Not even my inspiration-generating tactics were working, so I did what anyone would do in such a predicament and went back to basics, deciding on steak with riced potatoes. Normally, I wouldn’t bore you with a post on something so mundane, but this one deserved its own post for two reasons: I’ve developed a method to cook steak perfectly every time, and the mushroom sauce I served on top was exceptionally delicious. So what’s my secret for a perfect steak? Beyond the usual points like using a very hot pan and salting liberally, I have two tips. The pan sauce is just an emulsion of reduced stock and butter, but the brown fond in the pan from the steak combined with a double dose of shallots and mushrooms gives it a serious wallop of flavour that will tickle your umami tastebuds. I served this with riced yukon gold potatoes. If you don’t have a ricer, stop reading and go get one. They look like a giant garlic press, and they’re much faster/easier to use than a masher. You don’t even have to peel the potatoes after boiling them since the skins won’t go through the holes. The blurry twirl in the back of the photo at the top of the page is a char-grilled spring onion. This is a beautiful thing that may just have the best effort-to-tastiness ratio of any vegetable dish. Just wash a few spring onions (sweet onions, picked in early spring when they are still young), and put them a few inches from the broiler until the outer layer is charred black all around. Don’t worry, you want them to look scary burnt. Put the smoking onions into a pot and cover with a lid. The residual heat cooks the onion all the way through and the smoke coming from the charred exterior infuses the whole thing with a wonderful aroma. When you’re ready to serve, just crumble off the charred outer layer and you’ll expose the smoky, caramelized onion within. Sprinkle with sea salt and a splash of olive oil and you’re good to go.
📖 Recipe
