Weekend in Long Island

A friend of mine, Dan, will be moving to Florida soon. We were watching a movie Thursday night when he, offhandedly, asked if I wanted to go to Long Island with him and his friend, Kim, for the weekend. Having little else planned, and knowing that a weekend away is always a good time, I took him up on the offer. Saturday was spent at the beach, but the feast that we cooked that night was glorious,

Dan and I are carnivores to the core, so the on sale t-bone steaks were our choices. Kim however, elected for the shrimp. However, since the steaks came in a 3 pack, it was surf and turf for us. A bunch of veggies and some drinks meant kabobs for all.

Now I realize that kabobs are by no means a culinary exploration, but the marinade and grilling expertise was what separated this from the usual. The veggies, prior to being skewered were put in a pot along with balsamic vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic power, red pepper flakes, paprika, and sun dried tomato flakes. Mixing these by hand, Dan and I soon had a tray full of veggie kabobs. The shrimp was done simply being mixed with old bay prior to being impaled.

As for the steaks, it would have been a sin had we stripped away the meat from the flavorful bone prior to grilling. Both sides of the steak were seasoned with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders, and sat, waiting for the grill.

First thing was first, veggies have to go on. Here is a little tip with any kabob making endeavor: mix and match any veggies on a skewer, and keep all the meet skewers separate. Chicken takes far longer to cook than steak or shrimp. Don’t turn your veggies into charcoal with just done chicken, or have pink-in-the-center chicken with perfect veggies.

With the veggie kabobs complete, chicken and shrimp went on. With nice and crispy ends, just slightly charred, they were removed and the lid went back down, re-heating for the steak. Another tip with grilling steak: Get your grill as hot as it will go BEFORE putting the steak on. We are talking 500 degrees here. Sufficiently hot, the steak went on. Five minutes for one side. Resist temptation to peak, flip, move, or touch the steaks. Keep the lid on and let them be. Fail to do this, and the steak will not develop those signature grill marks. Flipped once, and another four minutes on the grill. Steaks come off, and I let them rest for 5 min underneath tin foil. Why? When steaks come right off the grill, the protein molecules are still to jumbled and moving. Cutting into a steak now would make all of the juices run out, and the steak’s flavor with it. Let it rest for five minutes under foil, and you will be rewarded with juicy steak.

The next day, we headed to a party at Dan’s sister’s house. Wouldn’t you know it, they had kabobs! This time, we had no steak but instead had chicken and swordfish. Me being the foodie I am, I couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen and help. Showing my deftness, I soon was delegated head chef. As before, veggies went on medium heat first. After two whole grills full of vegetation, I turned to the chicken, again giving it a nice char on the end. This required flipping both top to bottom and side to side. The beauty though, was in the swordfish. As with any steak (or steak fish), cooking any further than medium is an insult to the ingredient. After removing all other items, I again let the grill re-heat. The cubes of skewered swordfish sat on one side for four minutes before their single flip. Another three minutes and seared medium swordfish were on the table.

I wonderful meal was enjoyed by all and for the three hour car ride home (most of which I slept through) I am sure I stand up the car with my masculine scent of the grill.

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!