First Grill-Out of the Year

My parents-in-law, with some health issues and general concern for eating wholesome foods, are fond of purchasing grass-fed antibiotic-free beef from their local Amish butcher in Kentucky. It so happens that said butcher only sells entire sides of beef or whole butchered cows. And thankfully, my parents-in-law recognize they cannot eat a whole cow in a year, and are generous enough to send us home to Chicago with a cooler full of various roasts, steaks, and ground beef.

In celebration of the first truly sunny day we've had in a while, I decided to grill some of that beef. Specifically, four T-Bone Steaks that I've been itching to eat since we trucked them up to Chicago from Kentucky over Christmas. A simple garlic salt & pepper rub was all they needed for flavor before they went on the grill. A few minutes on each side, and we had perfect medium steaks.

Meanwhile, the wife was inside sauteing red, orange, and green bell pepper, sweet onion, and sugar snap peas along with some herbs. We opened a bottle of 2001 Sierra Cantabria Rioja, a spicy Spanish red wine that had mellowed a couple years in our wine rack. It was about the best first cook-out of the year that I can recall having.

The moral of this story is simple: When you get married, find a spouse with in-laws who buy too much grass-fed beef and will give it to you for free so you can enjoy it.

Or, put another way: when you get good ingredients, don't mess them up by trying to be overly fancy.