HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!  We grilled ribeyes today.  Ribeyes be fatty and flavorful and good.  Since it’s a holiday, we went for the gusto.  I purchased a prime rib and cut the steaks myself.  Stupidly, I waited too long and was not able to find a bone-in cut, which I prefer for steaks.  Coarse salt and pepper and the Weber. 

We wanted something kind of light for the side dish, so I consulted The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2008, which arrived the other day, and latched onto the roasted cauliflower recipe (p. 12).  One piece of advice:  if you have convection, use if for the last two legs of the roasting process.  The cauliflower turned out great – nice and brown and not bitter.  The yogurt sauce accompaniment was a hit, and would work for many other things – even scrambled eggs, I think.  Just so you know, Cook’s Illustrated is a great bimonthly publication.  It’s part of the America’s Test Kitchen megalopoly, and focuses on perfecting and reinventing classics and popular current dishes.  This is the one food magazine I pay for. 

At the end of the year they send you said “best of,” which keeps you from having to clip so many recipes.  I have never been steered wrong by these people.  Matter of fact, yesterday I made the fudge (p. 59) for a party Matt was going to today, since I had on hand several cans of sweetened condensed milk, a couple of pounds of chocolate from my 2007 Christmas candy making, as well as many, many walnuts.  I never much liked fudge, finding it grainy and unpleasant, but I trusted ATK enough to give it a go.  Honestly, this was the best fudge I ever ate.  It was like a lighter ganache – and not so sweet.  The fact that I used a fancy Valrhona varietal helped.  I will be making this again.