Steakhouse Dinner for Dad - Father's Day Special

Brought to you by our in-house chef - Chef Kai Salimaki

We appreciate all the hard working Fathers in our lives and for this upcoming Father’s Day celebration, we wanted to give the Dads out there a meal they will remember.  Steak house dinners are classic and timeless. I remember my parents taking me to an old school steak house and being blown away by the table side caesar salads and baked potatoes where the waiter brought around a garnish caddy full of everything you can imagine to top it! This was living!! Let’s treat the Father’s out there to a memorable meal, below we will show you some tips to cook up Tomahawk steaks and classic steakhouse side dishes to accompany. 

CultivatR Steakhouse Menu 

Tomahawk Steaks

A throwback to giant steaks with an imposing rib bone still attached. Impressive, delicious and not as hard to cook as one might think. Due to its size and shape, this cut of beef or pork can be a little difficult to cook in a pan or in the oven. We recommend bbq-ing this cut for maximum control. Essentially, this cut is just a ribeye with the bone still attached. With Ribeyes, there is a lot of intramuscular fat that makes the steak tender and juicy but this fat needs to be rendered out and cooked properly. For this to happen, we recommend cooking the steaks from medium rare  to medium. A good meat probe or thermometer will help you take the guesswork out of the grilling process. 

Medium Rare Internal Temperature: 130-140F degrees

Medium Internal Temperature: 140-150F degrees

First Steps:

Always bring your meat to room temperature. This allows the muscle to cook nice and evenly and doesn’t tense up during the cooking process. Pat the steak down with a paper towel and 5 minutes before grilling, season heavily with salt and pepper (both sides!!)

Preheat your BBQ to around 450F, make sure the grill is scrapped clean and can be lightly oiled if desired. 

Grill the steak for approximately 4-5mins and then do a quarter turn (for great grill marks) and continue to grill for another 3min. Flip the steak and grill for 5min and then quarter turn and grill for another 3min or until desired temperature is reached. 

Tips for the Grill Master

1. Carry over temperature. This is a biggie. The steaks will continue to cook internally after you remove them from the grill. Pull your steaks off when the meat thermometer reads 5-7 degrees under your final desired cooking temperature.

1. Rest, Rest…..Rest. For the best results and juiciest steaks, tent a piece of tin foil over the steaks (don’t wrap it tight) and allow the steaks to rest undisturbed for 5-7min depending on thickness. Trust me. 

1. Flare ups. What are flare ups? This is when the fat from the steaks starts to render out and drip down to your bbq. These can catch fire quite easily, so watch out! If you have a small clean spray bottle, fill it with water and if you see a flare up happening, give it a quick little blast to tame the flame. 

Classic Baked Potato 

These are so easy to make and since we are using the BBQ already, why not throw them on the grill!

I’m going to start off with a little kitchen hack. Baked potatoes can literally take forever to cook. To speed up the process you can enlist Chef Mike...A.K.A your microwave. Take your potatoes and prick them liberally all over with a fork, this will help any bursting issues we might have. Microwave for 5-7min. 

***You do not need to use the microwave but be prepared for the potatoes to take an hour or so on the bbq then. 

Take the potatoes (be mindful, they will be hot if you use the microwave) and rub some canola oil all over the potato, then season with salt. It should look lightly crusted all over. Double wrap the potatoes in tin foil and we are good to go. 

Put the potatoes on 20 minutes before you start grilling the steaks. They can take anywhere from 30-40min on the grill at 450 degrees. Use the top grill rack if you have one or turn one side of your bbq down to medium-low and place the potatoes on that side.  Flip half way through. 

You will know the potatoes are done when you can stick a skewer through the middle and meet no resistance at all. 

Now the fun part. Slice down the middle and squeeze the potato from the top/bottom at the same time to squeeze the fluffy flesh up and out of the potato. 

Our topping experts agree, these ingredients belong on a baked potato

• Sea Salt Butter - Foothills Creamery 
• Organic Sour Cream - Vital Greens Farms 

Grilled Asparagus

We love asparagus and it is one of the first signs of spring/summer when we start to see it cross our plates. This is simple and delicious with no muss or fuss. 

Trim the asparagus of the woody stalk end, usually about a ¼” - ½” from the bottom stalk. Depending on the size of the asparagus, I sometimes like to give it a quick blanch (like a minute) in salted boiling water and cool it down really quickly to help retain that amazing vibrant green color. From here, take a large dinner plate, put a little canola oil in the middle of the plate and roll your asparagus in it. Season with salt and pepper. On the hottest part of your grill, place the asparagus down and grill for 3-5 minutes. These do not take long! 

I love to finish my grilled asparagus with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice and sometimes I feel indulgent and like to grate a little fresh parmesan cheese on top, use a microplane or fine box grater. 

Sauteed Mixed Mushrooms

Our friends at Red Fox Fungi grow amazing mushrooms and what goes better than a beautiful grilled steak with sauteed mushrooms? The umami and earthiness of the mushrooms compliments the steak perfectly. 

These mixed mushrooms are a blend of shiitake, oyster, elm mushrooms, they are grown to order and harvested one day before receiving!

Here’s how we prepare them.

Method:

Preheat a large saute pan on high. While this is happening, take the mushrooms and cut them in quarters or chunks, or you can peel them top down like a banana. Smash 2-3 cloves of garlic and give it a fine chop. Mushrooms are like little sponges and soak up everything, so you will want to put a good amount of oil in your pan. Start with 3-4 tablespoons. Get the oil nice and hot and throw in your mushrooms. Sautee for 2-3 minutes, stirring and flipping frequently. You want to sear the mushrooms and get some color on them. Add your garlic and season with salt and pepper and saute for another two minutes to cook out the garlic. 

Much like the asparagus, Mushrooms benefit from a squeeze of fresh lemon to finish or if you have it and feel fancy, a splash of sherry vinegar or even red wine vinegar helps wake up the flavor of the mushrooms, throw in some chopped fresh parsley and/or thyme and you have some killer shrooms. 

Classic Caesar Salad

Who doesn’t love a good caesar salad? Creamy, tangy, bright and full of flavor with parmesan cheese and lemon. Classic caesar salads have anchovy and capers in it. If you have these ingredients and want the full experience, then go for it! If you don’t, it’s not the end of the world and you can still make a caesar-esque dressing. There are many cheats you can use to kickstart the dressing but we will walk you through the classic preparation.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 heads Romaine (Hydragreens)
• 1pc Ciabatta (Good Bread YYC)
• ¼ Cup Parmesan Cheese (Vincenzo’s Parm)
• 2 Egg yolks (Mans Organics)
• 1 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar (Alchemist Vinegar)
• ½ Cup Neutral Oil (Canola Oil)
• 1-2pc Anchovies
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 2 tsp Capers
• 1 TBSP Dijon Mustard
• ¼ Cup Lemon Juice
• Salt/Black Pepper

Method:

The base of the caesar salad is essentially a mayonnaise, or an emulsification (Big word!) of egg yolks and oil with an emulsifier / binding agent. In this instance, dijon mustard is used. It has a special property in the mustard mucilage that helps absorb liquid and emulsify.

If you are apprehensive about using raw egg yolks or a little timid to try out your own emulsification, you can use a store bought mayonnaise. Use a half cup  of mayo instead of the eggs and oil and skip to adding all the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. 

Grab a nice large mixing bowl and whisk. Separate your egg yolks and place the yolks in the bowl. 

Add the following ingredients to your egg yolks

• Dijon Mustard
• Finely chopped capers (optional)
• Finely chopped anchovies (optional)
• Finely chopped garlic 
• Lemon Juice
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Finely chopped parmesan cheese (or grated)

If you have a food processor, you can feel free to add all the above ingredients and give it a good pulse/blitz to chop.

Mix all the ingredients together and slowly start pouring your oil in, whisking constantly. The mixture should start to thicken and create your dressing. I like a lot of fresh cracked black pepper in my caesar dressing to finish. Adjust your seasoning with lemon juice and salt until you find the right balance, this is personal preference. 

Croutons:

I like to use ciabatta because it crisps up nice in the oven but still retains a little chew. Take the ciabatta, dice it up into 1” cubes, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place evenly and spaced out on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for 5-10min. The croutons are done when golden brown and crispy. 

Ciabatta Roll - Good Bread YYC 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Devine Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Assembly:

Chop your romaine into 1-½” inch pieces, toss in a bowl with your dressing and croutons. Start by adding a little dressing at a time until you coat the romaine evenly. Some people like a lot of dressing and some don’t. Use your judgment but don’t use too much dressing because you will end up with limp soggy romaine weighed down by too much dressing. Top with more parmesan cheese, a squeeze of lemon and fresh black pepper. 

Now that we have all the components finished, plate that beautiful meal up and serve it with pride to that special Father in your life! Nice work!!