Here's a holiday dad can sink his teeth into
Father's Day is the Fred Flinstone of holidays.
Remember the brontosaurus ribs that tip over Fred's car in the opening of the cartoon?
Yeah, Father's Day is like that — the meat holiday.
When asked what people will serve their fathers this year, or what fathers want for dinner, the answer is almost always steak.
Executive chef Alan Green of the Hotel Saxonburg decided to mix it up a bit when it comes to dad's dinner, by suggesting two meals that incorporate meat and seafood in a new take on surf-n-turf.
Originally from Aliquippa, Green, who has been a chef for more than 40 years, said when he works on a menu he takes several things into consideration including what produce is fresh on a local level, who is he serving and what tastes good together.
And while they sound exotic, both of the menus he came up with for this weekend's specials are easily replicated at home.
The first is a gorgonzola-stuffed, ground veal-ground sirloin burger with a wild mushroom butter on a toasted onion roll with baby arugula and garlic marinated tomatoes.
Green said he uses 4 ounces each of the ground veal and ground sirloin.“The sirloin makes it taste like steak and the veal makes it buttery,” he said.He then stuffs the burger with about 2 ounces of crumbled gorgonzola, a type of blue cheese. You can then grill to your liking.Next, he said melt a couple of pats of butter in a sauté pan, and then throw in a handful of shiitake mushrooms. Pour the mushrooms and sauce over the burger. Then dress the burger with arugula and tomatoes that have been mixed with chopped garlic.To get the surf-n-turf effect, Green said to add a lobster and charred corn and potato salad with buttermilk dressing on the side.He poaches the lobster and then chops the meat, while grilling ears of corn with a little butter, salt and pepper.“You want to get a good char on it so you can get that good smokey taste in the salad,” Green said.You can boil any kind of potatoes you like for the salad, mixing together three parts buttermilk to one part mayonnaise, season with salt and pepper to taste, and mix all the ingredients together.For his second menu, Green picked grilled lobster with charred lemons and a side of sesame roasted asparagus — again a simple but succulent recipe.He said to cut the lobster in half lengthwise, with the raw meat brushed with melted butter, and then place it on the grill until the meat is snowy white, or to your liking.At the same time, grill a couple of lemon halves for squeezing over the lobster meat.
In a sauté pan, add a couple of pats of butter and about an ounce of toasted sesame oil. “A little sesame oil can go a long way,” Green warned.Sauté the asparagus — if asparagus stalks are thick they should be peeled with a vegetable peeler — seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Just before plating, sprinkle with white and black sesame seeds.“I just thought it would be nice to give dad a little something different to try this year,” Green said.But for the Monroe Hotel in Butler, Chef Josh Minehart and owner Fred Reese, are focused on meat for this weekend's specials.While Minehart is making a crab-scallop-shrimp stuffed sea scallop in a tarragon sherry dish, he is ready to wrestle several sides of beef into the oven and on to the grill.“I think our prime rib is the best in the area,” Minehart said, as Reese added the tender steak in au jus will be the bigger seller this weekend.“It always is,” he said.For the Monroe's prime rib, Minehart explained the 15-to-17-pound ribeye roast should be marinated overnight before the cooking process begins. He uses Kitchen Bouquet, a brown liquid that anyone can buy, but warns that you want to use just enough to coat the meat in one pass.“This is really strong, so you don't want to use too much or you won't be able to eat it,” Reese said.Minehart then covers the meat with a liberal amount of Montreal steak seasoning, which can be found in the spice aisle of most groceries.Then the meat is put into a metal pan, covered with plastic and refrigerated.
The next day, the roast is put into a special convection oven, which moves hot air around the meat for cooking, but Minehart said the average person can cook prime rib by turning a regular oven up as high as it will go temperature wise, and cooking the meat with the fat side up for 5 minutes, depending on the size of the roast.“It's important that the fat side be up, because you want that fat to drip through the meat. That's your flavor. That's what makes it so tender,” Minehart said.After searing the roast, turn the oven down to about 225 degrees and cook for about four to six hours.“Let it go for a couple of hours and check on the meat,” Reese said. “You can always keep cooking it until it is to your liking, but if you just turn on the oven and forget it, you might end up with shoe leather.”As for steaks, the Monroe Hotel features just about any cut, some of which are marinated to be like the old Black Diamond steaks or with Cajun spices.
But however it is spiced, Minehart said the trick to grilling steaks is to get the grill as hot as you can.“Make sure it's up to temperature before you put any meat on and try to plan on which steaks need to be on longer for individual tastes,” he said.All three chefs agree, however, that the best thing about Father's Day and the holidays like it, is being with your loved ones.“We just want to make sure every father knows its his day,” Reese said.
