ALT-1 Tips for Organizing a Fathers Day Brunch
There are basically two ways to go on Father's Day, going out to a restaurant or cooking at home. Many restaurants do a Father's Day buffet style brunch for the day and if you have a small intimate family group it might be the way to go for you. A buffet will take care of the finicky eating habits of small children, and offer some more sophisticated items for the adults. It makes for a relaxing situation and you can eat as much as you care to for a fixed price. Don't be shy and call ahead to see what they are offering to make sure that they will have some of Dad's favorites. Make a reservation since Father's Day is usually a busy day in the restaurant world, especially if the food is good there. Don't be afraid to splurge a little, as I have no doubt your Dad is worth it!
If you have a large extended family group and lots of space to entertain, a party is a great option. Have family members prepare some of their favorite dishes, but make sure it is centrally coordinated, meaning plan a list, which will cover the basic food groups and ensure a pleasant variety of foods. You don't really need three different potato salads and three macaroni/pasta salads. If you do, it's Ok; after all it's your party. But remember variety is the spice of life!
At the risk of alienating someone out there, remember these are only suggestions; most red-blooded American Dads want meat and potatoes. Save the poached salmon, quiche and mimosas for Mother's Day. I am going to give you a couple great, simple dishes, which I would bet your Dad would love.
Most supermarkets this time of year will have a lot of top round London Broil. This is not usually the most expensive cut of meat, as it can be a little tough, and therefore, is usually served rare.
Giving credit where credit is due, I tried an interesting technique which I saw on "America's Test Kitchen", which consisted of putting your London Broil in the oven for 10 minutes at 225 degrees to break down some of the meat fibers before you put it on the grill. This works pretty well. Ideally, you would like the meat to get to a 90-degree internal temperature before grilling, but 10 minutes at 225 degrees ought to do it for you.
Before you put them on the grill, do a simple rub of crushed garlic, salt and pepper. For best results use a garlic press to crush the garlic into a pulp, or just dice it as fine as you can. Add a tablespoon of salt and a few dashes of fresh ground pepper and work the garlic, salt and pepper into a paste with the flat of the knife. The salt will act as an abrasive to really do the job of making a paste.
When your steaks have come to temperature, take them out and dividing your garlic paste to cover the quantity of steaks you have, do a thorough rub on both sides and put them on the barbeque grill. Cook them to the desired doneness, but remember London Broil gets tougher the longer you cook it. A nice medium-rare should do the trick. To serve, slice across the grain of the meat and arrange on a platter. To fancy it up, garnish with some fresh herbs.
This step of oven warming the meat will simulate dry aging and the surfaces of the steak will take a real Hollywood looking sear. I'm sure your Dad will love it.
An easy side dish for this steak is oven roasted potatoes. If you haven't tried them, use the little baby white potatoes or Yukon Gold.
Wash your potatoes, half them with a knife and put them in a large bowl. Liberally (don't worry, being liberal in the kitchen is a good thing), douse the potatoes in olive oil, some fresh-ground coarse salt and a little pinch of curry powder. You just want enough curry to give a subtle perfume. Cover a cookie sheet with heavy duty Aluminum foil for easy clean up (You love the guy, but that's no reason to knock yourself out) and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the outsides get crispy. When using the young potatoes I suggested, the insides get unbelievably creamy. This will become an everyday favorite for sure. At least, I hope so.
In my book, steak goes great with mushrooms. Here is a simple way to prepare them. Since it's a festive time, be a little adventurous. Select a variety of mushrooms, shitake, cremeni, Baby Bello, or the big boy Portobello's or whatever looks fresh and good. Trim the bottoms of the stems as they can be tough, especially the shitake, which I would recommend trimming the stems completely, and slice them thickly, about 1/8 inch thick. Half and clean a sweet white onion and slice to the same size. In a frying pan melt 1 stick of butter, about 6 dashes of Worschestshire Sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Saut the mushrooms and onions till the onions are soft and translucent. You don't need to over cook them, about 4-5 minutes. This is a simple and hearty accompaniment to any steak and very easy to do. Want to pretend to be a French chef? Toss in a splash of heavy cream and/or cognac. Formidable!
Well, I might as well, give you a nice vegetable dish, to make it complete. This is a good time for fresh string beans. I like to use the little French green beans. Steam till they are "al dente", which means they should resist a bit when you bite them. When you are steaming, you will know the beans are done when you smell green bean. Remove from heat and melt a half stick of butter in a pan, add a generous handful of sliced almonds and a dash of Amaretto. I like a shot of Cajun or Creole seasoning just to perk it up a bit. Toss with your green beans and you're done.
If you don't want the alcohol, that's fine, but remember we use alcohol in cooking for its flavor properties not for its intoxicating ones. You know, vanilla extract has alcohol in it. I was told that the US military had to petition the King of Saudi Arabia to allow them to bring vanilla extract into the kingdom, which is crucial for making almost any baked good, into the country. Fortunately, for our servicemen, he did. So do what you feel comfortable with, but the Amaretto is a nice touch, better than almond extract.
A nice summer dessert idea for a Father's Day party is a pound cake buffet. Slice up generous slices of pound cake, have bowls of assorted berries, whipped cream and a simple rum sugar syrup. Put 2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan and cook down to a semi-thick consistency. Add some dark rum, not much, maybe a couple of tablespoons (the rum extract would work fine). This way, your guests could be as "good" or decadent as they choose. They could have a few berries with a little whipped cream or go all out with berries, cake syrup and whipped cream. You could even get ice cream for the little kids (and for some "big" kids, too!).
So these menu options could be the centerpiece for a big family party or the makings of an intimate dinner. Just get friends and family to bring more stuff and Happy Father's Day!
