Eighty-fifth Post ~ Savory Marinated Strip Steak

Easy to prepare, quick to cook - what's not to love?

Here's what you'll need for this meal:

~ Strip steak
~ Soy sauce
~ Garlic (jarred or crushed)
~ Whatever fresh herb you have on had (wait for it - OREGANO!)

Place the raw steak in a zip-lock bag.  Pour in an ample amount of soy sauce.  Not only does soy sauce add a delicious flavor to meat, but it also tenderizes steak!  One of my favorite meals as a child was my mom's soy-sauce steak over buttered toast - read about it here!  (And pardon the photo - that was before I had a camera with a "food" setting!)

Put about a teaspoon of garlic into the bag along with a sprig of whatever herb you might want - seriously - the herb could really vary anywhere from rosemary to sage to marjoram to thyme - the sky (er... earth?) is the limit!

Let the steak marinate in the refrigerator while you get some work done.  Get the steak out before you're ready to cook so it has time to get back up to room temperature.

Preheat a toaster oven or other heating apparatus on broil at about 375-400 degrees.  Put the steak - marinade, herbs and all - onto a tin foil lining and broil for around 5 minutes or until it's cooked to your preference.

I served the steak with some leftover ratatouille - a perfect pairing for the savory flavors of the salty soy sauce and zesty garlic!  Naturally, I also had a glass of French Maid with it...  Hey - I'm snowed in - give me some credit for varying the ingredients on hand!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixtieth Post ~ Steak Shish Kebabs with Orange Soy Marinade

I'd like to call these "Shish kebabs," but if you were to research the etymology of the name of this summer-time treat, you'd call me a liar.

You see, loyal readers, the word "shish" is accurate (stemming from the Turkish "şiş" meaning "skewer") but the "kebab" part is where you'd get me. "Kebab" comes from the Persian "kabab" (کباب) and means "fried."

But if I were to call this a plate of steak "shishes" you wouldn't have any idea what I was talking about. So we shall concede to the modernization of language (read: borrowing words and completely changing their meanings) and call them "steak shish kebabs."

Here's how you make these particular food anomalies:

For the marinade:

~ Orange juice

~ Soy sauce

~ Sugar

~ Garlic

For the "shishes:"

~ Steak (cut into cubes)

~ Chunks of bell pepper

~ Mushrooms (I'm back to my baby bellas)

~ Garlic (jarred or crushed)

~ Sesame seeds

~ Fresh parsley

In a skillet, combine the orange juice, soy sauce, garlic and about a tea spoon of sugar. Simmer it so that all the flavors meld. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Preheat your toaster oven or other heating apparatus on 350 on broil. I accidentally had it on 300, and I had to pop these back in.

Dice up the steak and bell pepper.

:: PAUSE ::

I had trouble falling asleep last night. As I am a foodie, I would rather dream up recipes for lambs than count them leaping over fences. So I thought about the steak I had put into the fridge to thaw and considered how I might prepare it. In my subsequent dream, I saw it skewered upon a stick with mushrooms, garlic, orange, soy, and - peppers! Orange bell peppers! (Yes, I dream about food, and I dream in color!) Orange is my favorite color, so it could have just been channeled in through that path, but I have to say, when I found this incredibly bright orange bell at Wegmans today, I felt that it just might be kismet.

:: UNPAUSE ::

Assemble the shish-kebabs-which-are-not-to-be-kebabed and lay them in a shallow pan. Pour the sauce over them and sprinkle them with sesame seeds. Let them marinate for about 15 minutes, spooning sauce over them occasionally. Put them in the toaster oven for five minutes, turn them, and put them in for another five. When you're ready to enjoy them, garnish them with fresh parsley. It adds a wonderful light flavor to the meal.

I paired tonight's dinner with an Argentine Malbec by Elm Tree. It's fruity enough to match the whole "summer barbecue" feeling of the meal, but hearty enough to stand up to some seriously intense flavors. I was impressed by the fact that it never tasted tart next to the sweet orange-soy sauce, but also served to cleanse the palate as I enjoyed the fresh peppers, earthy mushrooms and steak. A good pairing, and a "dream-come-true" meal - even if its name is etymologically incorrect!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

Thirteenth Post: Breathing New Life into Tough Steak

It happens. Sometimes you get a steak that just doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped. And as you're sitting there chewing on this darned piece of meat until your jaws ache because you're sure not going to throw it out, you come to the decision that there's nothing to be done with tough meat. Right?.

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Wrong!

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I prepared some steaks the other night when my mother came over for dinner, and of course, because I was preparing food for someone other than myself, bad luck was on my side. The fire alarm was relentless, the broiler inconsistant, and in the end, the steaks were tough. My mom told me that when she had bad luck with steaks, this was always her fallback plan (I always thought it was just a yummy way to cook steak, little did I know...)

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What you'll need to save your steaks:

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~ Steak that has caused you personal, emotional harm, cut up into smallish pieces (use the aforementioned Crocodile Dundee knife from post #12 to maximize feelings of proper revenge)

~ Leftover juices from cooking said steak

~ Soy sauce

~ A baggie and a bowl

~ Time

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After eating and apologizing to your guest(s), smile to yourself with the secret satisfaction of knowing that later on in the week, you shall reincarnate your steak into a delectable dinner for you and you alone. Place the chopped pieces of steak in a baggie in a bowl (It will leak. Trust me). Pour in the remaining juices (I had broiled it in the herbed marinade from post #8, and had added some fresh rosemary). Add some soy sauce. Soy sauce is one of nature's marvels. Not only is it awesome on sushi, but it also acts as a tenderizer for tough meat. Let your steak marinate in your fridge for a few days.

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When you do decide to eat it, heat it in the baggie in the bowl in the microwave for about 2 minutes or under. Serve it over buttered toast.

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::PAUSE::

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It's a very common practice in our family to eat steak on top of buttered toast. It was not until quite recently that I learned that buttering one's steak is a very English thing to do. Perhaps this was my family's way of, over time, adhering to their cultural culinary habits without actually having to admit to putting butter on their steak ("It's not on the steak! It's on the bread which is under the steak, see, I've not buttered my steak at all...")

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::UNPAUSE::

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So you'll need:

~ Bread

~ Butter

~ A toaster

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Just in case you needed help with that one. Extra snark in this post is courtesy of my English ancestry.

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I served tonight's dinner with some baby bella mushrooms sauteed in white wine and olive oil with some fresh basil and a bit of grated parmesan. I uncorked my last bottle of Norton Cabernet Sauvignon (ultimately, a good decision - the cork was crumbly!), which became fruity in the face of the salty marinade, but full-bodied enough to stand up to the ::ahem:: butter.

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And the steak was delightfully tender!

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Yours in the love of giving food a second chance,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.