K Kruger
Senior Cook
This past Friday, tri-tip for dinner.
I made a rub blend similar to Susie-Q Santa Maria-style but added granulated onion and replaced the dried parsley (which I strongly dislike) with fresh parsley, making a paste by mashing in a mortar the chopped parsley leaves with the granulated garlic and onion, the black pepper, and just a tiny pinch of salt (to speed the release of water from the parsley leaves). I salted the tri separately, before spreading on the paste.
The tri, paste quickly applied but not yet spread more evenly:
I also prepped some local sweet white corn for the grill. I've never seen a point in soaking corn, nor for taking the time to remove all the husk and silk. Removing the husk except the last leaves is quick; the silk will easily come off after the corn cooks. The husk will protect the kernels at the beginning then shrink as the corn cooks, allowing for some browning as it finishes.
I marinated trimmed asparagus in piri-piri marinade and partially cooked some small purple-skinned potatoes then skewered them for grilling. I made a simple guacamole and a salsa of diced local tomatoes, white onion, minced pickled jal and lime. I made a mayonnaise with smoked paprika, Aleppo pepper, dried lemon zest powder, a little Worcestershire powder, and a little lime.
I grilled the tri, indirect, in a very hot kettle. Just 1 min per side, direct, to finish.
The vegs when the came off the grill:
Sliced tri-tip with grilled asparagus, grilled potatoes, guacamole, and fresh salsa; grilled corn with spiced mayo:
******
With the leftover tri and salsa--
--I made a light lunch on Saturday of sliced chilled tri-tip with calamondin vinaigrette (from a crabcake cook a while back), grains of paradise, and red sea salt; mullt-grain tortilla chips with the salsa (to which I added some diced ripe avocado and a little evoo):
Breakfast tacos, Sunday: Sliced then diced tri-tip scrambled in eggs on flame-griled corn tortillas, with jalapeno jack and the leftover tomato-avo salsa from the above lunch.
Here is yesterday's breakfast using leftovers, egg-avocado and jalapeno jack enchiladas with chopped tri-tip/chopped chuck sauce. I simmered store bought salsa (Herzez's Salsa Casera) in a saute pan till reduced, flame-cooked the tortillas then softened them in the salsa. I then put them in a 200-degree oven to keep warm.
Meanwhile, I heated grilled corn (from the tri cook above) that I cut off the cob with the last of the tri, finely chopped, some pulled-then-chopped beef from this cook, and a few splashes of finishing sauce I always keep around for pork. When that reduce to nothing I stuck the pan in the oven to keep the sauce warm. (I swirled a little water into it just before putting on the enchiladas to make it saucy.
I cooked some scrambled eggs, adding avo chiucks and pieces of cheese when half cooked, rolled this, when cooked, in the tortillas, topped with the beef sauce and a couiple dollops of the reduced salsa casera. Yum.
I made a rub blend similar to Susie-Q Santa Maria-style but added granulated onion and replaced the dried parsley (which I strongly dislike) with fresh parsley, making a paste by mashing in a mortar the chopped parsley leaves with the granulated garlic and onion, the black pepper, and just a tiny pinch of salt (to speed the release of water from the parsley leaves). I salted the tri separately, before spreading on the paste.
The tri, paste quickly applied but not yet spread more evenly:
I also prepped some local sweet white corn for the grill. I've never seen a point in soaking corn, nor for taking the time to remove all the husk and silk. Removing the husk except the last leaves is quick; the silk will easily come off after the corn cooks. The husk will protect the kernels at the beginning then shrink as the corn cooks, allowing for some browning as it finishes.
I marinated trimmed asparagus in piri-piri marinade and partially cooked some small purple-skinned potatoes then skewered them for grilling. I made a simple guacamole and a salsa of diced local tomatoes, white onion, minced pickled jal and lime. I made a mayonnaise with smoked paprika, Aleppo pepper, dried lemon zest powder, a little Worcestershire powder, and a little lime.
I grilled the tri, indirect, in a very hot kettle. Just 1 min per side, direct, to finish.
The vegs when the came off the grill:
Sliced tri-tip with grilled asparagus, grilled potatoes, guacamole, and fresh salsa; grilled corn with spiced mayo:
******
With the leftover tri and salsa--
--I made a light lunch on Saturday of sliced chilled tri-tip with calamondin vinaigrette (from a crabcake cook a while back), grains of paradise, and red sea salt; mullt-grain tortilla chips with the salsa (to which I added some diced ripe avocado and a little evoo):
Breakfast tacos, Sunday: Sliced then diced tri-tip scrambled in eggs on flame-griled corn tortillas, with jalapeno jack and the leftover tomato-avo salsa from the above lunch.
Here is yesterday's breakfast using leftovers, egg-avocado and jalapeno jack enchiladas with chopped tri-tip/chopped chuck sauce. I simmered store bought salsa (Herzez's Salsa Casera) in a saute pan till reduced, flame-cooked the tortillas then softened them in the salsa. I then put them in a 200-degree oven to keep warm.
Meanwhile, I heated grilled corn (from the tri cook above) that I cut off the cob with the last of the tri, finely chopped, some pulled-then-chopped beef from this cook, and a few splashes of finishing sauce I always keep around for pork. When that reduce to nothing I stuck the pan in the oven to keep the sauce warm. (I swirled a little water into it just before putting on the enchiladas to make it saucy.
I cooked some scrambled eggs, adding avo chiucks and pieces of cheese when half cooked, rolled this, when cooked, in the tortillas, topped with the beef sauce and a couiple dollops of the reduced salsa casera. Yum.
--one or another should have a few at any given time.
