Somehow it’s already Wednesday…I meant to put this up earlier, but here we go.  We had our Foodie Night on Sunday, continuing our grueling training course in food education.  On the menu was Grilled Tri-Tip, Duchess Potatoes and Zucchini Cakes.  Then for dessert, Brandy Snaps.  All but the tri-tip was courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.  The first thing that was different about this week than any of the previous Foodie Nights, is that I cooked everything the same day.  It made for a loooong day in the kitchen but I guess the good news is that I was really ready to sit down and relax once it all was on the table.  It also meant that I got to wear an apron most of the day, which I’m not gonna lie – I kinda liked.  I may start doing it as a cook cereal for breakfast or PBJs at lunch too.  Maybe even for delivery pizza.  Apron’s are just too cute!  But I’m getting sidetracked.  Back to the FOOD!

Since tri-tip was “invented” so close to home (first marketed in Oakland, CA) and known as a local Santa Maria specialty, I figured it was time to try it.  Plus, it’s a relatively cheap cut of meat, so if I butchered it (pardon the pun), I wasn’t out a lot of money.  Our recipe (below) called for a load of spices to be mixed together as a rub and then to let the meat sit for a few hours.  I let ours sit about 5 hours and then threw it on the grill – high heat first to sear it and then slow roasting for about an hour and a half.  Ours came out medium-well and next time I think I’d try to take it off when it reached medium doneness just to make it a bit more tender.  But talk about amazing flavor!  It was scrumptious!!

While the meat was grilling, I worked on the Duchess Potatoes.  I’m pretty sure that the duchesses who might normally eat these potatoes have servants to do all the  preparing.  These are by far the most work I’ve ever put into mashed potatoes.  But for a holiday meal or something special – totally worth it, as they were delicous.  First you peel, then you boil, then you dry out in the oven, then you put through a food grinder, then you add eggs, cream, salt, pepper and NUTMEG, then you put into piping bag (not a ziploc – found that out the hard way), then you attempt to shape into gloriously fancy mounds, then you refrigerate, then you brush with egg-wash, then you bake!  I was a little bummed because I thought I had the recommended “large star tip” in my collection of frosting tips, but as it turned out, I had the small one.  So my gloriously fancy mounds did not come out as I had desired, but it’s an excuse to get another frosting tip.

The Zucchini Cakes were fast and easy.  Nothing too complicated – made a “batter” out of shredded zucchini, garlic, cheese and egg; then fried it up in a skillet.  I thought they were good, but Kyle wasn’t a fan at all.  There was plenty of tri-tip to fill up on though, so it didn’t really make that much difference.

After dinner it was time for the crème de la crème – Brandy Snaps.  I wish they had a more impressive sounding name, like Croustillant à la Crème, or something.  But combining a little crunch

and a lot of cream

made for a beautiful and very tasty dessert.  Melt in your mouth tasty!

No, I didn’t play Jerry’s “man-hands” girlfriend on Seinfeld – Kyle is holding the Brandy Snap as I was running bath water for the kids.  That’s how you know that these Foodie Nights are not exactly the same as a relaxing romantic date night.  I’m pretty sure if we were having dinner at a restaurant, I wouldn’t need to break to give the kids a bath…life still goes on, we are just learning about food in the process.  And as a side note, you would not have believed the horrific state of my kitchen that night when I went to bed!  But I don’t believe in ruining a good night with kitchen clean up chores. 

We ended up rating this Foodie Night a 9 out of 10.  OK, so Kyle gave it an 8.5 but I’m rounding up.  The only mediocre part was the zucchini, but we both agreed the tri-tip was magnificent.  The recipe is below, in case you’d like to try it for yourself.  Enjoy!