Marinated Top Sirloin (Part 2) + Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Well, I took a 30 minute power nap on the couch after I finished my last post and while my meat finished marinating.  It was nice, but too short.  Steve woke me up with “Food time, Baby?”  The first words out of my mouth were, “Can you make dinner tonight?”  Ha!  Like that would ever happen.  Steve is good at alot of things, but cooking is just not one of them.  He has surprisingly produced some good eats off the grill, but that’s about his only culinary skill.  I was just so exhausted after 3 full days of gardening that my body did not want to get up from it’s horizontal position on the couch, let alone make dinner AND take pictures during the entire process.  But since I didn’t want to disappoint you all after my last post PROMISING that I would return with the rest of the recipe, I sucked it up and finished what I started.

I’m not going to post these pictures in the order that I took them, because that would just be too confusing since I was making everything at the same time.  So I’ll just keep everything in their own groups and you can determine the timing of everything if you make it all at the same time like I did.

While your grill is heating up, cut up some red skinned baby potatoes.  Don’t you think that red skinned potatoes look like apples when they’re cut up?  Dang it, now I feel like eating an apple.

Put them in a large saucepan and cover with water, then bring to a boil.

When they are tender enough to break apart easily with a fork, drain them and place back into sauce pan.

Mash with a potato masher.

Heat up some milk.  Don’t you like my Brasil (Brazil) mug?  I got it while on a missions trip to Brazil in the summer of 2006.

Add milk in small increments.  You don’t want to add too much, or your potatoes will be soupy.  Remember that you can always add more, but once it’s in you can’t take it out.  Mash milk and potatoes together.

Melt some butter and pour into the potatoes.  Yum.  Butter.

Add some salt and pepper to taste, then grate a clove of garlic over a microplane.  Watch your fingers, you don’t want to grate those!  I learned the hard way.

If you’re feeling really dangerous, add a handful of cheese.  I was clearly feeling dangerous.  Mash it all together.  The hot potatoes will melt the cheese and it’ll all be nice and ooy gooy.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare your green beans.  Green beans were finally on sale at the grocery store, so I helped myself to some. 🙂

Cut off and discard the ends of the beans.

Blanche the beans for a few minutes in boiling water.

Meanwhile, cut up half of an onion.  If you make small slices one way, then turn and slice the other way you’ll minimize your chopping time and probably your tears as well.

I always have tears pouring down my cheeks while chopping onions.  Normally I have to stop at least 3 times while chopping to wipe my eyes.  Oh how it burns!  It’s a really pretty sight when I’m wearing mascara too.  All kinds of makeup running down my face!  Attractive.

Finely chop some garlic too.  Because onions and garlic love each other.

Throw them both into a pan over medium heat.

Once the onions and garlic have caramelized a bit, drain the green beans and toss together in the pan.  Add salt and pepper.

Heat your grill to medium high heat.

Take your beautiful steaks out of the fridge and bring them out to the grill.  It was dark by the time I grilled these, so I had to use flash on my camera, which I hate doing.  So I apologize if the quality of these photos aren’t as good as the others.  That’s just the nature of the beast.

Depending on how you want your steak cooked you can adjust the timing, but we like our steaks medium, so I grilled these for about 5 minutes on each side.

Look at those beauties!  Oh, and if you’re wondering why there are now suddenly 3 pieces of meat instead of 2 like in my last post, that is because after I had finished placing the meat in the fridge to marinate, Steve decided that he might want an extra piece of steak, so I added it to the marinade and just didn’t tell you about it.  I’m sneaky like that.  And guess what……Steve ate BOTH pieces plus 2 helpings of mashed potatoes and a helping of green beans.  He was a member of the Clean Plate Club 2 times tonight!  Impressive!

What a well rounded meal!  Oh and in case you’re wondering what is in the ramekin, it’s the meat marinade that I strained, added a little water to, and boiled for several minutes to kill any bacteria left over from the raw meat.

Makes a great dipping sauce!  Make this meal.  You won’t be sorry, as evidence of Steve’s double Clean Plate Club. 🙂