I don't know how excited this group gets about recipes (I know there are several excellent grilling shows and books out there). Let me just say, this turned out great. Everyone said it was some of the best beef they ever had (really tender, juicey, and great flavor marinade) maybe they were just being extra nice as family and friends ;-). I had never cooked with this cut of beef before (flank). The kids even ate the zuchini, which is saying alot. The squash was a bit too large/mature for my liking, so it softened too soon on the grill (prefer it about the size of small zuchini-approx 1 1/2" x 10" so it is crisp and tender). Put aluminum foil on the warming rack and stowed veggies there while I cooked the beef. All went very quickly and without a hitch despite my feelings of inadequacy being my first real grill endeavor.

Steve, I'm not sure whether to agree with you or disagree with you. What's in a name? Do you think PF Changs makes their Mongolian Beef like Annie? No, they don't. Does Chicken/Veal Picatta require capers? I always thought so, until I read that capers are a southern Italian thing; in the north you won't find them in the dish. True? Who knows. But it doesn't stop the Palm from publishing a recipe "without." I'm mostly with you on following a recipe to the 'T' first go-around as long as you are attacking this as "trying a recipe." If you're making major changes - lemon to lime in Picatta - then realize you were just "inspired" by a recipe, but can't really judge it. On the other hand if there's a minor substitution or omission that you know you'd prefer, then I say have at it. Just be sure to mention it in a review. Sriracha for CRP? It'll alter the taste, that's for sure. If you prefer it, go for it. Just mention it when you tell us about your results. Oh, and I know for a fact that Annie has both available in her kitchen. ;)

Ann_t, I've considered it but it isn't worth it for us. The Costcos are not close to us and driving to areas I don't normally visit aren't worth my time/energy/gas. I enjoy cooking but not every day. Our budget is generous for going out and that's what I most enjoy. I LOVE chicken fried steak! But it is possibly the worst thing in the world for you, LOL. Restaurant versions are okay, but The Real Thing is dynamite. I wrote up my mother's method one day, when I was doing a restaurant review of a cafe that did a decent chicken-fried steak we liked. My younger friends and family have never had this recipe, so I included it in my email as a humorous touch. BTW, I do not claim this is an authentic Southern Recipe. This is just how my JapAm mother made it when we were growing up in Chicago, after she learned it from the Mississippi AfrAms in our neighborhood: *The Traditional (e.g., home-cooked) Chicken Fried Steak Yes, this is another thing my Japanese-American mother learned to make from Southerners (Mississippians transplanted to Chicago, hence our familys love of sweet cornbread and really good fried chicken from the legendary Harolds in Chicago [you can look up Harolds Chicken in Wiki]). It can be eaten for dinner or breakfast. Or lunch. Or....well, you get the idea. Like most Southern food, it goes best with biscuits. Real biscuits, the kind made with white lard and even whiter soft wheat flour, rolled and cut with a biscuit cutter (what do you mean, youve never seen a biscuit cutter?!?) and served hot out of the oven with lots of butterc. Definitely not the fake Pillsbury-in-a-can stuff. To the day she died (at age 84), my mothers idea of heaven would have included a hot biscuit dripping with butter. Start with decent-sized pieces of beef, well trimmed of fat. Bottom round is ideal. The mechanically tenderized "cube steak" is sheer laziness and has the wrong texture. Traditionally the pieces of bottom round meat are pounded thin with the edge of a heavy china plate (okay, my mother did use a traditional meat mallet instead). Never, under any circumstances, do you use a wet batter. Never, ever! The egg and the flour do not mix together promiscuously in a bowl; this is a worse heresy than a mechanically tenderized steak. As you are pounding the steak pieces thin, you sprinkle them generously with seasoned flour. The flour, up to a cup or more, is pounded into each steak. "Seasoned", BTW, means salt and pepper. Thats it, no garlic (powder) or onion (same). Just lots of the evil white Mortons. Heres where you get a split between the thin batter-fried and the thick batter-fired recipes. My mother was a thin batter advocate, so she fried the steak after pounding it with the flour. The opposing camp sets out a beaten egg and a pan of more seasoned flour. The steak is dipped in egg and then in flour again, making a thicker batter coating. Either way you do it, next you fry the bacon remember I said there was another whole level to this dish? The bacon doesnt actually appear anywhere else in the recipe, so you probably just nosh on the crispy strips which youve fished out of all that bacon-y, salty, greasy artery-clogging saturated rendered fat. If you happen to have rendered bacon fat on hand, why are you reading this recipe? You already know how to make this. While youre chewing and swallowing bacon, you fry the steaks really crisp in the bacon grease. This is where most restaurants fail. Its bad enough they use some kind of healthy polyunsaturated oil but to make things worse, they dont cook it long enough to really get it dark brown. Drain them on newspaper in a warm oven, while you toss leftover flour into the pan to soak up the bacon grease of course you dont drain any of the fat out, why would you do something so silly when thats where all the flavor is stirring and scraping for a few minutes to cook the flour. Then in goes the evaporated milk whole milk, not that ridiculous reduced fat stuff just enough to make a thick gravy that holds in nice clumps on the spoon. Not glue-y, just very thick. Some people make a thin gravy, but not in our house. Oh, and more pepper, too. Serve with two fried eggs. Or maybe three. Or better yet, eggs and biscuits so you can chase all that yummy gravy around the plate to sop up every bit. Real biscuits, the kind made with white lard and even whiter soft wheat flour, rolled and cut with a biscuit cutter (what do you mean, youve never seen a biscuit cutter?!?) and served hot out of the oven with lots of butter handy. After that, you go clear out an entire field of cotton, or chop down every tree in the forest, for the next eight hours straight (as youve already worked five hours before lunch). The discovery of statins to lower cholesterol is obviously Gods way of saying that every American has a right to copious quantities of salt, fat, and cream, three times a day. Also sugar, but that goes into the coffee, tea, and peach cobbler.

Eileen, This first recipe I've made often since Mique shared it with us a few years ago. The sauce really compliments the tenderloin without over powering. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table ========================================================= Miques recipe (8 servings) 8 filet mignons 8 croutons Green Peppercorn Sauce (below) Pan broil or grill the filet mignons until done. Place a crouton on each of 8 warmed plates. Place a filet mignon on each crouton. Top with a generous spoonful of Green Peppercorn Sauce . Pan broil or grill the filet mignons until done. Place a crouton on each of 8 warmed plates. Place a filet mignon on each crouton. Top with a generous spoonful of Green Peppercorn Sauce. GREEN PEPPERCORN SAUCE Makes (3/4cup) 1 tablespoon butter 2 tablespoons shallot, finely chopped ¼ pound mushrooms, finely chopped 2 tablespoons parsley, minced 1 teaspoon green peppercorns, rinsed and drained Tabasco sauce 2 tablespoons brandy 1 cup whipping cream 1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the shallot and saute over medium heat until soft. Add the mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the parsley, peppercorns, and 2 to 3 drops of Tabasco sauce. 2. Warm the brandy and ignite it. Pour the brandy into the mushroom mixture and stir until the flames subside. Add the cream. Boil the sauce, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Add salt to taste. This one is really good too. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table =========== For: Omaha Steaks Filet Mignons 2 (6 oz.) Filet Mignons, thawed 1/8 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. freshly ground pepper 2 Tbsp. butter 1 tsp. Dijon-style mustard 2 Tbsp. shallots, minced 1 Tbsp. butter 1 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 Tbsp. fresh chives, minced 1 tsp. brandy 1 Tbsp. fresh parsley, minced . Season both sides of steak with salt and pepper. Melt butter in a heavy skillet; add mustard and shallots. Saute over medium heat 1 minute. Add steaks and cook approximately 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Remove steaks to serving plate and keep warm. Add into pan drippings, 1 Tbsp. butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and chives. Cook for 2 minutes. Add brandy; pour sauce over steaks. Sprinkle parsley over the top. Serves 2.