Steak and potatoes. Had this for dinner last night.


Steak: You know how you like your steak. Ours was cooked over charcoal for 4.5 min per side, threw a few dashes of Liquid Smoke per side, some black pepper and some coarse ground garlic sea salt.


Glaze for steak:
-onion, slice
-minced garlic
-brown sugar
-maple syrup
-honey
-butter
-liquid smoke
Sauté onions and minced garlic in butter, enough of it to cover the pan and be halfway to completely covering the onions. Let it sizzle for a little while, then add some brown sugar (at least enough to lightly cover all of the onions, more if you want. I use more when the ol lady isn't watching.) Then add the maple syrup and a little tiny bit of honey, and just a dash of the Smoke. Let that simmer over low heat until the sauce gets nice and thick and looks like when you make caramel. Put it on the steak and eat.




Potatoes:
-5lbs Yukon Gold potatoes (not Russet or anything else. Gold freakin taters).
-1 clove garlic
-2 sticks of butter
-1 8oz pack of cream cheese
-milk
-garlic powder
-basil
-oregano
-chili powder
-black pepper
-salt
-sugar
-honey
Place one stick of butter and the 8pz package of cream cheese into a bowl, put it in the sink, and fill it with warm-ish water. Leave that there. Peel the garlic and take some tin foil and wrap it around your fist to make a cup thing. Put the cloves in there with a little bit of olive oil and one rosemary, close up the tinfoil, and put it in the toaster oven on 300 until you need them for the potatoes.
Boil peeled and chopped potatoes for 20-30 min, until you can stick a fork into a piece without resistance and it just about falls apart. If you're weird and like chunky mashed potatoes, don't boil them so long. Pour into a pasta strainer thing and shake it a bit to get the water out... nobody likes watery potatoes. Put the potatoe chunks back into pot (should be no water in it) and add 3/4 cup of milk (you can add more later if you want them thinner, or use half and half for thicker), and the stick of butter and cream cheese that you we're warming. They should be nice and soft now so they'll mix well. Mash that all up with one of those wavy-line potatoe mashers (don't use electric beaters, it doesn't come out right with those). When that's got a good consistency, add the roasted garlic (that you mashed after you took out of the toaster oven... they can be microwaved for 15 sec at a time if they're not soft enough coming out of the toaster), chili powder to taste (not a lot, you only want a little hint of it), some basil and oregano, a tablespoon or so of salt, another one of sugar, little honey, a couple teaspoons or more of black pepper, and some garlic powder if you really like garlic. Mix that all up and then mash it a bit more just for shits. Pour that into something you can put in an oven, like a Pyrex dish, and smooth it out. Put some slices of butter from that second stick over the top of it, spaced somewhat evenly, and give it a light coating if garlic powder. Bake that uncovered at 350 for 30 min or so, giving it a nice buttery golden brown crust.


Enjoy.