FOOD - beef tri tip and roasted brussel sprouts

Tri tip and roasted brussel sprouts - sounds fancy right? We all know I am nothing if not posh. Oh but how easy it was - all because of my secret best friend - the fulfiller of all my wishes, hopes and desires - Costco.

The meat was pre-marinated - brand is Morton's of Omaha - sold unfrozen in the deli case for roughly $4.50 per pound. The hardest part is finding a cut as that is not intended to serve an intimate dinner party for 30. Usually I can find one just over 2 pounds and that is ideal.

The easy part? Cooking. Preheat the oven, put the meat in fat side up and cook for 1 hour. Done and done. It is mind blowingly delicious - it is almost too good to be true but we savoured every bite.

One tip - be very very careful disposing of the wrapping the tri tip comes in. Do not - perhaps - accidentally spill bloody meat juice all across your kitchen floor and somehow the front of the oven - then have to spend 20 minutes cleaning it up.

As for the brussel sprouts - these requires a teeny bit more work than opening the bag and slapping into the oven. Here is the recipe - courtesy of my friend Marissa.

Ingredients -
fresh brussel sprouts (6-8 per person for a generous portion)
olive oil
salt
garlic, diced

Directions -
preheat oven to 350 degrees
Wash and trim the ends of the sprouts
slice each in half vertically
in a bowl - drizzle with oil olive, a little salt and garlic
toss well
place flat side down on a baking sheet (another use for the silpat!) or roasting pan
bake for 20-25 minutes

These also turned out amazing - nutty and toasty and delicious. In fact - Adam - who swore he hated brussel sprouts was stealing them from my plate since he devoured his.

All in all it was a great dinner - simple, unfussy, flavorful food - done with less than 15 minutes of prep time and very little clean up (not counting the meat juice incident). There was also a ton of leftover meat - enough for 2 sandwiches for lunch and a tri trip caesar salad for three the following night. All for just about ten dollars.

Enjoy.

B.L.E.

ps - photos above from epicurious.com