19 May 2010

Meat and Potatoes, Updated


I am seriously slacking...blah blah blah. How many times can you hear the same story? Basically, I'm working a lot right now on a major career change and although I've been cooking, it's been hard to sit down and write this blog, as much as I miss it. I made an effort this weekend and these are the results.

We had another BBQ this weekend, despite the threat of rain earlier in the day. I had been doing a lot of cooking over the weekend for a weekend long fiesta thrown by a friend of a friend for various celebrations. Might as well continue the trend, right?

Three friends joined us for our usual Sunday dinner, so I had to figure out a way to feed them all and not go broke doing it. New Seasons had a sale on bottom round roast, a cheap but decent cut of meat, and I went from there. First, I cut the roast in half to reduce the grilling time and the chance that we might burn the outside and have stone cold meat in the middle. Next I took the old meat tenderizer and beat the hell out of it. And finally, I marinated it for about 7 hours in a good old standby sauce I got from Epicurious.

What to go with our economy piece of meat? Sweet potatoes, of course! Since I am trying to eat healthier these days, I went with the sweet potato, which is has a lower glycemic index than a regular russet. (I used a lot of recipes from Epicurious. I'll list them below.) Tomatoes were on sale, as well, and we simply grilled them and added some salt, pepper, and fresh sage. The sage, once cooked, was nice, but I'm discovering that I'm not a big fan of fresh sage. To round things out, I had a ton of quinoa salad leftover from Saturday's BBQ, so I ditched my plans for grilled broccoli (sad, I know), and served it as a side dish. As an added bonus, it really developed a deeper flavor after sitting for a day. Wonderful when that happens!

Dessert was provided by Stacey, who had spent her Saturday morning at the Hollywood Farmers Market. We were treated to some delicious berries with marscapone and pound cake. If you're nice, maybe she'll share her recipe.

Grillin' grillin' grillin'...

Tomatoes with sage, before the fire

A lovely table set with delicious food and beautiful sunflowers from my honey

A nice summer plate

Dessert care of Stacey

Filipino-Style London Broil
Quinoa Black Bean Salad
Grilled Sweet Potatoes (the vinaigrette is quite tasty, but use sparingly...trust me)
Grilled Tomatoes with Sage (I cheated and used garlic powder since I was almost out of garlic--gasp!)