Steak Enthusiast

I am an Italian food junkie. Are you?

If so, you’ll like this recipe using Kansas City Strips, extra virgin olive oil and rustic Italian bread.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Mangia!

Steak Florentine
(Serves 4)

4 10 oz. K.C. Strip Steaks
4 Lemons
Four slices rustic Italian bread
Extra Virgin Olive Oil of excellent quality
Sea Salt of excellent quality
Ground Black Pepper

Season both sides of the strips with salt and pepper and grill over high heat, to medium.  About six minutes per side, rotating a quarter turn every three minutes to create the cross-hatch grill marks.  While the steaks are cooking, grill the bread until toasted on both sides and set aside.  Slice the lemons, discarding the ends, leaving three thick slices per steak, grill these these until you get nice grill marks on each side, about two minutes.  Remove the steaks from the grill and let rest five minutes.  Slice each steak with your knife at a 45 degree angle from the cutting board and fan the steak on top of the crusty bread.  Sprinkle the sea salt onto the meat and drizzle with the olive oil.  Squeeze three lemon slices on top of each steak and place the lemon on top as garnish and serve.

Did the Easter Bunny come to your house?

He came to mine. Well, sorta.

We went to visit family and Bunny came to our hotel room.

Try selling that one to your kids. They did somehow buy that the Easter Bunny knocked on our door in the middle of the night and my husband and I let him in carrying baskets full of Star Wars and Spider-Man stuff.

It’s believable, right?

Anyway, it was a lovely weekend with egg hunts, nice weather, pleasant conversation and great food.

Over the span of two days we managed to feast on hickory-smoked ribs, steakburgers and a prime rib roast.

I think our get-together was just an excuse for my brother-in-law to do some big-time cooking. He’s fantastic! He had the grill, the oven AND the smoker going the whole time.

They have a new baby who got lots of kisses and did lots of sleeping.

Hey, that’s what the holidays are all about.

Hope your weekend was fabulous, too!

The weather brightened up just a bit yesterday and I took my kids on a walk around the neighborhood.

It may not be perfectly sunshiny and wonderful yet but we took this tiny break in the dreary weather and we ran with it. Literally.

As we walked, trotted and scooted along I came to a dead stop in front of our friends’ house at the end of the street. It was 6:30 pm and they were . . . grilling!

The aroma was amazing.

My oldest son turned around and said, “Mommy, what are you doing?”

I had my nose in the air. Sniffing.

I motioned for them to come back where I was and when they reached me I said, “Do you smell that?”

“Meat,” they said.

Yes. Meat.

This was our friends’ house. They moved here from New Orleans a couple of years ago. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what they were grilling, but I imagined it to be Cajuny. Something like this with a Cajun seasoning . . .

Oh, yeah. Looks like some other folks have the same thoughts I do. They cannot wait for it to be grilling season. So they force the issue.

We walked down the next street. I was carrying the scooter and plastic ride-on truck by now. Lucky me.

That’s when I smelled another one. Someone else was cooking something really garlicky outdoors. Something like this, perhaps . . .

Oh, man. I’ll bet this scene was repeated all over America wherever it wasn’t 30 below. The calendar says spring is officially here and whether it’s warm or not we’re going to grill, darn it!

We rounded the curve back to our house and ran into our neighbor across the street. You know, the one who doesn’t eat meat. He was mowing his lawn. Mowing, man!

He stopped and waved furiously. “Happy spring!” he called.

We yelled, “Happy spring!” back. It was so very Pleasantville-ish.

I loved it. But I couldn’t help but think, You’d have a better spring if you’d throw a few steaks on the barbie, neighbor.

For all I know he was preparing his dinner with that lawn mower.

As for the rest of us, let the grilling commence!