Summer's calling!!

Good afternoon, Kitschies! We're officially in to a new week and it's been good so far. However, it IS just Tuesday, so who knows what's really in store for us.

I don't know about you, but it feels like the new year was just last month yet it was over 6 months ago!!! Time is moving much, much to quickly for my liking. However, to help make it slow down, we like to do some grilling outside, preferably with friends and/or family. The weather this last weekend was beautiful and it's been pretty darn nice the last couple of days. See, the thing about New Mexico weather is if you don't like it, wait a few minutes and it'll change. I hope this pattern doesn't change for a while because when it does, that means it's gonna get HOT! Today a patient of mine told me today is the "official" start of monsoon season. What does that mean? Afternoon thundershowers! It's crazy though, because it could be pouring rain one minute and then five minutes later it doesn't even look like it rained. It's nice because it usually cools off the afternoon, but it also can trigger flash floods - not good. Anyway...in light of the upcoming summer, I bring you a recipe/marinade for my favorite cut of meat: tri tip!

If you don't live in California, you probably have never hear of it. Tri tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. It's a small triangular muscle that usually comes in 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 pounds. Relatively lower in fat, it makes a very good roast and an excellent grilling meat. In my family, we usually use a dry rub and grill it on a gas grill until medium-rare. Now that I live in New Mexico, that cut of meat has been impossible to find. Luckily, my parents come to visit once or twice a year and they're nice enough to stock us up with plenty of tri tip to get us through to their next visit. I know I said that it usually comes in 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 pound portions, but the stuff my parents got me is bigger than that!! One portion easily feeds four adults. Like I said, we usually use a dry rub on tri tip, but I was in search of a marinade to use this time. This is what I found.

Easy Grilled Tri Tip

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp water
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
salt & pepper to taste
4 pounds beef tri tip, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

Marinate for at least 4 hours, flipping every so often for even coverage

In a large, non-reactive bowl, blend the soy sauce, olive oil, water, garlic, and pepper. Place the beef tri tip in the marinade. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 4 hours.

Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil grate.

Grill the beef slices 3 to 5 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Discard remaining marinade.

The finished product served with my "potato pack" and El Pinto salsa

NOTES: I think I used a little more than 2 cloves of garlic (we LOVE garlic). You don't necessarily have to oil the grate - I've never had a problem with tri tip sticking to the grate. However, when we do need to oil the grate, we use Pam for Grilling. It's good stuffs! Non-reactive bowl means either glass or plastic. You can either cook the whole thing, which is what we usually do, or you can cut the slab up in to individual steaks. I don't know why, but we always serve this with salsa. Our salsa of choice is El Pinto medium salsa. Before New Mexico, I never knew what salsa really was. I will never NOT get El Pinto salsa, even if I move out of the Land of Enchantment. My Dad usually grabs a jar or two to take back to Cali because you can't find it in the stores there anymore.

This is what I had for dinner - the hubs doesn't like artichokes so I had one all to myself...soooo good!!!

In addition to tri tip, I usually serve my "potato pack". I call it that because when it was just the hubs and I, I would wrap the cut up potatoes in a little foil pack to throw in the oven. Now that we make more (we probably eat more than we should), we've outgrown the "pack" and use a 9 x 13 glass dish. This is just a basic recipe and that's what I like about it. You can mix up the spices depending on what you're serving it with.

Megan's Potato Pack

3 medium potatoes, washed and cubed
small-medium yellow onion, peeled and chunked
olive oil
minced garlic
garlic salt
Italian seasoning
fresh ground pepper
butter (the real stuff)

Wash and cube the potatoes and onion. Place in gallon zipper bag. Add oil, spices and seasonings to taste. Shake to mix. Pour in 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Cube up about 1 Tbsp butter and place all over potatoes. Cover with foil. Place in 350-400* oven for 45-60 minutes, mixing at 30 minutes.

Cubed potatoes and onion

Combine in 9 x 13 glass baking dish

The finished product!

Oh...and I had another Freecycle trade today. MUCH better than the first one - be sure to look for that post coming up in the next couple of days. And while we're on the topic of polish...I am (impatiently!) waiting for my Zoya Polish Exchange package - they charged my account Friday so it should be here any day now!!!

Listening to: Thinking About You by Norah Jones
Mood: good!