Last Meal in Calif. - Recipes: Steak Marinade, Roasted Potatoes & Praline Graham Cracker Bars

Rather than get into why I am doing this blog...who I am...or what I stand for...I thought I would just get to the meat and potatoes of it all.....  

HAPPINESS IS FOOD and Star Wars is all you need to watch to learn everything you need to know about life

So tonight is our last night in California, visiting my mother and family in Sacramento. Thankfully, the decision was made to have a final home cooked meal, rather than a standard going away dinner at a restaurant. Now the thought of this excites me....years of happy food memories from my childhood come swirling around in my head. You see, my family was notorious for cooking up meals that were larger than life....delicious, eclectic and flavorful. If you were a friend of the family or even a  friend of a friend, you knew that our house was the place to go for great food in portions that were always obscenely large!. I could feel it in my bones that tonight would be no different!

So you get the true effect of the size of meals we tend to have  in this house..we also had the following foods to compliment the mentioned items below: home made pasta salad, a loaf of sourdough bread, lemon cheesecake & some decadent coconut ice cream. Now off to the main courses!

Grilled Ribeyes, 10 oz (8 for 8 people I might add) & grilled asparagus.

Now the trick to all of my moms delicious steaks is her marinade...so good it would even put a smile on the Evil Emperors face!

Recipe:

1 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup of sweet rice vinegar

1 lemon squeezed

a whole bunch of chopped garlic

salt and pepper to taste

The trick is to ALWAYS marinate for 24 hours and to use a plastic bag with just 1 or 2 steaks, depending on the size. This allows you to use less marinade to cover each steak and the stay full immersed in the marinade for the entire time.

Once you add in some freshly squeezed lemon juice and some sweet rice vinegar, you end up with this wonderful hint of sourness mixed with this salty sweetness. It's truly the best marinade I have ever had.

Now on to the rest of the meal.....

Grilled Halibut (with the same steak marinade) and roasted potatoes

 Now these potatoes were truly special. This recipe belongs to my father in law...

Recipe:

4lbs of small russet potatoes sliced

3/4 stick of butter cut into 6 segments

1 chopped up sweet Hawaiian onion

1 chopped up yellow onion

Just put it all in a pan, mix it up, cover with foil and throw it on the grill for 30-40 minutes

He insists that the key is to spray an obscene amount of Pam on the pan which helps to mix with the butter juices and assure that the bottom potatoes are brown and not stuck to the pan.

And there is more!

 A simple mixed green salad with strawberries & feta cheese with a bit of olive oil.

Lastly....there is my wife's yummy dessert!

Praline Bars from graham crackers, brown sugar & crushed nuts.

Recipe:

24 graham cracker squares
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c butter
...1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (your choice)

Heat oven to 350. Arrange graham crackers in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet (make sure it has sides to catch run-over).

Heat brown sugar and butter to boiling in a saucepan. Boil for one min, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla.

Pour sugar mixture over crackers; spread evenly; sprinkle with nuts, then bake for 6-10 min, until bubbly. Cool and eat

Hope you enjoy...may the force be with you!