Garlic Butter Basted Rib Eye & Parmesan Crusted Corn Cobs

For American Independence Day I decided to cook up a 4th July American dinner. The bone-in rib eye steak was a must - simply pan fried with some herbs from the garden, garlic and basted with butter to let its perfect flavours shine through. Here I have cooked it on the bone and then removed it to serve - it was huge!

The corn was baked with a salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and freshly grated parmesan, making it a little healthier than the usual lashing of butter, but keeping the flavour. Delicious. First - the steak..

Ingredients:      (Serves 2)

2 rib eye steaks, on the bone, trimmed of fat
salt & pepper
2 tbsp. oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled & bashed but together
1 spring fresh rosemary
2 springs fresh thyme
20g butter

Method:

Heat the oil in a pan and season the beef with salt & pepper. Add the sprigs of herbs and garlic and cook on one side for 5 minutes. Add the butter to the pan and flip the steak over. Cook for a further 5-6 minutes, basting the butter over the steaks until browned and cooked to your liking, I did medium here. Remove from the pan and loosely wrap in kitchen foil to rest for 5 minutes. Then cut off the bone, slice and serve.

For the corn:

2 whole or 4 half corn cobs
a little mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

Set the oven to 200 C and cut some kitchen foil to loosely package one of the cobs. Brush a little oil on the foil to help prevent the cheese sticking too much.

Brush a little mayonnaise on the corn - you don't want much, just enough to get the spices and cheese to stick. Sprinkle the spice mix and then roll in the parmesan. Put on the foil and wrap the foil in a loose package so only the bottom of the corn is touching the foil. Pop in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve with the steak and enjoy!

 

 

The 4th July meal all together - it was absolutely delicious. I hope the American readers of this blog feel I did them proud! And Happy Independence Day to them all.

Quick Little Chocolate & Key Lime Pies

Yesterday was 4th July and celebrations were held across the USA for Independence Day. So in keeping with this, we had an fabulous American dinner (which I'll be posting later). This was the dessert that we had.

Key Lime pie is an American dessert and the 'key' part is named after the limes from Florida Keys. I didn't have those particular ones - but I did have a bowl of limes. This recipe uses just a few ingredients and I had all of them, so I made a last minute decision as dinner was cooking and thought I'd surprise The Bloke by whipping up little individual versions. Ideally you need a couple of little chefs rings - I used 3 x 1.5 inch ones.

Ingredients:     (Serves 2)

6-7 chocolate chip cookies
20g butter
150ml double cream
200ml condensed milk
juice of 3 limes and zest of 1
milk chocolate for grating

Method:

Put the chefs rings onto a small wooden chopping board. Put the cookies into a small freezer bag and crush to crumbs using a rolling pin or bottom of a saucepan. Melt the butter in the microwave (or in a pan) and add to the biscuits; mix well. Spoon the biscuit mix into the bottom of the two rings and press down with the back of a spoon. Pop in the fridge for a minute while you make the topping.

Put the cream, condensed milk, lime zest and juice into a bowl and whisk together using an electric or hand whisk. it will thicken up quickly. Share the mixture into the two rings until full and tidy the tops by sliding a knife across. Pop in the fridge for about 2 hours. Its worth the wait!

When just about to serve, grate some milk chocolate over the top of the key lime pies and use a spatula to loosen the bottom from the board. Use a sharp knife to work around the edges of the rind and the put onto a small serving dish. Then remove the metal ring. Grate chocolate over the top (I put some chocolate into the freezer for a little while to make the grating easier). Serve and enjoy!