Sunday, April 19, 2009

Donut Detour

It was PERFECT grilling weather in Northern Virginia on Saturday so Mike and I headed off to the store for some steaks! We ended up taking a little detour to the 19th Annual Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival, we had a pretty good time despite my suffering from what seem to be increasingly severe seasonal allergies -- grr. The BEST part? The Fractured Prune Donut vendor. I'd heard of the store, but had not been to one . . . not sure I should as it would be really hard to ever leave! The donuts were warm and cake like with a thin crispy "crust" and a super moist inside that just melts in your mouth -- DIVINE. There are many flavors to choose from and you can even make up your own flavors. We tried the "Blueberry Hill" (speckled blueberry glaze -- you gotta see it -- with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar) and the "O.C. Sand" (honey glaze and cinnamon sugar) they were to DIE for. They have plain donuts as well, but who cares about that -- check out the link.
Fractured Prune donuts just might be the new cupcake!!

Back to the steaks, my apologies for the donut detour. When the weather gets nice I like to do what I call a mixed grill, that way I get to spend more time on the patio with my glass of wine vs. in the kitchen. Feel free to mix multiple kinds of meat, seafood, and veggies. Whatever mix you like and whatever you have on hand will work. This is what we used for our mixed grill last night:

2 Angus Beef 9 oz NY Strip steaks from Harris Teeter's
4 Small Zucchini - ends removed and halved lengthwise
2 Medium ears of Corn - husks removed
1/2 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or PAM Olive Oil spray)
1 Tablespoon McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning
Sprinkling of Garlic Powder (Do not use Garlic Salt)
  1. Heat grill as you would for preparing steaks. I let my hubby do this while I supervise . . . with my wine.
  2. Place zucchini halves and corn on a platter and drizzle with the olive oil, brush or rub with hands to coat with the olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle about 1/2 of the steak seasoning evenly over the veggies. It doesn't take much of this seasoning so be sure to take it easy -- there's plenty of salt and pepper already in the mix.
  4. Place the steaks on a separate plate and sprinkle with remaining steak seasoning (no olive oil needed for the steaks).
  5. Sprinkle on as much of the garlic powder as you like on everything.
Add everything to the grill at the same time. Turn the zucchini and corn as needed allowing them to develop grill marks. As veggies reach desired doneness move them to a higher rack or a cooler spot on the grill. Finish cooking steaks and enjoy! The steak is so good it doesn't even need steak sauce -- but do what you will with regard to sauce =) . . . Enjoy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Kay. I'm going to give it a try when my sister and I go to the mountains of North Carolina in July. I'm looking forward to some quiet downtime with my older sister, some good wine, and now, thanks to you, some great mixed grill! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks,
Tamara