new garden planting

How ya like me now

In an effort to spruce up the dead space around the mailbox, I have planted an assortment of purple sage, Cuphea (Mexican Heather), French Thyme, and Fluted Coreoposos "Jethro Tull". Vinca Major is still growing from transplants, and I've tried a couple of golden pineapple sage cuttings, which don't really seem to be taking root.

The Fluted Coreoposos "Jethro Tull" is by far the most interesting planting so far. A carefree and everblooming new introduction. Compact habit. Bright yellow blooms with unique fluted petals. Spent blooms should be removed to encourage continuous flowering. It sits at one foot right now and will grow another foot before it is all over.

The fluted petals are pretty cool

I have begun laying down my own compost mix in with my flowerbeds. The compost has quite a bit of pine straw in it, so it makes for a good mulch. My hope is that the watering draws down the nutrients into the soil (trickle down gardening?) and the pine straw serves as a weed barrier. It is definitely "dirty mulch," but it could always be covered should one want to go that route.

I also planted BW Pink Begonias along with Coleus "Training Red" in the front planters and Ivy Geranium (Burgundy) and Kuai Rose wishbone flowers in the back planters. Finally, some color...

The Bee Balm finally blooms

Kitchen Garden

So, I ripped up another patch of grass and replaced it with a kitchen garden. It is modest for now:

Golden Pineapple Sage
Sicilian Oregano
Basil
Thyme
Sage

In the back--Rosemary and potted mint. I'm debating transplanting the mint to the back planter what happens.

The herbs were all planted a couple of weeks ago--call it April 25. They are growing nicely. I'm debating putting a raised bed back here at some point.

Kickass Steak Recipe

Michael Lomonaco offers the following recipe for steaks:

1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves, chopped
3 to 4 sprigs each fresh thyme and rosemary
4 20 oz, bone-in, NY strip steaks, 1 3/4-2 inches thick.
Kosher salt
1/2 lemon

1) combine oil and garlic in small saucepan and warm over low heat for 2 minutes. Cool thoroughly, then add the parsley, thyme and rosemary. Divide the seasoned oil equally between 2 small bowls.

2) brush the steaks with half of the seasoned oil. Let the steaks sit at room temperature for 10 to 20 minutes before grilling.

3) make fire

4) season steaks lightly with pepper and liberally with salt (1/2 teaspoon per steak)

5) sear. don't burn.

6) after turning, brush (don't slather) steaks with marinade in second bowl using a clean brush.

7) remove steaks to platter and tent with foil. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the steaks.

Tri Tip with fresh herbs

My first tri-tip of the grilling season was a mix of thrill and disappointment. While the overall product was quite good, many touches were missing.

Herb rub:

fresh rosemary (handful)
fresh thyme (handful)
cracked fresh pepper
olive oil

First off--too much rosemary and thyme, not enough pepper. Ratio was greatly skewed, and next time I will back off the rosemary and thyme. I prepped the steak by sprinkling it with a thin layer of GARLIC SALT. I followed it with sea salt. This works quite well.

the grill:

550 degrees. 2 minutes per side sear. (4 minutes)

it was on-and-off storming, and this affected my fire. I heated the brick oven up to 550, but put the grill on the pit a little too late. The grill itself wasn't hot enough for the meat, and the sear left something to be desired. On the one hand, the meat squeezed right up and the result was juicy. The crust, however, was weak. The thyme and rosemary remained soft and squishy. I think a hotter oven (600+) with a pre-heated grill will do better. Increasing sear time is more problematic, as the outer layer of skin can dry up, which is NOT the crust we want.

350-400 degrees. direct heat. circa 20 minutes.

I was paranoid about burning the meat, and removed it once to check temperature (at about 14 minutes total time). The internal temperature was about 100, if my weak thermometer is to be believed. I put it back on for another ten minutes, and pulled it even though the thermometer indicated a low temp. The result was medium rare, and more on the rare side of it, so no fears about burning the meat.

I would have preferred to throw on the plate setter and cook the meat on indirect at 400. The weather kept me from doing this.

Steaks, with a (sage) rub

This rub does not excite, but it is workable:

dried thyme (whole)
dried rosemary (whole)
dried sage (powdered)
cracked pepper
coarse sea salt

I'm beginning to think that rubs add texture more than anything else, although the sage came through (bright and sweet) to counteract the thyme and pepper.

BIG GREEN EGG NOTES:

I'm having a gasket issue which I will fix up next weekend, and I think it led to the following problem. I let the grill get very hot. It ran for ten-fifteen minutes at 650 degrees. It allowed me to clean the grill (which really worked), and also put a nice sear on it. But when the grill surface is that hot, and the internal temperature of the egg is sitting at 650, 1.5 minutes on the sear blackens the meat. That wasn't the real rub, however. It was the cooking afterwards (5.5 minutes or so) at a slightly higher heat than normal, thanks to my gasket issues, that cooked the meat too much.

The meat also was allowed to sit for nearly ten minutes, which helped the juices to settle, and I'm sure it cooked during that time as well. I should cut the cooking time down to 4.5 to 5 minutes if the temperature stays up around 500 degrees.