I make a lot of Asian food. Some days, you want to forego all of those complex combinations of myriad spices and sauces etc., and all you really want is a nice piece of meat. With new instructions from my doctor to consume more iron, steak and spinach for dinner it was.
I've been having intense cravings for meat for about a month. Stewed, stir-fried, in shawarma... doesn't cut it. I wanted a thick steak that I could cook to a perfect medium rare and enjoy for its carnal essence. Allison joined me for just such an endeavour. I had been eating mostly vegetarian meals with a few pieces of chicken and the odd beef stew in the mix and Allison and I had both expressed a desire to eat a good piece of meat. Good pieces of meat are expensive in this country and so we split one. Before dinner, Allison and I sat and reviewed the film she'd been editing of me. The week prior, we had made several forays to the Shuk where Allison recorded me giving my expert advice on several purchasing methods. The clip came out better than I could have anticipated and I am truly looking forward to the final product (to appear here, and elsewhere, some time next week).
My first venture on Thursday was to the butcher and my second to the Shuk. I already had an Italian meal in mind (thanks in part to Giuliano Hazan), and I bought some spinach, shallots, new potatoes, parsley, meyer lemons, purple basil, tomatoes and mozarella. While I love how fresh everything at the shuk is, at times I wish it were pre-washed. It took me quite a while to wash all the potatoes, spinach, parsely and basil. The first thing to get some heat was the potatoes. I decided to employ two methodds in cooking them. First I halved and peeled 13 shallots, lay them flat side down in a baking dish and poured in a bit of tea. I then mixed the potatoes with olive oil in a separate bowl and placed them atop the shallots. In this way, the shallots were braised while the potatoes roasted. They vapour emanating from them gave the potatoes a sweet note as well. While they were doing their business in the oven, I got making the spinach. It was very simple. I sautéed some garlic in butter, added meyer lemon juice, brought it to a simmer, put the spinach in and covered the pot then puréed it all with a bit more butter. It was tart and delicious. I then made the salad, and left it in the fridge for after our maincourse. I cooked the steak to rare, let it rest, sliced it and tossed the slices in a skillet with gremolata and olive oil. It came out perfectly. My only regret was not having more steak.
The following recipe may appear simple, but washing all those herbs takes time! This is, however, a very fun meal to have with all non-vegetarians consuming it blissfully. May came over with some pizza and joined in our conversation as we carnivorously consumed our plates. While she did not consume any meat with us, she did enjoy a lovely taste of potato with spinach. Enjoy all.
Ingredients:
For the potatoes and shallots
About 20 new potatoes, washed, scrubbed and left to dry, then half lengthwise
13 shallots, halved and peeled
2 tbls of olive oil
1 tsp of cayenne pepper
2 tsp of salt
1/4 cup of earl grey tea (hot)
For the spinach
40 grams of butter, cut into two 20 grams pieces
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium shallot, minced
the juice of two meyer lemons
1 large package of spinach (about 1.5 lbs), washed well
For the salad
2 large balls of fresh mozarella, sliced thinly
3 vine ripened tomatoes, sliced thinly
15-20 leaves of purple basil (depending on how many slices of cheese and tomatoes you get)
extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to sprinkle on top
a pinch of salt
for the steak
1 600 gram boneless rib-eye
the zest of 1.5 meyer lemons
2 cloves of garlic
about 1.5 tbls of chopped parsley
3 tbls of olive oil
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F. Lay the shallots flat side down in a baking dish and pour in the tea. Combine potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt and cayenne, mix well so that everything is perfectly coated. Pour atop the shallots and place in the oven for 50 minutes.
Heat 20g of the butter in a dutch oven over low heat, add the garlic and shallot. After about 4 minutes, add the meyer lemon juice, raise heat slightly and bring to a simmer. Throw in all of your spinach and leave the lid on for 5 minutes, take the lid off and leave for another 3 minutes. Then purée with the extra butter and S+P to taste. Keep warm.
Lay all ingredients for the salad on a serving platter. Leave in the fridge until ready to serve. Sprinkle on oil and balsamic when ready to serve with the pinch of salt.
When the potatoes are done, turn the heat on the oven off but leave the potatoes in. Place two dinner plate and a serving bowl in the oven to get warm.
Trim the fat off the steak and reserve. Chop the garlic, parsley and lemon zest together until they have all been incorporated into a course paste. Form the steak into a circular shape and then tie with butcher's twine around the centre to keep its form. S+P both sides. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat and add the beef trimmings. After 6 minutes, remove the trimmings. Place the steak in the skillet, leave for exactly 4 minutes on each side. Remove to from the skillet, turn off the heat, and cover the steak with tin-foil. Remove the tin-foil after 4 minutes, remove the butcher's twine, then slice into 1/2" thick sliced. Heat skillet over medium-low, add the gremolata. After 1.5 minutes, throw in the steak, toss consistently for another 1.5 minutes, then remove. Transfer the steak from the skillet to the serving bowl that you've warmed in the oven. Plate all ingredients and enjoy! B'Teavon!!!!
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