Flat Iron Steak Sandwiches with "Rum Forrest Rum" Punch and MoonPie Bread Pudding

ARKANSAS VS. ALABAMA

Get Your Pan Hot!

It's a marvelous day for redemption, don't you think? And redemption can come in many forms. Some of you think redemption for last week's defeat would require beating Alabama, the best team in the land. For others, redemption comes with the Hogs getting 21 points.

 I simply want to see this team go for broke, play like its hair is on fire, have fun and make plays. I want to see some people rise up and become leaders, especially if quarterback Tyler Wilson is unable to go. I want to see it be a contest when the fourth quarter starts. And I want to see those anthracite jerseys. There, I said it.

I love this team and everything it represents. I love it like family. Sometimes family disappoints you, but you don't turn your back. You have a lifetime of investment in times good and bad, and now you are simply a parent or grandparent to this team. Last week I went through a brief period of mourning over the ULM game. But the next morning I let it go and decided to start getting excited about this week's contest.

This is a weird year for the team, and that's no fault of the Razorbacks, really. What say let's  have fun with it the rest of the way, enjoy some good food and company, and root these Hogs on. It's all part of the story.

First and 10: Flat Iron Steak Sandwiches with Pickle Butter

Photo from familystylefood.com site

Okay! We have been slinging a lot of butter around here. Most of the photographs this week are of the dessert -- where the most work was done. But my mouth started watering as soon as I saw the photo of today's main dish.  I discovered flat iron steaks a few months ago at the grocery store and life hasn't been the same since. Flat iron is a new cut of beef recently developed that offers an even thickness of meat, perfect for grilling and very affordable. A piece of connective tissue that naturally occurs in this secton of the cow is removed before packaging, and the meat often comes sealed inside plastic.

Kroger has this cut, and typically serves up grilled samples of it that were marinated in olive oil, Califironia garlic seasoning and Back Yard Southern Style Seasoning. Whenver they do this, people run to the spice aisle to buy that spice combination. I have grilled up flat iron and then served it, sliced with a honey-hot pepper sauce over the top. But the recipe I am featuring today really caught my attention.

It comes to us from familystylefood.com, which carries the tagline "recipes for every day with a dash of style." The author, Karen, posted this recipe July 10, 2012. You should check out her site -- its looks amazing.

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1/3 cup cornichon or baby gherkin pickles, chopped (I chosed gherkin)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• Pinch sea salt, or to taste
• 2 flat iron steaks, about 8 oz. each (I could not find one smaller than about 17-18 oz. anyway.)
• Freshly ground black pepper.
• 1 small head of bibb lettuece
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 4 crusty French sandwich rolls (I settled for a baguette-like French loaf at Kroger that I cut into loaves)

Prepare a charcoal grill for direct grilling or light a gas grill to medium-high. (Actually, no, don't even think about using gas. Get a charcoal chimney and suck it up. Don't touch the lighter fluid.)

Mix together the butter, picles, tarragon, lemon juice and salt to taste in a small bowl.

Season the steak generously with salt and pepper. Grill the steak about 3 minutes per side for medium rare, or until done to your liking. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes. (Many web sites indicate that medium rare is best for this cut.)

Lay the rolls on the outer edge of the grill to warm.
To serve, line the rolls with lettuce leaves. cut the steaks into 1/4-inch-thick slices and layer onto the rolls. top each sandwich with some onion and a few dollops of the pickle butter.

This recipe makes four sandwiches.And oh, that dollop of pickle butter. Hoo ah!

 

Cooler Break: "Rum Forrest Rum" Punch

This is recipe that could benefit from being halved if you are just making it for a family (of adults) or you are having a couple over for the game. But if you have a good-sized gathering, go ahead and make the whole thing. Just make sure you have a pitcher than can hold an entire gallon.

You get the name, right? Forrest Gump played for Alabama.  I adapted this recipe from several simple punch recipes I found on the interwebs.My only requirement was that it not involve grenadine or bitters (so I didn't have to buy them.)

• 2 liters punch-flavored soda (I supposed you could just use punch)
• 1 liter of dark rum (I used Bacardi Select)
• A 12-oz can of frozen orange-pineapple juice concentrate
• 1 cup of coconut rum
• One orange sliced for garnish

Put the frozen concentrate in the pitcher and DO NOT ADD WATER. Use the rum to reconstitute it. Then add the soda, stir and float the orange slices on top. Get it nice and cold. This is a serious punch for serious people. The key to the flavor will be the rum you choose, so if you like a spicier, darker flavor, go with Meyer's.

Warning: there is a lot of alcohol in this punch. Anything you are drinking something sweet with rum it it, there is the tendency to over do it. Take it slow, cowboy! Game day is a marathon.

Two-Minute Drill: MoonPie Bread Pudding

To be honest, I think I created this food blog so I could make this recipe, courtesy moonpie.com. I was dreaming about bread pudding when I first began planning the season, and this recipe stimulated my imagination. Like most foodies, I have a sixth sense about flavors that would mix well in my mouth and I wasn't wrong about this one. This is quite simply the most incredible dish I have ever eaten in my life.Though its building blocks are low-country, the finished result could be found in the finest restaurants of New Orleans.

And how could this recipe possibly miss? It is a collision of the best ingredients -- the favorite sons -- of our beloved South: Butter, cream, MoonPies, liquor, brown sugar?

It's a huge recipe with 15 eggs that series 15-20 people, so the first thing we did was cut it in half. It called for two different 9x13 baking dishes. We happened to have one 9x13 metal making dish. The key to this thing is that you will need to bake it in a water bath for 45 minutes. So you need one 9x13 than can fit down inside of another casserole dish partially full of water.(Remember cooking your cheese dip in a double boiler in 1976? It's a double boiler if you are cooking cheese dip. It's a bain marie if you are getting all French with it and making pah -tayyyyy.)

 Locate the dishes first so you know the logistics will work out. What you are going to read below is my half-size adaptation of the moonpie.com website recipe, which was apparently developed by a caterer.

• 8 eggs
• 16 oz whole milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground clove
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking power
• 1/2 a small loaf of french bread, diced
• 5 Double Decker MoonPies or 7-8 Original MoonPies, diced 
• 3/4 tablespoon butter
• Rum Sauce (see below)
• Chopped Pecans

In one bowl, combine first 7 ingredients. In  separate bowl combine bread and MoonPies, which should be roughly even in amount.  Pour liquid ingredients over bread and MoonPie mixture. I used the mini moon pies since that is all they had at Kroger.

Gently fold to combine. Butter the 93 inch baking dish and pour the mixture in, then refrigerate for an hour and a half.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cube 1/4 stick of butter and distribute evenly over the top of the dish. Bake the dish uncovered in a water bath for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. (Has a toothpick ever come out cleanly in the history of mankind?)

Be careful when you open the oven, for it will be full of steam and can hurt your eyes or your face. Stand back a second and let that waft around. Also, the water bath that the baking dish is floating in will probably be boiling at the end. Careful with that. Pull the dish out to the stove-top slowly so as not to slosh the boiling water. You should see some nice browning on top of the pudding from the butter cooking atop the bread. The pudding is now ready for its sauce.

 

Rum Sauce

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter
• 1/2 pound dark brown sugar (about 1 1/3 cups but the weight worked perfectly and is more accurate)
• 1/2 qt. heavy cream
• 1/8 cup dark rum, plus more

Combine incredients in a saucepan and whisk constantly. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat. Now revel in your accomplishment, because this sauce is probably the happiest thing you have ever had in your mouth. Drizzle the warm rum sauce over the top of the bread pudding and garnish with chopped pecans. Serves 8-10.My only regrets? Not attempting to put some raisins in the pudding or the sauce. With that rum flavor, raisins might have been even more divine.

Next week? Razorgumbo is taking a bye week. The author will be out of commssion for awhile, so you will have to fend for yourself for Rutgers and I will see you the week after. Get your pan hot!