by bruce » Fri Mar 12, 2004 9:44 pm
Tonight's menu: pan-fried steak with Bearnaise Sauce, steamed asparagus, and baked potato. Dessert: Not Key Lime Pie.
In the following recipes, you want to time everything so it's all done about the same time, except the dessert. I made the pie yesterday; you need to finish cooking it at least 4 hours before dinner so it has time to chill and set properly. Where I don't give quantities for salt and pepper, assume it's "to taste"--a little, not a lot, as you like. C=cup, T=tablespoon, t=teaspoon.
Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first:
Baked Potatoes:
2 medium-sized baking potatoes
Put on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 1 hour. Cut open, put on butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper (bacon and cheddar are also good, but probably not as a side dish to this dinner). Eat.
Steamed Asparagus:
3/4 lb. asparagus
Steam for about 8 minutes. Steam, do not boil. If you boil it it gets all soggy. Eat.
Now on to the things that require technique:
Pan-Fried Steak (based on <i>Best Recipes</i> cookbook):
2 steaks, 8-12 oz. each, 1.5 inches thick, some cut you like
salt
pepper
1 T high-temperature vegetable oil (canola is probably what you have, and it's fine. Corn oil is OK too. Olive oil has too much flavor and won't get hot enough. Same, alas, for butter.)
Heat a heavy cast-iron skillet--anything that holds heat really well, but cast iron is a) best, and b) really quite cheap--on medium heat for 10 minutes. While that's happening, put salt and pepper on both sides of both steaks.
When skillet is hot, put oil into it and swirl around to coat.
Put steaks in skillet. Cook for 5 minutes, moving occasionally to keep them from burning to the pan. Flip over and cook for 3 minutes more for rare, 4 for medium-rare, 5 for medium. For Jonsey, transfer to 450 oven and bake for six hours.
Remove steaks from heat and let rest for five minutes before cutting into.
Bearnaise Sauce (from Julia Child's <i>Julia's Kitchen Wisdom</i>, more or less):
2 eggs
1.5 sticks butter
1 T tarragon
1 side of a shallot
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
salt
pepper
Take 2T butter and cut into little cubes about a quarter inch on a side. Chill this (or keep it chilled if your butter came out of the fridge). Melt the rest of the butter, for instance by putting in a bowl, microwaving for 40 seconds on high, and then stirring with a fork.
Chop the shallot fine.
Put the shallot, the white wine vinegar, the tarragon, the salt, and the pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until there's just like 3T of vinegar left--that is, reduce it until the liquid is mostly gone.
Separate the egg yolks. In a stainless steel--NOT a cast-iron--pan, beat the yolks for a couple minutes until they thicken a little and turn a sort of lemony color. Now put them over medium-low heat and add the vinegar/shallot mixture and 1T of the chilled butter. Beat continuously until everything dissolves and then you start to see the pan between strokes of the whisk.
Now take the pan off the heat and add the other 1T of chilled butter and keep beating. Once that butter dissolves, start beating in the melted butter, very very slowly at first or else the sauce will separate. As you add more you can begin to add it more at a time. Beat until it's all thick and creamy, and then you're done with the Bearnaise sauce.
Now pour the Bearnaise on the steaks and asparagus, and eat. Serve with a heavy-side-of-medium red wine--a cabernet sauvignon, or a hefty Shiraz or something like that.
Not Key Lime Pie (also mostly <i>Best Recipe</i> cookbook):
4 limes
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
10 graham crackers
5T butter
3T granulated sugar
3/4 C heavy whipping cream
1/4 C confectioner's sugar
Preheat the oven to 325. Melt the butter. Crush graham crackers to a fine crumble. Mix crackers and sugar in medium bowl. When well blended, stir in butter with a fork until you have a paste. Now put paste in a 9-inch pie plate and press out until it covers the bottom and the sides and you have a crust. Put this in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust browns and becomes fragrant.
Separate the egg yolks. Throw away the whites and shells, or make Pisco Sours, or something. Juice the limes, so you have about 1/2C of strained lime juice. Zest one or two of the limes to get 4t of lime zest (a ginger grater works well for this, but a cheese grater will also do the trick).
Beat the egg yolks and lime zest together for about 2 minutes, until the yolks start to turn greenish. Beat in the can of sweetened condensed milk. Beat in the lime juice. Set aside to thicken.
Take the pie crust out of the oven and let cool for about 20 minutes until it's room temperature. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 15-17 minutes, until the center is set but still a little jiggly. Take out of the oven and let cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes). Then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Just before you eat it: whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Then add the confectioner's sugar and whip until it forms stiff peaks. Then spoon it over the pie. Eat.
Bruce
Tonight's menu: pan-fried steak with Bearnaise Sauce, steamed asparagus, and baked potato. Dessert: Not Key Lime Pie.
In the following recipes, you want to time everything so it's all done about the same time, except the dessert. I made the pie yesterday; you need to finish cooking it at least 4 hours before dinner so it has time to chill and set properly. Where I don't give quantities for salt and pepper, assume it's "to taste"--a little, not a lot, as you like. C=cup, T=tablespoon, t=teaspoon.
Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first:
[b]Baked Potatoes[/b]:
2 medium-sized baking potatoes
Put on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 1 hour. Cut open, put on butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper (bacon and cheddar are also good, but probably not as a side dish to this dinner). Eat.
[b]Steamed Asparagus[/b]:
3/4 lb. asparagus
Steam for about 8 minutes. Steam, do not boil. If you boil it it gets all soggy. Eat.
Now on to the things that require technique:
[b]Pan-Fried Steak[/b] (based on <i>Best Recipes</i> cookbook):
2 steaks, 8-12 oz. each, 1.5 inches thick, some cut you like
salt
pepper
1 T high-temperature vegetable oil (canola is probably what you have, and it's fine. Corn oil is OK too. Olive oil has too much flavor and won't get hot enough. Same, alas, for butter.)
Heat a heavy cast-iron skillet--anything that holds heat really well, but cast iron is a) best, and b) really quite cheap--on medium heat for 10 minutes. While that's happening, put salt and pepper on both sides of both steaks.
When skillet is hot, put oil into it and swirl around to coat.
Put steaks in skillet. Cook for 5 minutes, moving occasionally to keep them from burning to the pan. Flip over and cook for 3 minutes more for rare, 4 for medium-rare, 5 for medium. For Jonsey, transfer to 450 oven and bake for six hours.
Remove steaks from heat and let rest for five minutes before cutting into.
[b]Bearnaise Sauce[/b] (from Julia Child's <i>Julia's Kitchen Wisdom</i>, more or less):
2 eggs
1.5 sticks butter
1 T tarragon
1 side of a shallot
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
salt
pepper
Take 2T butter and cut into little cubes about a quarter inch on a side. Chill this (or keep it chilled if your butter came out of the fridge). Melt the rest of the butter, for instance by putting in a bowl, microwaving for 40 seconds on high, and then stirring with a fork.
Chop the shallot fine.
Put the shallot, the white wine vinegar, the tarragon, the salt, and the pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until there's just like 3T of vinegar left--that is, reduce it until the liquid is mostly gone.
Separate the egg yolks. In a stainless steel--NOT a cast-iron--pan, beat the yolks for a couple minutes until they thicken a little and turn a sort of lemony color. Now put them over medium-low heat and add the vinegar/shallot mixture and 1T of the chilled butter. Beat continuously until everything dissolves and then you start to see the pan between strokes of the whisk.
Now take the pan off the heat and add the other 1T of chilled butter and keep beating. Once that butter dissolves, start beating in the melted butter, very very slowly at first or else the sauce will separate. As you add more you can begin to add it more at a time. Beat until it's all thick and creamy, and then you're done with the Bearnaise sauce.
Now pour the Bearnaise on the steaks and asparagus, and eat. Serve with a heavy-side-of-medium red wine--a cabernet sauvignon, or a hefty Shiraz or something like that.
[b]Not Key Lime Pie[/b] (also mostly <i>Best Recipe</i> cookbook):
4 limes
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
10 graham crackers
5T butter
3T granulated sugar
3/4 C heavy whipping cream
1/4 C confectioner's sugar
Preheat the oven to 325. Melt the butter. Crush graham crackers to a fine crumble. Mix crackers and sugar in medium bowl. When well blended, stir in butter with a fork until you have a paste. Now put paste in a 9-inch pie plate and press out until it covers the bottom and the sides and you have a crust. Put this in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust browns and becomes fragrant.
Separate the egg yolks. Throw away the whites and shells, or make Pisco Sours, or something. Juice the limes, so you have about 1/2C of strained lime juice. Zest one or two of the limes to get 4t of lime zest (a ginger grater works well for this, but a cheese grater will also do the trick).
Beat the egg yolks and lime zest together for about 2 minutes, until the yolks start to turn greenish. Beat in the can of sweetened condensed milk. Beat in the lime juice. Set aside to thicken.
Take the pie crust out of the oven and let cool for about 20 minutes until it's room temperature. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 15-17 minutes, until the center is set but still a little jiggly. Take out of the oven and let cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes). Then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Just before you eat it: whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Then add the confectioner's sugar and whip until it forms stiff peaks. Then spoon it over the pie. Eat.
Bruce