Steak au Poivre and Asparagus & No Haricots Verts Salad

Like I wrote in my Easter post, I just went through a pretty long stretch of not having time to cook much, or write, which meant a kind of involuntary hiatus from the Les Halles Cookbook project. This is not too happy, as I have really enjoyed making these dishes, and I still have a ways to go, considering I'm not exactly holding myself to a rigorous schedule. So, last week I declared a hiatus to my hiatus, and pretty much spent the weekend cooking various things, including this steak au poivre.

After proposing a Les Halles dinner to Husband J, I asked him if there was anything he particularly wanted, and he requested steak. Since the red wine butter steak requires a grill or grill pan (though I may just make it on my cast iron skillet anyway so as not to purchase cluttery pans), I decided on steak au poivre, one of my favorite types of steak. This sounded like it needed a fresh spring salad, so I decided on the asparagus and haricots verts salad, since I figured it was high time to find those particular veggies fresh at the market. However, I must have been too late or too early, because there was not a haricot vert to be had, alas. I decided to make the salad anyway, with fresh spring greens instead of haricots verts.

With steak au poivre, the most important thing is, of course, cracked peppercorns. I measured out 2 ounces of peppercorns on my handy scale:



Now to crack them. Which was a problem, because suddenly I realized that outside of a grinder, I had no idea how to crack peppercorns. The magic that is google told me that one thing to do is put the peppercorns into a zip-loc and crack them with a rolling pin. Husband J offered me a hammer, which I snobbishly declined, wielding my rolling pin. But there was another problem, I didn't have a ziplock. I had the bright idea of wrapping the peppercorns in some saran-wrap. Once wrapped, I gave them a good whack with my rolling pin. And... the saran-wrap promptly split, spilling many of the corns onto my kitchen floor. Great. After sweeping the floor, I tried again with more loosely wrapped peppers. This did not lead to floor spillage, but didn't do much in the pepper cracking department. For a little while I found success cracking one peppercorn at a time, but as you can see above, that process would probably take me into the next decade. In the end, I swallowed my pride and took Husband J's hammer, which worked much better, particularly considering the peppercorns were denting the edge of the wooden rolling pin a little.



Cracked peppercorns and the implements of their destruction.

With the peppercorns cracked, I started on the asparagus. The asparagus needs to get blanched for the salad, so I started up a big pot of salted water. Once the water boiled, the asparagus went in for about 5 minutes, and then into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Easy!



Asparagus in its ice water bath.

By the way, notice how the asparagus in this photo is neatly wrapped and not all over the place like, say, all my bouquet garnis ever? Well after almost a year of searching, I have finally found kitchen twine. Hooray!

After measuring out the mise for the steak sauce, I took the steak out of the fridge and cut it into four portions.



Next, I brushed the steaks with olive oil, and dredged them in the cracked peppercorns. They went into a pan of olive oil and butter to saute.



After getting browned on both sides, the steaks go into the oven for a few minutes, during which time I made the steak sauce. I stirred cognac into the oil/butter mix in the pan, and then reduced the liquid by half. Next I stirred some veal stock and demi-glace into the pan, and then reduced it some more. Finally, I whisked half a stick of butter into the pan to make a thick, creamy, cognac-y sauce laced with extra peppercorns.



To make the salad vinaigrette, I stirred some olive oil and lemon juice together, and then seasoned it with salt and white pepper--again, super easy. Finally, I tossed the asparagus, greens, and orange slices with the vinaigrette.

And the final product:



This was amazing. The steak was very delicious and tender, and the peppercorns added the perfect bite. The cognac sauce was absolutely brilliant and saturated fatty, and we ended up tearing bits of baguette, soaking them in the sauce, and eating them. The salad was also wonderful, and Husband J was boggled that it was only lemon juice and olive oil with a little seasoning. Of course, it helped that the veggies were perfectly fresh and in season, so thanks farmers at the market.

Husband J said that this dish was definitely one of the top ones that I've made, which made me very happy. It's nice to have something go perfectly, after the too-big-lamb debacle, and undercooked-pork horror.

Lessons Learned: Crack the peppercorns with a hammer--don't ruin your rolling pin. Fresh spring veggies taste amazing with just a little seasoning.

Next week: Thinking of something with veal...

Salade d'Onglet (sort of)

Mmmm steak salad! I've been looking forward to making this dish since I got the book. Steak salad is a favorite of Husband J and mine, because it strikes the perfect balance between virtuous salad and indulgent steak, and doesn't make you feel terrible for eating it (unlike the super creamy pulled pork sandwich we had for last night's dinner). Speaking of which, I have been indulging in some pretty horrible eating habits for the past few months, due to a combination of busyness and increased appetite. Busyness means lots of takeout instead of home cooked meals; increased appetite means that I can't skip meals without thinking about it like I used to. This is all combining to an increase in the pounds around my middle, and I'm not too happy about it. So a steak salad is just the thing I need to do a restart of my diet, involving more veggies, and less takeout.

The first step in salade d'onglet is to get oneself some onglet. Which I failed at, completely. First I slept through the farmer's market this morning, then sent Husband J to Whole Foods to get the onglet. Onglet, or hangar steak, is an incredibly delicious cut of meat which comes from the diaphragm of the cow, and is tough until marinated and seared at high heat, after which it becomes very tender and flavorful. Onglet is often served in French cuisine, particularly in steak salad (duh) and in steak frites which (for the unenlightened) consists of steak, and french fries, all in a shallot/red wine sauce. If anyone reading this has never eaten onglet, I encourage you to run to your nearest bistro and get one of those dishes so that you can taste this wonderful cut of meat.

Unfortunately there was no onglet to be had at the Whole Foods this day, so Husband J got the next best thing--a skirt steak. Skirt steak is a cut from the same area of the cow, and is actually a part of the full cut from which onglet is obtained. The onglet is the more tender, "inner" cut that is near to the cow's kidneys, while the skirt steak is the outer, tougher cut, and is often used for international peasant dishes that I love, including fajitas in Mexico, and Cornish pasties in England and Wales.

Well, skirt steak it is, and no complaining about it. First, we must marinate the steak for a few hours (the recipe says overnight is best, but that two to three hours will do). I made the marinade first, grating ginger, chopping garlic, and mixing the two in soy sauce.



Next, I took out the steak and chopped it up into small, bite-sized pieces.


The pieces went into the marinade to soak for two hours while I cleaned the kitchen and made cake for dessert.



After the meat had been marinating, I started chopping and measuring for the salad sauce, which requires garlic, ginger, soy sauce, parsley, and white wine.



Then I got the meat bits out of the fridge, dried them off, and sauteed them in butter for about six minutes.



In the meantime, Husband J made the vinaigrette for the salad, and set the lettuce out on a platter.

I made the sauce once the meat had cooked--by pouring wine into the pan and scraping the fond, then added the veal stock and an ice cube of demi glace. When that had reduced by half, I added ginger and garlic, and cooked the meat in the sauce for about a minute.



Finally, we served the salad with its vinaigrette, and on top we served the steak with its sauce.



Verdict: Just outstanding. The steak absorbed the soy, garlic and ginger flavors and was tender and succulent, even as skirt steak instead of the more tender hangar steak cut. The salad with red wine vinaigrette was delicious. The combination of the two was absolutely brilliant--both halves combined to a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Husband J thought that "it was very tasty--the garlic and ginger really helped the taste of the steak come out, and it was better than just eating a hunk of bloody meat at a steak house. Eating the steak with lettuce makes me feel much better than just eating a big hunk of meat."

And we had cake!



Lessons Learned: Skirt steak can be just as tender as onglet--it's all in the marinade. Steak salad is better than a big bloody hunk of meat.

Next Week: I'm taking another break. Work is sending me to New Orleans at the end of the week, so I'm taking Husband J for what will be our first trip to the city. We have reservations to K-Paul's and Commander's Palace, and are working on getting into Cochon, too. Not to mention the muffulettas and beignets I plan to feast upon between restaurant visits! So much for the diet! We'll report back on the food we get and eat next week in lieu of cooking.

A Holiday Recap

Yup, I left y'all high and dry once again. Lashings of apologies all round as usual. The holiday season this year was especially stressful for me for various reasons that I won't go into now. Suffice it to say that the lack of postings was mainly due to a lack of having a decent camera, something that was remedied under the Christmas tree when Husband J gifted me with a shiny new digital camera, with which I hope to vastly improve my food photography skills!

Despite the lack of camera and stress, I did indeed keep cooking over the holidays, I just don't have too many photos to show for it. But, here is a quick recap of what I did manage to do, for what it's worth.

1. Roasted veal short ribs: yeah, no. The ribs were such an unmitigated disaster that I've decided tho forgo the hilarious disaster-post that I'd planned, and try making them again for you guys.

2. Boeuf Bourguignon: The familys traditional Christmas dish is boeuf Bourguignon, so finding the recipe in the book, I decided to make it for Christmas Eve dinner. Now when I say tradition, I mean it--Christmas just isn't Christmas without certain things for my family: boeuf bourguignon for dinner, mom's egg casserole for breakfast, the annual squabble over who will pass the presents around in the morning, and a Christmas Eve screening of the greatest Christmas movie ever made:


Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.

Tony's recipe calls for a paleron or "chicken steak," a steak made from the neck and shoulder of a cow. Mom, who was tasked to grocery shop for dinner, could not fund such a thing at the farmer's market where she shops, but made do with a sirloin.

First thing I did was brown the meats, as instructed. Tony advises heating olive oil over high heat until almost smoking, adding the meat in batches, and searing on all sides until brown, not gray. That is all well and good in the cookbook, but in real life, that is a recipe for HOT OIL IN THE FACE. Which I received, and promptly turned the heat down, resolving that gray meat would not kill us.

Next, we add sliced onions to the pot (I learned from my mistake chopping onions for soup, and used a mandoline this time). When they were golden brown, I sprinkled with flour, and added the wine, scraping up the fond. Next, the meat, veggies, garlic and herbs are added, and enough water to cover the meat by one third, for a ratio of two-thirds solids to one-third liquid. The mix gets brought to a boil and simmered for two hours, with the chef stirring and scraping the foam off the top.

Here is when I ran into trouble again. If you have the book, you'll see a pic of deliciously browned beef sitting in a syrupy, thick sauce. Well, I have no idea if I miscalculated my liquid ratio or what, but my sauce would just not thicken. Gram and mom helped: mom by adding some cornstarch and a little more flour, gram by stopping mom from adding too much cornstarch and destroying the stew. Another half hour was necessary for the sauce to thicken nicely. Mom, in the meantime, boiled some egg noodles on which to serve the beef (not in the recipe, but in her book, it's not boeuf bourguignon without egg noodles). In addition, we had a big salad, and I made these tasty popovers from the New York Times.

Despite my troubles, the bourguignon turned out excellent. The meat was tender and delicious, and the sauce worked out wonderfully. We gobbled it up, and had plenty left over for our little cousins to eat during our big Christmas Day dinner.

Sorry again for the lack of photos, but of course, I didn't get my camera until the next morning!

3. New Years Eve dinner: For New Years we had Friend B over for dinner, and I made one of my favorites, rack of lamb with mustard glaze, or carre d'agneau au moutarde. I've made similar recipes for Easter dinners past, so I was excited to make Tony's recipe. As a side dish, I made the gratin dauphinois that Tony describes as "made for" the rack of lamb.

First, I trimmed the fat and silvering from the lamb chops (there was a lot).



Next, while I waited for the lamb to come up to room temperature, I made the potato gratin. This was my first time making gratin not out of a box (the horror!) so I was pretty excited and hopeful.

I sliced the potatoes with my mandoline, and put them in a pot with cream, garlic and herbs.



Then, the potatoes go into a garlic-rubbed covered gratin dish. This lovely red dish was a Christmas present from my sister, isn't it gorgeous?



Finally, the potatoes go into the oven toppd with Gruyere for 40 minutes. And out came a delicious gratin. It was SO EASY you guys. The box gets kicked to the curb for reals.

Once the lamb had rested and warmed, prep was easy. I browned the meat in a pan with olive oil and butter, then removed the meat and stirred in wine, some veal stock, garlic, and a bouquet garni. The sauce boiled and simmered while I finished prepping the lamb.

I sprinkled thyme and rosemary leaves over the meaty side of the lamb, then spread dijon mustard over the meat. Next, I pressed some bread crumbs (homemade from a pepper and cheese loaf that was sent as a gift but unfortunately got stale during transit). Finally, I cooked the lamb at 375. The recipe says that 17 minutes would suffice for medium rare, but I found that it took about 30 minutes for the lamb to stop being blood red in the middle. This actually was a plus, as it took about that long for the sauce to thicken sufficiently. Once the lamb had rested, I sliced it up, covered with sauce, and served.

Unfortunately no pix of finished product--friend B came over during prep, and I was having too much fun visiting with her and cooking to pick up the camera... so sorry! But let me assure you the dinner was both gorgeous and delicious, and we abandoned our dignity and gnawed all the meat off the bones, which is to me the hallmark of a successful dinner.

So there you have it, three more dishes down over the holidays. Yeah,I know you are all sick of hearing me succeed at delicious dinners, so I promise that when I redo the short ribs, I will tell the full tale of my horrendous failure. In the meantime, I promise to take more freaking pictures of the food, and have a great time cooking in 2010!

Lessons Learned: Take more freaking pictures.

Next week: New year means pork, so possibly cote de porc a la charcutiere, or roti de porc au lait.