Cooking Big for the Weekend

Tonight was cooking night. Not only did we grill backbone (large pork chops), we also grilled shish kabobs, and made linguini with clam sauce. It was a busy night in our kitchen, but we have food for a couple of days.

After swimming I started on a rub for the backbone. Each year the fire department sells backbone, ribs, and sausage to raise money for the fire department in our little community. Each year, I buy lots of meat and vacuum seal it before I freeze it. It is nice to have a variety in the freezer for any type of cooking. The shish kabobs started with a sirloin tip roast I had in the freezer as well. We buy a side of beef each year also. I love getting my beef that way. It is way better than anything I can buy in a grocery store. The pasta for the linguini was actually fettuccine that I bought on the hill in St. Louis. I love shopping on the hill.

The shish kabobs were something my husband wanted. I happened to ask him last week what his favorite food was from his childhood and he started telling me about these shish kabobs that his mom used to make. She would grill beef, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions on the grill, and then finish it off on the stove simmered in bbq sauce. Making that put him in heaven tonight. He loved his dinner tonight.

Linguini with Clam Sauce

6-7 anchovy fillets
5 garlic cloves chopped
2 tsp dry thyme
½ tsp cracked red pepper
4 tblsp olive oil
1 cup white wine
3 10 oz cans clams with juice
40-50 cherry tomatoes

2 lbs. fettuccine
1 large handful parsley chopped.

Cook fettuccine according to package directions. While noodles are cooking heat oil in large skillet, add anchovies and cook into oil, making sure that anchovies dissolve. After anchovies have started to melt, add garlic, thyme and peppers and cook for 2-3 minutes at medium heat. Add tomatoes and heat. After tomatoes are heated, add wine to deglaze pan and let wine reduce by 1/3 with pan covered. Tomatoes should be breaking open at this point. Start breaking tomates to ensure that juice from tomatoes is added to sauce. Add clams and heat through. Add noodles and parsley to sauce and combine. Serve immediately.

BBQ Shish Kabobs

1 sirloin tip roast cut into cubes
3 tblsp steak seasoning
3 tbsp olive oil plus more for drizzling
½ lb mushrooms with stems removed
3 green peppers cleaned and quartered
1 onion quartered and halved
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 skewers – if using wood, soak for 30 minutes in water before using.
3 cups your favorite bbq sauce

Cut steak into cubes that can be skewered. Put in plastic bag with steak seasoning and olive oil and let marinate for at least one hour. Skewer steak, peppers, onions and mushrooms drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Grill until steaks are medium rare. Add all to a large Dutch oven with bbq sauce and cook on low heat for 1 hour at low heat. Serve immediately

Grilled Backbone

4 backbone steaks
3 tblsp fresh rosemary chopped
2 tblsp fresh thyme chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1-2 pinches cayenne pepper
juice of one lemon
3 tbsp olive oil

Put rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, pinch of cayenne, and lemon juice into a mixing bowl; stir. Slowly add olive oil and whisk entire mixture together. Spread mixture with hands onto steaks and let set in refrigerator of at least one hour. Grill over medium to medium high heat until cooked through and no pink remains. Let meat sit for 5 minutes before serving.