In a recent Cook’s Country YouTube Video, an offshoot of America’s Test Kitchen, they were demonstrating how to properly prepare and cook Spice-Crusted Steaks. For the recipe you’ll need black pepper corns, fresh rosemary, ground coriander, lemon zest, dry mustard, red pepper flakes, boneless rib-eye steaks and vegetable oil.
In developing this recipe, they felt that using ground pepper from a pepper mill didn’t yield a coarse enough texture that was needed. They found if they used a zip-lock bag and crushed them with a rolling pin, it made for the perfect grind. Also, so the spice stayed on the steak, they didn’t pat them dry, but used the surface moisture as a glue to hold the spices. Another tip, was to use a fork to turn the steak every two minutes ensuring the spice rub didn’t come off and prevented the spices from burning. In a bowl mixed together are the peppercorns, chopped fresh rosemary, salt, coriander, lemon zest, dry mustard and red pepper flakes. The spices are pressed onto all sides of the steak. Using a non-stick pan, oil is added and the steaks cooked. I cooked mine too medium rare.
Oh my, what a delicious steak preparation using steak from Perrotti’s Quality Meats in Cranford. This method of cooking yielded a tender, juicy steak with a flavorful taste from the combination of spices. You had a hint of lemon, a bit of spice from the two peppers and the coriander complementing them both. Overall, a delightful meal.
The easiest, most convenient way for a family to get a nutritious meal on the dinner table with minimal preparation is a sheet-pan supper. I recently made Sheila Prakash’s, of The New York Times/NYT Cooking, recipe for Sheet-Pan Hot Honey Chicken. For this recipe you’ll need Dijon mustard, honey, cayenne, boneless and skinless chicken breasts cubed, broccoli florets in bite size pieces, a sweet potato in bite size pieces, small red onion in bite size pieces, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Your oven is preheated to 500° with a rimmed baking sheet placed in the oven. The mustard, honey and cayenne are mixed together with a 1/4 cup set aside for serving. Alternately, you can use store bought hot honey. The chicken and vegetables are placed in a large bowl and drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and tossed. They go on the rimmed baking sheet in an even layer and placed in the oven. The oven temperature is reduced to 475° and roasts for 15-18 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and veggies tender.
This sheet pan meal had your vegetable, protein and starch. After serving my husband and myself, I set a small dish of reserved hot honey on the table. This was a wonderful dinner. I especially like having everything roasted together with no need for an extra pot. I got sidetracked at the end and wound up having the sheet pan in the oven a little longer, which made the chicken a bit dry. The roasted vegetables were delicious and the sauce complimented them both and gave the chicken a nice flavor. The homemade sauce had minimal heat and the dry mustard added complexity.
Another recipe I prepared last week, beef bourguignon, was inspired by two different sources, Melissa Clark from The New York Times/NYT Cooking and Chef Jack Croft from Fallow Restaurant in London, England. I followed Ms. Clark’s recipe for the ingredients, but followed Chef Croft’s method for preparation and also added some beef stock per his recipe.
Miss Clark’s recipe which is made with beef chuck, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, lardons (pancetta or bacon can be used), onion, carrot, fresh garlic, tomato paste, all-purpose flour, bottle of red wine, bay leaf, fresh thyme, pearl onions, cremini mushrooms, pinch of sugar and flat leaf parsley for garnish. I reverted to Chef Croft’s recipe for the preparation when I realized I was missing a key ingredient, lardons (bacon) with which to start this recipe.
Without getting into too much detail, here’s a quick review of Ms. Clark’s recipe. The meat is seasoned with salt and pepper and either sits at room temperature for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours refrigerated. Next, she cooks the bacon in a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot. The meat is browned in the fat and removed. The carrots and onion are cooked until softened. To this, garlic and tomato paste are added, followed by flour which is cooked for a minute to remove the raw flavor. Once this is done, the wine, herbs and beef are added and cooked in a 350° oven for 1-1/2 hours or until very tender.
In comparison, Chef Croft’s recipe uses several cuts of beef, cubed beef chuck, beef shin and short rib. Chef said the short rib adds richness, shin which contains collagen which helps in creating a rich sauce and the chuck adds beefy flavor. The recipe also calls for onion, pearl onions, carrots, fresh garlic, flour, tomato paste, beef stock, bottle of red wine, thyme, parsley stems, bay leaves, button mushrooms, salted butter, and fresh parsley for garnish.
He lightly flours his meats before browning in olive oil. Once the meat is browned, its set aside and the heat underneath the pot is turned off. He adds chunks of carrot and onion and covers to let the residual heat steam the vegetables. Midway through he adds the herbs. After the vegetables soften, he then scrapes the pan and removes the vegetables and sets them aside. Wine is added to the pot and reduced by half. In following Chef Croft’s preparation, I misread this step of reducing the wine by itself. I added it to the vegetables, then reduced. The meat, vegetables and herbs were returned to the pot and brought to a simmer. A cartouche is placed on top, followed by the lid, and cooked in a 320° oven for 4-6 hours. I cooked mine for 3 hours after which I found the meat to be quite tender.
Had I seen Chef Croft’s version earlier, I might have indulged and purchased a small pack of bone in short ribs and beef shin and made his recipe. I already spent $30 on the chuck roast and it would be another $25-30 for the short rib and beef shank. I made my stew over two days as I had to go to the food store to purchase a package of bacon to finish the recipe. This allowed time for the sauce to chill and the fat to be skimmed from the surface before finishing the recipe.
This was an absolutely delicious stew. It was rich, had layers of flavor from cooking the vegetables early on in the process. The added onions and mushrooms at the end added texture to the stew. The sauce had a rich deep flavor from the beef and wine, a bit of work, but I’d make it again.
America’s Test Kitchen
Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4
Why This Recipe Works
Spice blends have a tendency to burn and can fall off during cooking. In this recipe, we got around the burning issue by continually flipping the steaks, thus
ensuring that each side of the steaks was exposed to the heat in short intervals. And by not patting the steaks dry before applying the spice blend (as most recipes call for), we let the moisture from the meat act as a glue to help the spices stick. For even more insurance, we used a fork to flip the steaks, rather than tongs or a spatula, to keep the spice crust in place.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon black peppercorn
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1½ teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 (1-pound) boneless rib-eye steaks, 1½ inches thick, trimmed 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Preparation
1. Place peppercorns in zipper-lock bag and seal bag. Using rolling pin, crush peppercorns coarse. Combine peppercorns, rosemary, salt, coriander, lemon zest, mustard, and pepper flakes in bowl. Season steaks all over, including sides, with spice mixture, pressing to adhere. (Use all of spice mixture.)
2. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until just smoking. Add steaks and cook, flipping steaks with fork every 2 minutes, until well browned and meat registers 125 degrees (for medium-rare), 10 to 13 minutes. Transfer steaks to prepared rack, tent with aluminum foil, and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.
Beef Bourguignon
By Melissa Clark
The New York Times/NYT Cooking
“New Essentials of French Cooking”
Total Time: 2-1/2 hours, plus marinating
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
3 pounds beef chuck or other boneless stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes and patted dry
2¼ teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 ounces lardons, pancetta or bacon, diced (about 1¼ cups)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, sliced
2garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1750-milliliter bottle of red wine
1 large bay leaf
1 large sprig of thyme
8 ounces pearl onions, peeled (about 12 to 15 onions)
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved if large (about 4 cups)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch sugar
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Preparation
- Season beef with 2 teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Set aside for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or chill in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot with a tightfitting lid, cook lardons over medium-low heat until fat is rendered and lardons are browned and crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate. Reserve fat in pot.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Raise heat under pot to medium-high and cook until fat is starting to smoke. Lay half the beef cubes in a single layer in the pot, leaving space between pieces. Cook until well browned on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes; transfer pieces to a plate as they brown. Repeat with remaining beef.
- Reduce heat, if necessary, to prevent burning. Stir in onion, carrot and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and cook until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in garlic and tomato paste, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in flour, cook for 1 minute, then add wine, bay leaf and thyme, scraping up brown bits at bottom of pot. Add browned beef and half the cooked lardons back to pot, cover, and transfer to oven. Let cook until beef is very tender, about 1½ hours, turning meat halfway through.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet set over high heat, combine pearl onions, mushrooms, ¼ cup water, the olive oil and a pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar. Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce heat to medium, cooking for 15 minutes. Uncover, raise heat to high, and cook, tossing frequently, until vegetables are well browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
- To serve, scatter onions and mushrooms and remaining cooked lardons over stew, then top with parsley.
To view Melissa Clark preparing this dish, click on her name
Beef Bourguignon Done Properly
Chef Jack Croft
Fallow Restaurant, London, England
Ingredients
750 g/26.5 oz. Chuck, Off the Bone, Cubed
750 g/26.5 oz. Beef Shin
750 g/26.5 oz. Short Rib
1 Large Onion, Thickly Cut
300 g/11 oz. Pearl Onions, Peeled
4 Carrots, Thickly Cut
6 Garlic Cloves, Smashed
30 g/1.0582 oz. Flour
20 g/.705 Tomato Purée
200 g/7 oz. Lardons (bacon)
750 g/26.5 oz. Beef Stock
1 Bottle Full Bodied Red Wine
5 g/< 1 oz. Thyme
5 g/< 1 oz. Parsley Stems
3 Bay Leaves
250 g/9 oz. Small Button Mushrooms, Stems Trimmed and Quartered
20 g/<1 oz. Unsalted Butter
Parsley, Finely Chopped
EQUIPMENT
2 Sauté Pans
1 Dutch Oven
1 Sieve
Preparation
1. On a tray or plate, place flour and season with salt. Lightly flour all the meat and tap off any excess
2. In a Dutch oven, heat oil over a medium heat. Brown the meat on all sides in batches. Set aside for later
3. Add a bit more oil into the Dutch oven and add in the vegetables. Immediately turn off the heat and place the lid on so the vegetables can steam. Mid-way through, add in the thyme, parsley stems, and bay leaves. When the vegetables have cooked, scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Remove vegetables from pan and set aside
4. Add the whole bottle of wine into the Dutch oven and reduce by 50%
5. Add the meat, vegetables, and herbs back into the Dutch oven. Cover with beef stock
6. Place back on heat and bring the mixture up to a simmer. Place a cartouche then a lid and place into a 160°c oven for 4-6 hours until the meat is extremely tender and falling apart
7. Remove from the oven and let the meat cool down in the liquid
8. Strain the meat and vegetables from the liquid. Reserve the meat and bin the carrots, onions, herbs, and garlic.
9. Place the liquid back into a pan and slowly reduce until you reach a coating consistency. Skim off any fat or impurities
10. In a sauté pan, add in a new nub of butter and the button mushrooms. Cook until fully tender and set aside for later use
11. In the same pan as the mushrooms, cook lardons until golden and crispy. Remove lardons from the pan for later use. Leave as much fat in the pan as possible
12. In the same pan, add in the pearl onions along with a few nubs of butter. Cook until tender and lightly golden on the outside
13. When the sauce is finished, add the meat and vegetables back into a pan and pour the sauce over
14. Serve with mash
Link to convert grams
Donna’s Notes: I used a digital scale switched to grams to get the correct amounts.
Link to video to prepare click on Chef Croft’s name