Mache' Salad with Bison Steak, Creamy Soy Ginger Dressing

This simple salad is turned up with a high protein, low fat bison steak.  Bison steaks are available in most grocery stores and are a great alternative to traditional beef steaks, just don't overcook them or they get tough.    This healthy dish takes about 20 minutes, feeds two and costs about $15

Creamy Soy Ginger Dressing
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 tablespoons heavy cream

Mache Salad
2 heads of Mache' lettuce
1/4 head of frizze
1/2 carton grape tomatoes
1/2 yellow bell pepper

Bison Steak
Season heavily with salt and pepper.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Start a medium pan on medium high heat and let it get very hot.  Add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil and then steak.  Let cook about 4 minutes on each side or until nicely browned.  Place the whole pan in the oven for about 10 minutes.  Let the steak rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Buon Apetitto!!

Prime Sirloin, Enoki Mushrooms, Leeks, Potatoes and Black Truffle

Its the end of the truffle season so I decided to get one more to enjoy before its over.  This dish takes 45 minutes, feeds two people and costs about $40.

1 - 12oz prime sirloin
1 - package of fresh enoki mushrooms
1 - organic leek, thin round slices
1 - package tricolor baby potatoes, halved
1/8 cup - real balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup - dry marsala wine
5 grams - Perigord Black Truffle

Potatoes, Leeks and Mushrooms
Preheat the oven to 350.  Toss the potatoes in salt, pepper and olive oil and place cut side down on a baking sheet.  Cook for 30 minutes or until tender.  Place mushrooms and leeks on a oiled baking sheet and roast i the oven for 15 minutes.

Sirloin of Beef
Get a cast iron pan going for about five minutes on medium high heat.  Season steak with salt and pepper and sear in the pan for about two minutes on each side.  Remove from the pan and place on a foil lined baking rack. Glaze the steak with a teaspoon of the real balsamic vinegar.  Place it in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove, glaze one more time with balsamic and let it stand for 7 minutes. Slice and serve.

Balsamic-Marsala Reduction
Place equal part real balsamic and dry marsala wine in a small saucepan on low heat.  Let it reduce for about 30 minutes or until about 2 tablespoons remain.

Shave the fresh truffles over the plated dish and enjoy!  Buon Apetitio!!

Prime NY Strip with Rainbow Carrots and Balsamic Onions

This quick meat lovers dish is fast and real easy to make. This costs $30, feeds 2 and takes 40 minutes.

Balsamic Onions
2 organic white onions
6 cloves organic garlic
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan and cook on medium low until all liquid is reduced.  Add additional balsamic if onions are not to desired softness but liquid is dried up.

I found a bag a peeled mini rainbow carrots in the veggie section of the grocery store.  I roasted them on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sear the 18oz NY strip steak on medium high heat until golden on each side.  Place in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes for medium rare.  Let rest 10 minutes, slice and serve.

Buon Apetitio!

Grassfed NY Strip with Golden Beets and Field Greens

This is my first post on a while. Life and work have been hectic, but I found some time to make this steak and veggie plate before work yesterday. Grassfed beef is less fatty then regular, corn fed beef. I have always found it to be a bit tougher then regular meat but it has more flavor and health benefits over conventional beef. WholeFoods had great organic golden beets with the greens still attached so I used these greens along with the greens from the easter radishes I bought and some black kale to make the sauteed vegetables. This meal costs $20 take 1 hour and feeds 1.

Roasted Golden Beets
1 bunch organic golden beets
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375. Wash beets thoroughly and slice in half. Place beets flesh down on a foil lined baking sheet and add salt and olive oil. Let them bake for 45 minutes, then loosly cover with aluminum foil and let bake for 15 more minutes or until tender. Let them cool slightly and peel off the skin with your hand or with a pairing knife. Add salt and serve.



Sauteed Field Greens
1 bunch of organic beet greens
1 bunch of organic radish greens
1 bunch organic black kale
5 cloves garlic
1/4 organic white onion
1 tablespoon olive oil

Thoroughly clean and wash the greens. Chiffonade or shred the greens into thin strips. Start and sautee pan on medium low and add oil, onion and garlic. Let that cook for 15 minutes or until tender and then turn up the heat to medium high. Add the greens and sautee quickly, about 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Grassfed NY Strip
1 8oz grassfed NY strip or sirloin

Season steak with salt and pepper. Place the steak on a baking rack and place in the oven with the beets for 10 minutes. Remove the steak and sear in a hot frying pan, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes. you can sear it first or last, I did it last to experiment with a suggestion a friend made. It came out ok but I will sear it first in the future so I can control the internal temperature better.

This healthy, vitamin and protein packed lunch was easy to make and the beets were delicious. The greens came from parts of the vegetables that most people throw away so it was a side dish for free. Check out the close up on the golden beet to see how beautiful they turned out. Enjoy!

Steak and Taleggio Omelet with Breakfast Potatoes Confit

Labor Day weekend is here! I decided to kick it off with a dip in the ocean and an awesome breakfast. I had a bit of left over steak from the other nights dinner and some Taleggio (a soft Italian chesse) from when friends came over last week. Here is how I put it all together.

Breakfast Potatoes Confit
3 medium russet potatoes, large dice
1/2 a large vidallia onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 finger hot pepper, sliced
2 teaspoons fresh chopped oregano
1/8 cup duck fat
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Start the pan on medium and add the vegetable oil. Add the potatoes and let them cook for 15 minutes stirring every few minutes so they cook evenly. Then add the onions, garlic and hot peppers and let that cook for 7-10 minutes or until the onions get some color. Now add the duck fat and let it all cook together for 15 more minutes or until the potatoes are soft and golden. Add the fresh oregano(dried if that what you have), salt and pepper and remove it from the heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes,stir and serve

Steak and Taleggio Omelet
3 eggs
1 oz heavy cream
1/4 mined red onion
2 oz of skirt steak
2 oz Taleggio Cheese (sub anything you like here)
1 teaspoon fresh chopped marjoram
salt and pepper

Start the oven on 350. Whisk eggs and cream together until airy. Start a medium pan on medium low (4 of 10) and add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, add the steak and cook for two more minutes. Then add your eggs. Let that cook for 3 minutes then remove it from the heat, top half of it with slices of the Taleggio cheese and add the fresh marjoram. Put the pan in the oven for 5 minutes or until the top is no longer runny. Remove it from the oven and fold it in half.

I put the two together with a toasted and cream cheesed english muffin and some fresh sliced roma tomatoes. I think this is going to be an awesome Labor Day weekend!

Skirt Steak with Chimicurri and Portobello "Fries"

This whole dish takes less then one hour from start to finish.

Diner went really well last night, all three elements of the dish were spot on. Also this is my first time making Portobello fries and they are now my new favorite thing. They are awesome tasting and have almost no saturated fat or cholesterol, plus they are easy to make. The skirt steak, or churassco, is inexpensive, quick to cook and it is a forgiving cut of meat. By forgiving I mean that it stays tender and juicy from medium rare to medium well so overcooking is not as big an issue as a filet or ribeye. Chimicurri is a classic Argentinian steak compliment that has many different variations, below is my style. So here is how it all went down. Serves 2 or 3 people.

Portobello "Fries"

6 medium portobello caps
3 eggs
3 cups of breadcrumbs (Italian, plain or panko: I used Italian)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees. Rinse and de-stem the caps and let dry. Slice the caps in strips about the size of a large steak fry or about 1/2 and inch. Scramble up the eggs in a large shallow dish and toss in the mushroom strips to coat with the egg. Combine the Parmesan and the bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl and then toss in the mushroom strips. Get them well coated with the bread crumbs and lay them flat in a single layer on a baking sheet, make sure they are not touching. Bake for 25 minutes and you have the best new side dish ever.

Chimicurri

1/2 cup of cilantro
1/4 cup parsley
3 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped
1/8 cup white vinegar
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup of vegetable oil
teaspoon of red crushed chili flakes
salt and pepper

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until all of the herbs are chopped. Do not leave it on for because it will emulsify, just pulse it about 20 times. Thats it.


Skirt Steak

1 pound skirt steak or churassco (i like the thicker cut, but if you like well done go with the thinner ones)
2 tablespoons of seasoning mix
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt (1 teaspoon table salt)

Liberally season the steak with the seasoning mix. After much trial and error this seasoning mix is my favorite for steaks. It doesn't over power the steak it just brings out the natural good flavors of the meat. Start a large sauté pan or flat top skillet on medium high heat (7.5 of 10). Once the pan is hot put in a teaspoon of oil and then the steak, it should sizzle when it hits the pan. Brown the meat on both sides until you get a nice crust. Then move the steak to a foil lined baking sheet and put it in the same oven with the portobello fries. 10 minutes for medium rare (for a thick cut), 13 minutes for medium and 17 minutes for medium well. If you have a thinner cut it will take shorter in the oven. Let the steak rest for at least 10 minutes before you cut it. Otherwise the juices will run all over and the steak will not be as moist and juicy.

Put it all together and you have a relatively quick dinner that is all made from scratch, different then the norm and under $20. Get some.

Chicken and Steak Fried Rice

Hungry - check
In a rush - check
Leftover rice, chicken and steak - check

Fried rice is one of my favorite leftover creations. Come to think of it, this is probably how the dish was invented. I can see the chinese guy now, sitting around with the same check list and suddenly having the stoke of genius to make one of the world's favorite dishes. Here is my quick version, feel free to substitute the veggies and protein to your liking.

I fine chopped some garlic, ginger, carrots, green beans and scallions. Then I diced up the left over chicken from last nights dinner and chopped the small piece of leftover steak from two nights ago. I started my largest sautee pan on med-high and added some sesame oil. Then added the all the veggies and sauteed rapidly. Once they were cooked (about 3 minutes) I added the meat and stirred that with the veggies until heated through (about 3 more minutes). I then added the leftover rice from last night and let that heat through and get a little crispy, another 3 or 4 minutes. I added one scrambled up egg and mixed again as fast as possible so that the egg coated all of the ingredients with out coagulating. I finished it all off with some soy sauce, 5 spice powder and black sesame seeds.

Now I can be out the door in time to hit The Gansevoort rooftop pool on time and with a happy stomach.

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32 oz. Ribeye with Baby Sweet Potato and Black Kale

Tonight we decided to have an early dinner. We had the kale and sweet potatoes from the farmers market so I went to Publix to get some of my favorite proteins. I picked up a monster Prime Grade 32 oz. Boneless Ribeye and decided it would pair up nice with the kale and baby sweet potatoes I had. So here we go.

I always start by getting all of my spices and ingredients out and in order. I made a spice rub for the steak that included cayenne pepper, chipotle peppers, cumin, coriander, paprika, garam masala, pepper and salt. I chopped my vegetables and seasoned my meat so that I only had to cook. This is very important to sucessfully timing your meal, so always have your Things in Place ("mis en place" to French trained chefs)




I used a grill pan for the steak so that it would get good color and nice markings. I turned the pan on med-high and let it get very hot. Because a ribeye has a lot of fat I did not use any oil or butter. I seared the meat on each side and then placed the meat and pan into a 300 degree oven. It took about 40 minutes to get it to medium rare. You can use a thermometer if you are not comfortable with the "touching" method. I let the meat rest for 20 minutes (a good rule of thumb is rest the meat 1/2 as long as you cooked it). I like a lower temperature for my oven if I have the time so the meat can cook off, or render, much of the fat.




Sweet Potatoes. I cut them in half lengthwise. I seared them cut side down in a pan with butter and brown sugar on medium heat. Once caramelized I turn them over and placed them in the same 300 degree oven with the steaks. They take about 40 minutes in the oven.

The Kale was easy. Chop it and rinse it thoroughly. In a sauce pan on medium low, start olive oil with butter and then add the kale and cover. Stir the kale often to get even cooking. After cooking for about 15 minutes I started the onions and garlic in a small separate saucepan. Once the onion and garlic was cooked till about done I added it to the kale. I tossed them together with a lot of salt and pepper and turned the heat to low. I let it cook for another 15 minutes or until desired tenderness. Kale is very bitter but if you cook it for long enough it starts to get a somewhat sweeter flavor. I finished this with some salt and pepper and a pat of butter and let it rest.

To finish, I sliced the steak and plated the three items together. This is somewhat of a winter or heartier dish but it will work anytime of the year.