Happy Father's Day!

Jim and I settled on a Bobby Flay recipe for those rib eyes: a Spanish-spice rub with a Sherry vinegar steak sauce. Exotic, yes. But I had all of the ingredients and it got me excited to try it. Here it is:

2 grilled red bell peppers, peeled, seeded and chopped or 4 piquillo peppers, drained and chopped
3/4 cup aged sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish, drained
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the Spanish spice rub:
3 tablespoons Spanish paprika
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon mustard seeds, ground
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, ground
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

So this morning I made the spice rub and the steak sauce at my house. It was nice having a big enough kitchen to move around in. The only change I made to the spice rub was to chop the fennel seeds up. I don't have a spice grinder or a coffee grinder, so it was improv time, since I only had whole fennel seeds.

The only thing different I did with the steak sauce was to halve the recipe. I opted for the red bell pepper instead of the piquillo peppers, since that was what I had on-hand. I wasn't sure what to think of the sauce. I didn't dislike it, but it was very, very different than anything I've ever tasted before. I could really taste the honey and the vinegar, and it had a surprising kick from the horseradish.

I also pressed a package of tofu for myself. It never ceases to amaze me how much water can be pressed out of tofu. I went through a ton of paper towels trying to get as much liquid out as possible.

At Jim's house, I whipped up a batch of mac n' cheese, as well as a Nigella recipe for dessert. The dessert was definitely a last second thing that I wasn't at all planning on doing. I was panicking, trying to figure out a dessert that could be done in less than an hour that didn't involve room temperature butter. I looked in the fridge and saw a huge container of blackberries that I had picked up last week from Costco for only $2.99, and I knew it was going to be based on that. I contemplated making some sort of blackberry shortcake but ultimately decided to make a crisp instead. Nigella totally rescued me on that one.

I tossed the blackberries (4 cups) with sugar and cornstarch in a baking dish. Then I combined brown sugar, sliced almonds, oatmeal, cinnamon, flour, and melted butter to make the topping. All I had to do was crumble it over the top of the fruit, cover it with plastic wrap, and bring it over to Jim's parents' house.

At their house, Jim and I got the steaks on, as well as the food his dad had for grilling, beef ribs, a couple of T-bone steaks, and cheese hot dogs for the nephews. We tested out the spice rub on a piece of my tofu. I was very happy to make pretty grill marks all over my tofu. The spice rub was soo good, so we lathered up the rib eyes next (note: by "we," I mean Jim did the dirty work and I watched). Jim did a perfect job with the steaks and we ended up with 2 medium rare and 1 medium.

Everyone seemed to like the steak sauce, even Jim's mom. Jim's dad is a steak purist, but he said it was good and wouldn't have a problem eating it on chicken or something else. As for me, I was happy with my tofu. Yum. I got to be a part of it tonight, which was nice.

My crowning moment was definitely the crisp. I was pretty confident with that, since it's extremely difficult to mess up a fruit crisp. And it was delish! I was glad that I omitted the sunflower seeds, because it really didn't need them at all. Thankfully Jim's parents had vanilla ice cream in the fridge. There is little else that is better than ice cream melted by a warm fruit crisp. Sooo good.

I'm still having blackberry crisp dreams. :-)