It was delicious, not innovative, but a take on a classic. Think steak house, a good cut of beef, maybe onions, fries, and probably creamed spinach, only here it’s a reverse seared very good local NY strip steak, topped with spring garlic; oven frites, but including celery root and some seasoning peppers; and the green is kale, simply wilted, no dairy.

 

I’m trying something a little different with this post. Instead of composing a text specifically for this post, I’m going to copy and paste the recipe narrative I used to prepare the meal, clipped above the counter last night.

This way, if anyone reading this post wanted to reproduce any or all of the meal, everything is laid out exactly for the taking.

 

STEAK, CELERIAC/POTATO FRITES, KALE

reverse-seared steak

one 15-ounce NY strip steak from Ox Hollow Farm brought to room temperature, seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, 

reverse seared, meaning it was positioned on a small metal rack inside an oval La Chamba pan and placed inside a 250º oven for about 35 to 45 minutes*, or until an instant thermometer poked into the center read only about 115º-120º, to arrive at a medium rare in the end, noting that the steak finish cooking inside a skillet and continue to increase in temperature,

removed, allowed to wait on a warm plate, covered with tin foil (where it could be left safely for about 45 minutes, which helps in juggling the cooking of any accompanying vegetables, in this case oven roasted frites of celeriac and potatoes, for which the temperature of the oven was greatly increased),

then seared briefly on all sides (the steak was already fully cooked, so left on the surface just long enough to impart color), inside a dry oval heavy cast iron pan, after first placing on the surface a little cooking oil with a higher smoke point than olive oil (I used Mac Nut macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market) and immediately applying pressure in the center with a wooden spoon, to keep its middle surface from rising from the surface of the pan, 

removed from the heat, cut into 2 sections, and allowed to rest for up to 10 minutes while covered loosely with foil, arranged on 2 warm plates, some lemon juice squeezed on top, sprinkled with chopped spring garlic, white and green section, and drizzled with a Whole Foods Market Portuguese house olive oil

*they  should be checked with an instant thermometer after about 25 minutes

celeriac and potato frites  

eight ounces of scrubbed and peeled celeriac from Norwich Meadows Farm and about the same weight in scrubbed, but not peeled, “Upstate NY Abundance” and “Pan Ready Fingerlings” potatoes, also from Norwich Meadows Farm, this time the roots all cut into crescent wedges, tossed inside a large bowl with very little olive oil, a half teaspoon of Spanish paprika picante, a small crushed section of dried aji dulce pepper, some sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, then spread onto 2 Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pans (2, to keep them spaced from each other, helping the crispiness quotient), roasted at 400º until brown, crispy on the edges, and cooked through, garnished with a little chopped parsley

wilted kale with garlic

some sweet ‘red’ kale (read very deep purple) from Norwich Meadows Farm, stems removed, roughly cut, washed several times and drained, quickly transferred to a smaller bowl to retain some of the water clinging to them,

braised inside a large heavy antique tin-lined copper pot in which 2 halved garlic cloves had first been allowed to sweat in some olive oil, finished with salt and pepper, drizzled with a bit more olive oil

 

Yeah, it’s just a steak but, wow, what a steak!

My favorite beef purveyor didn’t have my favorite culotte/picanya cut the other day.  After a short consultation at their Union Square Greenmarket stand with their guy Mike, I opted for a pair of very well marbled strip steaks (‘New York’ wasn’t anywhere in their description, but I was buying them in New York CIty, and the beef had been raised in New York State, so what’s in a name?).

I cooked them as I would have cooked culotte steaks, which is to say, using a reverse sear process, the only way I’ve become interested in cooking any steak, if it’s of a decent thickness, starting some time last fall.

• a beautifully marbled one pound 100% grass fed, dry-aged black angus strip steak from Sun Fed Beef (Earlville, Chenango County, NY) in the Union Square Greenmarket, brought to room temperature, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed on a rack inside a heavy oval enameled cast iron pan in a 275º oven probably for somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes (I lost track of the timing), or until medium rare, checking after a half hour with an instant thermometer until it read 90º to 95º, for medium-rare (it will finish cooking in the skillet and continue to increase in temperature, removed, and if the accompanying vegetables are not yet ready, perfectly safe if allowed to wait on a warm plate, covered with tin foil (for, say, up to about 45 minutes), the steak[s] then placed over high heat on the surface of a very well seasoned small antique cast iron pan that had been coated with a very small amount of cooking oil, one with a higher smoke point than olive oil, alternatively a bit of ghee, or a combination of butter and olive oil (I used Mac Nut macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market by itself), and, remembering that the steak was already fully cooked, and so only needed to be inside the pan long enough to acquire some color, seared briefly (a minute and a half or 2 minutes on each side), removed from the heat, allowed to rest for up to 10 minutes on 2 warm plates, covered loosely with foil, some lemon juice squeezed on top, sprinkled with chopped rosemary from Phillips Farms, drizzled with a Whole Foods Market Portuguese house olive oil, garnished with red amaranth from Windfall Farms
• one bunch of washed, drained, and roughly chopped rainbow chard from Lani’s Farm, wilted in a couple tablespoons ofWhole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil in which 2 halved garlic cloves from Westside Market had first been heated and slightly softened, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and finished with a little lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a South Africa (Western Cape) red, Farrington Shiraz-Viognier Reserve 2016, from Bottlerocket Wines
• the music was Schubert’s 1823 three-act German opera with spoken dialogue, to a libretto by Joseph Kupelwieser, ‘Fierrabras’, performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor conducted by Claudio Abbado

 

 

April 5

I joked about this dinner mimicking the classical New York steak house selection, grilled rib and creamed spinach, except there was no grill, and no rib, and the ‘spinach’ was an asian green, pleased to hold the cream.

And the beef came from Connecticut.

My timing for a reverse seared steak was a little ragged once again, because I hadn’t done my homework after the first time out, but I think I’ve finally gotten it down: I’m going with 275º for somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes, knowing that the ultimate arbiter will be my trusty instant read thermometer.

In any event, once again the process meant that the steak was delicious, but the credit has to start with the people who brought it to us. I had been seduced when I caught site of a beautifully marbled strip steak sitting on ice at their stand in Union Square the previous week. It was my first purchase from Ox Hollow Farm, which is fairly new to the Union Square Greenmarket.

• one beautifully marbled black angus boneless strip steak (.84 lbs) from Ox Hollow Farm brought to room temperature, seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed on a rack in a 275º oven for somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes (I lost track of the timing), or until medium rare, meaning a thermometer reading of 120º, then placed over high heat, on the surface of a heavy oval enameled cast iron pan that had been coated with then a very small amount of cooking oil, one with a higher smoke point than olive oil (I used Mac Nut macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market), and, noting that the steak was already fully cooked, so the it only needed to be inside the pan long enough just long enough to impart color, seared briefly on all sides  lingering just a bit longer on the top, fat-covered side, making sure to immediately apply pressure in the center with a wooden spoon when it was lying on its side, to keep the middle area from rising above the surface of the pan, removed from the heat, cut into 2 sections, and allowed to rest for up to 10 minutes while covered loosely with foil, arranged on 2 warm plates, some juice from an organic Whole Foods Market California lemon squeezed on top, sprinkled with chopped fresh rosemary from Keith’s Farm, and drizzled with a Whole Foods Market Portuguese house olive oil

• an Asian broccoli raab, otherwise unidentified, from Lani’s Farm, washed, drained, and braised very lightly in a heavy pot in which two halved rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat in some olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• slices of a really excellent miche from Runner & Stone Bakery
• the wine was a French (Languedoc-Roussillon) red, Domaine Des Sauvaire – Mas Sauvaire Rouge 2016,from Foragers Wine
• continuing a French theme, the music was Jean-Baptiste Lully’s 1680 tragédie lyrique, ‘Proserpine’, Hervé Niquet conducting the choir and orchestra of Le Concert Spirituel

There was a dessert. The idea was to serve it after the Thanksgiving dinner, but by that time we couldn’t share much enthusiasm for another course.

• four tiny tartlets (pecan, squash, pumpkin, and custard, from Baker’s Bounty, in the Union Square Greenmarket

Looks aren’t everything.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Good things come in threes.

Red is good.

I mean, to me the the picture looks good, and at least to anyone who might enjoy the kind of dinner it describes, it’s probably a fairly appetizing image.

What it doesn’t show however is just how really, really delicious the entire meal actually was, and the steak in particular. Last night I said that I’ve never had a better one, at home or in a restaurant, and Barry agreed.

All of the elements of the meal were familiar recipes, and proven favorites as well, but because I was altering the way I cook one of them, the steak, using a ‘reverse sear method’ for the first time [its merits discussed here], a certain amount of recalculation was required for all 3 parts of the dinner.

The recipe for the potatoes is brilliant, and I’m sure to be revisiting it under similar circumstances, in warm weather when I don’t want to use an oven, or when I might just some delicious stove-top roasted potatoes.

I was planning to have roasted potatoes last night (I had some nice La Ratte fingerlings in my virtual root cellar), and I would normally have preferred roasting the radicchio with some thyme branches, but the oven both would need was going to be engaged with the steak at too low a temperature for either of the vegetables until shortly before the meal would be completed. I realized this at just about the time I was to begin the preparation of the meal, so I quickly searched on line for a recipe that would produce a potato dish more appropriate for accompanying a good steak than simple boiled potatoes (finding an excellent one here, from Amanda Hesser‘s site, Food52), and I revised the plan for the chicory, moving the cooking to a burner top and also totally simplifying its preparation.

They may not have looked like roasted potatoes when they started out, but if I hadn’t been there all through the process, they could have fooled me once they were done.

• one 19-ounce picanha steak (called ‘culotte’ here, ‘coulotte’ in France, ‘picanha’ in Brazil), from Gabe, of Sun Fed Beef (Maple Avenue Farms) in the farm’s stall at the Union Square Greenmarket, brought to room temperature, seasoned on all sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed on a rack in, as I’m suggesting now, a 275º oven for 15 or 20 minutes [that timing estimate will have to be examined the next time, since last night I used an even lower temperature, for a longer period, but the cooking didn’t seem to be actually happening, so I eventually raised the heat], or until medium rare, meaning a thermometer reading of 120º, then seared briefly on all sides (the steak was already fully cooked, so left on the surface just long enough to impart color, lingering just a bit longer on the top, thick, fat-covered side) inside a dry oval heavy cast iron pan, after first placing on the surface a little cooking oil with a higher smoke point than olive oil (I used Mac Nut macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market) and immediately applying pressure in the center with a wooden spoon, to keep its middle surface from rising from the surface of the pan, then removed from the heat, cut into 2 sections, and allowed to rest for up to 10 minutes while covered loosely with foil, arranged on 2 warm plates, some juice from an organic Whole Foods Market organic lemon squeezed on top, sprinkled with chopped fresh rue from Stokes Farm, and drizzled with a Whole Foods Market Portuguese house olive oil

• eleven or 12 ounces of small Adirondack Red potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, each less than 2 inches in size, scrubbed, halved, and set aside while a large antique, very well seasoned Wagner Ware cast iron pan in which enough olive oil had been added to coat the bottom 1/8 inch deep was heated over a medium flame until the oil began to shimmer, a generous layer of salt [but not too much] scattered into the oil all over the bottom of the pan as evenly as possible, the potatoes, the pieces of the second cut kept together so the potatoes look like just one half, placed cut side down on the bottom of the pan and fried at medium heat, without touching, for about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes, at which time one potato half was turned over and checked to see if it was nicely colored (if not, the cooking would be allowed to continue a few more minutes), and when the potatoes were nicely browned, the heat was turned as low as possible and a glass cover placed on the pan, with the potatoes continuing to brown under cover, for about 20 minutes more, or until done, when they were seasoned with black pepper, arranged on the plates, and garnished with micro kale from Norwich Meadows Farm [the potatoes can be kept covered with the heat off, for 30 minutes or more, but if they are allowed to stand, any excess oil should be drained from the pan [they are equally good at room temperature]

• the outer leaves, about 11 ounces by weight, from one 17-ounce head of rosa di verona radicchio (the oldest red chicory, and still the classic, although these were not round, but somewhat elongated, from Campo Rosso Farm, washed and drained, cut very roughly, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until tender to the bite and starting to brown just a bit, or maybe 6 to 8 minutes, sprinkle with salt and black pepper, arranged on the plates, drizzled with a little more olive oil [as with the potatoes, timing is really not very critical, as the chicory can be serves warm or at room temperature]
• the wine was an Italian (Tuscany/Castiglioni) red, Tenuta Frescobaldi di Castiglioni 2017,from Philippe Wines
• the music was Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

I always think of how privileged we are to be able to enjoy this magnificent local game fish, and I try hard to treat it well.

But the vegetables available to us, although rarely wild, are appreciated at least as much.

• two 8-ounce striped bass fillets from Pura Vida Seafood Company, removed from the refrigerator, salted lightly, allowed to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes or so, then the skin side scraped with a butter knife to remove excess moisture and both sides patted dry afterward with a paper towel while an 11-inch well-seasoned French steel pan was heated above a high flame and a tablespoon, or a little more, of Australian Mac Nut macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market poured into the pan and swirled to cover the bottom, allowed to get quite hot, the fish placed skin side down inside the pan, which was immediately jiggled to be sure that the fillets weren’t sticking, the fillets salted on that side, the heat turned down to medium-high, their surfaces pressed down lightly with a spatula for 30 to 60 seconds (to ensure that the skin browns evenly), cooked without moving for 3 or 4 minutes then flipped, at which moment the pan was jiggled again, to see that the filets moved easily, and that skin side cooked for another minute, to be sure maybe a bit more, the heat turned off shortly before the time was up, the pieces removed to a warm platter, a tablespoon and a half of butter added to the pan and swirled so that it melted swiftly, followed by a generous helping of chopped shallot from Alex’s Tomato Farm in the Saturday Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on West 23rd Street, the mix stirred with a wooden spatula and the sauce immediately poured onto a portion of the surface of each of the 2 plates, the bass fillets arranged on top, garnished with micro chervil from Two guys from Woodbridge
• eight ounces of washed and dried green (unripe) cherry tomatoes from Alewife Farm, first punctured with a skewer, slow-roasted inside a small antique rolled-edge tin square oven pan with a heaping teaspoon of dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia, one chopped red shishito pepper, also from Alewife Farm, half a tablespoon or more of olive oil, and 3 bruised cloves of garlic [I forgot my usual garlic routine here, and so they were halved rather than ‘bruised’] from Foragers Market, roasted late afternoon that day, at 325º for about 35 minutes, then set aside to be served at room temperature hours later with the rest of the entrée [Note: I had actually forgotten about them until after I had photographed the plate and we’d already begun eating, so I arranged the tomatoes in bowls to the side of the plates, and photographed one of those separately]
• two small fennel bulbs from Quarton Farm, separated from their fronds, and the fronds separated from their stems, sliced, first in half, then into narrow wedges, sautéed in olive oil, along with some of the more tender stems, with a little chopped  ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic from Alewife Farm, sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and 3 or 4 small of the red shishito peppers from Alewife Farm, chopped, until  everything has softened and begun to char, served garnished with some of the chopped fennel fronds
• the wine was a New Zealand (Hawkes Bay) white, Rod Easthope Reserve Hawkes Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2018, from Naked Wines
• the music was Richard Strauss’ ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’, with Jessye Norman in the title role, Kurt Masur conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra