Fall 2008 - Issue 1

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Thanksgiving Yummies

Keith Albano, Staff Writer

Mix Vegetable Tempura Platter

Cook TIme: 30 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Serving: 4-5

Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes
2 zucchinis*
1 squash*
1 carrot (peeled)
2 beaten eggs
2 quarts of cooking oil
1cup of flour (sifted) or tempura mix
1 tsp of salt

Directions:
Peel carrot and cut it into ¼ inch thick. If you are using zucchini and/or squash, note that you don’t need to peel the skin off.

In a cooking pot, boil the sweet potatoes for 10 minutes with the lid on medium-low heat. Drain potatoes, peel and cut as the other vegetables.

Meanwhile, in a 6-quart pot or a deep fryer, preheat the cooking oil to 300 degrees F on medium-low heat. Make sure you have a cooking thermometer at hand to check the temperature. This is key, because if the oil is heated up to high you will spoil the oil, causing the food to not be fried properly. If it’s too low, the food will absorb much of the oil.

In a large bowl, beat the two eggs and set alongside the bowl with the flour. Next, dip the vegetables in the egg batter and into the flour. Before you drop it into the hot oil, shake off any excess flour and carefully place it in the fryer. 

Be sure not to overload the fryer with the vegetables, for two reasons: One, you don’t want the oil to boil over while you cook. The other reason is you don’t want to lower the temperature when you fry the food. As a cook, you want every piece to come out with the same texture.

Once cooked, drain vegetables on a paper towel to catch the excess oil.

 

Grilled Chuck Steak with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Cook TIme: 30-40 Minutes Difficulty: Medium Serving: 4-5

Ingredients
8 oz chuck steak
*2-3 pieces of bacon
2 lbs of potato, quartered, peeled
½ cup of cream
2 roasted heads of garlic
1 stick butter (cubed)
Olive oil
Garlic salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
Salt and white pepper

Directions:
Grilled Steak
Here is a guide for you when grilling your steaks.

Thickness of Steak Rare (minutes on each side) Medium - Rare Well Done
1" thick 5 minutes 7 minutes 10minutes
1 1/2" thick 7 minutes 10 minutes 13 minutes
2" thick 8 minutes 11 minutes 14 minutes

Sprinkle and rub the garlic salt, pepper, sugar and olive oil onto the steak. Next, grill the steak to desired preference and set aside once steak is grilled.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
In a pot with salted water, add the quartered and peeled potatoes. Let the potatoes cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat or until they are “fork tender.” Next drain the water from the pot. Once drained, put the pot of potatoes back on the heat and stir the potatoes until they dehydrate for about 3 minutes. Remove the pot off the heat and then add the peeled garlic and butter. With a masher, mash the potatoes, garlic, and butter. Add cream a little at a time or until the desired smoothness of your potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside with the lid on to keep warm.

*In a frying pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Then chop and set atop the mash potatoes to use as a topping.

Slice steak, serve with mash potatoes on a separate plate, and enjoy!

*Optional