Tri Tip and Roasted Vegetables

The big guy cooked the main event for dinner last night and I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised again. It's not that I doubt his kitchen abilities. As you know, he's pretty darn efficient in the cookin' department but his choice of meat left me cold. I'm not much of a tri tip fan as the only other time I've had it, it was tough as leather so I assumed it was a cut of beef best left for hamburger. Boy was I wrong.

According to recipetips.com "The tri-tip is a triangular shaped cut at the tip of the sirloin and is surrounded by the remainder of the sirloin and the round and flank primals" which indicates that it ain't no prime rib. Because of its location, it's best marinated before being cooked and that's what the big guy did. He mixed up a magic potion and marinated it overnight in a zip bag. While as usual, he won't divulge the quantities in his concoction, he did supply this picture of the ingredients he used. Oh, he also said "you don't need as much soy sauce as you think you will".

He grilled the meat over direct heat for 8 minutes, flipped it and cooked it for another 8 minutes, then moved it to indirect and cooked it for another 20 minutes. Removed to a platter to rest, he covered it and let it be for 10 minutes before slicing it across the grain on the bias. The result - fork tender, succulent, moist beef without a trace of toughness. I'm so glad he didn't listen to me when I said I'd rather have chicken.

The beef was joined on the plate by some roasted vegetables and the leftover horseradish sauce from the salmon the other night. I have to admit I kicked up the sauce a bit by adding more horseradish and a little more lemon juice too. As for the vegetables - this is a Giada recipe from Food Network and while it tasted good it makes me think that she mustn't be much of a fan of root veggies. There was way too much dried herbs in it which totally hid the flavor of the Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes. I'll make it again, but for certain I'll cut the herbs by half - at least. Kind of shows one should go with their instinct on these things, but oh no. Ya' think I might need a little more confidence? Oh, I also cut the olive oil to 2 Tablespoons to save some calories, and used a touch of white wine at the end to moisten them up a bit.

Comments

[Lea]

interesting that he went asian and you went italian.... I like that

[Mags]

I think Giada does over-herb (and over-lemon) sometimes too and try to remember that when I'm making her recipes.

That tri-tip sounds heavenly!

[June]

Lea - I didn't even give that a thought - mmm.

Mags - you know we're all for "excess", but it really was too much. The tri tip was yummy. My guy can sure bbq!

[noble pig]

Yeah, I would not want to hide the taste of parsnips AT ALL! But overall, nice presentation.