Steak Nite

After reading Nicks last entry of “go-to” Steak Nites it reminded me of one of my favorites- skirt steak marinated in salsa verde served with pasta carbonara.  I recently served this to some friends of ours for their first Steak Nite (the two newest members of the Steak Nite family) .  The meal has such huge flavors with the tanginess of the marinated steak and the richness of the pasta, that I usually offer two totally different varietals of wine…one to try and hold up against the steak and another to refresh the palette.  In this last meeting we chose a very nice Reisling from Washington state which was a great quencher next to the salsa,  while our friends brought a perfectly suitable Malbec from Argentina that held up great to the juiciness of the steak.  Tasty combination’s contributing to a memorable evening definitely makes this one of my go-to Steak Nites, and will hopefully help continue the Steak Nite tradition…

Salsa Verde Marinated Skirt Steak:

2 pound skirt steak

Salsa Verde:

1/4 cup fresh italian parsley

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

4 cloves garlic

2 shallots

1 lemon juiced

1 lime juiced

2 tbls sherry vinegar

EVOO

salt and pepper

combine ingredients of salsa verde into food processor and drizzle olive oil until desired consistency.  reserving about half of salsa for garnish, marinade steak in ziplock bag with remaining salsa for up to 12 hours.  scrape all excess salsa from steak and cook on hot grill.  serve sliced with salsa verde as garnish

Chef Joseph Bastianich’s: Linguine alla Carbonara

6 ounces slab bacon

2 tbls EVOO

2 large yellow onions

3 egg yolks

1 c grated parmigiano-reggiano

ground black pepper

1 1/2 c hot chicken stock

cut bacon into large pieces and brown in tbls of EVOO, leaving outside crispy and center moist, remove bacon from pan.  cook diced onions in bacon drippings and extra oil, if needed, until onions are still crunchy and transparent.  add stock, bring to boil and adjust heat to simmer, cooking liquid til reduced by half.

meanwhile, stir fresh linguini into boiling salted water and cook til al dente.  drain pasta, reserving cup of water, and return to pot.  stir sauce into pasta reducing heat to medium.  remove from heat and add egg yolks one at a time mixing to prevent overcooking of yolks.  add cheese and fresh craked pepper, serve imediately.

While on a visit to Orcas Island our hosts recommended dining at the Ecotopian Dinner Theater in East Sound.  A uniquely varied tapas menu with a wine list of more than adequate assortment at amazingly reasonable price points.  After gazing through the menu we sort of stumbled into a tapas style Steak Nite – ordering the fryed brie and beet salad along side of the petite steak- cooked perfectly! …put together with garilc mashers, a dab of blue cheese butter and a redwine reduction sauce…awesome!  We enjoyed all of this with a bottle of Diseno 2007 Malbec from Argentina which seemed to be the right bottle for the job.  All and all a great find for a sort of accidental Steak Nite …needless to say the Ecotopian will see us next time we are in town.

What is Steak Nite? Well, here at Steaknite.org it’s our favorite night of the week!  It’s the very next thing we look forward to after we finish the previous week’s Steak Nite.

First things first, check out the About page to get a great overview and then come on back for a few more details.

I’ll start by describing some rules of Steak Nite (for you Fight Club movie fans).  There aren’t that many, so stay with me:

1. Steak Nite is not just about eating steak.
2. You absolutely positively have to talk about Steak Nite.  Tell everyone that will care to listen.
3. Steak Nite is about great food, great drinks and even better friends
4. To be a true Steak Nite die-hard, you should strive to have it every week.
5. Talk about Steak Nite, it’s no fun unless you spread the word!

Question & Answer:

Q: What the heck to you mean, “Steak Nite isn’t just about steak”, are you nuts?

A: Probably.  We know we’re going to get a lot of flak for that, but Steak Nite is about starting a tradition, so we don’t really care.  We call it “Steak Nite” because that’s how it started, not because we always need to eat steak.  Besides, it has a nice ring to it… it wouldn’t be the same if we just called it “www.sitdowntoagoodmealnite.org”… who is going to type that in to a web browser?  Don’t worry, there will be plenty of steak talk.  If you’re looking to talk about large chunks of beef, we’ll get to that in short order.  But we don’t exclude anybody from Steak Nite, so come on in.

Q: I’m a vegetarian and I don’t drink, am I going to enjoy anything on this site?

A: Ok, I admit, we’re going to talk a lot about meat and drinks (wine in particular).  But that’s only because we really like those things.  We’re also going to talk a lot about the philosophy of Steak Nite, which we think is a good thing for everyone.  If you are interested in getting back to the art of sitting down and enjoying a meal, then this is the place for you.

Q: Who are you to write about food and wine?

A: Short answer; nobody and proud of it.  Neither one of us is trained as a chef or even a cook.  We’re just two guys that love the topic and mostly, love to talk about it.  We’re passionate about eating great dinners, drinking great wine with great people and talking about great big ideas.

Come on!  Join us in the quest to sit down to the perfect meal!

I am a Seattle artist and instructor who has a passion for a well composed meal and I want to spread that passion to everyone!

Over a decade ago my folks introduced a new tradition to the family called Steak Nite… a tradition my wife and I have spun into a well practiced ritual in our home as well as many of our friends homes …and hopefully more homes to come.  After introducing this tradition to Nick a few years back, Steak Nite became the overwhelming topic of most of our conversations….and now we are bringing that conversation to the world.

Welcome to Steak Nite!

Welcome to Steaknite.org, we sure are glad to have you join us.

I don’t know if you ever thought about starting a blog, but when Geoff and I did, we thought it would be a piece of cake. It turns out that making that first post is way more unnerving than we thought. Once you realize that the Internet never forgets anything, and that your mother might read this (because now she’s using “Google” in a sentence) you get stage fright! What if nobody reads it? Wait… what if everybody reads it! I’ve given a thousand presentations at work, in front of vice presidents even, and writing about Steak is what makes me shake in my boots?? Well, that’s just plain silly, so here goes….

Ok, Geoff’s a big boy, so I’m going to let him introduce himself. My name is Nick. I’m Canadian by birth and also American because my parents were born in the States (and were kind enough to get me a dual citizenship). So, I’m just as likely to throw out an “Eh” (yes, it has a capital E) as I am a “huh” (yes, Americans say it). I like to keep you guessing, so you won’t know which one I’m going to use. I’m also an engineer and…. well, I love Steak Nite! We’ll get more into that later (or see the about page).

I met Geoff a few years back and after we realized our mutual interest in food and wine, Geoff and his wife introduced my wife and I to Steak Nite. Since then, we’ve been driving our wives nuts by talking almost non-stop about all things related to Steak Nite, including starting this blog.

So, thanks for coming, hope you like it. Also, feel more than free to comment, or even to email.