or pesto or whatever you add to it in the little grooves.

Youngest Hawthorne ate the entire bowl, then was ready for dinner in 45 minutes. I love pasta with homemade pesto. It's one of my comfort foods. Now that Youngest Hawthorne has been nourished and can actually make it to his next meal without passing out, I'm starting on the real meal for tonight.

I tell you, this is one hungry crowd

at the Hawthorne household.

And it seems like I'm always in the kitchen

preparing, cooking, and serving.

And once I finish cleaning up,

it's time for another shift,

since the Hawthornelets are in and out

throughout the day.

For dinner Tuesday night,

everyone was in the same place at the same time,

so Mr. Hawthorne grilled a flat iron steak and a filet mignon

and I stir fried vegetables and baked potatoes.

Filet mignon in the back.

Flat iron in the front.

We buy the whole tenderloins

when they're on sale

(I think these were $7.99/pound),

slice them into individual steaks,

and vacuum pack them.

The flat iron we found mismarked

for hamburger meat,

so we got a good deal on that too.

Just some freshly ground salt and pepper

and the room temperature meat is ready for the grill.

Perfectly rare.

My veggies:

chopped peppers

broccoli

celery

And onion wedges.

While Mr. Hawthorne was grilling,

I did a quick stir fry of the veggies.

I heated my wok,

added in a few tablespoons of oil

(I used canola oil. I prefer peanut oil

but a gallon of that is $26 down here

so no peanut oil for me.),

and added a few garlic cloves.

Broccoli went in first

since that takes the longest.

I stir fried this maybe 20-30 seconds

before ...

... adding in the celery ...

... and the peppers ...

... and the onion.

Toss and stir for about a minute.

And when I stir fry broccoli

I always like to add a tablespoon of sugar.

I find that the sweetness of the sugar

balances the flavor of the broccoli.

I had a little bit of the sauce

and a few vegetables from

the shrimp stir fry the other night,

so that got added in.

Just heat through and the stir fry is ready.

I love all the colors.

I baked the potatoes until tender.

And I chopped some chives, parsley, and dill

for toppings.

With a sprig of basil.

If you haven't tried a flat iron steak,

you're really missing out on a tender, juicy,

extremely flavorful cut of meat.

The freshness of the herbs was a wonderful

addition to the potatoes, along with buttah of course.

And the veggies were crisp colorful bites

of flavor and crunch.

Flat Iron Steak And Potatoes

Excellent meal tonight. And of course I'll be sharing it all with you. First, the 'taters.

I thinly sliced two red potatoes since that's what I had. You can use whatever potato you may have. Just slice them as thinly as possible.

I poured olive oil on my baking sheet (You could use either Extra Virgin or Extra Light.) and slid my potato slices around, then brushed the tops with the excess oil.

Sage on one half of the taters. Rosemary on the other half. I flove having my herb garden.

Add some freshly ground salt and pepper and dot with butter for extra goodness and flavor. The potatoes went into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, then I upped the temp to 450 degrees, cooked for 10 more minutes, then turned the slices over and cooked for another 10 minutes,

until nice and crisp and brown. Blot with paper towels.

Here's the flat iron steak, which I've only recently started seeing in the meat section. It's one of the most flavorful cuts I've had. It comes from the cow's shoulder, which is surprising to me, since it's quite a tender cut. We just season it with freshly ground salt and pepper and my new favorite seasoning - Montreal Steak Seasoning. (Check out their web site on the above link. It has "FLAVOR You Can See!") Let the steak come to room temperature before grilling. I always let meat come to room temp before cooking. And I don't know why. I Googled it today (And WHY ON EARTH does the spell check highlight freakin' GOOGLE?????) Anyways, about googling room temp meats. The same site said NEVERNEVERNEVER let meat get to room temp. It will immediately become rancid and if you eat it you'll die a horrible death. And on the same page, I read, "Let the meat come to room temperature. It makes the meat more tender."

Here are the potatoes at the halfway mark. Turn over and keep baking until they're all nicely browned and crisp.

Mr. Hawthorne grilled the steak perfectly, maybe 8 minutes total. One end of the steak was a little thicker than the other end, so he put that on the hotter section of the grill.

We don't boil our corn anymore. We cut off the ends and leave the husks on and nuke them: 2 minutes for 1 ear, 3 minutes for 2 ears, 4 minutes for 3 ears.

Lovely rare flat iron steak.

Crunchy, crisp potato chips

with the occasional flavors of sage and rosemary.

Here's my dinner: rare, extremely tender and flavorful steak, herbed, crunchy potato chips, sweet, buttery corn. There was only one thing wrong with this meal. I wanted a steak sandwich for lunch today and there was no leftover meat. Nada. Nor potatoes. Sooooo, when Daughter Hawthorne called at 2:21 this afternoon on her way home from last night's outing to get ready to be at work by 4:00 to ask me if there was coffee ready and was there any food and she didn't have time to take Giada for a walk because she had been really tired and was sleeping all that time, YadaYadaYada, I went ahead and put on a pot of coffee and toasted my Arnold's 100% Whole Wheat Sandwhich Thins, fried up a couple of bacon slices, sliced a tomato, added some lettuce, some thinly sliced pieces of the one and only chicken breast leftover from the other night with my bastardized version of the Alinea marinade, and made a special sandwich for Daughter Hawthorne.

Here's Dearest Daughter's Sandwich (And, yes, Sandwich should be capitalized.) Look at the texture of the chicken. That's what the marinade did. It's a smooth, clean, cohesive texture. The marinade had permeated the meat and I could taste every flavor in there: the citrus the fresh, raw coriander seeds with their magnificent pop between your teeth and in-your-face burst of greenness and cilantro the soy the ginger ... I wish somebody would make me a sammich.

Thursday Night Dinner For My Little Hawthornes.

Here's dinner for the Hawthorne's Thursday night: Chicken quarters with barbecue sauce, flat iron steak, Blarney puffballs, corn on the cob.

Many thanks to Marilyn of Foodies Untie Blogdom for introducing me to Blarney Puffballs. I attempted the Blarney Puffballs myself the other day. I'd made a big batch and froze some (unfried ones) for later. I will admit my recipe needs tweeking, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Little mashed potato balls frying up.

Let drain then place on paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

Mr. Hawthorne grilled the chicken.

I think the Blarney Puffballs are pretty little appetizers.

I asked Daughter Hawthorne how she liked the Blarney Balls. I could tell immediately by her expression, she had a slight problem with them. "I liked the crunchy outside, but when I bit into the inside, I was expecting something ... more." Yeah. Me too. Maybe more cheddar cheese. They're good. Don't get me wrong. But they can be better. I need to work on that.

Here's the grilled flat iron steak, seasoned with just Montreal Steak Seasoning. Just recently, in the past few months, this cut of meat has been appearing in my grocery stores. It's a very flavorful, juicy, and tender cut and one that I'll definitely be using more.

The flavor just bursts in your mouth.

The corn on the cob was just nuked for a few minutes. There were no leftovers. Always a good sign.

Wosie Woks Wunce Again.

Recently, a new (to me) cut of beef has been appearing at my local Food Lion - flat iron steak. I asked my butcher about it and he said, "Try it. You'll love it. And if you don't, bring it back and get your money back. Better than ribeye." So, I tried it. I did love it. It's tender and very flavorful. Now, I'm wondering where the flat iron cut comes from. I was surprised to see that it's actually from the shoulder of the cow. If you can't find it, ask your butcher for top blade. And if your recipe calls for skirt steak or flank steak, try the flat iron. In case you're interested in the intricacies of this particular cut, please check out this information. While googling flat iron, I came upon this recipe which looks pretty darn good. And also, this recipe, from my dear friend Marilyn, of Foodies Untie, looks like a winner too.

Since there are only 2 of us left in this lovely empty nest, I cut the flat iron in half, freezing one half, and using the other for tonight's stir fry. Mr. Hawthorne is cutting the flat iron half into thin slices, AGAINST the grain, for tender pieces. For easier slicing, you might want to slightly freeze your meat before cutting.

I always like to have ginger on hand, so I keep it frozen. I nuked it for about 20 seconds, and the juices come flowing out.

I added a bit of minced garlic.

Then some Lee & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and Tamari Soy sauce, which is a premium grade soy sauce. I also sprinkled the meat with a bit of sugar which caramelizes nicely when the protein hits the wok. Heh, protein. Yes, I can be pretentious too.

Here are my veggies for the stir fry.

And here are my veggies all nicely prepped. Clockwise from top left, I have fresh corn, snow peas, celery, pepper, minced garlic and ginger, onion, broccoli, and corn.

I usually use a broth that I add to the corn starch to pour into my wok and thicken the mix. Ahhh Ha! Did you just see the light bulb that went on over my head? I added cold water to my corn starch, and then ... ding ding ding ... I added my VEAL STOCK. Like Sandy, I just feel like I'm the smartest thing on the block! But as Mr. Hawthorne always reminds me, "Rosie, it's a short block."

When doing Chinese, or any cuisine for that matter, it's very important to have everything you need within reach - all your tools, all your platters, and especially all your ingredients. There's nothing like being in the middle of frying Ingredient A and you look for Ingredient B and it's NOT there. Have EVERYTHING ready.

I've heated my oil to almost smoking and have added my carrots, broccoli, and celery.

Next, my snow peas and onions go in.

And peppers and corn.

Toss for a few seconds.

Then add in water to steam the veggies just a tad. Transfer to a bowl and cover.

I cleaned out the wok a bit, added some more oil, heated it to almost smoking, then added the beef, a little bit at a time.

In about a minute, add the veggies back to the wok, toss, and pour your corn starch/veal stock mixture (or corn starch/broth mixture) gradually down the side of the pan.

Heat and thicken.

In addition to the regular rice I cooked, we wanted something a little different, so we chose the Sun Luck Maifun Rice Sticks. Caution: Only use a little bit at a time.

Because, as you can see, they kind of explode. Immediately.

Mr. Hawthorne then made a dressing for the rice sticks out of 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, and one TB sugar.

Whisk all ingredients together.

Here's the rice, the stir fry, and the rice sticks with dressing.

I sprinkled toasted sesame seeds over top of the rice sticks and bean sprouts over top of the stir fry.

Well, cannajestellya? This was more than delicious. The heat of the stir fry along with the cool crispness of the bean sprouts

made of a lovely combination of flavors, textures, and temperatures. The veal stock added a little je ne sais quoi to the stir fry - an added depth and intensity of flavor. Now the fried rice sticks. Mr. Hawthorne described them as "crunchy air." The sesame dressing was light and perfectly complemented the rice sticks. It reminded me of eating potato chips. I just couldn't get enough in my mouth at one time. Sorry for that visual, but they were just so very good both texture wise and flavor wise. All in all, an excellent dinner.