Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Sauteed Radish Greens

I went to the farmers market yesterday and got some great vegetables.  The radish greens came from our garden.  My husband loves radishes, I on the other hand do not like them.  Last year he would pull his radishes from the garden and throw out the greens.  I kept telling him to keep them and finally he did and was so glad that he had listened.

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with a Barbecue Rub
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Rub mixture all on sides of the steaks.   Place steaks on a 600 degrees Fahrenheit grill for 3 minutes, flip and cook for 3 minutes more. This will give you a perfect medium rare.

Sauteed Radish Greens
Wash the greens and pick off the bottom parts of the stems.  Heat a skillet with a small about of olive oil over medium high heat.  Add greens, toss, and cook until tender and wilted.  Add a little salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Steamed Snow Peas
Place washed snow peas into a steamer basket, place basket over a pan that has about 1-2 inches of water in it.  Cook over high heat letting the peas steam, cook until tender but still crispy.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes
Decided to cook the potatoes whole.  To speed up the process of cooking.  I placed the sweet potatoes into the microwave and cooked them for a couple of minutes.  Then wrapped them in foil and placed them on the grill, indirect heat, while the grill was heating up.  They were the last thing to come off of the grill.  Mike likes his sweet potato with a little bit of cinnamon.

Serve the meal with a side salad of fresh salad greens and tomatoes.

Grilled Flat Iron Steak

Since it is Memorial Day weekend it wouldn't be right not to grill something.  So we opted for steak.

Flat Iron Steak with Garlic Herb Rub
This recipe came from the Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground fennel
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1-1/2 tablespoons coarse salt (We don't use this much salt so I usually use much less than what the rub recipes call for)
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Rub both sides of the steak and let sit.  Grill steak on grill at high heat 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 4 minutes and then flip and cook for 4 minutes more.  This achieves the doneness to medium rare. Let rest before slicing.

Sweet Potatoes in Foil
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
4 tablespoons butter
cinnamon sugar
Place sweet potatoes onto a large piece of foil, add butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Place on a   high heat grill and cook for 5 minutes, flip over and cook for 5 minutes more.  Place on warming rack for 5 minutes and then flip for another 5 minutes.  Serve.

Sugar Snap Peas
My husband picked these up at the local farmers market yesterday.  Couldn't wait to sink my teeth into them.
Remove the top of each bean to remove the string by pulling down the back of each bean.
I decided that the best way to cook them was to steam them.  Place beans in a steamer basket and place onto a pan with water.  Steam beans until they are tender.

Bratwurst, Onions and Beer on the Grill

I decided to thaw out some bratwurst that we get from our local farmer.  The bratwurst is made purely of pork, not your typical German Bratwurst.  I wanted to cook the brats on the grill along with some beer.

Bratwurst, Onions and Beer on the Grill
Slice thinly 2 onions
1 bottle of beer (your choice).  I used a pint of a local beer called Roanoke Railhouse - Track 1 Amber Lager
Butter
Add butter to a cast iron pan (deep enough to add beer), melt butter, add onions and cook until soft.  Add beer, cover and continue to cook.  Don't let it boil too much.  Place brats on grill and cook until done.  Add brats to beer and onion mixture.  Let simmer in pan until you are ready to eat.  Add a brat to a hoagie style roll adding onions and a little juice.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Sugar
Take 1 Japanese sweet potato (Japanese Sweet Potatoes are purple on the outside and white on the inside.  They are not the orange color you associate with American sweet potatoes), slice super thin (I used a mandolin, no not the musical instrument, but one of those slicers that you can slice stuff really thin).  Place slices onto a piece of foil, overlap the slices slightly.  Add a couple of slices of butter; place the slices throughout the top of the sweet potato slices.  Sprinkle the top with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar (I used regular white sugar).  Place another piece of foil on top and turn up the ends so that you are sealing the potatoes into a foil packet.  Place the packet onto the grill over high heat, cook for 5 minutes, turn packet over and cook for another 5 minutes.  Removing to warming rack for 10 minutes.  (Once you remove the packet to the rack, place salmon onto the grill.  Remove from heat. 

Grilled Salmon with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

I don't know what the deal is but I am trying to inspire myself for dinners and am not having much luck.  I guess I really haven't gotten back in the true groove of things since we returned from vacation.  I promise to do better, soon, very soon!  Tonight I decided to do salmon on the grill.

Grilled Salmon
Take 2 filets of salmon (we have wild Alaskan Coho Salmon from SeaBear), drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and I have a little of this herb mixture that is made for fish (contains: lemon peel, garlic, parsley, white pepper, chives, basil, cayenne).  Grill salmon over medium heat skin side up for 5 minutes, flip over and grill for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Sugar
Take 1 Japanese sweet potato (Japanese Sweet Potatoes are purple on the outside and white on the inside.  They are not the orange color you associate with American sweet potatoes), slice super thin (I used a mandolin, no not the musical instrument, but one of those slicers that you can slice stuff really thin).  Place slices onto a piece of foil, overlap the slices slightly.  Add a couple of slices of butter; place the slices throughout the top of the sweet potato slices.  Sprinkle the top with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar (I used regular white sugar).  Place another piece of foil on top and turn up the ends so that you are sealing the potatoes into a foil packet.  Place the packet onto the grill over high heat, cook for 5 minutes, turn packet over and cook for another 5 minutes.  Removing to warming rack for 10 minutes.  (Once you remove the packet to the rack, place salmon onto the grill.  Remove from heat.

We had a small side salad to go along with dinner tonight.