It is right and fitting to celebrate Father’s Day with a semi-blowout dinner. This is not Stick to Your Diet Dad Day, but rather Once in a While Treats for Dad Day – using from-scratch ingredients to create a well-balanced menu, of course.
We suggest the season’s first grilled steak, topped with a disk of tangy blue cheese and garlicky butter, along with a side of decadently delicious baked stuffed potatoes with minced hot peppers stirred in for zing.
For freshness, color and crunch, add a big green salad with halved grape tomatoes and diced cucumber dressed with balsamic vinaigrette, and maybe chocolate ice cream sundaes for dessert.
GRILLED RIB-EYE STEAKS WITH GORGONZOLA-GARLIC BUTTER
Rib-eyes, with their well-marbled meat, are among the most delicious of beef steaks, but if your meat case doesn’t have them, similar poundage of sirloin or porterhouse will be just fine.
Makes 4 servings
Gorgonzola-Garlic Butter:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese
Steaks:
4 boneless rib-eye steaks, about 7 ounces each
Salt, to taste
3 to 4 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
For butter, heat oil in small skillet. Add garlic and cook over medium heat for 1 minute. In a small bowl, mash butter and cheese together; add garlic oil and continue to mash until well blended. Turn out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½ inches in diameter. Wrap well and refrigerate.
To make the steaks, build a hot fire on a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill. If you have them, soak hardwood chips such as hickory in water for 30 minutes and throw on the fire shortly before cooking.
Season steaks with salt and pepper, patting the seasonings evenly onto both sides of the steaks.
Grill the meat, turning once, to the desired degree of doneness, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare for 1½-inch steaks. Transfer to a warm platter. Cut butter into four disks and place 1 atop each steak so it will melt on the hot meat.
GRILLED SPICY POTATOES ON THE HALF-SHELL
They seem to be growing huge one-pound russets these days, but if your potatoes are smaller, allow one per person. The jalapeños add a spicy kick, but since the peppers are also larger than they used to be, adjust amounts to your taste. The potatoes can be reheated in a microwave or in a baking dish in the oven.
Makes 4 servings
2 large (1 pound or more) baking potatoes, scrubbed
½ cup sour cream
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 scallions, finely chopped, or 2 tablespoons snipped chives
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped, or more or less to taste
1 teaspoon salt, plus additional for shells
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil for oiling skins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Pierce potatoes in several places, place on an oven rack, and bake until soft, 45 to 60 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together sour cream, cheese, scallions, jalapeños and the 1 teaspoon of salt.
Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out pulp, leaving a ½-inch-thick shell. Add pulp to sour cream mixture and use a potato masher or a large fork to mash until fairly smooth. Season with black pepper to taste and add more salt if necessary.
Lightly season potato shells with salt and pepper, then divide potato puree among the shells. (The potatoes can be held for up to 2 hours at room temperature before reheating on grill or in oven.) Brush outer skins with olive oil. When steaks are on the grill, arrange potatoes around outer edges and cook, skin sides down, until skins are crackly and nicely charred on the undersides and heated through, about 10 minutes.
Brooke Dojny is author or co-author of more than a dozen cookbooks, most recently “Chowderland: Hearty Soups & Stews with Sides and Salads to Match.” She lives on the Blue Hill peninsula, and can be contacted via Facebook at:
facebook.com/brookedojny
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