The meal my Dad said was the best food he'd had in all of 2011

Courtesy of Paula Dean...y'all. (that girl is COUNTRY!)

Paula serves the oysters on the steak with the hollandaise drizzled over the top of it all. It was so fabulous, I will probably double the hollandaise next time.

Ribeyes with Hollandaise, fried oysters, and garlic mashed potatoes.

Hollandaise sauce:
½ stick butter
4 egg yolks, whisked
Tasso ham (lean cut of cured pork with Cajun seasoning), chopped
½ cup heavy cream
Pinch sugar & salt
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 Tbsp white vinegar

Melt butter in double boiler. Add egg yolks, cream, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Whisk until thickened, then add ham. Remove from heat; add vinegar.
**don't be scared of the tasso. I couldn't find any, so I used 4oz of packaged cured pork with some kind of seasoning. Next to the prosciutto in a similar package.




Ribeyes:
Salt and pepper ribeyes, then cook on grill or cast iron skillet.


Fried oysters:
1lb oysters, shucked
¾ cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp Paprika
Salt & pepper, generous

Soak the oysters in buttermilk. Combine dry ingredients. Flour the oysters, shake excess, and fry for 3 minutes.


Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, diced and cooked
1 cup milk
3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
½ cup butter
Salt

Heat milk in pan with garlic and simmer very low until ready to use, without boiling. Put cooked potatoes in mixer and add butter. Mix, then add milk slowly until desired consistency. If not all milk is used, take remaining garlic from milk and add to potatoes. Add salt and serve.