Awesome Accoutrements!

We have had a sports kind of weekend. Yesterday we spent all day at Comerica Park in Detroit at Tiger Fest 2010. That is why my fonts are blue and orange :) We got to meet many players on the active roster for 2010. It was sooo exciting! Today, my dad had 2 critical football games on his agenda- the NFC and AFC championships....to decide who is going to the Superbowl. So, my mom decided to grill him some steak...and I made the accoutrements: (french for good stuff that goes with it) sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes and artichokes.



Baked potatoes
What You'll Need:

• Cookie Sheet
• Small dish
• Fork
  

Ingredients:

• Large baking potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Minced garlic
• Sea Salt
  

Preheat oven to 400. Wash your hands really well and then wash your baking potatoes really well! Use your fork to pierce your potatoes...at least 6 on each side. Put some olive oil in a small dish. Dip your fingers in the olive oil and rub it all over the potatoes. Rub minced garlic on the potato skin and then sprinkle with sea salt. Place potatoes on cookie sheet and bake for at least an hour - - until fork goes in easily. Serve with whatever floats your boat - butter, fake butter spray, sour cream, diced onions, etc.

Artichokes:
What You'll Need

• Large soup pot
• Kitchen shears (a girl's best friend in the kitchen)
• Sharp knife
  

Ingredients

• Fresh artichokes (we used three for me, my mom and dad)
• 16 cups of water
• 2 TBSP red wine vinegar
• 2 TBSP sea salt
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 fresh lemon
  

Wash your artichokes really well! My mom learned about preparing artichokes through The Joy of Cooking. I learned through The Food Network and my Mimi. First - put your 16 cups of water, red wine vinegar, sea salt and olive oil in the soup pot and place heat on medium high until boiling.

While waiting for your water to boil, prepare your artichokes by "americanizing" them, which means cutting the spiky ends off the outer leaves. Never, ever use a sharp knife without the help of an adult!!!! Did you get that? Okay, next you'll want to cut the stem and just leave about 1/4". Finally, you'll want to cut the top so that you expose the top of the "choke". It's not an exact science, because each artichoke is a different size...so there's a bit of "winging it" at least in our house! Any time you cut the artichoke, you need to rub it with lemon so that it doesn't turn brown (ewww!).










After your artichoke is prepped, have an adult drop them in the boiling water and boil for about 20-25 minutes. Put boiled artichokes into a serving dish. Never, ever, ever eat "the choke". You bite "the meat" off the outer leaves and leave finding the heart to the experts (your mom or dad). We have butter warmers, which made our dinner extra special. We made plain butter in one and garlic/lemon butter in the other. My parents were in heaven!

Sauteed Mushrooms










What You'll Need:

• Large frying pan
• Metal spatula

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP butter or olive oil
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 8 oz package sliced mushrooms
• 2 TBSP cooking sherry
• 1 TBSP capers

Wash your mushrooms very well and then pat dry with paper towl. Melt butter (or put olive oil) in frying pan on medium heat. Add minced garlic and mushrooms. Add cooking sherry and capers and cook on medium heat until mushrooms get a nice golden-y brown on both sides. We put the mushrooms on top of the steak - ummm yummmm.

Bon Appetit, Y'all! :)