Grillin': Steaks, Sausage, and Pork Loin

Steak, Baked Sweet Potato, Healthy Creamed Spinach

Well well well.  Here we are.  My life-long desire to eat/learn about/cook/share food has lead to this.  I've been posting a picture album on facebook of things I cook/eat but that just hasn't satisfied my need...my need for verbosity.

Not only do I like to hear (read?) myself, but I'm pretty stoked about sharing my recipes and tips with folks that have been salivating over all my fbook pictures.

For this inaugural post, I'll share a great tidbit: grilling is the savior of your time.  Cook the proteins for multiple meals at once on the weekend and week night meal time is a breeze.  (If you can enlist your boyfriend as the griller, that also saves time.)

Tonight we (he) grilled gorgeous steaks, pork sausage (from Hanky Panky Sausage, a la the Farmer's Market) for tomorrow's red beans and rice and Jamaican Pork Loin, a la, Aaron McCargo Jr.

How to Grill Perfect Steaks:

1. Let steaks come to room temperature before you even THINK about letting them near flame, leave on kitchen counter for about 20 minutes.
2. Season heavily with salt/pepper on both sides.
3. Bring steaks outside to your boyfriend, grillmaster extraordinaire. 
4. Go back inside and cook the spinach side dish, maybe pour a glass of wine.
5. Wait until steaks are done (medium rare) and brought back inside.  Note: anything more than medium is an insult.
6. Use the "fist method" to test for doneness (See below as to why you do NOT cut into your steak)
• Clench fist tightly and poke the fleshy part of your hand between thumb and pointer finger.   This is what well done should feel like, although as I just said, you should not cook your steak this way, silly pants.
• Unclench hand a little bit: medium well
• Unclench hand a little more: medium
• Unclench hand a little more: medium rare - YUM!
• Hand completely unclenched - rare, or possibly still attached to a cow.
7. LET THE MEAT REST FOR 10-ISH MINUTES.  THIS IS CAPITALIZED BECAUSE IT IS SO CRUCIAL.  If you do not let meat rest before you cut into it, when you cut into it, it doesn't matter of it's rare, it'll taste dry because the juices haven't had time to redistribute throughout the meat.  

The rest of our meal included baked sweet potatoes (45 minutes in a 400 oven), which I have recently rediscovered and healthy creamed spinach, inspiration from Eating Well. 

We still have one leftover steak and two servings of spinach, so I'd call today a plan-ahead success; however, I just realized that in all my zest for dinner, I still don't know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow.  On to the next challenge!