Monday, April 12, 2010

Easter Sunday was wonderful...sorry this is so late!

I hope all your Easters were as nice as mine......If you didn't see the PRELUDE to my Aunt and Uncle's yearly Easter festivities at their home, please scroll down. And, the post just below this one shows the gorgeous floral arrangements on the outside tables and the dining room centerpiece where the buffet was set out........

My aunt and I laughed at the fact that I nearly got the menu correct in my 'prelude'! She joked that she's predictable but the truth is that she's just a wonderful cook and so I put my wish list there in the original post full of things I've loved at her house. This year was only slightly different, though I got the main course wrong I got the side dishes and hors d'oeuvres pretty close....but the things I didn't guess were just delicious and I particularly wanted you to have the main course recipe which I have also made myself...it's deeeelicious and perfect for this coming summer.

Let me tell you the full actual menu first.....we started with my mother's stuffed grape leaves extraordinaire, that wonderful salami I'd hoped for, served with brined black olives, a delicious goat cheese and pita bread, a fifteen year old Cheddar from Wisconsin that was FABULOUSLY full of those little salt crystals you get when you're eating a terrifically aged cheese....stuffed eggs and I think I'm forgetting something but you get the delicious picture...all with red or white wine, of course!

My aunt emailed me the italicized list of the dinner menu when I sent her the link to the piece about her which she really enjoyed!

Or am I that predictable? You're right on ... mostly:
Grilled Skirt Steaks
Potato Salad
Ambrosia (so glad you like it ... I always wondered if anyone did)
Heirloom tomatoes with basil and mozzarella
Sweet corn off the cob in butter
Fresh peas and carrots with butter, parsley and orange zest
Artichokes with Remoulade sauce
Cookies
Ice Cream bars
Date Bars (wait till you try these ... you'll be addicted)

See how close I was!? It was FABULOUS! And, oh, was she right about the date bars...they're like date cookie-bars and I will see if I can get that recipe for you, too.(Z: update: that recipe will be here soon!)

Here's the SOUTHWESTERN FLANK STEAK WITH FRESH SALSA from "GourmetLA" (where ELSE? :-)

1 1/2 lbs flank steak (or skirt steak)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 T chili sauce
2 T chili powder
2 T soy sauce
2 T oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 medium orange, thinly sliced
Cilantro sprigs to garnish

Place steak in a shallow baking dish. Combine OJ, chili sauce and powder, soy sauce, oil, honey, orange and lemon peels, garlic, salt and cayenne. Pour over meat....place orange slices over meat. Marinate in refrigerator overnight. Preheat Grill.

Bring meat to room tep. Remove steak from marinade and discard marinade. Grill steak for 4-6 minutes per side or to desired doneness. Slice diagonally especially if you're using flank steak. Place on a platter and surround with Fresh Fruit Salsa, orange wedges and cilantro sprigs.

Fresh Fruit Salsa:
1 cup diced pineapple, 1 sliced kiwi, 1 cup chopped papaya, 1/2 tsp crushed hot red pepper flakes, 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper, 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper, 1 1/2 T's white wine vinegar, 1 1/2 Ts minced cilantro, 4 tsps sugar

Combine ingredients in a bowl, mix well and chill overnight...serve at room temperature.

Serves 4 (just multiply if you're having more, we had about 25 that day, but do not multiply the hot stuff if you don't like things really hot...) Great with grilled fish, too. AND, if you'd like to share some of the delicious things you had, fire away in 'comments' Thanks.
Enjoy...From Z and Z's Aunt and Z's Uncle, who barbecued the meat JUST RIGHT!
xxx

10 comments:

Ducky's here said...

Enough to make a vegetarian cry.

Karen K said...

Sounds wonderful-- will bookmark. :-)

Z said...

Ducky, are you a strict vegetarian? Well, you could have eaten everything but the main course and salami and I think you'd have loved it!

Karen, it's so good and you can see that it can be all done the day before but the grilling.

Ducky's here said...

No, not that strict. In a situation like this I would have chowed down, believe me.

Z said...

I'd have been happy to have you there, Ducky...

Anonymous said...

What a great spread Z. A meal fit for a king.

My gosh that would have done it for me for a couple of days!

And Ducky, nothing pleases a cook more, than seeing her guests chow down. It's a high compliment. Heck you only live once, might as well enjoy it.

Pris

Z said...

Hi, Pris...depends on how much we eat, right? My aunt emailed yesterday she's still eating potato salad from then!
Did you now that it's the onions in potato salads which cause people to be sick, not the mayo? Just read on that and found it fascinating!

Anonymous said...

My mouth is watering.

Anonymous said...

Hi Z, no I didn't know that about the onions. However, I've never been sick from eating potato salad. It doesn't last long enough for anything to go bad.

Oh gosh, potato salad sounds really good right now. I'm hungry!

Pris

Unknown said...

Oh how good that all sounds!