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A New Love: Jacques Pépin's Fast Food
Talking Him Into It - Feeding The Guy
Another Change, and Two Summer Shortcakes
« Reviews: My Favorites From Other Food Blogs | Main | Oven Thermometer »
They say men need to have one signature dish that they can cook for women they're interested in. I honestly don't remember if Josh cooked at all for me when we first started going out (I was the one who did all the cooking in our college suite; a few days after we met - months before we started dating - I made a German Apple Pancake that prompted him to blurt out "will you marry me?" More about that recipe later.) But by the end of our first year together he had started to develop not just one, but a handful of dishes that have kept me very happy for the last five years. One of our favorites - and the least time and energy consuming - is a basic broiled steak that he makes with garlic and shallots.
He starts with a nice shell steak, trims the excess fat from it, and cuts little holes into the top and bottom and inserts pieces of smashed garlic (smashing it releases the flavor). Then he coats it with olive oil, seasons both sides with salt and pepper, and plops it into a really hot (almost smoking) oven safe pan (to check the temperature, drop a couple drops of water on the pan; they should sizzle and roll around the pan.) He sears both sides of the meat, 30-45 seconds each side (don't move it while it sears), then puts the whole pan into the broiler until it feels just a tiny bit firmer to the touch than it did when it was raw, turning it half-way through (he pokes it with tongs to save burning his fingers - this part of the cooking should take about 3-5 minutes a side). When the meat is done, he takes it out of the pan, puts it on an uncovered plate that can catch the juices, and puts the pan back on the stove over high heat. He then pours a cup or more of some kind of liquid - wine, stock, wine vinegar, or even water - into the pan and scrapes the little bits of meat off the bottom of the pan so they release into the mixture (last week he used a nice Malbec with terrific results). Then he throws a handful of chopped shallots into the sauce and lets the whole thing cook until the sauce becomes syrupy. When the sauce has cooked down, he re-adds the juices that have escaped from the sitting meat, stirs them in, and takes the pan off the heat. If we're not cooking for our kosher-keeping relatives, he'll then "mount" the sauce by tossing in two tablespoons of butter and stirring until they've dissolved. (Obviously this sauce gets poured over the meat, and anything else you want it on, when you serve it.)
If I'm really lucky he'll serve this with roasted potatoes that he makes by cutting red potatoes or fingerlings into smallish wedges (just quartering the smaller varieties), tossing them in olive oil and minced garlic (make sure they're fully coated), arranging them on a baking tray so that the skin sides are down, seasoning them with salt and pepper, and baking them at 425 degrees on the middle rack until they're cooked fully through and nicely brown - about 30 minutes.
I think if more men knew how to make this dish there would be many more happy couples and contented women out there right now.
Posted by georgia to Kitchen and Cooking on November 13, 2005 11:11 PM | permalink | Email this post
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