Categories

• Food Babble (6)
• Home Life (1)
• In the Fridge (2)
• Recipes (9)
• Reviews (13)
• Travel (1)
• Updates (1)
• Wine Babble (1)

The Map

View Larger

Archives

• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• November 2009

Search

Search for:

Meta

• Log in

In the Fridge: Duke’s

November 25th, 2009

Usually, people you meet fall into two categories: those who like mayonnaise and those who don’t. I am in the like-it camp. Like it a lot. But only one kind: Duke’s.

Duke’s is hard to find in some parts of the country: I have only ever seen it in my native South and am loathe to locate it north of the Mason-Dixon, though I see from their Web site that their reach is wider than just that. My family has always purchased this brand and it’s the only kind we eat. Ask my mother or my grandmother, Nannie, if they could eat for a week with a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs and a jar of Duke’s and they would most certainly say “well, duh: you’ve just described my menu every July for as long as I can remember.”

Now that I’m more of a foodie and have tried different kinds, I attribute the affinity for this particular brand not just too tradition but to its lack of sweetness: Duke’s is sugar-free.  And while that’s great for those who can’t have a lot of sugar (meanwhile those same people probably shouldn’t be eating a ton of mayo either) it makes for better transparency in foods prepared with it.  You don’t have to worry about your tuna melt having any weird unnatural sweetness or your deviled eggs being wonky.  The salty, vinegary flavor is predictable and, dare I say it, familiar.

So yes, Duke’s mayonnaise is one thing that is always in the fridge. I don’t really make that many sandwiches at home but this time of year, there’s a big jar of the stuff in there, waiting to be added to turkey sandwiches, casseroles, dips, you name it.

Deviled eggs are always the star of Thanksgiving around these parts and the first things to disappear off the buffet.  I whipped some together tonight and I think they’d make my Nannie very proud.

Nannie’s Deviled Eggs

1. Place 6 eggs in saucepan and cover with cold water.  Add 1/2 tsp. of salt to the water.
2. Bring water to a boil, stirring eggs gently “to make sure the yolk is centered.”
3. Just as water is coming to a full boil, remove pot completely from heat and cover with a tight fitting lid (overcooking will make the surface of the yolks an ugly greenish color).
4. Set your timer for 15 minutes and go about your business, leaving the eggs in the pot with the lid on.
5. After 15 minutes, empty the hot water from the pot into the sink and rinse the eggs in cold water until they are cool to the touch.  I also suggest adding ice cubes to the water and letting the eggs chill for a few minutes: the idea of all that rinsing is to shock the eggs and stop them from cooking.  Eggs that are an even, cool temperature throughout will peel more easily.
6. Once the eggs are cool, crack them gently on the countertop and peel.  Rinse off any excess shell.
7. Half the eggs lengthwise and remove the yolk, place whites on a plate.
8. Mash together the yolks with about 1/2 cup Duke’s mayo.  Whip together with a fork until desired consistency is reached: if mixture looks dry, add more Duke’s! Just before finishing, add cracked pepper and salt to taste.
9. Using a small spoon, scoop the mixture into the egg white cups that stand waiting.
10. If serving right away, tap a little paprika over each egg.  If waiting up to 12 hours, wait to do this until just before serving: that’s why the ones in the picture don’t have any: they’re for tomorrow!  Paprika that sits on the eggs too long will discolor the lovely yellow yolk color.

Simple, tasty, perfect: Nannie never did cotton to using relish or anything like that in her deviled eggs, but you certainly can do that if you like. Some people add pickle juice, too, which can be…interesting…but I prefer simplicity.

Cast down the Hellmann’s!  The Miracle Whip is not miraculous at all!  Get you some Duke’s and all will be well…or at least delicious.

www.dukesmayo.com

Local Faves: Samurai Sushi

November 24th, 2009

It doesn’t look like much from the outside: just a hole-in-the-wall sushi place. A big sign declares OPEN (or not) and there’s a line out the door (or not), but the quality and taste can’t be beat: it’s some of the best sushi I’ve had anywhere, even counting our trip out to San Francisco where we ate at Sebo (that was freakin’ amazing but it’s hard to get things like fluke and butterfish in a landlocked state).

Since we are in a landlocked state, our sushi options are few and far between. Well, perhaps that isn’t accurate: there are sushi options but you just don’t know if you can trust them. Sad-looking “California Rolls” found on Chinese buffets, quite frankly, scare me a bit. Wait: so does being at a Chinese buffet.

Moving on.

A good friend of mine from work (thanks, Julie Z.) took me to Samurai for the first time and in my mind, there is no other sushi place in Nashville.  Yan Choo and his team of sushi chefs make amazing rolls and nigiri, as well as serving up some very tasty miso soup and salads. The rice here is always consistent and delicious (a problem I’ve seen at some would-be “good” sushi places: crunchy rice-middles) and the cuts of fish are generous and skillful, the textures excellent.

My favorites are the spicy scallop (a mix of chopped scallop, chilis, salmon roe and green onion) or the hamachi (yellowtail), and The Playboy Roll, shrimp tempura with avocado, spicy tuna, spicy mayo and crunchies on top.  Husband always goes for the unagi (freshwater eel) and tamago (egg omelette). Purists who don’t go for saucy fusion rolls will be happy with the sashimi or nigiri: and there are more traditional rolls here, too: Rainbow Rolls and simple California Rolls are consistently delicious.

Not to be missed.

Find Samurai Sushi on Google Maps

Don’t You Eat No Wimpy Sub

November 20th, 2009

I am a sub snob. I hate a wimpy sandwich: fresh bread, meats sliced while I watch, and don’t try to skimp on the veggies. So I think sure, if I had to eat a Subway sandwich everyday for like, two years, I would lose weight just like Jared: I would dread mealtimes and therefore eat less.

So no, you can’t eat an Italian sub on wheat with all the trimmings every day of the week, but if I had to pick a sub to eat (and could deal with the 200+ pounds I would gain from this practice), it would be a Lenny’s sub. They make their Italian subs with provolone cheese, ham, prosciutto, capicola, and Genoa salami. And oh man: there may not be bacon on this thing but there’s plenty of pork.

The toppings are tasty and fresh and the crew at the Lenny’s near me knows that it’s either an Italian day or a Turkey Club day for me.  Lettuce, tomatoes, sometimes onions (depends on my mood), then oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, oregano and mayo.

Sorry, I just started drooling a little bit.

Find a Lenny’s Subs near you: www.lennys.com

Local Faves: Joey’s House of Pizza

November 17th, 2009

My husband Evan grew up in New Jersey and as a Jersey boy, he never knew “bad pizza.” Pizza Hut and Dominos were necessary evils spawned of the nation’s desire for carb delivery on demand, but the places that really cleaned up and lasted in his hometown of Red Bank, NJ were “good pizza places.” Quite simply, “bad pizza places” couldn’t survive in a community comprised of pizza connoisseurs.

That sentence would have been better if I was talking about calzones (”community comprised of calzone connoisseurs”) but alas, we’re talkin’ about pizza.

Anyway: I was born and raised in the South, never lived above the Mason-Dixon, and grew up eating all manner of different kinds of pizza (none of it, according to Husband was “good”).  Pizza Hut, Pizza Inn, Domino’s, Little Caesar’s, and the dreaded Cici’s pizza buffet were all on the roster.  And oh, woe unto ye if you mention Cici’s with a tone of anything but disdain in our household: Husband will let you have it.

So as long as we’ve been together (almost 6.5 years), we have lived in the South, a place with a nearly palpable deficit of “good pizza” anywhere to be found.  We’ve tried the odd place here in Nashville only to find establishments putting up a valiant effort but not quite hitting the mark.

Enter Joey’s House of Pizza in Brentwood.

It was as if the stars and gods and what have you all teamed up to bring “good pizza” to the Nashville area, and by proxy my dear husband.  The Macca family (lead by The Joey) bustle behind the counter and huge wall of ovens, taking orders, tossing dough, laughing and shouting around mealtimes.  The pizza slices are mammoth, with cheese and all the toppings you can dream up available on demand by the slice.  You can also get Italian dishes like chicken parmesan or lasagne, as well as salad and (mmmm) tiramisu.

Joey’s enjoys huge crowds at lunch (it’s situated in a strip mall near to a few dozen office buildings in Brentwood), and from the moment they open at 11 to around 2pm they are slammed.  But don’t think you can go late to miss the crowds: you might miss out on your favorite pizza roll!  Dinner time is considerably lighter, but don’t wait too late: they’re only open until 6:30 Monday through Wednesday.  Thursday and Friday, they stay open a little later (until 8:30pm) but no dice on the weekends: they’re closed.

It’s well worth braving the crowd at lunch if you’re close, or if you have time in the evening to call in a pizza order and pick it up.

I highly recommend The White Pizza or a Chicken Parm Roll (strips of chicken parmesan wrapped in pizza dough and baked), and their cheese slices can’t be beat.

Find Joey’s House of Pizza on Google Maps
www.joeyshouseofpizza.com

A Rare Treat: Homemade Indian

November 16th, 2009

We’ve been friends with Nasir Hakeem (owner of Tandoor in Clarksville, TN) for several years now.  When we lived in Clarksville a few years ago, eating at his restaurant was a bright spot in our week almost every week.  It was a great place to take friends and a great place to wind down. We’ve eaten at lots of Indian places in our lives (from London, England to Portland, Oregon and lots of places in between) and his food is some of the highest quality and most flavorful stuff I’ve ever had.

Nasir and his wife are always so warm and friendly that we love just hanging out at the restaurant with them but it was a unexpected and awesome when they invited us over for a home-cooked meal. In his home, Nasir is totally in his element, throwing ingredients into pots, cooking and laughing with us and his beautiful children and wife while we sat facing the stovetop of the long kitchen bar.

Our menu was to die. Prawn Vindaloo to start (and which was so delicious I forgot to even take a picture): spicy and herby with potatoes and perfectly cooked prawns.  Followed by Chicken Pasanda, Evan’s absolute favorite, a rich saucy curry with nuts and yogurt.  Then Chicken Malai, my personal favorite, chicken in coconut milk with spices, cooked in an oven and topped with pistachios, almonds and raisins.

Lastly, Nasir served us something that we’d never had at the restaurant. He said it was his mother’s recipe and the name of it translated to Chicken “with Standing Spices,” meaning that the spices were not ground but were rather added whole into the pot.  So there were whole cloves, whole cardamom pods, whole fenugreek leaves…it was hot and a little sour and wonderfully flavorful.  The chicken in this dish was also cooked with the bones left in and was very tender.

In truth, the food quality that Nasir serves in his own home to guests is totally comparable to what you get at his restaurant: identifiable cuts of meat and freshly prepared spice mixes and sauces and the cornerstones of what he does. He shuns microwaves and pre-cooking anything.  Throughout the meal we talked about how awesome it would be if he could expand and open a place in Nashville with him responding with something along the lines of “…but think how fat you would be!”

We felt completely spoiled: everything was wonderful.  Before we left we took a ride on the couch swing in his living room.  I have to get me one of those things.

You can visit Nasir at his restaurant in Clarkville, TN.  If you’re lucky, maybe one day he’ll invite you over for dinner, too!

Find Tandoor Indian Bistro on Google Maps
www.tandoorclarksville.com

Recipe: Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine

November 14th, 2009

This is a weekend kind of meal because it needs a lot of time to cook properly; it’s not something you can rush.  Short ribs are stringy and chewy if you don’t cook them long enough, but they are buttery and succulent when done right.  But in saying that, don’t let me scare you:it’s not hard to make these at all, just time consuming.  Short ribs are very forgiving as well as inexpensive: it’s dang near impossible to screw them up and if you do manage to, well, it didn’t cost you much.

I am braising these in red wine but you can braise in any liquid, even water: just depends on what you want things to taste like. I’ve tried several varieties of wines and beers, Lapsang Souchong tea that had just been brewed (lemme tell you, caffeinated beef is somethin’ else!), as well as stocks of various varieties.  For this recipe, we’re going with a bottle of red wine that was corked that I have been saving in the fridge.

Corked wine makes EXCELLENT cooking wine.  So does wine you open that doesn’t agree with you for whatever reason.  Don’t pour it down the drain!  Save it and use it later.  You’ll thank me and so will your wallet.

When buying short ribs, look for ribs with good marbling and minimal chunks of fat that you will just have to cut out anyway: fat is all part of the weight, so look for a package that has the most edible chunks.  I like to start short ribs a day ahead of time by salting them.  That’s all it sounds like: season them on all sides with some kosher salt and throw ‘em back in the fridge.  Then, 24 hours later, you’re ready to go.

Ingredients

• 4 short ribs
• 1 fennel bulb
• 2 small onions
• 1 cup carrots
• 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2-3 cups red wine
• 3 ounces of slab bacon (optional)
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions Part 1

1. Like I’ve said before, salt the short ribs a day ahead of time, trimming them of any excess fat in the process.  Keep in mind that short ribs are a little fatty and that a lot of this fat will be cooked to such a degree that it will almost disappear.
2. Preaheat your oven to 300°F. That’s right: not super hot. Remember, you’re cooking this for about 3 hours!
3. Cut your carrot, fennel and one of the onions into large chunks.  Cut the other onion into a smaller dice.  The smaller bits of onion will cook down more easily and disappear into the liquid of the braise.
4. When you’re done with all your prep, heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil on medium-high in a large oven-safe stockpot (should be big enough to fit into your oven, too: don’t go usin’ a lobster pot on me).
5. Brown the short ribs on all sides, turning with tongs, then remove from the pot.
6. Add onion first, stirring to coat evenly in any remaining olive oil.  When the onions are fragrant, add the fennel, carrot and herbs and stir together.
7. Turn off the heat on the burner and nestle your short ribs in among the vegetables in the pot.  Make sure they are not touching.
8. Season with salt and pepper, then pour over your wine until the liquid comes a 1/2 of the way up on the meat.  You want things to be touching the liquid but not submerged!
9. Make sure the herbs are pressed into the liquid and, if using the slab bacon, submerge it in the middle of the pot into the liquid.
10. Cover your pot and slide into the oven, set your timer for three hours and go take a nap.

I’d like to take a second here to talk about the bacon I just threw in.  You don’t have to do that but I, however, am a bacon lover extraordinaire.  I also really like more complex flavor profiles in my food.  When you have two different kinds of meat in a dish, it gives it an amazing layered quality.  The slab of bacon will cook slowly, along with the meat, offering its flavor but also its aroma, making things that much richer.

And it’s not like it costs you any time or that much extra money, right?  I mean you always have slab bacon in your fridge, right?  Wait, what?  You don’t?  Oh heavens, now I know what I’m posting for my next In The Fridge installment.

Anyway, back to it.

Directions Part 2

1. The timer has gone off and your house should be full of an absolutely heavenly aroma.  If you are in an apartment building, your neighbors will be completely dissatisfied with whatever they were planning on making for dinner for themselves and wishing you had invited them over.  And hey, maybe you can: there are four short-ribs in the pot.  You don’t have to eat them all, you know.
2. Remove the stockpot from the oven carefully and uncover.
3. You can do a few things now:
   A) If you want to make a heavenly sauce to go with these, you can ladle off some of the liquid in the pot to a sauce pan and reduce the heck out of it.
   B) If you just want to dig in, pair these with some of those dirty mashed potatoes like I made the other night.
   C) If you’re looking for a quick side dish, you can also use a slotted spoon and dig out some of those carrots and serve them alongside everything: they should be awesome by now, too.

This is an amazing plate of food. The meat will literally fall off the bone, no knife required at all.  Mm!

The best part of a yummy dinner: yummy leftovers!

November 12th, 2009

Those broiled steak sandwiches left me with 3-4 ounces of steak left over and a few onions. Now I’m enjoying the best steak salad ever for lunch.  Yes, today I do not have to eat chips for lunch: I remembered to bring something from home.

I’ve heard meals of this nature called “Kitchen Sink Salads” and I suppose that’s relatively accurate: take whatever you have in the fridge that’s still edible, throw in on top of some fresh greens and toss with a little dressing.  Heck, if the stuff that’s leftover is juicy, dressing may not even be necessary.

I sliced the steak thin, cut the onions into manageable bites and tossed with a little baby arugula and green goddess dressing.  Mmm!

Recipe: Three-Day, Apple Cider Brined Porkchops with Walnut & Garlic Brussels Sprouts and Dirty Mashed Potatoes

November 11th, 2009

Sometimes comfort food takes planning. I can’t say that you can pre-plan when you might need some comfort, but these particular recipes are a good bet if you can feel a stressful week coming on and want to have something in the fridge just in case things get hairy.

I typically measure out my recipes for two people, so you can always double things for more people…or if you just love leftovers.

Apple-Cider Brined Pork Chops

Brining is a technique that works well for pork and I will usually get chops started on a Sunday night and hold ‘em into the week, sometimes as long as Friday.  These recipes are my own, though probably influenced by my experience cooking over the years. These chops are fantastic: juicy with a slightly sweet flavor from the apple cider that perfectly compliments the saltiness from the brine and the pork.

Ingredients

• 2-3 thick cut pork chops (bone-in, boneless, whatever you like)
• 1 1/2 c. apple cider (go for the thick stuff you can’t see through if you can find it)
• 1 tbsp. apple butter
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tsp. Herbes de Provence

Brining Directions

1. Place pork chops in a heavy duty Ziploc bag and start adding the ingredients.  The chops shouldn’t be completely submerged in the liquid, but you can add a little more cider if it looks dry: really depends on how much meat you’re using.
2. Press out as much air as you can and zip everything closed. Massage the contents of the bag and throw it in the fridge.  I suggest towards the bottom just in case your Ziploc is ever compromised.
3. Massage the bag everyday for as long as it’s in the fridge.  This will make sure the chops get even contact with the brine.

So on the day you come home stressed (or you just need a fantastic dinner or you want to impress someone) you’re ready to crack open your chops.  Don’t worry if you can’t wait three days or even two: 24 hours will still do the chops some good.

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. In an oven safe frying pan (I prefer one with high-sides because of the side dish we’re making to go with these in a sec) heat up 2 tbsp. of olive oil over medium high heat.
3. Sear your chops on both sides, about 30 seconds per side.
4. If you’re ARE NOT making the Brussels sprouts below, put the whole pan in the oven.
5. If you ARE making the Brussels sprouts, remove the chops from the pan and place in an oven-safe baking dish (you might also need to do this if you have a pan that simply can’t go in the oven).  Remove your pan from the heat and set aside.
6. Bake the porkchops until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of one reads 160°F or until the juices run clear.  And yes, you food health people, optimal temp for a chop is 165°F for “fully cooked,” but if you don’t take the chops out at 160°F, they’ll overcook.  After all, temp continues to rise even after something is removed from an oven.

Walnut and Garlic Brussels Sprouts

Now…are you making the Brussels sprouts?  I know what you’re thinking: Ugh, I hate those things! Your mom made you eat them and they were terrible.  Tasteless!  Soggy!  Disgusting!  Am I right?  Not these, I promise.  Really.  They’re amazing.  They’re like Gateway Brussels Sprouts.  You can make ‘em even without the pan from the pork chops; that part just stands to elevate them a little bit further.

These ain’t your mama’s Brussels sprouts.  She didn’t know what she was doing.  Brussels sprouts are not soloists: they need a band.  These Brussels go great with the pork chops, but are also wonderful by themselves or served over rice.  You’ll just have to see how addicted you get to ‘em.

Ingredients

• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. dry white wine
• 1/2 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut lengthwise in halves or thirds
• 2 tbsp. chopped walnuts
• 1/2 c. apple cider (or reserved brine from the previous recipe)
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Peel and mince your garlic cloves.  Rinse, trim and slice your Brussels sprouts.
2. If you made the pork chops, heat up the pan with all those yummy drippings from the pork chops over medium heat, add the garlic to the pan and stir.
3. If you DID NOT make the pork chops and do not have the pan drippings, simple heat up a tablespoon of oil over medium heat and add the garlic into that.
4. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the wine and stir, scraping up the fond in the bottom of the pan.
5. When some of the wine has cooked away, add your sprouts and stir, coating them in the mixture, about 2 minutes.
6. Now add in the apple cider (you can also use reserved brine, which I like, but you might not still have it) and stir.  Cover the pan with a lid and let simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Add the walnuts and stir again.  Cook until the brussels are bright green and only slightly soft: they should have a bit of a crunch to them when bitten.  Salt and pepper to your liking.
8. Uncover and remove from heat, let stand for a few minutes and the sauce should thicken a bit.

Oh, man, they are so delicious.  The green cabbagey flavor of the sprouts with the richness of the cider and walnuts.  Awesome.

Amanda’s Dirty Mashed Potatoes

As a final accompaniment, I like to do a quick dirty mash of potatoes.  Dirty meaning I don’t waste time peeling them.  Didn’t your mother ever tell you that the skins of things are good for you?  I mean, between the times she was ruining perfectly good Brussels sprouts, that is?

Ingredients

• 2-3 medium sized potatoes
• 2-3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. half-n-half
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Directions

1. Rinse your potatoes (scrub ‘em if they’re really grody) and cut into 1″ cubes.
2. Place them in a pot and cover with cold water, bringing the water level up about a half inch above the potatoes.
3. Add about 1/2 tbsp. to the water and bring to a rapid boil.
4. Stir the potatoes and keep at a rolling boil for about 15 minutes.  Test the potatoes’ doneness by pressing a piece or two against the side of the pot and seeing if it smooshes easily.  When potatoes are ready, remove the pot from the heat and drain the potatoes in a colander.
5. Toss quickly in the colander to remove excess water and move the potatoes right back into the pot immediately (gotta keep ‘em hot!). Add the butter and use your potato masher to combine.
6. Once butter and potatoes are mixed, start adding the half-n-half in small increments, continuing to stir until they potatoes are your desired consistency (some people like runny, some like firm, I’m somewhere in the middle).

Now if that dinner isn’t a little piece of Wonderful, I don’t know what is.  Plate everything together, serve with your favorite dry white wine (or a Pinot Noir if you like) and enjoy with someone you love.

Or at least with someone who doesn’t stress you out.

First Times: Paradise Park Trailer Resort

November 11th, 2009

No foolin’, that’s the name of the place.  A few friends from work had Groupons to go to Paradise Park so they decided to go for lunch. There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but a discount lunch? Yessiree.

The restaurant/bar is a combo deal in terms of the location, however, during the day, the bar side of things is a little dark and sad: loud country music blares through speakers and would be cowboys sit sipping warm pitchers of beer in the smoking section.

The restaurant side, and the open kitchen, are buzzing with activity and the house is packed for lunch.  The menus are perky and glossy and printed in a circa-1950 teal, and the fare is greasy-spoon-style burgers, dogs, sandwiches and salads.  A huge sign hanging in the dining area proclaims “TATER TOTS.”

Upon entering the restaurant, I could smell the chili and so I had to order a chili dog and tots.  While we waited, I caught sight of strips of thick-cut bacon going directly into the fryer in preparation for their new role in a BLT.

The chili dog was no slouch, but it wasn’t the kind of thing you could eat with your hands. I had to opt for a knife and fork lest I find chili in my hair later on. It was a satisfying amount of food but I didn’t feel like it was too much. Paired with the tots and sweet tea, it was an awesome lunch.

I did find myself very glad that I had to walk up a big hill to get back to our car, however, as I’m sure I burned off three or four tots in doing so.

www.paradiseparkonline.com

Recipe: Open-Face Broiled Steak Sandwiches with Balsamic Vegetables

November 9th, 2009

This recipe is modified from one that was featured in Real Simple a while back.  You can certainly use that one, but I’ve modified it to take advantage of what I like and also what I typically have around.  For one thing, the recipe calls for bleu cheese.  Now I love bleu cheese, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t always have it around.  I do, however, always have a wedge of good Parmigiano Reggiano in the fridge and shaving that over the whole thing is perfectly servicable.

I also don’t do these as traditional sandwiches, as they are far easier to eat with a knife and fork by the time I get done with ‘em.  Anyway, on we go: this recipe will easily feed two or three people.  I like to do this on a weeknight because it’s really dirt simple and only takes about 30 minutes start to finish.

Ingredients

• One gigantic NY Strip steak (at least 2″ thick, trimmed of huge fatty bits)
• One gigantic red onion, cut into 1/2″ rounds (try and keep ‘em together in discs)
• 3 to 4 Roma tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil (plus extra)
• 1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. salt (I prefer Maldon)
• 1/3 tsp. pepper (or more if you like)
• 1 loaf of focaccia or other crusty bread you like, cut into 3/4″ slices (only cut enough for 2 slices per person, save the rest!).

Directions

1. Slice your onions and tomatoes and place in a rectangular baking dish.
2. Mix together oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl (or beaker, as I like to use) and whisk together with a fork.  Pour over vegetables.
3. Cover veggies and allow to sit at room temp so that flavors can marry (you can jiggle the dish to make sure the undersides of everything get some love, too).
4. Set to work trimming the steak.  You can leave a little fat on the edges, but keep in mind you’ll be slicing it later. Less is more.
5. Once the steak is trimmed, season the side that’s up with salt and pepper (you’ll season the other side when it goes in the pan).  Cover with a towel and let it sit for about 15 minutes more, allowing it to warm up from the fridge: meat that’s not frigid when it goes into the pan is happier.
6. Now you’re ready to get started!  Move the top oven rack to the second position (the top most is usually too close) and preheat the broiler.
7. Pour a few teaspoons of that extra olive oil you have on hand into a frying pan (and don’t make me sad and say you don’t have a single NON non-stick pan around), medium-high temp on the stove, then sear the steak on all sides (yes, even the vertical sides: that’s why you bought a thick steak so it can stand on its own, no matter where it’s set down).
8. Remove the steak from the heat and set aside.
9. Line a jellyroll tray (or a cookie tray with sides) with aluminum foil and arrange the vegetables and the seared steak on it.  Steak should go toward the middle, try to keep everything reasonably well-separated.
10. Slide everything under the broiler and let sit for 4-5 minutes on one side before removing the tray, flipping all its contents and broiling the other side of things. When all is ready, tomatoes should have a slight singe, the onions should be soft and a little browned as well.



11. Take your bread slices (did I tell you to slice them? No? Okay, slice the bread!) and drizzle with a little more olive oil.  Throw those under the broiler for about a minute (you just want them to crisp up, not burn, so watch ‘em!).
12. Meanwhile, your steak should have had plenty of time to rest and you can now slice it up.  I like thin slices, 1/4″ if you can get ‘em that thin.
13. To plate, place two of the bread slices on the plate, top with some of the slices of beef, then a big round of onion, then a few of the tomatoes.  Shave parmigiano reggiano over the whole thing.
14. Enjoy with your favorite glass of red wine (tonight we were drinking Carmenere).

Bonus Points

Remember that frying pan you used way back at step 7? You can make a really bitchin’ sauce for your steak sandwiches by reheating that frying pan and deglazing the fond from the pan with the marinade you used for the veggies.  This is why you don’t use a non-stick pan: so you can use a wooden spoon and scrape up all those heavenly brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Reduce the sauce, stirring over medium heat (a fairly speedy simmer) until it’s reduced by one third or more.  Drizzle a bit of this sauce over everything just before you hit it with the parmigiano reggiano.

Heaven!

Thank you to my husband, Photographer Evan Baines for his assist in the photography department.

« Older Entries