Father’s Day Meal for the Meat and Potatoes Guy!

 

Since Father’s Day is coming up this weekend, I thought I’d share some recipes for a special occasion meal that my kids’ number one Dad always enjoys!

What man doesn’t love red meat with a side of starch? Here’s a meat and potatoes meal that’s always a winner with our Super Dad, and I’m assuming it would be with most other men as well. Let’s start with the MEAT!!

I season some New York Strips with my favorite go-to seasoning from the Biltmore Traditions cookbook. It’s a very flavorful seasoning, full of herbs and spices. I always triple or quadruple the recipe to have plenty of extra on hand for other meals. I love this on beef, chicken, pork, fish, and potatoes!

1 1/2 tsp dried rosemary*

1/4 tsp dry mustard 

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp garlic powder 

1 tsp seasoned salt 

1 tsp kosher salt 

1/2 tsp onion salt 

1 tsp freshly ground pepper 

* I have a lot of rosemary in my yard so I like to make use of it and chop it for this recipe. If I use the fresh, I keep the extra seasoning in the fridge. If I use dried, I can keep it in my spice cabinet. 

For the potatoes, I sometimes use this recipe of Tyler Florence’s for Roasted Fingerling Potatoes.  The potatoes I used in this photo are not fingerlings, but a pack of red and yellow creamer potatoes instead. I always read the reviews on recipes that I find on the internet. They are so helpful!  There were very mixed reviews on this recipe, but I thought it had great potential so I still gave it a try, taking those comments into consideration. The most common critique was the lack of flavor. The seasonings in the recipe sounded really good though, so the first time I made it, I just used more seasoning than the recipe called for, and that did the trick! The only additional changes I’ve made since then are slicing the potatoes in half and chopping the herbs so the seasoning infuses into the potato better.

When the other items on the plate are already pretty flavorful, all I want do for the asparagus is toss it with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then maybe give it a sprinkling of Parmesan or lemon juice. I roast it anywhere between 400 and 425 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on its thickness. Sometimes we put it on the grill with the meat instead of in the oven, and that’s great too.

So here (above) is everything all prepped and ready to cook! Unfortunately, I don’t work the grill, so I just season the meat and our Patio Daddy-o does the grilling.

My guy loves his meat rare! And he’s taught me to love it that way too.

The potatoes have a good crunchy crust on the outside, with a soft, buttery middle.

Another great idea with this meal is to package it into a gift basket! I did this for my father-in-law’s gift for Father’s Day last year. I filled a neat little jar with the steak seasoning (When doing this, use dried herbs and not fresh so it will keep longer!).  I found a rustic-looking bucket with rope handles at World Market, and filled it with a couple of thick steaks, baking potatoes, and the herbed meat seasoning.

I then wrapped it in cellophane and kept it in the fridge until ready to deliver. I don’t know any man who would not accept this kind of gift basket!

They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and I think beef just accelerates that process!