A Tip, A Tri-Tip, A Trip-Up. . .

"Glory be to the God that invented cows. Cuz them bastards taste good!" -- burnt toast, November 2008

Saturday there was a sale and Beatrice and I took advantage. It appears that the Linens N Things store in Sugarland is closing and they had 40% off stuff sale, which brought everything down to what the normal price is everywhere else. A bloody bargain!

We bought an 11" tart pan, a Calaphon saute pan set (really cheap) and the tiniest santoku chef's knife you've ever seen! All for the low, low price of $3,000,000. Oh, and a bag of candy, because hey, who knows candy better than Linens N Things?

Sunday, we cooked.

We had grilled tri-tip roast, lemon and herb baked red potatoes, steamed asapagus with roasted red and yellow pepper coulis, mint, parsley and cashew pesto. Freakin' yummy, right?

Maybe.

First, I marinated the tri-tip in lemon juice, garlic, onion, Old Bay, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, olive oil, a splash of honey and some rich dark roast coffee.

Coffee? COFFEE?? Why coffee? Well, cause I had a cup of it in my hand and I needed a little liquid in the marinade. I like my meat to be nervous.

Anyway, let that lay around in a bag for a few hours. In the meantime, fire up your grill to roast the sweet peppers. Coat the peppers in olive oil, salt and pepper and put on the very hot grill. Turn occasionally until the skin has completely blackened. And by blackened, I mean burned. Once the peppers are black all over, pop them into a bowl, cover and let them stew about in their own steamy goodness. This facilitates removal of the skin.

Once you've removed the seeds, pith and charred skin, puree the mixture in a blender with seasonings of choice and introduce a fine stream of olive oil to create a light emulsion. I used lemon juice, a nib of garlic and some white onion. I really didn't want to interfere with the natural flavor of the roasted peppers.

For the potatoes, I quartered them, tossed them with some salt and pepper. I began in a large saute pan some sliced white onion over medium heat in olive oil. I added garlic and the potatoes, then cranked up the heat to get some real cooking going. Once you hear the sizzle sizzle spatter pop pop of the saute, slip the potatoes in a 425 degree oven. Turning the potatoes occasionally so the browning is consistent. Once the potatoes are done in about 15 to 20 minutes, squeeze one half of a lemon on them, a drizzle of high quality extra virgin olive oil and toss with some roughly chopped parsley. Easy and good.

The pesto? Well, c'mon folks, it's freaking pesto. Read a book why don't ya.

So, we grilled the meat to medium, we studied our Scrabble board, drank some cheap shit Merlot and, huh? What was that?

Oh. Yeah, yeah. It's what you come here for. . .