Steak and Potatoes and Squash

Saturday night I grilled steak and kuri squash, and Juli and I made a recipe from ATK's Best-Ever Recipes collection, Mashed Potato Casserole.  Initially I'd planned a somewhat more elaborate meal for Saturday, and the steaks for Sunday, but we got pretty busy on Saturday and needed to do something quicker.

I tossed together a marinade for the big slab of sirloin I'd selected the night before, then got the grill going.  While the coals were heating up, I prepared the squash and made a batch of honey butter with pumpkin spice.  At the same time, Juli got the potatoes boiling.   Once the grill was heated up, I started preheating the oven and tossed the squash on the grill.   By then the potatoes were ready, so I blended them with some butter, half-and-half, eggs, fresh chives and so forth, poured it all into a casserole and tossed it into the oven.  After about 20 minutes on the grill, I turned the squash halves, basted them thoroughly with the honey butter and sprinkled on some pecan pieces.  The steak had marinated about 90 minutes by the time I tossed it on the grill, and by then the casserole and squash were both finished.  A short time later, we were ready to eat. 

Everything turned out good.  The steak was juicy and tender, the squash was sweet and melt-in-your-mouth soft, and the potato casserole was... well, it was fine, really.  I don't know why I expected more than what we got, because it really was just mashed potatoes with some eggs blended in, then the whole thing baked in the oven for about 40 minutes.  Maybe because it was an America's Test Kitchen recipe, but for some reason I expected something a bit more knock-your-socks-off than what we got.  And it was okay, just not horribly memorable. We had lots of leftovers, though, and they came in handy Sunday night.

Here's the marinade I tossed together.  It's one of the standard ones I make for steak.  Honestly, I usually don't measure out the ingredients very carefully, so if you try it out, don't feel you have to do so, either. 

Quick Steak Marinade

1       tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1       teaspoon ground mustard
1       teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2    teaspoon salt
1/8    teaspoon cayenne pepper
1       bay leaf
1       teaspoon minced garlic
1/4    cup Worcestershire sauce
1       tablespoon red wine

Measure out the dry ingredients and garlic into a large zipper-close plastic bag, then add the Worcestershire sauce and wine and mix thoroughly.  Add the steak, zip the bag closed and turn the bag several times to coat the steak all over.  Set the bag flat in the fridge and marinate for at least 1 hour, turning the steak once or twice during that time.