Steak and Israeli Couscous and Smashed Beans on Toast

Just a typical grilled steak, on a bed of Israeli couscous, follow box instructions for the couscous cook with chicken broth instead of water, add a bay leaf, and at the end I added some fresh red bell pepper and zucchini from my CSA bag. Beautiful, tasty, and the fresh veg at the end added a very nice crunch. This is only the second time I have had the bigger couscous but both times we have had it Brian and I oh and ah over how tasty it is!

To add to this meal we had what Jamie Oliver calls "Posh Beans on Toast" it is a mash of fresh fava beans and fresh peas with a little bit of mint, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper. It is served on crostini with some mozzarella, I however didn't have fresh mozzarella so I used goat cheese which I did have. It was absolutely delicious. It is bright green, tastes like summer with a pop of flavor from the lemon juice and mint.

Smashed Fava Beans on Toast 
5 oz shelled fresh peas
9 oz shelled fresh fava beans
3-4 leaves of fresh mint (I have orange mint growing in abundance in my backyard that is what I used)\
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
2 tsp lemon juice
Crusty Bread
Garlic
Goat Cheese
1. In food processor whiz up the peas, beans, mint, salt and pepper. Add in cheese and lemon juice, and slowly drizzle in olive oil till it is a thick consistency but somewhat loose. Taste! If you want more mint, salt and pepper or lemon juice add to taste.
2. Grill bread, once grilled use a clove of garlic and swipe it a few times over the top of the bread (2-3 max swipes).
3. Spread some goat cheese on toast (use goat cheese to your desire, I liked a lot my husband a little depends on how much tanginess of the goat cheese you want to taste over the freshness of the peas), and then top with the bean mixture. Enjoy!

Easy Summer Pasta

Clearly I love Ina Garten and I was watching her show two weeks ago and she made, what looked like a really delicious, summer pasta salad. Click here for the original recipe! I made half the amount that she did, and we still had a lot of left overs for lunch the next day. But this was super fantastic, the entire family LOVED it! And when you have a garden, or CSA (especially later on in the summer) this is the perfect meal to use up a lot of those cherry tomatoes!

Summer Pasta Salad
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp garlic, minced
6-9 fresh basil leaves, julienned
*small pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper, or more to taste (I liked this with a lot of black pepper but you can always add that at the end before you dig in!)
1/2 lb Angle Hair Pasta
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
*Shaved Parmesan for Garnish
1. Put tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper into a bowl mix together thoroughly and cover with plastic wrap leave on the counter to mingle/marinate for up to 4 hours - the longer the better!
2. Cook pasta according to package directions but it should take less than 5 minutes. Angle hair is perfect for in the summer because it cooks quick and anything that won't heat up your house is a bonus!
3. On top of tomatoes add Parmesan and then noodles, tossing well to have everything combine, serve with shaved Parmesan on top for garnish. (buy a big wedge of Parmegiano Regiano it keeps forever in the fridge and then get out your carrot peeler and make a dish like a pro!)
*Don't forget to add a little more freshly cracked black pepper before serving too if so desired, super good!



Roasted Broccoli... on the BBQ?

As I was telling everyone on FB yesterday I had a religious experience with my broccoli last night, I had received a huge head of broccoli in my CSA last week and I needed/wanted to use it; however I don't have AC in my house. For those of you wondering why that should matter I have to get creative in my cooking during the summer so as not to heat up my house. I basically use things like my microwave (I also used to use an electric kettle often as well, but that now has a permanent home in my camper), toaster oven, and BBQ like they are going out of style. Think of it this way, anything you do in an oven can basically be done on your BBQ (just use baking sheets or grill pans for the small stuff). The toaster oven also works for smaller things and takes way less energy and heat to cook what you are doing. And my go to side dish for the summer is couscous, which is easily done in the microwave vs. burner on the stove!

Anyway as I was staring at this head of broccoli, I was stumped! Because how do we all cook broccoli? We steam the crap out of it! Well, my house was already 77 degrees and it was mid 80's outside I didn't want the thermometer to keep going up. So I thought in my head, you can roast it can't you? So I pulled out my i phone and checked my How to Cook Everything App (which if you have a smart phone, love to cook, and don't have this app what are you thinking? GET IT! Worth every penny! I check it all the time just for quick reference! You can of course by the big ol' tome too but still...) any surprisingly there wasn't anything in that app for roasted broccoli besides a gratin which I didn't want to do. However I have been cooking out of the recent cook book from Ina Garten Back to Basics, and low and behold she totally had a recipe in there for roasted broccoli - probably why it came to my mind in the first place, since I have been perusing it so much. Anyway I modified the recipe a tid to suit my needs and family's taste buds and voila (insert church choir hymns and all that) it was freaking amazing! I couldn't stop moaning my appreciation as I was eating it. I will have to tell my CSA provider today how it changed my life, seriously, I can't see eating broccoli a different way ever again!

Roasted Broccoli (on the BBQ)
(serves 4) or 3 greedy people!-like my family
1 good sized head of broccoli
Olive Oil to coat
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Garlic Powder
**Need a baking sheet or grill pan for BBQ
1. Leave the broccoli florets good sized so they don't burn on the grill, coat in olive oil (2-4 tbsp depending on the amount of broccoli) you want it to look like it has a slight glaze on it but not drenched, I usually do this on a cookie sheet/baking sheet.
2. Few pinches of salt (I always use Kosher salt, if you haven't switched yet what are you waiting for?) and fresh ground pepper all over each one. Then about 1 tsp of garlic powder again sprinkled evenly over each floret. Then toss with your hands to make sure it is all well coated.
3. Put on grill pan, or straight into BBQ with cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally.
NOTE: they will get a little dark/burnt looking and crunchy, this gives it a sweet nutty flavor, trust me!

Served with microwaved couscous, and grilled steak with cilantro/lime compound butter. 

Brats with pineapple salasa and burgers on the grill with CSA goodies...

So this first recipe is another Relish recipe that as I was making it I said  to myself, really, you want me to put that in it? But knowing it was a relish recipe, and often they do this to me, I have learned to follow the recipe regardless of how weird I might think it is. I pre-cooked the brats in some beer and water on the stove and then Brian finished them off on the grill. The sweet potato fries were cut with my mandolin but they were in the oven a bit too long, about 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes is a more appropriate time. The sweet potato fries had some thyme and salt & pepper on them.

Pineapple Salsa
1/2 fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks
1 tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
Juice of half a lime
1/2 jalapeno seeded and minced (I didn't have this so I added a few dashes of Tabasco)
1/2 tsp cumin (this is what I questioned)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1. Mix all ingredients together and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving

Now my husband didn't want to try this pineapple salsa at all and instead slathered his brat with ketchup, but as soon as I tried mine I was swooning. Somehow the tangy salsa cut the richness of the brat, and added a freshness that was much needed. I convinced Brian to try a bite and then he was bummed that he ruined his brat with the ketchup instead of trusting me with the salsa (by the way it was just the brats on a bun with the salsa no other condiments) it was really good and I will probably make it again.

CSA Booty (booty like a treasure not the other kind -cheeky cheeky!)

 From one end of the counter to another, we have five ears of sweet corn, five apples - this is one of the reasons I love the CSA so much, they tell you stories about the family and farm and you really feel like you know them, these apples for instance probably 50 years ago won the great grandma of the farm first price in the local county fair for her apple pie, which is sweet to know that history- a bag of tomatillos and 3 heirloom tomatoes, 2 yellow onions, a big bag of green beans and basil thrown in, another bag of beans - which I need to go back to the CSA e-mails and figure out what the heck these beans are because they aren't familiar- pickling cucumbers, 2 zucchini, 4 yellow summer squash, a bowl of cherry tomatoes that by the time I took this picture my daughter had decimated! Carrots, a bunch of garbanzo beans (these are a pain in the butt to shell) a bunch of red new potatoes. 

3 huge cucumbers, a bunch of little leeks, and patty pans (this is the first time we have gotten this squash I know that they grow this squash every year but they usually sell it at the farmer's markets instead of putting it in our bag so I am excited to use these) 

This was an impromptu dinner (I often revert to burgers when I don't really want to cook) I was looking at all of this food that I had from my CSA bag - the above is two weeks worth too so don't think I get an obscene amount, we were just camping and I haven't had a chance to get to all of it. You can see why though that I don't really have to go to the grocery store except for some meat and basic staples like milk and butter!

So we had grilled potatoes and carrots, look at how my hunny has perfected this on the grill! Again, we use a cast iron grill pan on our grill so that these little beauties don't fall through and they get extra seasoning from the pan! We also had sweet corn from the CSA bag, and I was able to use a tomato and onion from the CSA bag too, so I was able to put a small dent in the produce with just this one meal!

Linked to Boost My Blog Friday, New Friend Friday,

Grilled Asian Chicken Part Deux

Click here for the original post and marinade recipe.

This is a meal that is one of my husbands favorite, white rice, grilled veggies, and Asian marinaded chicken. I think if my daughter wasn't a little distracted with Dora's birthday show I would have had more of her attention but as it was she ate a few grilled squash and onion and half a chicken breast and some rice which is pretty good. Again this marinade is quick (this one went for about 15 minutes) and it lends itself to great grill marks.

The chicken breasts, I have mentioned before, lately are HUGE! I have just automatically taken to butterflying the breasts (so I start out with two HUGE breasts and end up with Four) which is usually enough for us to have left overs for lunch the following day. How do you portion your chicken? And apart from our or rather "my" little freak out in the kitchen with raw chicken and uncomprehending two year olds, Molly helped me assemble the ingredients and was with me during the preparation.

Turned out great again, I used more orange juice this time and sesame oil it is a very unforgiving marinade. And I just searched through my fridge for whatever veggies I had that would be great on the grill. With our CSA bag we have had a lot of sweet onions and summer squash this summer. And thankfully our propane tank held out to cook the meal, have to get a new tank tomorrow with this heat there is no way I am cooking inside!

This was our dinner on Friday (Saturday was our anniversary and while we didn't have our big anniversary dinner, that is on Tuesday, I didn't want to cook so we went out to Noodles & Co. which is always great). I love burgers on the grill, and again I have a huge amount of green beans from our CSA so they are a constant lately. As are the potatoes, which just keep getting better the more we use our grill pan. If you have one of these, yes you can use it in your house on your stove top but have you thought about taking it out to your grill?



Linked to Mingle Monday (I am a featured blog this week on this one!),  Meet Me Mondays, Making Friends Monday,


And just for fun I am popping in a pic of my Molly from yesterday, or Friday (can't remember which one) when we were trying to beat the heat, swimming pool and water table does the trick!

Zucchini Recipe

So I am still attempting a zucchini adventure this summer with my attempt at liking this ubiquitous summer veggie. I bought a couple of magazines in a moment of weakness at Target, thinking they would be great while camping, which they were. I find that I really like Every Day with Rachel Ray Magazine, not that fond of her show on TV but I really like the magazine. They had a no cook section where they show cased a zucchini lasagna sort of thing. I tried my own version at home, but I found I am not a huge fan of ricotta so I think next time I make it I will try farmers cheese, I am intrigued with it and would like to use it more often. Here is the first attempt, I will post again soon as I try it again with a better cheese.
Zucchini Lasagna
1 zucchini (sliced thin on a mandolin)

1/2 cup Ricotta (soon to try Farmer's cheese)

1/4 cup Pecorino Remano

2 tbsp roasted red pepper

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Getting the ingredients together.

Put ingredients into a small bowl, and mix well.

Slicing the zucchini with my mandolin slicer.

Layer two slices of zucchini with the ricotta mixture like a lasagna, and repeat. End result, makes a tasty side dish.

Menu Plan Monday

Holy sunburn! Just got back from a good camping trip with the family. Not sure how I feel about dry camping, especially in super dusty conditions, and a sick child, but overall everyone seemed to have a great time. If I hadn't gotten burnt on our last day there I am sure I would be singing more praises but I don't do sunburns very well! If I can keep my super pale daughter from the sun even touching her you would think I could do the same for myself, and I swear that I kept spraying myself over and over with sun block! This usually happens every few years, where I learn my lesson and am super vigilant until I slip up, like I did this weekend. Live and learn for the next couple years I guess.

Monday: Grilled Asian Chicken Breasts with Sesame Green Beans

Tuesday: BBQ Pulled Pork (slow cooker) sandwiches with nectarine coleslaw and chips

Wednesday: No zoo concert tonight, I am taking a couponing class! So I will probably make some Turkey subs for Brian and Molly to eat while I am gone!

Thursday: Grilled Flank Steak with Bistro home fries

Friday: Grilled Mushroom Skewers over couscous with zucchini no cook lasagna (saw this in a magazine the other day and I am dying to try my own spin on it.

Saturday: Burgers with bistro home fries (we are getting new potatoes in our CSA bag so these are going to be showing up a lot! Which is fine with my family because they are so darn tasty)

Sunday: Stir Fried Chicken with Chinese Cabbage

For more menu plan ideas click here!

Tasty Summer Meal (Sirloin Skewers with Corn and Fava Bean Salad)

Molly LOVED this corn salad, she had two helpings. I was a little worried as I was letting it cool, it is supposed to be a salad after all, because Brian said something smelled funny - I think he was referring to the smell of the roasted red peppers- anyway he ended up saying it was the star of the meal. I will definitely make the salad again and I LOVED the marinade for the meat, the meat could have been more tender but the taste was delicious!

This is another nod to Relish, my favorite meal planning site, I only made a slight changes to the salad.
**Make the salad in advance and let the flavors meld.

Sirloin Skewers & Marinade
1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak
2 cups cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

** I know a lot of recipes call for the bamboo skewers, but honestly just invest in the metal kind. You don't have pre-soak which I always found daunting, and these are reusable.
 
1. Mix oil, mustard, vinegar, and thyme ( I know it seems like a lot of Thyme, but it makes the marinade!) in a small bowl.

2. Toss the meat with the marinade in a plastic bag and let sit at least two hours (this was my mistake I believe as to why the meat was not more tender, I am not sure if it made it to two hours but I imagine if I had let it keep doing it's magic maybe even all day it would have made a difference)
3. Skewer meat on the metal skewers, alternating the tomatoes in between and grill about 2 minutes per side (don't overcook, I love my husband but he constantly overcooks our meat, no matter what I tell him!)
 
Corn and Fava Bean Salad
3 cobs of corn, cut kernels off
1 cup of shelled fava beans (original recipe called for fresh lima beans, but I got fava in my CSA bag so I used those instead)
4 strips of roasted red bell pepper, chopped (you could do this with a fresh pepper, but I actually thought the red peppers were really expensive this week, not to mention it would have been a much bigger time commitment and I had already spent about 20 minutes shelling the fava beans!)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
 2 tbsp julienned basil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1. Saute corn and fava beans for about five minutes, let cool for about ten minutes and then mix with all other ingredients. Put away in the fridge and let sit for a couple hours to let flavors meld together.
 
** You will notice in the picture we also had some fresh zucchini and vidalia sweet onions from the CSA bag, so I just tossed with olive oil and salt & pepper and grilled. Molly LOVED zucchini last summer, she didn't seem too keen on it this time, I will keep trying though, because I hope with my garden that we will have a HUGE amount of zucchini this summer (of course that is if our weather gets better and things start to actually grow).

Garden

For a second year in a row we have bought two plots at our local community garden. Last year was very easy as it was the first year for the community garden -thats right we got in on the grass roots level!- and everything was nicely tilled and we were the first to own our two plots. This second year was not as easy, for reasons unbeknownst to us we didn't get our two spots back, even though we requested them, and instead picked two plots right across the aisle, when we arrived in mid-March to look at our newly assigned plot we were completely dismayed because the owners of the plot last season had dug huge holes for some reason for their tomato plants. We quickly realized these plots were going to take a lot of back breaking work, not to mention the water spicket for these plots was going to be shared with others (last season we had a great system of soaker hoses on a timer so we could stop by in the morning turn the timer for 15 minutes and head out for other things knowing that the plants were nicely watered - these plots would not allow for this system). Thankfully we were able to talk to Walt, the original organizer and planner of our community garden and get two different plots that had a conveniently place spicket right in between them (which we could use for our own use and not feel bad about it).

Now here in the Pacific Northwest we have had an extremely cold summer, some of the plants that I started bright and early (because I had ants in my pants getting so excited for the gardening season to get started) had to be brave in the face of some very horrible cold weather. It completely killed some of the seedlings that I had grown oh so preciously in the house, and then some of the seeds that I just planted straight into the soil never even had a chance to germinate. Zucchini, sugar snaps, bush beans, snow pea, edamame, corn, sunflowers, lemon cucumbers all died. I had a good pout, believe you me!

However my San Marzano Roma tomatoes looked worse for the wear, and virtually on the verge of dying, thankfully they came back strong, my potatoes and onions were fine. And part of the reason that I love the community garden is that they have set up a system with some of the big box stores that when their plant stock is past it's "expiration date" they pass them off to us. Sometimes you come to the garden and see our picnic table loaded down with FREE tomato, lettuce, squash, etc.. to take and use at your leisure. I took a flat of lettuces that I actually planted on our back patio (harder to keep the bugs off at the garden, and easier to pick right before dinner too!) and I also this year took a HUGE amount something like 8 plants of heirloom tomatoes (honestly have you ever met a tomato that you didn't like? Well, I know I haven't!)

I have realized after I just spent another whopping $12.00 that I sometimes don't know where to stop. I keep visiting my garden every morning before it gets too warm and think, I am not using this space to it's full potential. Right now it looks barren. I keep buying more (today I bought 4 plants of Brussels sprouts!). Earlier in the week, as I previously mentioned, I couldn't say no when I picked up my CSA bag to the free veggies they were handing out. I planted more zucchini, possibly a pumpkin or melon, and a summer squash (they all look relatively similar and unfortunately didn't come with any tags so it will be a surprise when they start baring fruit) I have a feeling that now is the time that I really do indeed need to stop. Because if this warm weather continues, in a few weeks I am not going to be able to walk down my rows! Hopefully they will be filled with huge, veg and fruit plants.

 (pictures to come soon, I just have to remember to bring my camera to the garden)

***Get ready for some unique dinner menus and recipes based on what is coming both from my garden and CSA bag!***

Fava Bean, to Love or Not to Love? That is the Question...

So every Tuesday I anxiously await news about what will be arriving in my CSA bag (CSA stands for community supported agriculture click here to find some in your area) I have found that it is a bag of surprisingly fun adventure every week. While it is a struggle sometimes to pay the hefty price tag at the beginning, that is usually done months before your first bag arrives and as such I have found that I feel like I get all this great organic produce for free! So this week, AWESOME! A pint of delicious blueberries, gone three hours after arrival. And a pint of the last of the seasons strawberries. Molly loves her fruit, she ate a ton of those blueberries, I like to call it brain food, and a lot of strawberries. I wish I had a flip camera to inbed a video of her saying strawberries it is about the cutest thing you have ever heard, well next to the way she pronounces bacon, she says, "macon." So cute! Also three kohlrabi, a veggie popular in Europe and not too well known here in the states, although it is gaining in popularity I see it constantly at the Farmer's Markets, and my CSA farmers have mentioned that it is the most requested veggie from their patrons. Another head of cabbage, I have it coming out of my ears right now and am seriously considering making my own kraut crock, regardless of the smell! A head of red leaf lettuce, and a ton of fava beans at the bottom of the bag (ALSO, plants! A zucchini plant, pumpkin plant, summer squash plant, thyme plant, arugula plant... they had a ton of dwarf dahlia plants and others but I didn't want to seem too stingy at the truck, although now in hindsight I should have taken more!)

I knew we were getting the fava beans so I had already planned to have a carbonara (I had leftover bacon that needed to be used as well) however I will say that as I started the LONG process of "processing" the fava beans and the thermometer in the house kept on rising I started to rethink doing pasta in an already hot house. Thankfully I am a wicked quick cook, I was able to get it done without raising the temp too much. I sort of followed the recipe for Spaghetti a la Carbonara by Anne Burrell so here it is off the top of my head:

1 lb pasta

1 cup or more fava beans (depends on how much effort you want to put in, but if you have a cool spot to sit some music or TV you might be good to go- otherwise you could also substitute edamame)

6-8 slices of bacon
6 eggs
1 cup pecorino romano cheese (grated)
Salt (to salt the water for the pasta)
Pepper (used generously in egg sauce)
3 scallions (cut on a severe bias)

1. Start well salted water to boil first, and boil pasta to desired doneness. Most Italian recipes ask for al dente but my husband hates it al dente, so we tend to "overcook" our pasta in this house. Right before the pasta is completely done put "shelled" fava beans in the pasta water, I used a strainer so the fava beans stayed contained. Cook the fava beans for about two minutes and then remove.
2. While pasta is cooking cut bacon into "lardons" or bite sized pieces and cook until brown in a deep saute pan, I say deep because you need to toss the pasta in the pan later.
3. In a separate bowl mix eggs and cheese together until they are completely combined. Then add a copious amount of pepper... when you think you have added too much, add a little more.
4. Toss pasta into the saute pan straight from the boiling water, mix them with the bacon (and leftover fat... this isn't something you want to have a lot of, or all the time) toss in the fava beans and then on medium high heat pour in the eggs stirring vigorously for a couple minutes, you want to cook the eggs but stop just short of scrambled eggs (this is a fine line so be careful)!
5. Serve immediately and top with scallions.

Strawberry Shortcake

How many of you like the strawberry shortcake made with a scone/biscuit? That personally is my favorite, I am not a fan of angel food (it gets to mushy) I can do a dense pound cake (but that can sometimes get too sweet) but a nice neutral scone maintains its integrity against the strawberry sauce and hits that balance to allow the the dessert to not be too sweet. This was the first of the season for us, as my husband said previously he wasn't that big of a fan, and I am not sure Miss Molly has ever had any. But after last nights attempt I can imagine we will have them again and again. We got a fresh, succulent pint of strawberries from our CSA and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. I know they would have been eaten eventually (Molly had three in the car before we even got home) but I just wanted to do something with these special berries. They were gorgeous, you know the kind straight from the farm that are red all the way through (not like those kind at the market that are white in the middle and bland of flavor) I just couldn't see these strawberries going into a smoothie they were destined for more.

Miss Molly's little helping, she didn't know what to make of it at first but then she really got into it.

Mom and dad's helping, looks good doesn't it?

No pictures???

So I haven't blogged in a weeks time, and that would lead one to believe that I haven't been cooking. When in fact I have! I just keep forgetting to take photos and then I feel like it is a lost cause, and such decide at that point not to post. Is it better to post without pictures, or wait for me to remember at the beginning of the meal rather than at the end to take a picture. For instance I made pancakes from scratch this morning and they were very tasty (even given the fact that I substituted soy milk vs. regular milk, you couldn't tell at all I swear!) but it wasn't until I was carrying the dirty dishes to the kitchen and cleaning the table, and my sticky daughter that I realized that I had yet again not taken a picture.

So since my last post I have been cooking the following:

• Ham and bean soup (which turned out more like red beans and rice- and we put it on top of basmati rice) These beans were dried beans left over from our CSA last year; so I was excited to use them especially since our CSA is about to start up again and we still have things that have lasted us through the winter

Now I do have to preface before I continue; Tuesday was a horrible day at work and I just didn't feel like cooking, Wednesday I went to the grocery store (and if you know me, you know how I loathe the grocery store) and as such we had frozen pizza, Thursday night I had parent/teacher conferences from 4-8pm so Brian was at home with Molly and he actually made spaghetti! So as you can see the middle of the week produced very little cooking.

• Last night I made a fantastic Mushroom Swiss burger (YUM!) it wasn't my husbands favorite he is a huge fan of mushrooms, he likes the good old fashioned onions lettuce and tomato burger. But the mushrooms had thyme, garlic, and a red wine reduction (they were sooo good). And the burgers were hand formed (we have had the preformed/prepackaged around here for a good long time, I had forgotten how good the other kind could be) It was good quality beef too, and nice and red (probably not Brian's intention as he likes to cook the crap out of anything on the grill but it was cooked to perfection this time) We also had grilled asparagus -it is asparagus season after all, and spicy home fries. Writing about it makes me think of how tasty it actually was, and of course I wish I had had the forethought to get a picture.