Thanks for the Crepes

I know kayb suggested grilling the pork steak. I knew I would not be able to safely manage frying stuff inside and running back and forth to the outdoor charcoal grill. I briefly considered taking my large electric Dutch oven that I have often used for fish fries outside to the deck. Then I considered that we were under a heat advisory, as we have been all week from noon until 8 PM. Suddenly outdoor cooking lost all appeal, so I decided to broil the steak in the oven under the A/C and where I could easily attend to the frying. I'm sure the pork steak would have been better grilled over charcoal, but it was so delicious as it was that I regretted cooking it inside not at all. It's still 85 F/29.4 C and 74% humidity at 11 PM. I don't see a heat advisory posted for tomorrow, and they are predicting a relative cold snap down to 93 F/34 C for a high tomorrow. I had marinated the steak in a dry spice rub overnight as described above. I peeled and cut about 1/2 of a one pound yucca root into planks and wedges trying for as even thicknesses as possible. This is hard to achieve with the raw root because it has a tendency to split and splinter a bit. I wonder how microwaving it at a reduced power for more even heat distribution would aid the process? I use that to cut up winter squash sometimes and it makes it easier. Also note to self: sharpen your boning/fillet knife before this operation next time. The knife was very sharp. It had no problem at all with the ripe tomato. Every little bit helps, though. I then put them in a pot of salted cold water and put it on a burner on high, and set the timer for five minutes. Last time, I cooked the root in large chunks, and just as Kenji warns here, this lead to uneven cooking. I decided to try five minutes because 15 resulted in very soft and crumbly yucca. Maybe six minutes next time, because I don't think I took them quite far enough, although one of the thinner pieces fell apart and became cook's treat. So it's important to get even pieces. This can be tough as the roots tend to taper at one end especially. This smaller root did not have nearly the amount of tough fibers and no woody inclusions like the last huge root did. I cooled the yucca in several changes of cold water in the pot it was cooked in and drained it well and patted dry with a paper towel. I had already washed some lettuce and had that chilling in the fridge and I cut up tomatoes for a side salad. I grated some cheddar to top the salad with and put a dollop of sour cream on top sprinkled with a little mild chili powder. Queso fresco and crema would have been more authentic, but I was very glad I had included these dairy elements on the plate, as you shall see later. Two ripe plantains were washed, dried, peeled and cut down the middle lengthwise and then into eight sections per fruit. When plantains are ripe enough for maduros, they look like overgrown bananas that would be good for nothing but banana bread or other baking uses. So forget what you know about bananas, if you want to try this. I very lighty oiled my baking sheet and put the pork steak on it and under the preheated broiler and set the timer for 10 minutes. The parboiled yucca went into a 12" skillet with about a cup of oil that had been preheated to frying temp and this was enough to nearly cover the yucca and came halfway up the plantain chunks later. Both items were shallow fried, flipping halfway through, until the yucca was golden and taken out and drained on paper towels on a plate on top of my poorly insulated stove, which makes a great warmer for plates and food. About that time the timer went off for the meat. I had the last minute idea to broil a whole jalapeno pepper for me, like they do with carne asada. I quickly washed and dried it and dunked it briefly in my hot frying oil, flipping to coat all sides. When I took the pan out from the broiler to flip the meat I plunked the pepper down beside it, and put the pan back under the broiler. This worked really well, and in the ten minutes for the flip side of the meat, the pepper blackened and was cooked, but not overcooked. I love grilled or roasted peppers. In went the plantain chunks to the frying oil. By the time the timer went off again, the maduros were done and also added to the plate with the paper towels. Plated and served everything, and it was all delicious, although I still have more work to do to make yucca frita as good as the restaurant's where I was introduced to it. Okay, here comes the part where the dairy I had included in the salad came in handy. I was enjoying the meal, and sliced off the blossom end of the broiled jalapeno and cut it into small bites. It immediately got my attention because it was MUCH hotter than any grocery store jalapeno I had ever had. No problem, it had a wonderful flavor, and I'll just scrape out the seeds and membranes (which I usually eat). Continued eating, and really started to notice the heat from that pepper! Still tasted delicious, so I kept at it until I got a bite that caused extreme distress. As in sour cream, ain't gettin' it, burning all the way down my esophagus, and run to the pantry for the honey bear jar. Honey is supposed to help with capsaicin overload. I went and got a tissue and dried my watering eyes, blew my nose, and wondered for a few minutes if I was going to be able to continue eating this great meal. I paced around for a few minutes shaking my head, much to the amusement of my husband. Shortly, I was able to take a few bites of salad with sour cream and cheddar, and eventually I was able to finish eating. I was so done with that pepper, though! Wow! There was just enough leftover for a nice lunch for my husband tomorrow.

One idea I've had is to let members who have "honorable mentions", like @Smithy, where the next player (it) uses one or more of their ideas, also create a list of ingredients and ask for suggestions, along with the official "winner". It seems like a way to keep up the momentum and get more people participating. We are also not very used to the idea of winners and losers on this forum. So the more inclusive it is, the more great ideas will come to the surface, and the more we will all learn from each other. For instance, I did a little happy dance when I discovered that the eG Cook-offs were more of a think tank on the dish in question than a competition, and novices were welcomed and mentored. I have learned so much in them, and my user name here can be attributed to the Crepes Cook-off , eight years before I ventured into membership here. That is where I learned to get over my fear of making crepes. "Cook-off" is suggestive of winners and also-rans, but they are deliciously and educationally different here. Another idea is to let volunteers also cook from the list if they like, and report on their meals. Perhaps it would generate more interest and participation. Meow, meow, meow.

Don't have a CSO, but I really dislike hard cleanups as well, and equally dislike spending money on aluminum foil, not to mention the wastage factor. My favorite meat roasting pan out of the many I have is an aluminum one. It gets splattered with grease from roasting meat in a conventional oven, and that grease polymerizes and provides a protective coating that allows it to goes through the dishwasher without a lot of babying, like steel ones need to prevent corrosion. They need to be oiled and seasoned occasionally to prevent rusting, especially, the undersides, and the curled lips of the top rims. They all become pretty non-stick eventually, and clean up easily after a presoak in hot water. Many times, I deglaze the baking pan with water boiled in the microwave and save the drippings and fat and freeze them for later use in stocks and gravies. I can't understand why the drippings of even a conventionally raised bird taste of more bird essence than the bird itself, but I swear it's true. If you have an aluminum pie plate, or some other aluminum pan that would fit in the constricting confines of the CSO, that could eliminate the expense and waste of the sheeted aluminum. Now, finding a rack to fit, which of course, puts your meat higher toward the top heat element might be a challenge. Maybe one for the Instant Pot, that many of you have would work? Also, I am a huge fan of the turning of the bird while roasting. I got the idea from "The Joy of Cooking" book I own. Can't find a link, but it's really a simple concept. You season your bird as desired and place it on a V-rack in your roasting pan. This is probably not practical in the CSO, but Joy says if you don't have a V-rack to prop it up with wadded up foil. (I am aware this defeats the purpose of saving expense and waste. You place the chix on its side, with one of it's legs downward. Make sure you don't have a wing tip poking down through the rack, as I did the first time. It will burn. After 25 minutes for a 4 pound chix, flip onto its other side, and let it roast another 25 minutes, again for 4 pound bird. Increase time by 3 minutes for each additional pound. After that, flip the bird onto its back with breast side up and cook another 15 or so minutes until temp registers 170 to 175 F (76 to 79 C) in thickest part of thigh. I have always gotten a lower temp reading on the breast meat, which is exactly what you want with a roast chix, with this method. It seems it might be ideal for the CSO where it's really too close to the top heating element. It's perhaps not as good as rotisserie, but I have had my very best results in a conventional oven with it. I take a long meat fork and poke it into the opening near the neck and a long handled stainless spoon and poke it into the rear cavity to do the flipping. Joy does not recommend doing this with heavier birds like turkey, but I have defied them, with a smaller one (about 12 pounds/5.4 kilos) to very good results. I despise dry turkey breast.

Speechless.

Oops! I thought part of your rules was that the person who is up has 24 hours to make the meal after they have chosen the one they like best. Now that I reread it, there seems to be no time limit on making the chosen meal. My bad, and many apologies to @gfweb, 'cause he's a sweetie, and as @Anna N said a really good sport. It would make for a faster moving game, but I have heard the term "herding cats" used many times in relation to managing the members who create the content on this site. Most of us are very knowledgeable, creative and articulate, but maybe not so keen on strict rules, deadlines and so on. Just a thought, because this is sartoric's thread, but would some sort of reasonable limit on cooking the chosen dish be appropriate? Thawing proteins, soaking beans, marinating and pre-preparing ingredients can take time. And life can certainly derail the best laid plans. I'm just afraid if there is no limit at all, this fun thread may die out and be buried. Lord knows, I have bookmarked recipes from here and elsewhere that I still haven't gotten around to actually executing. Twenty-four hours, which I thought was the deadline, had me anxious if I'd participated with suggestions on someone's list. It interfered with other plans I had, and with people on different schedules and all around the world, sometimes one might not check back in to eG in time to get a full 24 hour notice. So while some limit might be good, 24 hours does seem harsh. Also, if someone who is IT, doesn't feel like cooking the chosen meal after a certain time, perhaps sartoric could ask for volunteers from past "its" like gfweb, and @Smithy, and if they decline, ask for general membership volunteers to cook from the last list of ingredients. I would like to keep the thread alive. I just think it's a brilliant idea, and would hate to see interest die out. So sorry again for my misunderstanding of sartoric's rules. Thoughts?

@huiray, Beautiful meal! I usually find fine dining a little frou-frou and unappealing, but your meal looks very solid, if on the expensive side. Glad you enjoyed it.

I'm so grateful for so many good ideas, and many of them will be used in the future. Thank you to everyone who spent time and effort to help me with my ingredients, and for providing the impetus to Google some stuff that was previously out of my ken. I decided to go with @kayb's idea, so are IT, lady. @Lisa Shock, Thanks for the link to Steven Raichlen's site. I have bookmarked it, and will definitely try romesco sauce down the road. Roasted jarred red peppers are something I always keep in the pantry, too. Trader Joe's has some good ones, but they are easy to find elsewhere. I have even bought them at Dollar General, but haven't seen them there in some time. I have one of the big butt steaks marinating now. I made something similar to this when my nephew and his girlfriend visited one time but did not know to call it pernil, so thanks for that. I used dried spices in the marinade because I have so many that are appropriate, and because I think they actually infuse more flavor than the more labor intensive fresh veggies, or I could just be lazy. I used Goya Adobo (contains ground oregano), a good chili powder, Lisy Chilisito (guajillo, salt, lemon), ground chipotle, ground cumin, smoked paprika, and ground black pepper. Since the first three marinade ingredients have salt, I did not add any additional. I think I'll cook maduros, which I've been anticipating since I bought the plantains, yucca frita, but not the rice. I'll already have two carby fried elements, so I'll either go with fried zukes or a salad to lighten it up a little. I do have coconut milk in the pantry, though, and it is destined for some form of coconut rice down the pike. I'm looking very much forward to tomorrow night's dinner, and if the crick don't rise or I have an internet outage I'll report back here tomorrow night. Stay tuned...

I fervently hope you are right. I did mention the feces possibility myself. Gross, but not as bad in the long run as the other option. I will just not taste any raw dough even if it has no eggs for the nonce.

@sartoric, Actually, maduros and yucca frita are traditional accompaniments for South American beef and other meats. I am much less knowledgeable about Spain proper, although I understand it had a very heavy influence on the food and culture in SA and Mexico, and Spanish explorers took many native American ingredients back to their homeland. We even inherited wild Spanish Mustang horses which persist in the Southwest USA until this very day. If you're averse to sweets or fruits with meats, which I used to be, maduros might not be for you. Plantains have two stages of ripening, at the first, less ripe stage, they are quite starchy, and not very sweet at all. They are green then. Then they turn yellow with black spots, and eventually they will blacken. The green stage is suitable for tostones. A good dish, which was my first experience of them, but it doesn't really make me as excited as a good maduro. These must be made from ripe plantains. They are a bit sweet, and have the familiar banana flavor, but also a weird savory note that makes them more of a side dish than a dessert. I discovered them recently, but they are now firmly in my rotation of dishes I cook. Sorry you don't like green peppers, but do you know they have more Vitamin C than oranges? I know that's not likely to make anyone who dislikes them change their mind, I just think folks ought to know how nutritious they are. It surprised me when I found out. (Ignore this rotuts, and other bell pepper haters, please.)

@Lisa Shock, I have actually made paella before a couple times, years ago with American long grain rice from a Betty Crocker recipe. This was before I had a clue of what the authentic dish might be. Do any of my rices on hand ( jasmine, Arborio, basmati, American long grain, and med grain, for Latin dishes.) seem at all appropriate for paella? I have all the suggested marination spices for the steak, but again had no clue as to what romesco sauce might be. If Wiki is correct, it seems to be a sauce more intended for seafood. I also looked up chimichurri sauce, because you got me going in that direction, and it's something I've never made before. Wiki only pictures chimichurri rojo, but I have always seen, but never eaten the verde version. They do state that cilantro (that I have) may be substituted for fresh parsley (which I don't).

I just love beet greens! They are my favorite in a spring mix for the baby ones. The recipe for Chard Tart from pages 364-365" Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker copyright 1997 has been adapted by me several times to use beet tops of mature beets. I can't find it online, but it's much like this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, although I do not use a pastry crust, and I do not discard the stems of the beet greens, but rather saute them first until tender. They are, in fact, the very best part to me.

Okay, I have on hand: Pork butt steaks Chicken wings Plantains (ripened for maduros) Yucca root Zucchini Eggplant Green bell pepper Fresh tomatoes French bread (purchased) T-Bone Steak In the pantry, I have all manner of stuff, as usual. There are dried beans, including split peas (ham bone and ham to go with in the freezer), baby limas and pintos. There's a pound of cheddar in the fridge along with a half pound of mozz and a pound of muenster along with parm, and a pound of white American. Can you tell we like our cheese here? Rice: jasmine, Arborio, basmati, American long grain, and med grain, for Latin dishes. Pasta: egg noodles, spaghetti, thin spaghetti, angel hair, elbow macaroni and lasagne. I always have canned tomatoes, chick peas, artichoke hearts, black olives. I also have iceberg lettuce, fresh white corn on the cob, white and Vidalia onions, garlic heads, blueberries, potatoes (big Russets, little Russets and new white small), NC sweet potatoes, 3 black plums and a pluot, and some leftover golden honeydew melon. Chicken stock in the freezer, bulgur grain, cornmeal, wheat flour, duck fat in the freezer. Soy sauce, tamari, fish sauce, frozen ginger root, several hot sauces, including Sriracha, Tabasco, Taco Bell hot sauce, Texas Pete and Louisiana. Flour tortillas, corn tostadas, and crunchy corn American taco shells. I always have jalapeno peppers fresh, and I've got peperoncini pickled and jarred. This is just scratching the surface of all the stuff, but let's run with it. Don't assume I don't have an ingredient unless it's very exotic to my area or fresh, because I have all kinds of crazy stuff in the pantry, including a jar of pickled nopalitos from Dona Maria. I also have an obsessive amount of dried herbs and spices. Also a bunch of fresh cilantro, and I can walk a few blocks to a neighbor's who invited me to harvest all the rosemary I want from her shrub. We have heat advisories every day, so in reality, this will not be happening. I am weak on Indian cuisine, and know little about it. So I would rather not go in that direction unless you're willing to mentor me.

Thanks Toliver, My local news ran an article on this and failed to include a link to expansions. I guess I can't taste my biscuit dough for salt anymore. I quit tasting cake and cookie batter when our benevolent government decided it was better for Big Ag to make more money than to keep salmonella out of our supply of chickens and eggs. Does anyone know how in blazes e-coli bacteria, much more commonly associated with animal products can get into a vegetarian food product like flour? Part of the answer may be: "E. coli was one of the first organisms to have its genome sequenced; the complete genome of E. coli K-12 was published by Science in 1997" quoted from this wiki link. I was chilled when I first started reading about gene splicing, and the folks in charge thought is was a good idea to play around with a tiny species capable of killing us!?!? Life will have it's way, as evidenced by grass and weeds growing up even through concrete. "Escape of GM wheat seed[edit] In 1999 scientists in Thailand claimed they discovered glyphosate-resistant wheat in a grain shipment from the Pacific Northwest of the United States, even though transgenic wheat had never been approved for sale and was only ever grown in test plots. No one could explain how the transgenic wheat got into the food supply.[38] In May 2013 a strain of genetically-engineered glyphosate-resistant wheat was found on a farm in Oregon. Extensive testing confirmed the wheat as a variety – MON71800.[39] The wheat had been developed by Monsanto but never been approved or marketed after the company had tested it between 1998 and 2005. The unexplained presence of this type of wheat presents a problem to wheat growers when buyers demand GMO-free wheat.[40]Japan subsequently suspended import of soft white wheat from the United States.[41] AKansas farmer sued Monsanto over the release, saying it had caused the price of wheat grown in the US to fall.[42] Monsanto suggested that the presence of this wheat was likely an act of sabotage.[43] On Jun 14, 2013, the USDA announced: "As of today, USDA has neither found nor been informed of anything that would indicate that this incident amounts to more than a single isolated incident in a single field on a single farm. All information collected so far shows no indication of the presence of GE wheat in commerce."[44] As of August 30, 2013, while the source of the GM wheat remained unknown, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan had all resumed placing orders, and the disruption of the export market was minimal.[45] The investigation was closed in 2014 after the APHIS had exhausted all leads but had not found any evidence that the wheat had entered commercial supply." Again, the above quote is from a wiki article. I say bull. There is a lot of money at stake here, and Monsanto has the most to lose. Did you know they own the rights to a terminator gene? If that gets loose, we are all goners. Life spreads and multiplies. That is what it was designed for, inexorably. I am not sure even Monsanto can stop it, but it will look much different after their interference for massive profits. Monsanto already has the soybean market tied up. When their genetically modified crops contaminate adjacent farmland, our wise government has been allowing them to successfully sue and put out of business farmers whose natural crops are contaminated. Since they now mostly all are contaminated, and Monsanto owns a patent on this gene, all of the folks who used to make a living out of saving seeds for replanting for the next crop have been bankrupted as well. All of this is completely legal, and makes my blood boil. Or it could be that General Mills brought in some animal feces and mixed it with thousands of tons of wheat which was subsequently ground into flour. I don't know, but I hope that is just what they did. It would be safer in the long run, if there is to be one for us. Sorry for the rant and doom and gloom, but this is important for folks to grasp before it it too late. Profit is not everything, even in a capitalist society like ours. We need a long term outlook especially when it comes to our very food supply.

@sartoric, Since this is your thread, and you laid out the rules, and because it's been three days and a few hours, would it be possible to have @gfweb nominate a new person for your challenge, if he doesn't feel like cooking? Lord knows, I know that feeling. I ate out tonight. I would also volunteer to come up with the next list for consideration, if he doesn't feel like doing that too. Or you, sartoric, could nominate someone. Again, I think this is a fun thread, and would like it to continue, if possible.

Yeah, my smoke alarm is apparently a vegetarian. Every time, and I mean every time! I broil meat in the oven inside it kicks up a terrible fuss. I've even set off the one on the second floor on a couple of occasions. I can't look at it as cheering me on. We have a love/hate relationship though. Considering the one function this device is supposed to do, loudly protesting cooking meat is not such a terrible thing.

Tere, I know this flower in your photo as Bachelor's Button, and have grown them in Vermont and Tennessee. I did not know that the more common name was cornflower. According to Mr. Wiki, the flowers are edible (again new to me) and can be used in salads like nasturtiums. The petals of cornflower are also used in Lady Grey tea. Beautiful garden, and so great that you haven't needed chemicals for pest control. It looks like you are having a lot of fun with it.

You are right, @rotuts, nothing like a vine ripened tomato! I love them warm from the sun, washed, of course. I don't care for the on-the-vine variety we get from grocery stores here much. They are extremely watery, with not much flavor. They look so deceptively pretty, though. I will buy them if what else is on offer looks anemic, though. I haven't had luck with counter ripening, between their high water content and the propensity for the seeds to sprout inside the tomato. I love sprouts, but with tomatoes being in the nightshade family, the word is not to eat them. I used to before I knew, and I'm still here. The sprouted seeds actually taste good to me, but I figure at my age, why push my luck?

sparrowgrass, What fuel did your "other" stove use when it was working? I don't think I've ever seen one like it. Very pretty.

huiray, Was the brisket in the pho beef, and was it first cooked to tenderness before adding to the soup?

@gfweb, So... what is going on? Have you made a decision about what you will make from the suggestions you got?

Cheeseburgers pangrilled with onions on pan toasted purchased French bread. American for him, muenster for me. These five ounce med rare ground chuck burgers were so huge, neither of us managed more than half with the sides. These were maduros made from one plantain, tater tots and fries. I had a small amount of each in the freezer. Husband claimed the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

A couple of recipes for zucchini were posted recently on eGullet. I combined ideas from this one for zucchini onion pie and this one for shredded zucchini with lemon and thyme. I shredded and salted the zucchini and drained in a colander while I prepped other things. I sauteed the onion and garlic with a tablespoon of butter before adding it to the pie mixture. I did not add the oil called for and reduced the parm to a couple tablespoons or so. I added a cup and half of grated cheddar, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, thyme and a pinch of nutmeg. I also added a cup of milk. It came out really tasty but took about 50 minutes to cook through. We had chunks of golden honeydew melon in these cute little dishes painted like watermelons that I had chilled overnight in the fridge. I also made lemonade and served it from the matching watermelon pitcher. The lemonade was really good, but I'm glad I wasn't making it for company. I thought pomegranate molasses would turn it a pretty pink, but it turned it the most unfortunate brown color. It was refreshing and delicious anyway, but I won't ever do that again.

I love roast lamb too, and I always thought of Australia as sort of a Mecca for lamb enthusiasts. So @sartoric's post kind of disturbed me too. For one thing, sartoric's lamb looks overcooked in the photo for my taste. For another, I have no liking of mutton. It has a strong smell I dislike a lot. Young lamb cooked preferably rare, but acceptable at med rare is a seasonal treat for us. It's usually prohibitively expensive here and comes down to special occasion pricing around Easter and Christmas. I would be very sad to think I would never taste lamb again, and wouldn't let one bad experience deter me. I used to buy ground lamb for burgers that was very fine, and the last time, I got mutton burgers labeled as lamb from the same source I'd been getting them from right along. It was immediately obvious as soon as I started cooking them by the strong smell in the kitchen. The dog enjoyed very rare mutton burgers outside that night because I had to get that smell out of the house. Come to think of it, I've never tried ground lamb again and that experience was around three decades ago.

Okay, this seems like the ingredients (only nine) for a fairly obvious meal. Since I think this is a really fun thread, and I would like to see it stay viable, I will state the obvious. To me, good beef should be grilled, preferably over charcoal outdoors. I refuse to waste an expensive treat ingredient any other way. It doesn't need anything else except salt and freshly ground black pepper to help it along to perfection. The potatoes seem obvious as well, but you didn't say what kind on potatoes you have. If I had big Idaho Russets, I'd make twice baked potatoes, which is my favorite side to grilled steaks. You just bake them like you usually would. I often use the microwave for the first bake, but never the second one. Cut a slice off the top of the potato lengthwise, then scoop out the insides gently into a mixing bowl as soon as you can handle them, being careful not to tear the skins. Mash the potato in the bowl with butter and salt, heat milk in a glass measuring cup in the microwave, being careful not to boil it over. Oh boy, does that make a fine mess! Add maybe a little chives or green onion if you like. Some people like to put bacon, and other inclusions, but that ruins the smooth texture to me. What makes this dish to me is cheddar planks, so if you don't have that or colby, hoop, cojack, or pepperjack, I would go another way. After you have your mashed potatoes mixed up to your liking, stuff them into the skins only level with the top of the skins or a little under it. You are then going to slide your cheese planks vertically into the filling level with the top, and try to distribute them kind of evenly around the perimeter and down the middle. Then take your remaining mashed potatoes and place on the top of the potatoes, sealing the edges so you can't see a scrap of cheese. This keeps the cheese from oozing out into your baking dish prematurely and burning. Some is going to ooze out any way, and makes fricos around your potatoes, but that's the best part. Bake in a 350 F/177 C oven for 30 minutes or so until the cheese has oozed a bit and browned, and the potato topping has browned a little. I like to make little peaks in the top so they get a little dark in the heat. You can sprinkle with paprika if you want, but it's not necessary. If you've got new potatoes or fingerlings or something else, you would want to go a different way. There are so many ways to make potatoes. Or you could go an entirely different way with the carb component and have pasta with sauteed shredded brussels sprouts sauced with butter and parm. I would definitely add some crushed garlic to the sprouts toward the end of cooking if you've got that. Angel hair or thin spaghetti would be my first pick, but other pasta would work. I like a salad with my steak, and I'd use the salad greens with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and a little thinly sliced onion with a light vinaigrette. I had a similar salad tonight with oregano, basil and parmesan cheese in the dressing. I would't use parm in the salad if I was also using in the pasta dish, though. No matter which way you go with those ingredients, I don't think you can go far wrong. The only thing missing is fresh mushrooms. When I'm really putting on the dog with a steak dinner, I wash, dry and slice fresh mushrooms and and saute with sliced onion in butter. When done, I hit them with a little soy sauce and top the steaks with them. Fresh minced parsley is great stirred in at the end if you have it.

I did, in fact, list above both turkey Thanksgiving dinner and the Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwich (which is made with turkey).