Strip Steak with Zucchini and Onion - Japanese Steakhouse Style

[FTC Standard Disclosure]  This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC.  All opinions are my own.

I have always been fascinated with the Japanese-style steakhouses, also known as hibachi or teppanyaki restaurants.  I enjoy the live-cooking entertainment as much as the food.  I am in awe of the chef's ability to cook eight variations of their steak-shrimp-scallop-chicken combinations at once and nail the timing.  On top of that, you have to add the vaudeville schtick of jokes, flinging shrimp tails, building onion volcanos, and the cling-clang-bing-bang of the swirling utensils.  

Those chefs are true multi-taskers, and I lack their ability to keep track of so much.  At our house, a kitchen timer goes off, Alexis asks what it was for, and I'm likely to reply, "I had a timer set?" 

This past weekend, Food City had some gorgeous Certified Angus Beef® Brand, USDA Prime grade NY Strip Steaks and I couldn't resist them. Usually, I like a simple grilled steak.  But I wanted something different, so I channeled my inner teppanyaki chef and came up with this Strip Steak with Sweet Soy Butter, Zucchini and Onions, and Jasmine rice.  

I departed from my usual teppanyaki steak dinner process (Japanese Steakhouse Appetizers, Teppanyaki Steak and Scallops) a few ways:

• I cooked the steak whole, instead of cutting it up during the cook and finishing it by cooking the individual pieces.
• I skipped the usual ginger dipping sauce for a Sweet Soy-Garlic-Ginger butter.

Teppanyaki Seasoning

Fire Roasted Vegetable Lasagna on the Big Green Egg

[Standard FTC Disclosure]  I received no compensation for this post.

A ceramic kamado grill (Big Green Egg, Primo, Kamado Joe, Grilla Kong, etc.) is similar to a wood-fired oven, and that is one of my favorite ways to use it.  The ceramic dome lid serves both as a heat modulator and reflector, which results in even cooking.  Natural hardwood lump charcoal burns quite cleanly and gives the food a pleasantly mild, fire-roasted flavor.  It is PERFECT for lasagna; I fire-roasted my first lasagna years ago, and I haven't cooked one in the oven since.

This Fire Roasted Vegetable Lasagna is fan-freaking-tastic.   We recently made this veggie lasagna for a pot-luck lunch at our office.  We have a few vegetarians at our office, so I came up with the recipe for them.  

Turns out, this isn't a "vegetarian lasagna," this is a luscious, creamy, and delicious lasagna that just happens to be vegetarian.  

If you don't have a ceramic kamado grill (you should!), you can make this on most grills or even your oven.  

Fire Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

By www.nibblemethis.com
Published 10/21/2019

This is a creamy, cheesy, and delicious lasagna that just happens to be vegetarian.  

Ingredients

• 1 pound lasagna noodles, cooked per package directions
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake for garnish
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley for garnish
• 1 ounce parmesan cheese, shredded

Prime Ribeye Steak with Roasted Garlic Chive Butter and Skillet Potatoes

[FTC Standard Disclosure]  Although I did not participate in the Sunday Supper Certified Angus Beef® Brand program this year, I did receive two trips and a banner from them in 2019.  

I had a kickin' toothache last week so when I could finally eat normally again this past weekend, I went straight for a ribeye steak. Precisely, a Ribeye Steak with Roasted Garlic Chive Butter and Skillet Potatoes as a side dish. This is a free cook, meaning I wasn't writing a recipe, I was just whipping up something for dinner.

Alexis and I were at Food City and found this pair of USDA Prime, Certified Angus Beef® Brand ribeye steaks.  They were just $1 more a pound that the C.A.B. USDA Choice, so the Prime was a natural choice for me.

The one on the left is trimmed competition style and tied while the one on the right is "as is" from the package. 

Leftovers Supreme: Baked Penne and Sausage

[Standard FTC Disclosure]  I received no compensation for this post.

Baked spaghetti and variations thereof are a fun and easy way to use up leftovers.

Tuesday we cooked a few pans of fire-roasted lasagna on the Big Green Egg for the staff at our Knoxville office.  I'll have a full recipe post coming up for the veggie lasagna that we made because it was killer.  

After making the lasagna, we had extra Italian sausage meat sauce and cheese leftover.  Naturally, I thought of making a "baked spaghetti" dish with the leftovers.

We had some dry penne in the pantry so I boiled that and mixed it with the meat sauce and a bunch of cheese, probably 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar and Monterey jack.  I topped that off with more cheese and some panko bread crumbs.