Steak Nite

Well, I think I did it.  This last weekend there may have been a serious lapse in judgment on my part when it comes to Steak Nite.  I’ll get into exactly what happened in a minute, but this gist of it is… two Steak Nites in a row!  It begs the question, can you have to much of a good thing?

So, here’s the situation:

Saturday evening began as a celebration of my grandparent’s 80th birthday.  Little did they know it, the entire group was part of the largest Steak Nite that I had been a part of!  The party was held at Daniels Broiler in Bellevue, Wa.  Much thanks goes to my parents who were the sorry souls footing the bill.  I know they had a good time though, so maybe that’s some small measure of comfort.

We had a private room for the group of 35, and let me tell you, it was a rowdy crowd.  The drinks were flowing free, so there was fun to be had by all.  We started with a cocktail hour with an excellent (though definitely not slimming) Crab, Artichoke and Parmesan dip.  I stuck with wine for the night, so I can’t comment on the quality of the drinks, but maybe we’ll get some of the crowd in the comments and they can let us know.  However, sticking with wine wasn’t a bummer.  In his typical sommelier style, my father selected a 2005 Rombauer Cabernet Sauvignon.  Now, I admit I had been chomping at the bit to try this wine for quite some time, so I was excited.  I’ll be interested to here the opinions of the crowd on this one too, but I thought it was great.  Big flavor and strong cherry notes complemented my humongous filet Mignon (I’ll talk that in a second).  Needless to say I had a few glasses and, truth be told, probably did pretty good damage to a bottle.  But hey, it’s Steak Nite!

There were 4 entree options for the group, 2 steaks, a fish and chicken.  All were excellent as well, my Filet was thick, juicy and cooked to perfection with an excellent salty garlic crust.  I tried the Salmon as well, and it was no less an epicurean delight.  In fact, I had a hard time finding any bad reviews of the dishes from my tablemates, who represented the full menu…. So well done Daniel’s Broiler.  I also want to comment on the service, because the servers handled our rowdy crowd with much composure and many a smile, so thanks for that.  Lastly, a big Thank You again to my parents, who treated the group to an excellent time and gave me my first taste of Rombauer (hopefully more to come).

So, that would have been enough for me and I hope enough for any Steak Nite connoisseur….but that’s not it… this post wouldn’t be “Steak Night x2″ if it was, would it?  The very next day, Mother’s Day (did you forget?), my wife and I traveled down to my in-law’s place for a late lunch/ early dinner shindig.  Guess what, more steak!  If that’s not enough, it was more tenderloin, the same cut as my beloved Filet from the previous evening!  Oh how the powers that be do tempt thee.

In an exciting twist for a gadget loving engineer such as myself, my father-in-law had recently acquired a new grill.  This was no charcoal kettle grill, it’s a new Charbroil Red Infrared Grill.  It may not garner praise from the purists, but it was so very cool to see.  I’m going to do a post in the future in these IR grills, because it now has my curiosity sufficiently piqued to warrent some research.  So stay tuned for that.  The grill seemed to work flawlessly, having no flam to cause flare ups.  We even threw dry (i.e., unsoaked) woodchips into the “U” grill pan and they smoked away…. ok, actually, they smoked us right off the deck… we put few to many in.  As mentioned though, it cooked a mean steak.

I did get a bit of and evil eye from my wife as I loaded up my plate, so I admit to having split my attention between Steak and grilled chicken, but don’t hate me.  Considering myself a “simply salt, medium rare, filet” purist…. I was a little suspect of the steak in front of me, it was cooked through and glazed.  But I was more than pleasantly surprised, it was excellent.  Complements go to my brother-in-laws who were grillmasters for the day… way to go gents, everything was way above board!

So that’s it, two Steak Nite’s in one weekend!  It was a fantastic, if over-indulgent, experience.  So the question still stands, can you have too much of a good thing?  This Steak Nite blogger thinks not…. but don’t tell my cholesterol.

Before I sign off, Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all those mothers out there, I hope your children treated you to a steak nite!

Cheers!

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.

Here’s the main dish from Nick’s “go-to” Steak Nite:

Marinated Flank Steak (4-6 servings)

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 chopped garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak

1. In a 1 Gallon Zip-top Bag, add lime juice, Worcestershire, mustard, 1 tablespoon olive oil, sugar, garlic, salt, and pepper. (In truth, I don’t measure this anymore, I just start dumping stuff in)
   
2. Toss the Flank Steak in marinade and gently mush it around till it’s nice and coated; Get as much air out of the bag as possible, seal and Marinate 20-30 minutes in the fridge. I usually cut the flank steak into three pieces before it goes into the bag.  This serves 2 purposes, 1) it makes them a little more manageable and 2) it allows you to cook each piece to a different doneness if your diners have a preference. (My wife prefers hers nuked)
3. Heat a Cast Iron Skillet or Grill Pan over high till screaming hot. Remove steak from marinade; cook until browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Rest, covered, 5 minutes. Flank Steak, with all that marinade, will cause flare-ups on a grill.  So, even though I do indeed cook it on the grill to avoid smoking out the kitchen, I cook it on a grill pan or cast iron skillet.  You don’t get grill marks, but you’re going to slice it up anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.
   
4. After the meat has rested, cut it across the grain into 1/2 to 1 inch wide strips and serve. This will make for tender, fall-apart meat.  ENJOY!
   

Here are a couple options for Side Dishes that I enjoy:

Roasted Red Potatoes (3-4 Servings)

• 1 1/2 pounds small red or white-skinned potatoes (or a mixture)
• 1/8 cup good olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons dried Italian Seasoning (or a mixture of parsley, oregano, basil)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut the potatoes in half or quarters and place on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil
3. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning; toss until the potatoes are well coated.
   
4. Roast in the oven for at least 1 hour, or until browned and crisp. Flip twice with a spatula during cooking to ensure even browning.
5. Remove the potatoes from the oven, season to taste, and serve.

Sauteed Spring Veggies (3-4 servings)

This is a fav because you can par-boil the veggies ahead of time (up thru step 2) and then just whip them up before dinner.  And they’re crazy healthy!

• 1/2 lb Asparagus
• 1/2 lb Sugar snap peas
• 1/2 lb Broccoli florets
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove minced garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring 1 gallon of salted water to a boil.
2. In batches, boil the Asparagus and Broccoli for 2 minutes and the snap peas for 1 minute; Once boiled, cool the vegetables quickly a bowl of ice water; drain and set aside.
3. Heat Olive oil over medium heat, add garlic and vegetables; saute until warmed through (5-7 minutes)
4. Season with salt and pepper; Serve