Tag Archives: steak

Breakfast and Brunch, Egg Dishes, Impressive Dishes, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Sandwiches

Steak and Egg Sandwich with Jalapeno Hollandaise

It’d be selling them short to claim eggs as my favorite breakfast food, as that leaves out all of the other meals where eggs win my heart.  Sure, I can appreciate a fluffy waffle or sugar-dusted french toast.  But if eggs are one of the options, all other sweet delights are off the table.  It’s eggs for me 100%.

Though I’ve yet to meet an egg that I didn’t like, there is something about perfectly scrambled eggs in sandwich form that makes me grin bigger than Christmas morning.  This sandwich gilds the proverbial lily by adding tender steak to the party, and ups the egg quotient with a piquant topping of jalapeno hollandaise (made in the blender for quick and easy eating).  Yes, darlings, this one is trouble.  And the best kind of trouble you can get in to, no less.  Comfort-food noshing, hangover staving off, one-on-one private time with you and your breakfast a la Hall & Oates kind of trouble.  You know exactly what I’m talking about, so don’t even pretend. Continue reading Steak and Egg Sandwich with Jalapeno Hollandaise →

Menus and Odes

Simple Summer Barbecue

Menu

Tuscan Grilled Steak
Grilled Trumpet Mushrooms
Orzo Salad with Arugula and Mizithra Cheese
Summer Salad of Fingerlings, Heirloom Tomatoes and Haricots Vert
Grilled Corn with Herb Butter
Summer Strawberries with Elderflower and Mint

I actively eschew the cold – if anyone was born to relish in the blissful summer, it was me.  Sunkissed skin and bare toes.  A swing or two in the hammock or a walk along the sandy shore.  And dad firing up the grill next to the side porch, with the lot of us sitting on the steps (dogs included), sipping a cold beer waiting for the meat to finish up.  I live for those days.

This menu is not only a celebration of those lazy summer evenings when we’d tuck into thick steaks seared on the grill, but also an ode to the perfect produce of the summer.  Farmer’s market tomatoes, string beans, potatoes and greens all have a home in bright and glorious side dishes.  Rosemary works as both a flavoring and a utensil. And the skill required to prepare this meal is minimal – feed a few or a dozen with little to no effort other than chopping a veg or two and flipping on the grill. And that’s not even including any delegation – get some mark to shuck your corn or snap your string beans and you’re living easy. Which is entirely what summer is all about.

 

Easy to Prepare, Main Courses, Meat Dishes

Tuscan Grilled Ribeye

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Filet be damned, I want a ribeye.  I want a thick cut, well-marbled ribeye with a juicy center and a lovely charred edge.  I want nary the spice or marinade other than a smattering of coarse salt or crushed pepper, with olive oil to marry it all together and a brush of rosemary as a whisper of flavor with each bite.  In the words of Veruca Salt, “Don’t care how – I want it NOW!”

Kidding, I’m not a brat and I can totally whip this up for myself.  It’s the best kind of recipe in that it’s barely a recipe.  Making a steak at home is surprisingly forgiving and has more to do with the quality of the meat and the amount of time you give it to cook.  Letting the steak come to room temperature before cooking, letting it sit on the grill undisturbed before flipping, and letting it rest so that the juices redistribute are all necessary steps to the perfect bite of steak.  In addition, if you can splurge for a prime dry-aged steak, definitely do it.  It’s a total treat, and though pricey, a lot less expensive than a steak dinner out on the town.

When you are purchasing a ribeye, look for rosy, well-marbled meat where the eye (the round of fat in the middle of the steak) is intact.  This bit of fat keeps the meat moist during cooking and adds perfect flavor – shying away from the fat means you are denying yourself the succulence and juiciness that you so rightly deserve from your steak.  Other than that, there really isn’t that much to it – season, grill, rest and dig in.

Recipe for

Tuscan Grilled Ribeye

Ingredients
2 ribeye steaks, 1 inch thick
kosher salt and pepper
sprig of rosemary
olive oil

Heat a grill or a grill pan on high.  Liberally salt and pepper steaks on both sides.  Drizzle with olive oil and using the sprig of rosemary, rub the spices and oil into the meat.  Flip and repeat on the other side, rubbing the flavor of the rosemary into the meat.  Let steaks sit at room temperature while the grill heats up.

Grill the steaks, undisturbed, for 10 minutes on each side for medium rare.  Let rest for at least five minutes before slicing.  Serve.

Easy to Prepare, Lighten Up, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Grilled Lemongrass Beef

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A Sweet and Salty Affair

From chocolate covered pretzels to a salt-rimmed margarita, our palettes all crave the goodness that is sweet and salty.  This recipe tackles all the taste points, with a fair share of sweet, salty and tart.  I slather this simple marinade on beef and grill until charred on the outside and juicy pink on the inside, but you can certainly use it on pork or chicken as well.  It’s comprised of a simple kalbi sauce (a delicious combo of brown sugar, soy and mirin used in Korean BBQ), a splash of toasted sesame oil, and an aromatic bit of ground lemongrass (which can be found at Asian markets or online).  I’ve given you the lazy version below that uses a pack of Noh Korean Barbecue mix – I score the packets on Amazon along with orders of char su, the lovely crimson Chinese marinade used on roasted pork.  If you want to go homemade, though, you can certainly make it from scratch using some soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, sugar and salt and pepper.  Garnish with white and black sesame seeds for an added bit of lovely. Continue reading Grilled Lemongrass Beef →

Easy to Prepare, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Simple Hanger Steak

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Hanger? I Hardly Knew Her!

Face it, kids.  Filet mignon is overrated.  Yes, it’s tender.  Yes, it costs more than most other steaks.  But really, if you ask me for the cut that I turn to time and time again for an in-home, steakhouse experience, it’s all about the hanger steak.  Centered between the other popular cuts of brisket and flank.  It’s sometimes referred to as skirt, even though it’s actually a completely separate cut of meat (though close by).  If you see “onglet” on a French bistro menu, they are referring to hanger steak.  The steak itself is comprised of two long strips of meat, with an inedible white membrane running down the middle.  I’m usually too lazy to cut this out when I cook the steak at home, but if you want to be a fancy pants, trim this out before you cut portions of steak.

Prized for it’s beefy flavor and chewy goodness (read: chewy but not at all tough), it’s referred to as “the butcher’s cut” because it was the steak that the butcher kept for his fam.  I’m not so sure that this is the case these days, but because of its caché, it’s been marked up in price from time to time.  Funny how the cheaper cuts (short ribs, skirt steak) have suddenly gone up in price once people collectively “discover” how good they are. Continue reading Simple Hanger Steak →

Cooking Tips, Culinary Inspiration

Checking the Doneness of Meat

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Sneaking a Poke

So the president is coming over to your house for dinner, and he’s bringing his good friends Abraham Lincoln and Joan of Arc.  Ignoring the fact that Obama would be inviting zombies to your dinner party, you’re actually stressed over the process of properly cooking their filets.  Obama wants medium rare, Lincoln likes his still mooing, and Joan d’Arc ironically wants hers well-done.  You don’t want to cut into the steaks to check for the level of rosiness inside the beautifully charred exteriors – not only will it ruin the presentation, but the lovely juices will all leave the steak once you cut it up.  Disaster!

Actually, if your clever (Nancy Drew), you’ll employ the touch method to keep your steaks in check.  My new favorite blog and haberdashery of luxe ingredients, Marx Foods, put up a good post (and a graphic designer approved diagram) on comparing the finger feel of the steak to the feel of your hand.  A couple of notes on this touch test – assuming you aren’t feeling up the hot pan, you’re not going to burn yourself.  Also, this works on steaks, really.  For bigger items, like say a standing rib roast, use a good old meat thermometer. Continue reading Checking the Doneness of Meat →