Rib-Eye Steak With Mushroom Ragu

Bev and I had just returned from Gaffney, SC on Saturday where I attended a super informative two-day class about our RV chassis put on by the Freightliner Custom Chassis folks.  Since we were then leaving on Monday for our first RV rally, we decided we needed to invite friends Joe and Carol over for a margarita and a steak.

We had two 2” thick prime rib-eyes from Mother Earth Meats in the freezer (I’m trying to empty it again).

We also had some mushrooms we needed to use so we opted for a mushroom ragu to go with the beef.  I looked around on the web and found a recipe for Double Mushroom Ragu from Fine Cooking.  Bev adapted it for the mushrooms we had and our taste – just click the link for the original recipe.

Double Mushroom Ragu

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. unsalted butter  

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

20 oz. cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced 1/4 inch thick

Kosher salt             

1/3 cup finely chopped shallot

1/3 cup Cognac

1 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh thyme

3/4 cup heavy cream; more for reheating

Freshly ground black pepper

Cornstarch to thicken if needed

2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. In a 10-inch straight-sided saute pan, heat 2 Tbs. of the butter with the olive oil over medium heat. 
2. Add the cremini and 1 tsp. salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have softened and released their liquid, 5 to 8 minutes. 
3. Increase the heat to medium high and cook, stirring more frequently, until the mushrooms are shrunken and very well browned, 8 to 10 minutes more.

4. Reduce the heat to medium, add the shallots and the remaining 1 Tbs. butter and cook, stirring, until the shallots are softened, 1 to 2 minutes. 

5. Add the Cognac and thyme then cook and stir until most of the liquid evaporates, 1 to 2 minutes. 

6.Add the cream and cook until reduced to a saucy consistency, 1 to 2 minutes. 
7. Bev added some cornstarch at this point.
8. Stir in the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Since we were using such good steaks, I seasoned them with only S&P and a little Montreal Steak Seasoning before cooking reverse sear on the charcoal grill – one to 125* and the other to 135* internal temp. 

Joe, Carol, and Bev sat out in the cool while I grilled.

Since we were all hungry, I didn’t worry too much about presentation - my norm.

We began the meal with a salad of grilled romaine (no shots) then sided the steak with grilled herbed potatoes using a recipe from Epicurious  

Grilled Herbed Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 pounds large Yukon Gold or other yellow-fleshed potatoes (we used red)

1/4 cup chopped mixed herbs such as parsley, chives, rosemary, and oregano

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (we used lemon infused EVOO)

1 lemon wedge plus additional for serving (omitted)

Preparation:

1. Wash and cut potatoes into 1/2-inch-thick slices and cook in a large pot of well-salted boiling water 10 minutes (potatoes will not be cooked through).

2. Meanwhile, stir together herbs, garlic, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large shallow dish.

3. Drain potatoes well and transfer to herb oil, tossing gently to coat.

4. Transfer potatoes to grill, letting excess oil drip into dish (reserve oil in dish). Grill potatoes, covered, turning once or twice, until tender, about 5 minutes total. Return potatoes to dish and toss again with herb oil. Season with salt and serve with lemon wedges.

 My plated shot - I had seconds of the meat and potatoes.  As a kid I didn't like my food to touch and unless I'm really thinking about it, that's still what I do.  This would have looked much better with the meat laying on the taters a little.

Everything was delicious and I especially enjoyed the ragu - it will be made again.  I sampled the meat without sauce and while it was very good, I don’t think my taster can justify the additional cost for prime beef – we had a half-off coupon for these.  Also, the fat between the muscles in a rib-eye doesn’t work as well for this type of presentation as would a filet or strip.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/21/2013 event date

Walland RV Rally – Oct. 2013

A belated Thanks To All Of You Veterans And Veterans-To-Be out there.

The week of Oct. 21, ten RVs from the Tennessee Travelers chapter of the FMCA assembled for a rally at Misty River Campground in Walland, TN – the first ever rally for Bev and I.  The rally hosts had a nice week planned including breakfasts, dinners, and day trips.

Breakfast meals were provided at the campground and dinners were a mix of restaurant and campground meals.  The day trips included a drive along the Foothills Parkway with picnic lunch, a tour of the Heritage Center in Townsend, and a drive up the old Tremont logging railroad bed along the Middle Prone of the Little River where I got a few shots.

This area was extensively logged in the early 1900's and per Wikipedia - "While the logging operations provided an economic boost to the northwestern Smokies, the rapid deforestation of Little River's watershed proved devastating for the river's ecosystem. With the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934 and the end of logging operations in 1938, however, the forest quickly regrew. The Civilian Conservation Corps converted Little River Railroad's railroad beds into roads and trails. Today, other than the occasional stray skidder cable or railroad tie, there is little immediate evidence that logging ever took place in the area.

In 1969, Maryville College, with the help of the National Park Service, established the Tremont Environmental Education Center at the site of a former Job Corps center in Walker Valley. The purpose of the center was to provide a first-hand approach to understanding the environment and ecology of the mountains.[14] In the early 1970s, the center hosted the Youth Conservation Corps during the summer. In 1980, the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association assumed control of the education center, and in 1985 the name was changed to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont to further acknowledge its ties to the park."

On the way out, we stopped at the Tremont Visitors Center.

This is the old bridge to the visitors center - note the stones that the flowing water has deposited on it.

The final night, we had a hot dog roast around the large fire pit at the campground – as more of a camper than RVer, this was my favorite event.  Sorry I didn't get more pictures but weeny roasting, visiting, and sitting around the fire got in the way - the fire was completely surrounded by people, especially as the sun began to set.

Supper was followed by a showing of the movie "Christy: Return To Cutter Gap", which was filmed in part in the Smokies.

Bev and I had a very nice time and really enjoyed the folks in the group – I’ve come to realize that RVing for me is more about the people we interact with than the places we go – although I like that too. 

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/21–10/25/2013 event date

Madison And Anthony Finally Meet

After nearly a year of online dating, Madison finally got to meet her boyfriend, Anthony, as he and his father flew in from California for a five day visit.  I cannot imagine what it must be like for them in this situation.  Obviously, Madison wanted to spend every minute with Anthony that she could, but she also wanted to feed him well and she had a specific menu - his parents don't get home from work until late and he feeds himself pretty much the same thing every day.

The first day, Anthony just recovered from his red-eye flight and the first meal was our usual crappie in lemon/butter/caper sauce.

The second day, they went to the mall for the day and a local corn maze at night with supper in between - it was Fire Roasted Chicken Cordon Bleu.

The third day, they went to Pigeon Forge, primarily to visit WonderWorks and that night supper was Oysters Rockefeller and coconut shrimp.

The next day, they went to Pigeon Forge again and for supper, it was BBQ ribs and Buffalo wings using my normal process for both.

Thursday was Halloween and they spent the day relaxing then getting ready to go out in their costumes.

We had only seen Anthony sitting down via Skype and he is much taller than I expected.  He is a very nice young man and a pleasure to be around.

We had Cuban sandwiches before they left.

On the last day, they just visited, hugged, carved pumpkins, hugged, went for a walk to the lake, hugged, posed for pictures, hugged, all followed by a tear filled good by, as expected.

I think they had a wonderful time together and we made everything on Madison's menu except homemade ravioli, as we were cooked out by the end of the visit.  As a bonus, we got to spend several hours getting to know Anthony's dad. 

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/27 – 11/01/13 event date

Saturday Humor - Hillbillies

I lifted this from the web and got a good chuckle.

Two hillbillies walk into a restaurant. While having a bite to eat, they talk about their moonshine operation. Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. After a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress. One of the hillbillies looks at her and says, Kin ya swallar?' The woman shakes her head no. Then he asks, 'Kin ya breathe?' The woman begins to turn blue, and shakes her head no. The hillbilly walks over to the woman, lifts up her dress, yanks down her drawers, and quickly gives her right butt cheek a lick with his tongue. The woman is so shocked that she has a violent spasm, and the obstruction flies out of her mouth.As she begins to breathe again, the Hillbilly walks slowly back to his table. His partner says, 'Ya know, I'd heerd of that there 'Hind Lick Maneuver' but I ain't niver seed nobody do it!'

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

RV Rally – Restaurants In Townsend – Oct, 2013

During the recent RV Rally in Walland, TN, we ate several meals in Townsend just a few miles away and at an entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  

MISS LILY'S CAFE - Our first meal as a group was dinner at Miss Lily’s Café and I forgot my camera.  Granted they were serving a party of 20 but I was not impressed and would call this a typical tourist restaurant – mediocre food at a high price.  Bev had eaten there before and they are now 0-2 with her.

BLACK BEAR CAFE - During the rally, lunch meals were usually on your own and we first tried the Black Bear Café, a small place that was obviously popular with the locals as well as the tourists – it’s nearly always good to find out where the locals eat.  I didn’t get a shot of anything inside but my meal – the open faced hot roast beef sandwich.

It came with real mashed potatoes and brown gravy and I thought it was very good as was Bev’s fish sandwich.  We would both eat there again.

LIL CUBAN CAFE - The next day for lunch we ate the Lil Cuban Café at Trillium Cove along with three other couples. 

I believe everyone had a Cuban sandwich and I thought it was very good and on a par with Maryville’s Aroma Café, except I missed the mojo sauce that is frequently served with the sandwich.  I would eat there again but Maryville is much closer to home.

CARRIAGE HOUSE - The second restaurant for a group dinner was at the Carriage House Restaurant which has been in Townsend for as long as Bev and I can remember.

Our group had a private room and the option of the buffet or ordering from the menu and Bev and I chose the buffet.

This is my plate and I thought it was right good buffet food and Bev said it one of the best buffets she’d had so it must have been pretty good. 

The veggies were more like I’d cook at home vs. the bland partially cooked ones frequently served and the chicken was moist, well seasoned, and very crispy.  They also had good fried fish and sliced ham and pork chops, which I didn’t try, along with some other veggies and a decent salad bar – we would eat it again for sure.

LITTLE RIVER BBQ - The next day we ate lunch at Little River BBQ with two other couples, where dining is available inside or on the deck overlooking the river (too cool for that though).

I had the “Ribs and More” with sauce on the side so I could sample their ribs, chicken and brisket (but they brought me pork).

Bev had potato skins topped with pork.

Everything we ate was average restaurant BBQ with not a lot of rub or smoke flavor in the meat so saucing it was definitely needed.  The potato skins were okay but Bev was disappointed in the amount of pork on them.  I’d call this another typical tourist restaurant. 

RIVERSTONE FAMILY RESTAURANT - The morning of departure, we decided that we should try breakfast at Townsend’s Riverstone Family Restaurant since we were so close.  I didn’t take any shots as we ordered pretty normal breakfast fare. 

Bev had the “Smoky Mountain Mash - One home-style biscuit topped with two sausage patties, white pepper gravy and two eggs on top $5.99.”

I had the “Hearty Egg Breakfast - Two eggs, choice of bacon, sausage patties or ole tyme ham, grits or shredded hash browns, toast or biscuit $5.99.”

We both thought our meals were very good and they were also an excellent value for a tourist town – we’d definitely eat there again.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry  

10/21 – 10/25/2013 event date

Cuban Sandwiches For Halloween

We love a good Cuban sandwich and made them not long ago using the Hawaiian Pork recipe that I cooked for the blogger party.  But when Drick over at Drick’s Rambling Café posted his recipe for Cuban Inspired Mojo-Marinated Roasted Pork, I knew it had to be tried.  I used Drick’s recipe for the marinade, and even though Cuban Sandwiches use oven roasted pork, I decided to cook mine in the smoker – I was cooking BBQ anyway.  I followed the recipe for marinating from Drick’s blog then amended the cooking process – check out his blog for his process and some good photos.

Cuban Pork Roast - Adapted from Drick's Rambling Cafe

1 -9 pound pork boston butt roast 

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 tablespoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground bay leaves or 6 crushed bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

2 tablespoons brown sugar

12 garlic toes (cloves), diced

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1. Since the roast was to be cooked over a pan of liquid (no need for protection from the heat) and I wanted the smoke to penetrate all sides, I removed all of the fat cap.

2. Using a paring knife, cut 1/2-inch wide, 1-inch deep slits all over roast.

3. Place remaining ingredients in a large, 3-gallon sealable bag (or use a suitable container with cover) and mix to incorporate. Add the roast, seal and refrigerate for 8 hours, rotating the bag several times.

4. Remove bag from refrigerator about 2 hours before cooking time to allow it to come to room temperature. Pour about 2 cups of marinade into the bottom of a pan for making a sauce and add 2 cups of water – add more as needed during cooking.

5. Add roast to a 275* smoker over the pan of liquid and cook to an internal temperature on 170*, basting with the liquid once per hour.

6. When the roast reaches 170*, give it one final baste and wrap tightly in aluminum foil return to smoker - remove pan of liquid and defat it.

7. Cook to an internal temperature of 180-185*, and rest in a pre-warmed cooler for at least 30 minutes prior to slicing – I didn’t cut it until the next day as we had plenty of wings and ribs for supper.

A piece of the top pulled off when I removed the foil but it had a nice crust.

For supper on Halloween, we had that traditional meal of Cuban sandwiches – it might be if they celebrated Halloween in Cuba.  We bought some Cuban bread from Kroger’s and made the traditional sandwich with the Cuban pork, ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickle, and spicy mustard.

We sided the sammies with mojo sauce using nearly the same recipe as before except I used 50/50 EVOO and water this time and liked it better.  We also served it with the defatted juices from the pan in the cooker - they were different but I enjoyed both sauces.

I thought the sandwiches were excellent and Drick’s pork recipe worked very well in the smoker, as it would the oven.  The one thing I’ll do different next time is cook the pork to about 200* so I can pull it in large chunks and get out nearly all of the fat before slicing.  Thanks for posting this recipe Drick.

We finished the meal with pumpkin pie using a recipe that we had tried before and really liked.  This is a shot from the first time we made it.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/31/13 meal date

Our First RV Rally – Walland, TN

Within the RV world there are a myriad of RV clubs, associations, etc. all to foster the enjoyment of RVing.  Many of them result in discounts at campgrounds while others do the same at RV stores, such as Camping World.  Some are just for full timers, some are for just owners of a certain type of coach, and some are open to anyone.  One thing that most of them do is organize rallies where RVers can come together in a social setting.

We belong to several of the clubs with one of them being the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) – a large club headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.  It has several chapters across the country, one of which is in our area and known as the Tennessee Travelers.

We contacted them upon our return from our western trip and it turned out they had a rally planned for 10/21-10/25 at Misty River Campground in Walland, TN – 30 miles from our house.  This presented too good of a first rally opportunity to pass up and we quickly signed up for the event, which was timed tor the fall colors in the Smokies.

Misty River is a nice campground located along the Little River about a half mile north of Walland on the Old Walland Hwy.  I've driven along US-321 many, many times but had never noticed the campground due to the wooded area along the river – Google Earth shots of it.

As can be seen in the second shot, they have a large area for RV storage and the area to the left of it is now a corn maze.  The building below houses the office and a large meeting room – lots of area to maneuver the coach at the entrance area.

These are shots up and down one of the rows with most of these coaches being part of the rally.

Our site was pretty large and level and included a table and large fire ring.

This is the large field between the river and the camping area and the very nice laundry and shower facility.

There is a little flat area along the river and access to the water for wading, swimming, and fishing.

We really enjoyed our stay at the campground and would recommend it to anyone wanting to stay on the quiet side of the Smokies.  I have three posts about the rally and will intersperse them with some others.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/21–10/25/2013 event date