Food & Dining

Damsel and I decided to have hamburgers and roasted potato spears today. We didn’t just buy ground beef patties and throw them on the grill, but rather ground up some brisket and put in the seasonings ourselves. Damsel prepared four half-pound patties from a two pound brisket we bought on sale and had in the freezer until yesterday.

I started the patio grill and preheated to 400°F with the lid closed. A low flame setting does the job. Meanwhile, Damsel sliced up the potatoes into spears and anointed them with seasonings and some EVOO.

She then puts the potato slices on a baking sheet and I slip them onto the shelf in the preheated grill. There they sit for 20-25 minutes when I take the tongs out and turn them over on the baking sheet. After another 25 minutes, they’re done. Moved them to a warm place on the grill and turned up the heat on the other side for the burger patties.

Grilled the patties until medium. For the last minute or so, I topped the patties with Havarti cheese slices. We like Havarti better than cheddar or American slices.

When the burgers were done, we brought them in and fixed up paper plates with the cheeseburgers on buns with onion, tomato and lettuce. Today, we added some green goddess dressing. Served with the ‘taters, this was sure a good meal!

Damsel and I generally prepare a dinner meal both on Saturday and on Sunday. Today, the entree consisted of grilled pork tenderloin with Jack Daniels sauce, braised Brussels sprouts with bacon bits, acorn squash and candy apple baby carrots.

We start with the squash cut in half and seeded with butter and pepper wrapped in foil. I preheated the grill with the cover closed to 400°F. The squash goes on the shelf in the grill for 45 minutes.

We coat the pork tenderloin with gourmet mustard and coarse black pepper. Then it gets wrapped in foil and joins the squash on the shelf for 30 minutes. After the squash have heated for 45 minutes with the tenderloin for the last 30 minutes, remove the squash and set aside leaving them in the foil. Turn the grill on high, unwrap the tenderloin and grill it for an additional five minutes per side.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Damsel prepares a sauce consisting half and half bourbon and maple syrup. The sauce gets reduced over low heat while the grill is going. She also rendered the bacon bits until brown, adding minced garlic and onion until translucent. Then she adds the sprouts (quartered) for another ten minutes or so. On the other burner she cooked some baby carrots in apple juice.

The tenderloin gets cut into medallions a quarter inch thick and the squash get scooped out of the skins. Serve up the carrots, sprouts, squash and pork topped with the Jack sauce. This meal is really great. Everything compliments everything else. MMMM good.

Tomorrow – beef Stroganoff over noodles.