Monday Supper
This afternoon I popped out to the garden and collected all but three of the very last tomatoes.
From the freezer, I pulled a couple of packages of okra from my mother’s summer garden, as well as some chopped onions. The onions came from the McAllen area. They were hand-picked by the husband’s ninety-year-old grandmother and deposited on our front porch at the beginning of the summer. As she had given us forty-pounds of onions, and not even the Feisty household could use up forty-pounds of onions before they spoiled, I chopped most of them up and froze them in quart-sized bags.
With a little of flour, oil, and effort, we had smothered tomatoes and okra tonight. The taste was so fresh and clean it was hard to believe it was not the middle of summer.
Most people serve it over cornbread, but rice is the favorite around here.
Yesterday I pulled out four filets, but I never got around to cooking them. Tonight, I decided to do something a little different. I saw Ina Garten take filets, blot them with paper towels, then season them with only cracked pepper and kosher salt, before searing them in a cast iron pan and then finishing them off in a 500 degree oven.
I hate to admit it, but we have yet to replace our cast iron skilled since the fire, but the husband has an enameled Scanpan grill that he received from my Mom for Christmas. I seared the meat first, then carefully picked up the whole grill and stuck it in the oven for eight minutes.
The result?
Perfection!
There were no complaints at the table this evening.
In fact, Sweet One was the first to comment at how well the meat tasted, well, like meat. The salt, cracked pepper, and searing created a crust which complimented and enhanced the meaty flavor. There was nothing to detract or cover up the clean essence and quality of the meat.
It may be Monday, but I love it when a simple meal comes together in a big way.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
MMMMMM, that looks so good…
January 12th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I love that episode with TR!! Those steaks look just as wonderful as the ones in the show - Glad to know it really works. I would love a peek inside your freezer!
January 12th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
How do you make smothered Okra?
I have the ingredients in my freezer and a basket of nice ‘maters.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Looks delish!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:48 am
sounds delicious. I haven’t had okra in years. It’s not too readily available here in yankee country, and when you can get it, doesn’t usually look too great.
Maybe I should go to the freezer section of the grocery store. I didn’t know that it froze well.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
That’s exactly how I make my steaks, only I rub a bit of oil over the meat after I season it.
While I’m working on the meat, the cast iron skillet is bone-dry, on the highest gas flame I can manage. Turn on the Vent-A-Hood first, ’cause as soon as you lay it in there, there’s just a bit of smoke!
After searing the sides, into the oven set to Lowest Pit Of Hell, X minutes per side (depends on thickness, and how rare I want it), then out of the pan to rest while I deglaze with beef stock and make a sauce with sherry, cream and cracked pepper.
God, I’m actually salivating as I sit here…
January 13th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
mouth watering…
January 13th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Gorgeous! And look at the silky texture of that okra combo. Mmmm!!!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
In other news…you still have tomatoes growing?!