Cooking On A Salt Block

A close friend of mine introduced me to "salt block" cooking on his "Green Egg" a couple of weeks ago, and so last night I treated my wife to a multi-course meal cooked in this manner.  She loved it!

You can find these "salt plates", "salt blocks", "salt slabs", or whatever you want to call yours, at lots of places for between $25 and $35; depending on the size.  I bought a large one, because I'm a big boy and will eat a lot!  If you eat like a bird, then get one of those tiny things!

We went to the local "fresh market" where they sell lots of seafood, vegetables, and red meat.  I found some lovely bacon-wrapped scollops on a skewer, some fresh unpeeled large shrimp, a thin ribeye steak, and a beautiful salmon pinwheel.  I also gathered an onion, an orange and yellow bell pepper, a lemon, an avocado, and a large potato from their large commercial garden. 

Now here is my first tip, and the most important tip of all, in salt block cooking!  SLOWLY HEAT UP THE BLOCK!  If you don't your block will crack!  Luckily for me mine cracked in a narrow strip on one side, so it is not completely useless.  However, if like me, you forget and crank it up on high immediately, then the next time you use it, you can butt the ends tightly together and cook.  

START THE HEAT OUT LOW and continually raise the heat until it's screaming hot!  You eventually want the block to be at least 400 degrees.  You don't have to have a "Green Egg".  You can see my gas grilled worked fine.

 

 

 

There is a considerable amount of prep involved; slicing the peppers, the onion, the lemon, and whatever you choose to cook.  I can't think of much you can't cook this way, and why, you ask do you even want to?!  It's because of the flavor the food picks up from the Himalayan salt block.  If you want less of a salt taste, then use a little more olive oil on the food.  Bath everything you are going to cook in olive oil...the more oil the less salt taste the block will impart to the food.  I like salt, so I just used it sparingly.

Now we did not use the block to cook our potato slices.  I bathed them in olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and pepper and put them on a baking sheet in the oven.  About 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  My wife topped them with a thin layer of cheese and sour cream.

Out on the grill, I first cooked the meat items, and the hot salt block cooks things very rapidly.  Don't leave them unattended, or you will over cook.  I did leave the steak on longer, but that's because my wife don't want to see any pink!

Then the vegetables go on, and they cook very quickly...about 2 to 3 minutes a side and everything is ready for the plate!

We groaned and moaned our way through the main course!  It tasted soooo gooood!

While we rested, I put an avocado on the salt block.  In all honesty, this part added nothing to the overall meal, but it was something my buddy had offered me when we tested his salt block, and I wanted Judy to have the same experience.  It could have been prepared first as an appetizer, in hindsight, but that's for next time.

Once the avocado was cooked, about 8 to 10 minutes, I put regular salsa and salsa verde into the center.  It was buttery smooth, with a little kick from the salsas.

I then moved on to serving her some "salt block watermelon", which she didn't particularly like, but the experiment lesson here is, try everything you can think of on the hot salt block.  The taste it imparts is unique and tasty.

The last entree was a dessert of cooked peaches with vanilla ice cream!  Judy loved this!

The block gave the fresh peach a nice hint of salt, and the heat slowly melted the ice cream.  It was delicious!

So, I urge you to experiment with "salt block" cooking.  I think the experience would be greatly enhanced if it were don't at an outdoor bar, near your grill, where you could serve up each entree as it cooks steaming hot off the block.  It's kind of like eating a smorgasbord of appetizers.  It's light and healthy eating, and can make for a very romantic evening!    

The Perfect Home Salad!

How to make the perfect home salad: 

Let's see...lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, onions, peanuts, grapes, apple slices, yellow pepper, olives, and cheese!   We used Olive Garden dressing.  Ranch works well too!

This salad makes you want some meat!  So, a nice strip steak and a thick pork chop, with a side of baked potato seemed to fill the bill.

Guys, you can do this...my wife loved me for this meal, and your special someone will too!

Cooking Steak In A Skillet

So, like most of you, the rain has pushed me indoors this summer; curtailing my grilling!

I wanted a nice juicy New York Strip yesterday, but alas, it rained, yet again, on my grilling parade!

No more will I suffer, or do without my steak.  Like the fancy chefs on TV I managed to pull off a perfect steak on and in my electric stove!

The big fat potato had to cook for over an hour.  I didn't have to pick out the largest specimen they had, but I wanted enough to satisfy both wife and me.  

That done, I begin to saute the medium size pieces of baby Bella portabella mushrooms and onions in butter, some salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

I put about 2 teaspoons of real butter in an iron skillet and got it up to high heat.  I forked in the salted, peppered, and garlic powdered steaks, fitting the round side of the strips comfortably into the rounded sides of the skillet.

I browned each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until a pleasing brown appears on each steak.

I then popped the skillet into a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes for medium rare, or 20 minutes for well done.

My wife prepared the potato by halving the huge spud, cutting them into sectioned pieces, salting and peppering them, spreading on some butter, then layering on some cheese and sour cream.

I placed a steak on each plate and smothered them with the mushrooms and onions.

This is the way you do it when your grill is being rained on!  As a matter of fact, I my not crank it up again all summer!

LESS GREASY STEAK AND GRAVY

Since the F4/F5 fusion/compression surgery, I haven't been doing a lot of cooking.  As a matter of fact, neither of us have been doing a lot lately, except trying to get better.  My wife has had some health issues, and is about to have a heart procedure that should bring her back to "life", so things have been slow lately.

I've messed around with salads again, as you can see above, and that usually makes us happy around "supper" time.  The theme goes along with my trying to walk a little each day on the treadmill, but I seemed to be slowly regaining some of the weight I lost after a previous surgery.

It was only lettuce (just simple Iceberg), tomato, onion, cheese, boiled egg, raisins, some chuck chicken breast, and a little jalapeño (seeded) on the side for kick!  It sure did hit the spot, even though the preparation was a involved, but when you've felt like doing nothing for so long, it was a real accomplishment for me.

However, what we really like is some good ol' Southern home cooking like the plate my wife made a few nights ago.  

She first boiled some potato hunks in water until a fork easily penetrates the heart of the potato.  She sat that aside to cool and began preparing the protein.

She then browned some tenderized beef round steak in a hot skillet.  Wanting to make the dish less greasy she put flour and water, some salt and pepper into a glass baking dish and stirred the mixture before finally plopping in the browned steak.  As the meat continued to cook covered, over the next 30 minutes, in the 350 degree oven, she would infrequently stir the flour into what little grease flowed from the meat.

Normally, the steak, the grease, and the browned pieces in the bottom of the skillet is all poured into making the gravy, but not doing this did make the meal less greasy without losing any of the taste.

While the steak was in the oven she whipped up the potatoes, adding salt, pepper, a little sour cream, and some milk.  She don't like chunky mashed potatoes like I do, so the mixer runs a long time, whipping them up into a fluffy mush.  A little butter is added at the end for additional taste.

We had a can of Le Sueur® Very Young Small Early Peas, and some left over coleslaw, so the rest of the meal was handy.  Oh yeah, we also had a package of King's Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls, left over from a family gathering, so my supper was great!

Now, I don't know about you, but I like my peas plopped on top of my "mashed tatters", as shown.   Sometimes, when I'm not watching my waistline, I put a dollop of Miracle Whip into my tatters!  I learned that from my favorite uncle.  It's good!  Never heard of mayo/salad dressing in potato salad?  Try it...you'll like it!

So, the week hasn't been too bad after all.  I've had good company, good sightseeing, and good food, so life is getting back to normal 'round here!

A SPRING RITUAL

This isn't a special recipe, or some unknown way of cooking something, it's just something I do annually when the weather warms up enough.

I clean the ol' grill, and prepare the first grill cooked meal of the season!

It was a beautiful Sunday, with temperatures in the 70s, and I pulled the bulky cover off the grill and did a little Brass-o job on last year's grease spots!  I also sprayed the rack with olive oil and scrubbed them into shape!

It was evident, right off, that the electric starter needed replacing, but a match brought the grill to life!  

With the rib-eye and fillet, coated in salt, pepper, garlic powder, and sprayed with olive oil to marinate for about 15 minutes, Judy got the potatoes in the oven to bake for an hour at 400, and was prepared to cook the corn-on-the-cob in the microwave for about 8 minutes.  I poured a Glenmorangie Scotch, on the rocks, and got into grilling mode!

 

I'll have to be honest, my steak was not very tender, but thankfully Judy's fillet was!  That's more important to me, especially since she rarely wants a steak.  I had preferred shopping for beef at Kroger, but she had insisted on Food City, so she lucked out.  I, on the other hand, now wish we had gone out for a steak dinner!

All in all, the private supper with the two of us was enjoyable, and the large portion leftover will be great with biscuit and eggs on another morning soon!

KINGSTON ALLEY GRILL & ALE HOUSE

Ron and I stopped in for lunch at the Kingston Alley Grill & Ale House today, our first trip. Bailey’s has been disappointing us of late, so we’ve decided to do a little scouting for us and the other Knights!

Since Ms. Mushy has me on the Weight Watchers diet, I held myself to one tall Killian (3 or 4 points), and ordered The Roosevelt – a 10 oz. marinated sirloin topped with Worcestershire butter. It comes with a house salad and I added steamed broccoli. Everything was delicious and I think I stayed under points, especially since I brought home at least half the steak.

Ron took on the 22 oz. Sierra Nevada and the Grilled Chicken Sandwich – an 8 oz. chicken breast grilled and topped with honey mustard! The sandwich comes with a huge pile of thick sliced fries. There was none left, so I think they must have been good!

There were 3 TVs visible, not quite “sports bar” coverage, but adequate. There are plenty of games along one wall with lots of tables, plus outdoor seating. There are also quieter area seating along the opposite wall from the game machines.

Of course, there is live music on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday evenings, beginning at 6 PM on Wed., while the other evening’s entertainment begins at 10 PM.

FILET FETTUCINE

Tonight, I decided to cook for the first time since my shoulder operation. As usual, there was little in the house to cook, being the middle of the week, so I had to be creative! Luckily, there was a filet left over after the steak grill out the other night (see last post).

So, what to do?

Thaw the frozen filet, slice it up into small thin strips, salt, pepper the meat, and set aside.

Cook some pasta, preferably some shells, large or small, and set the pasta aside.

Chop up half a large onion and some portabella mushrooms (you may have forgotten you had – see last post) and set them aside.

In a saucepan, bring to a boil a jar of Bertolli’s Mushroom Alfredo Sauce, turn the heat to simmer and continue with the instructions.

In a large skillet, put some olive oil, a tablespoon of butter, a large scoop of minced garlic, a large squeeze of parsley paste, a large squirt of your favorite hot sauce, over high heat.

When the mixture begins to fry, dump in the thin sliced steak strips and cook them medium well.

Then dump in the portabella mushrooms and stir for several minutes.

Then dump in the sweet onions and cook until they begin to become opaque (do not over cook either the mushrooms or the onions).

Dump the complete mixture into the drained pasta, stir, then pour on the fettuccine sauce and mix thoroughly.

Once the appropriate buzz has been reached with the George Dickel, serve in a bowl and swoon in soft tones together as you look out over the green of the backyard and rising lake!

A wonderful experience!