Father's Day: Part Two

Well, we were going to grill, being summer is officially almost here – at least according to the calendar. Then we looked out the window at the rain and chilly weather. Time for plan B…..

 Father’s Day Dinner

Wild Mushroom Meatloaf with Horseradish Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Haricot Verts

Green Salad with Haricot Verts, Pistachios, Feta, Tomatoes

Wild Mushroom Meatloaf with Horseradish Gravy

From Rachael Ray’s Big Orange Book cookbook

Pretty much followed the directions, with the following exceptions;

Cooked the meatloaf ahead, let it cool, sliced it and then pan seared it.

For the gravy added some red wine to the onions and tomato paste while it was cooking, and added Worcestershire sauce at the end.

Green Salad with Haricot Verts, Pistachios, Feta, Tomatoes

From Food Network.com – Cooking with the Neelys

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/green-bean-salad-recipe/index.html

Pretty much followed the directions, with the exception of the vinaigrette. For the vinaigrette – omitted the shallots, used part balsamic and part rice wine vinegar and added mustard and honey.

The Verdict

Excellent!

Meatloaf and gravy were very tasty - next time, might chop the onions in the food processor to make them finer.

The salad was really good – thought it would be good with strawberries added but didn’t try it.

Grilled Tri Tip with Cilantro Garlic Dressing

Green Salad

Grilled Tri Tip

Ingredients

½ cup Vegetable Oil

½ cup Lemon Juice

¼ cup Soy Sauce

¼ cup Brown Sugar

1/3 cup Minced Garlic

2 Tablespoons Salt

2 Tablespoons Black Pepper

¼ cup grated Onion

1 ½ lb Tri Tip

Directions

Combine all marinade ingredients (oil thru onion) in zip top bag. Squish around to mix the ingredients together. Add tri-tip, marinate (in fridge) for 8-12 hours.

Prepare grill (charcoal or gas) – we use charcoal. If using charcoal, place coals on one side of grill. Sear tri-tip over direct heat for approximately 7 minutes per side. Move over to indirect heating side for another 10 minutes. Remove from grill and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

The marinade is based upon this recipe found on foodnetwork.com – with changes based upon what I like and had in the house: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/6-hour-tri-tip-marinade-recipe/index.html

Cilantro Garlic Dressing

Ingredients

3-4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 green onions, coarsely chopped
1 red fresno pepper, coarsely chopped
2 bunches of cilantro – you can leave the stems on

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

1-2 tablespoons honey
1 fresh lime juiced, or about 2-3 tablespoons
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until fairly smooth, this can take several minutes.

Trying to use up two bunches of cilantro in the house, I found this recipe with cilantro garlic dressing from the 101 Cookbooks blog, and altered it based on what we had (or didn’t have) in the house.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/grilled-tofu-soba-noodles-recipe.html

Green Salad

Directions

Open refrigerator or look on counter, pull out random salad ingredients that need to be used up. In today’s salad we had lettuce, sliced radishes, cherry tomatoes, roasted yellow/red peppers, a few spears of leftover roasted asparagus, and avocado.

Chop or slice ingredients as needed, toss in salad bowl with preferred dressing.

The Verdict

Yum, Yum, and Yum.

First time making tri-tip – it was delicious.

The cilantro-garlic dressing turned out very tasty – both on the meat and on the salad. I bet it would be good on chicken and grilled veggies too.