Spring Dinner Minnesota-Style

Before preparing a spring dinner in Minnesota, first determine if spring has truly arrived. Birds may still be too stunned to sing and crocuses have yet to crack their bulbs, so if you want to know if the season of snow-melt has emerged, ask this question: can I see the lid of my charcoal grill?

It’s best to own a black grill--Weber is nice, but any old Target or Menards brand will do. The color is important to determining spring so once the snow drifts diminish you can easily determine the grill’s location. However, before grilling can resume, you may still have to shovel a path to light the charcoal. Hopefully you left the bag of charcoal just inside the garage door and not outside of it. If your charcoal is buried you may need to wait for summer, the return of migratory birds and the full revelation of God’s green earth.

If it’s spring, you have charcoal and your teenagers didn’t make off with the matches again, continue.

The first BBQ of the year has to be steaks. You have withered too long for blackened meat to roast a weenie. Save the cheap hot dogs for when your teenagers show up with ten friends for dinner. Slap those t-bones on the grill once the charcoal glows as orange as a Lake Superior sunrise. Apron and Elmer Fudd hat are optional. If you don’t own a spring bonnet, or you are still sporting a winter beard, the rabbit hat is  acceptable fashion.

What to fix as a side dish? Consider a green vegetable. Since it is spring, you should have no problem finding asparagus at the grocery store, but wait until you can see the all of your grill before hunting asparagus along your back ditch. With steaks on the grill it’s got to be potatoes in a pan. Penzy Potatoes make a great spring side-dish. If you recognize “Penzy” you need no explanation. For those of you not yet addicted to the mail-order spice authority, google it. But don’t blame Minnesota if you get addicted; the company was actually founded in Wisconsin.

Penzy potatoes are fried potatoes. Set a small chunk of butter to melting in a skillet, the equivalent of a tablespoon, two, three or four. Dice a red onion and place into the melting pool of butter. Slice 5-6 medium Yukon golds and arrange the slices atop the onions. Get out all your favorite Penzy spices and go crazy with sprinkling--after all, it’s spring and you don’t have to worry about getting snowed in from your mail box deliveries anymore. Select the savories like smoked Spanish paprika, toasted minced garlic, Northwoods seasoning, tarragon, sea salt and fresh cracked peppercorns. Cover, fry, flip the steaks, steam the asparagus, flip the potatoes once or twice, retrieve the steaks and serve with your sides.

Enjoy a satisfying spring dinner, Minnesota-style! And don’t forget to toss the remaining embers into the nearest snow bank--it might just hasten spring.