FINALLY STEAK FRITES
All meals should start with cheese. Of course all meals can’t start with cheese, else we’d be buying bigger jeans. This post power outage, every lamp on in the house, thank whomever for heat meal began with cheese. DELICIOUS CHEESE!
Fourth Night: Steak, frites, fresh arugula salad simply dressed with sherry vinegar and olive oil
Shallots hit the pan and the sweet smell of slow cooking sauteed onions filled the house, replacing the lingering smell of smoke from the previous night’s fire. Two New York strip steaks were marinated in fresh pepper and kosher salt. Mr. Cook warmed a large pot of vegetable oil to 400 degrees while pealing 3 russet potatoes. A quick slide through the mandolin and we had potatoes cut into perfect fries. Into a bowl went unsalted room temperature butter, chopped parsley, kosh salt and pepper for a finishing touch. Now for some cooking details:
Potatoes take 2 rounds in the hot oil to become the crispy deliciously brown treats that hit the plate. Ideally, the raw cut potatoes sit in cold water for at least an hour to help shed some of the starch.
A stainless steel pan is the ideal tool for steaks cooked on the stove. Get the pan HOT add olive oil and sear the steaks. A minute or so on each side and then a little browning around the edges help to create a crispy brown crust on the meat. After the stove top browning place the whole pan into an oven heated to 350 degrees. The amount of time in the oven depends on the size of the steak.Place the cooked shallots onto the steaks before placing into the oven so the flavor can really sink into the meat.
Remove steaks>place butter on top of steak and allow to rest.
The steaks were perfect, shallot flavor ran through the meat giving it an extra savory flavor. Fries, well it is tough not to like a fry, were crispy and brown on the outside and soft on the inside. Simple arugula lightly dressed, slightly tangy and softly salted was a nice light addition to the plate. Fourth day = success!
