Cooking on Griddle Revisited

I have been steadily going through the freezers cooking at least one thing from the freezer for each dinner in preparation for the arrival of our bulk beef purchase this coming weekend. The cow goes to the abattoir on Thursday so with any luck we will be able to pick it up Saturday morning. Now, the biggest problem me being away for 2 weeks I am really juggling to free up freezer space. I cooked up the last of the Cowboy steaks in the freezer. I previously posted on Cowboy Steaks (here and here).

Cooking on Griddle

Cooking cowboy steaks on the griddle was nothing new. What I did for these steaks was a bit different. I decided to cook the entire meal on the griddle. In order to do this on the griddle the food was actually cooked almost in reverse order to what you would expect.

I prepared the vegetable side first that consisted of portabello mushrooms, zucchini and red onions on the griddle set to 180ºC (350ºF) and a little extra virgin olive oil (1). Once the vegetables started caramelize I added sliced baked potatoes and the steak (2). The steak was cooked to medium rare just when the vegetables were ready.

What really impresses me about using a griddle to cook a full meal is anyone can do it. It does not matter if you live in an apartment or it's the middle of winter you can have close to the taste of grilling without the smoke of an indoor grill. I have two indoor grills, one a stove cartridge and the other a tabletop model. Smoke is controlled on the stove by using the downdraft whereas smoke is controlled on the tabletop by adding water to the bottom reservoir. The griddle is different. You won't get anything more in the way of smoke than you would using large skillets. You have a bit more temperature control and less clean-up using the griddle.

Cowboy Steak Dinner

The griddle cooked meal came out perfectly! I really liked the way the potatoes crisped up just a bit. The vegetables were nicely caramelized and the steak wonderful. I added fresh sliced tomatoes that enhanced the flavour of the meal.

Cooking on an indoor griddle offers a few new possibilities. It will not replace an outdoor or indoor grill but it does do a nice job without much in the way of smoke. I think the best meats for this purpose are boneless, skinless chicken breast or lean boneless pork chops or lean boneless steak. I wouldn't suggest using any cuts of meat with bone in. I would recommend choosing vegetables like mushrooms, onions and zucchini instead of harder root vegetables unless they are pre-cooked and just need warming through with a little caramelization. Add a fresh vegetable side like a salad to round out the meal.

Enjoy!

Garden Gnome
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