After Tuesday night’s meal of kraut and ribs, I felt confident in Wednesday’s glorious eats…. What Shall I Serve by Letta W. Hesse is my guide this week. And, heaven help us, it just keeps getting better.
Wednesday Night Menu
Broiled steak, fried eggplant, sweet potatoes en casserole, cardinal salad, peach crumb pudding with custard sauce, and iced tea
A few initial thoughts: I was really excited about the cardinal salad until I saw that it was made cardinal by beets… beets in lemon gelatin. And, after the horror that was the Golden Salad coupled with my aversion to beets, I nixed that one right off the bat. And, pudding with custard sauce seemed overkill. So, we’re left with steak, fried eggplant, sweet potatoes, and iced tea. (And, letting a few notches out of the old belt.)
Well, you won’t see eggplant because I couldn’t get to the store in time to buy them… alas, we will survive. Stick with me, people!
Broiled Steak
Select sirloin, club or porterhouse steak and have it cut from 1-2″ in thickness. Trim. Rub broiler with fat and arrange steak with thickest part in center of broiler. (Now, hang on a sec… rub broiler with fat? And, potentially cause a grease fire in my oven. No thank you, sir.) Broil under electric grill, gas fire, or live coals without a flame. (I went with my standard gas broiler.)
Place steak close to fire, sear quickly and turn often until rare, medium, or well done according to personal preference. Remove to platter, sprinkle with salt and pepper and (here’s my favorite part) spread with butter.
Results
Obviously, the quality of this recipe depends upon the quality of the one ingredient. The butter! Kidding, this is a dull but get it done way to get your meat cooked.
Sweet Potatoes en Casserole
Boil same as for Candied Sweet Potatoes. (Which basically says peel and boil 6 medium-sized potatoes in slightly salted water for 20 minutes. They also note that it is “easier and all food content will be retained if peeled after cooking.” That’s how I did it.)
Put through ricer, add 2 T butter, ⅓ C milk, 2 T brown sugar, and ¼ t salt. Beat until light. Bake in a buttered dish surrounded by water in oven (350°) for 20 minutes. (I eschewed the water bath and just put it in the oven.) Cover the top with marshmallows (oh, you didn’t think we were going to get off without a marshmallow topper, did you?) and return to oven until well browned. Serve immediately.
My favorite part of this is the addendum: Crushed pineapple may be added; or alternate layers of apple slices and mashed sweet potatoes also make a pleasing variation. This lady sure loved her pineapple.
Results
Well, I went for the apple slices in the sweet potatoes. And, yeah it’s a sweet sticky mess. Mr. Moo liked it when he thought that the white goo was milk, but then actually tasted it and did his little, “I’m a weirdo kid that hates sweets” face.
Of course, Paul thought it was the best thing since sliced apples were put into an orange potato. I threw up a little in my mouth. But, I hear that this is a standard recipe at Thanksgiving tables across this fine nation… so, have fun tomorrow!
For future reference, I am also noting that saying things like “en casserole” make your recipe sound fancy even when it’s just in a regular casserole dish. This is what it looked like all spooned onto a plate:
Kitchenalia 