Week One of the Byes, and what’s a fantasy team to do!
On top of that, egads! Everyone is injured.
With that in mind, you team more than likely needs some help, and if you’re on bye, a little home-cooking probably sounds fairly magnificent.
So, let’s start there, with some Mac ‘n Cheese, the stuff that dreams are made of. But we can’t just leave you with a side piece for your Tailgate and bounce, so we’re going to marinade up some ribeye and throw in some sautéed baby bella mushrooms, which, technically, is TWO side pieces.
Don’t we treat you well?
Time to get started!
What We Need for the Marinade:
1 C Olive Oil
1/3 C Lemon Juice
Minced Garlic
Rosemary
Cayenne
Black Pepper
Worcestershire
Dried Parsley
Dried Basil
What We’re Doing with It:
Take everything but your Olive Oil and add it to your blender. Then add the oil slowly as you emulsify your marinade into being.
Then add it to appropriate sized Ziploc bags with your beautiful Ribeye cuts, seal them up, and let the marinade in the fridge.
What We Need for Compound Butter:
Room temp/softened butter
Choice of herbs…we’re going with:
Minced garlic
Thyme
Rosemary
Chives
What We’re Doing with It:
Again, simple moves here. Mix your herbs into your softened butter, then shaped them into small football shapes.
Check out the video (as you should for all of this) to see Chef’s smooth moves on shaping the butter with spoons. Then refrigerate for later.
The rest of these moves you want to wait until later when you’re about ready to start your ribeye cuts on the grill! Time it out for perfection!
What We Need for Gigi’s Mac ‘n Cheese:
Elbow Macaroni
Cheese blend (cheddar, parm, and cream)
1/2 Stick Butter
1 C of Milk
2 Eggs
1 T Dry Mustard
S&P TT
What We’re Doing with It:
Start by bringing the water to boil for your macaroni. While you’re waiting for that, go ahead and pre-heat the oven to 375 and butter down your Pyrex pan for later.
Now cook the elbow, strain it, and set it aside to cool. In the former macaroni pot, add milk and butter under a medium heat. Then add your dry mustard, followed by your brick of cream cheese. Stir often to avoid anything sticking to the bottom.
Once that has gotten to a uniform mixture, turn off HEAT and add in your macaroni. Then crack in two eggs and stir that all around until blended. Then add in your shredded cheddar and parm blend, leaving some for the toping later. Mix it all together, then transfer it to your Pyrex pan.
Cover it with parchment and/or foil and let it bake for about 45 minutes, then uncover it, and add your remaining cheese.
Then put it back in the oven until the cheese gets slightly crispy.
What We Need for the Baby Bellas:
Baby Bellas
Minced Garlic
Butter
Thyme
Jammin’ Jelly’s (hot sauce)
What We’re Doing with It:
Start by quartering your baby bellas and mincing your garlic if you don’t have any left over. Same with the thyme.
Then, in a pan, we’re going to lightly sauté garlic before we add in the bellas. Then add in thyme and salt & pepper to taste. Finally, splash a little of that hot sauce on top and cook them until they’re done.
Then put them to the side to hold.
Final Moves:
Get your coals going to the perfect searing heat.
Grab those ribeyes out of the fridge and place them on the pit. Let them go for about 7-10 minutes depending on the heat you’ve got going, and then ROTATE them first. Then let them go another 5 or so minutes before you flip them.
Then continue to cook them to your preferred doneness (we go mid-rare), then pull them and let them rest for a minute before slicing them into strips.
The plating for this is easy them.
Grab a spoonful of Mac ‘n Cheese, then add in some pieces of your ribeye, topped with your compound butter, then a few of the baby bellas, and some chives for color.
Walla! You’re eating good in our neighborhood!
THE TAILGATE KINGDOM!!!!
