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Aussie Rules Grand Final Lunch
T-bone steak, Italian-style with wilted spinach (Neil Perry's Good Food)
Baked new potatoes on a bed of salt (Bill Granger's Holiday)
Asparagus steamed in a paper bag (Tyler Florence's Tyler's Ultimate)
Yes, I know the Grand Final is on. And yes, I know my team's in the final. (GO THE HAWKS!) But I'm too nervous to watch, so here I am blogging, and getting updates on the game from hearing my dad yell at the TV.
There's nothing like the footy to put you in the mood for barbecue. So this morning, I had a leisurely stroll to my local grocers, and picked up 4 massive T-bone steaks, 2 big bags of spinach, and an incredibly gorgeous bunch of sage.
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When I got to the butcher, I couldn't see any T-bone in the cabinets, but the friendly butcher got some for me from out the back. He brought out a freakin enormous side of beef, started trimming off the fat, and cut up 4 thick slices for me. He then used one of those big electric saw things that butchers have to slice through the bones and finish the job. Wow. I love watching butchers work. (Maybe that's why I like Dexter so much).
The total weight of 4 steaks was 2.4 kilos, and came to $70!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahem. I guess it really does cost a lot to produce biodynamic beef, and to have a skilled and trained butcher cut it up for you. Neil Perry's recipe suggests one T-bone per person, with a small side of wilted spinach. I, however, realised there was no way we'd each eat a whole 600g steak each, so I carefully double wrapped 2 of them and stashed them in the freezer.
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The other accompaniments - potatoes and asparagus, were the result of some fruitful rummaging through the fridge and pantry.
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I found 2 bunches of asparagus in my fridge crisper drawer, and vaguely recalled a beautiful picture of asparagus in my Tyler Florence book. Upon reading the book, I realised that Tyler cooks his asparagus in a brown paper bag. I happened to have a brown paper bag, (it had previously held free cookies from my local bakery), so gave it a go. Apparently, steaming the asparagus means you keep all the nutrients, rather than having them leach into the cooking water. So, you pack up all the ingredients in the bag: asparagus, lemon slices, salt, pepper, a bay leaf and a drizzle of olive oil.
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While all that was going on, I prepared the steak. Perry suggests a mixture of sage (above), rosemary and oregano to press onto the meat. I have both rosemary and oregano growing in my garden, so that saved me a bit of money.
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And I have a massively wild bush of rosemary growing in the garden. I think Mum planted a little seedling of it a few years ago. Look at it now!
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Then it was time to light up the barbecue and slap on the steaks...
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In a stroke of fantastic timing, the whole lunch was ready just as Hawthorn ran onto the field...
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Great lunch. Ok, gotta watch the match. 3 minutes to go. GO THE MIGHTY HAWKS!!!!!!!!