I can't believe it has been almost six months since my last blog entry. A lot has happen since my last entry including a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, the purchase of a Big Green Egg ( my newest and quickly becoming one of my favorite outdoor cooking devices http://biggreenegg.com ), and falling in love with dry aged beef.
In an attempt to get caught up, here are a bunch of pictures with minimal commentary and background. If anyone wishes for more comments, recipes, or other, either message me via Facebook, or leave your comments or questions below. .
Big Green Egg Pear with fresh thyme, gorgonzola, and balsamic glaze cooked on a cedar plank.
Jacque went off to Thailand this spring with three other ladies, I had a lot of people worrying that I might starve while she was gone...I did not.
A simple dinner of grilled chicken, asparagus, and corn...love meals that don't require any pans to clean -- especially when Jacque is gone!
Was in the mood for MEAT...opted for a rib eye from Gene's meat counter with a little green salad. There are few steaks better for grilling than a rib eye or a T-bone
Added some mushrooms and onions -- prepared in foil on the grill with garlic salt and olive oil
Not the next night, but another steak. This time accompanied by a simple salad of tomatoes, mushrooms, avocados, grapes, and shredded parmesan cheese. The dressing was simple grape seed oil and vinegar
Enough Steak!!! Turkey burger with a salad of artichoke quarters, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, and italian dressing.
Spring nights are awesome for outdoor cooking, dining, and enjoying.
Jacque and I enjoyed a coupe of glasses of wine on her first night back with grilled lamb, corn, and the Green Egg Pears mentioned above.
I love Jacque's appreciation for my simple cooking.
While cooking outdoors is great...
Cooking inside and making pan seared Ahi Tuna is a great dinner too.
Had the office over for dinner
Had to serve them the pears too
These are forty day dry aged New York Steak, if you do not know what dry aging is, or have never had the privilege of eating a dry aged steak, you are missing out. Here is a great link to an article espousing the process and features of dry aging http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/dry-aged-beef-explained. If you don't want to take the time to read the article, from a laymen's point of view, dry aging iallows for evaporation of the water in the beef intensifying the flavor...but it is way more then that.
I have become totally addicted to dry aged beef, thanks to my buddy Dave Womack the meat cutter at Gene's introducing me to Umai Dry aging bags http://www.drybagsteak.com . They do a great job but have some limitations, so I have added a steak locker https://www.steaklocker.com to my wish list.
You will be hearing more about dry aged beef in the future from me. I may even photo log the process of the Umai Dry Aging Bags.
A couple of tips if you decide to venture out and try a little dry aging yourself. Use a large enough piece of meat. I had a buddy in Oxford, North Carolina by a tenderloin as his first venture into dry aging and was surprised by the shrinkage. Another lesson he learned was you want to trim the 'bark' off prior to cutting the meat into steaks. Work with your meat purveyor to by meat when it goes on sale...heck you not eating it for 40, 60, or even 100 plus days, buy it when it is cheap. Once the steaks have been dry aged you can vacuum seal them and freeze them with no problem.
Decided to fire up the Argentinean Grill for some chicken
I grilled the eggplant with some lite olive oil brushed on both sides, and a sprinkle of garlic salt and pepper. When browned on the first side, I flipped it over, and spread some pizza sauce and sprinkled shredded mozzarella cheese.
Our first wine tasting venture of 2016 found us in the south Okanagan of British Columbia, Canada. We met up with an old friend Craig Hayman and his wife Tammy -- note Craig is not pictured, because his wife is prettier. Craig had just retired from Edward Jones as a home office General Partner, and he and Tammy decided to head out and play some golf in BC. Thanks to Facebook, I saw a post that they were in the Okanagan, and we made plans to meet up. If it was not for Facebook, we would had never enjoyed the great pizza below.
After some great wine tasting at Noble Ridge (https://www.nobleridge.com) in Okanagan Falls we headed to Hester Creek for a tasting and dinner at Terrafina their restaurant. Terrafina has great food, but a limited menu. If you are tasting on a hot sunny day, Terrafina is on the west slope of the valley giving you nice cool shade while dining. The Burrowing Owl has awesome food too and a more elaborate menu, but being on the east side of the valley can get hot.
Casa Piazza - May, 2017
http://www.casapiazza.com
This last May Jacque, Greg, and myself joined longtime friends Nina and Scott in Mexico at a VRBO for a week. Nina purchased the week at Casa Piazza from the Desert Chorale annual auction https://desertchorale.org. We joined them, and some of their other friends and relatives for a week of relaxation, and fine dining on Chef Raul's Mexican delicacies. Raul was our private Chef that came with Casa Piazza.
One of the several fresh soups Raul made to start off our dinners.
Rotary Pizza Night
with the
Australian Group Study Exchange
I never thought having a wood oven would be so much fun! Jacque and I love sharing our oven with friends. In June our Okanogan Omak Rotary Club hosted a Group Study Exchange from Australia. On their second night in Omak, we had them and their host families over for a little pizza.
I am now totally convinced that you can make a bad pizza dough with a good flour, but you can't make a good dough with bad flour. Gay and Marci my Branch Office Administrators bought me a case of Giusto High Performer Pizza Flour (http://shop.mugnaini.com/specialty-foods) for Christmas...it is awesome flour! It makes great pizza. The recipe I follow for the dough is right here -http://www.mugnaini.com/recipes/pizzas/pizza-dough-recipes/small-batch-quick-3-hour-pizza-dough/ I always do it the night before.
Jacque and I will be traveling to Healdsburg, California in mid July to attend a Mugnaini Wood Oven three-day cooking (http://www.mugnaini.com/cooking-school/) school taught by Andrea Mugnaini. I am really looking forward to learning what our oven is capable of.
'Just a box' of 50 day dry aged New York Steaks and T-Bones.
The attached website touts four steaks for a sale price of $174. I paid less than it would cost for 8 steaks, and got a box of T-bones and New York Strips -- again buy your meat on sale!
http://www.mychicagosteak.com/Dry-Aged-Prime-Beef-Strip/productinfo/PSD152/
Here is one more great article on Dry Aging
http://barbecuebible.com/2016/03/15/how-to-dry-age-beef-at-home/
Dry Aged Prime Rib Roast
I was given a Gebber Beef (http://www.gebberscattle.com) full Prime Rib Roast as a thank you. I gave this to Dave to stick in a Umai bag, and pulled it out in June to share with my office staff.
looks pretty gross...and the smell is not great either
Until you trim the bark off
A simple combination of Montreal Steak Seasoning and Lawry's Seasoning Salt
In the wood oven, covered in foil for a couple of hours until desired temp.
Note take it out about five to ten degrees before your desired temperature. Also dry aged beef can be served at a cooler temperature then what your guest would normally prefer. If someone likes it medium, try serving it to them medium rare.
Placed a cast iron pan on the grill and melted butter with a combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I added the bananas to the pan...and then added Fireball and lit on fire. If the Brown sugar and cinnamon don't have your required choleric intake, you can serve over ice-cream.
Just a few more Dry Aged Steaks we had with friends
Watermelon Feta and Fresh Mint Salad
Last year my son Stephen and I went on a little wine tasting trip with a club Jacque and I are members of. The first winery we visited was L'Ecole Winery in the Columbia Valley.
Father's Day weekend this year, I had to attend a meeting at Skamania Lodge, and Jacque was not able to join me. I returned to my room after the recognition dinner, and found the best recognition this Dad could ask for. A bottle of wine with a special note from his two boys, who are now young men.
What I love about wine, is that it is so much more than just wine. As Jacque and I are planting a hobby vineyard of our own , we are learning firsthand that there is a life and story that goes into every bottle. Those real special bottles will have stories and a life of their own. In the case of this L'Ecole Cabernet, the story is a special one to be shared on a special night, with the two young men who gave it to me.
My apologies for the length, the rambling, the typos, and errors...but if I don't hit post it will sit on my computer for weeks and then months. Let me know what you think, if you have ideas, and or questions. I love cooking, entertaining, and the world of wine....
Thanks,
Doug Sklar
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