Three meat Weekend

I sent this e-mail recipe list to a co-worker of mine for a get together she was having last weekend. She wanted to prepare three meats to please everyone and some simple sides to fill up the gaps. I hear it was a hit and what I like most is that these recipes are simple enough that you can prepare them all at the same time.

From: Benner
To: Y'all
Cc:

Hey, here’s what I’m thinking:
Cedar Plank salmon, java steak with blue cheese medallions, and Rickards grilled chicken...

I’ll lay the meats out first and suggest some easy side vegetables, all grill themed all easy to clean up and not too labour intensive.

Cedar plank salmon
- 3 single portions of salmon, or 1 piece big enough for three people (remember your plank is 5 3/4” x 15”, that’s your max size)
- 1 cedar plank
- Fresh dill
- 2 fresh lemons
- Course pepper
- Course salt
Soak the plank in water for :30 minutes; oil plank with olive oil on both sides. Put the salmon on the plank, sprinkle with course salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice of one half lemon overtop. Sprinkle sprigs of dill over the whole salmon also. Place the planked salmon in the barbecue at 250° cooking indirect for up to 40 minutes. Here’s the thing, the salmon will become less pink as it cooks to a point, it will also start to lose the white ribbons of fat between the meat (it’s basically melting). The more white you lose the more dry and flaky it get’s; if you’re fish is fresh and your guest like it moist aim for 30 minutes to 35. If you have a two knob grill put the fish on the low side where the burner is at min temp, have the other one on med-high. Use the burner that’s turned down to periodically heat the plank up and partially char the plank. When it’s done, remove the salmon and plank together, serve it right from the plank on a cutting board or platter, top with lemon slices and you’re golden. See pic.

Java steak and blue cheese butter medallions
- butter
- blue cheese
- before the steak take ¼ cup of butter and melt it until it’s workably creamy not a full liquid, the microwave is good for this in 8 second bursts. Take your creamy butter and work about 50 g of blue cheese into the butter. Put it in the fridge for 2 minutes, you want it like dough now because you’re going to take it out of the fridge and roll it into a tube in wax paper or tin foil. Then put your butter tube in the freezer.

- 4 top sirloin steaks
- ¼ cup of coffee course grind
- ¼ cup of brown sugar
- Course pepper 1 teaspoon
- Course salt 1 teaspoon
- 1 heaping tablespoon of paprika
- 1 teaspoon of mustard powder
Mix these things together in a bowl then rub your defrosted meat down with olive oil, rub in the spice rub above and let them sit on a plate at room temp for 15 minutes. Grill just like the perfect steak, top sirloin is like the filet but cheaper, it is perfect at medium doneness. Serve to your guests with the butter tube from above cut into butter medallions that melt overtop the steak.

Rickards Grilled Chicken
- the sauce recipe is from Rickards but 2 chicken breasts, one for you and one for the jealous people who want to try it.
- ¼ cup of course Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup of maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons of paprika (don’t be afraid to go heavy)
- 1 teaspoon of mustard powder
- 2 buds of minced or crushed garlic
- Course Pepper pinch
- Course salt pinch
Mix these together in a bowl, taste, add what is needed to make it more sweet, more saucy, less saucy, etc.. Put the chicken and the sauce in a Ziplock and let marinade for 30 minutes at room temperature, as always defrosted meat. Grill as you would always grill chicken breasts; remember to season your grids as it keeps the chicken from sticking. Grill for up to 25 minutes, you can cut to check to see if it’s done if you are not comfortable grilling chicken breasts.

Extras:

Quinoa salad is delicious, I’ve attached a recipe (as this isn't an e-mail qunioa is posted below)

Grilled peppers, mushrooms and zucchini are delicious and have a one sentence recipe. Cut them into grillable pieces, put them in a Ziplock bag, add Italian salad dressing, let marinade for 10 minutes, grill for up to 8 minutes until they’re soft and seared; not black.

Good luck! Call me if you have questions.