Tex-Mex Close-The-Dock-For-The-Season Party

Well, yesterday WVU pulled it out and UT made a good effort but came up short at No.1 Alabama.

Each fall we like to invite our friends over for an official closing-of-the-dock party – it’s really just an excuse to get together. Last year it was breakfast brunch fare cooked in cast iron over an open fire – and it was about 80*. This year, it’s Tex-Mex, and after a good frost on the house roof this morning, it warmed up to the low 60’s by meal time and a clear sunny day – hard to expect any better, especially considering yesterdays high was in the low 50’s and overcast.

We generally provide the main course and our friends bring the sides, so for this meal we did the steak and chicken fajitas and all the go-withs and others brought stuffed jalapeno’s, fiesta corn dip and queso fundido as appetizers, Mexican casserole, Mexican rice and refried beans as sides and brownies and lemon pie for dessert (not quite Tex-Mex but sure good)

The steak and chicken went into the marinade at 6:45 this morning – just put each in a two gallon plastic bag and worked it around to be sure all was coated and back into the fridge – then I re-massaged a few of times (good thing, as I discovered a tiny weeping hole in one of the bag bottoms – so cleaned off the shelf, flipped the bag and put them on a pan – as I should have done to the first place. Shortcuts too often turn out not to be).

This is the dock all ready for company.


This is from the dock back up the road to the house.


The cook area already to begin. The grill and discada are warming up.



Here are the DO’s being warmed up by a few charcoal briquettes for use in keeping the meat and veggies warm. They worked great for this job.


I grilled the chicken to 160* then moved it to the warming rack and grilled the steak to 135* (I would have done them to 125* for myself, but this is the South and if you stand beside the line at the Western Sizzler, you’ll hear most orders at medium or medium well – us imported Yankees know better though). I wish I'd gotten a pic of the sliced steak as it was perfect for this group - a nice dark pink all through.



While the meat was grilling, I sauted the onions and peppers in the discada - this thing is excellent for big fry jobs. PIC


The sides of rice, refried beans and enchilada casserole.


For go-with items, in addition to the grilled onions and peppers, we had guacamole, pico di gallo, salsa, chopped onions, cheddar and Mexican white cheese, hot peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream. Here’s pics of them.


This is my plate and it sure was good.


Let the eating commence.


A couple of pics from the dock of our little cove.



All - in all, it was a great day, good food, good friends, good weather. I wish we had 20 sizzlin platters for each person to keep the food warm on. We all liked the beef real well, but several thought the chicken had a little too much lime (the marinades are in yesterdays post).