Dry Aged Porterhouse with Leek Bread Pudding and Cherry Tomato Vinaigrette

Hi friends! Time to get back to SND! First things first - dry aged steak. You can do this in your own fridge, people! Why pay $26.99/pound for a dry aged steak at Whole Foods, when you can pay $12.99/pound for a fresh steak and age it yourself? All you need to do is wrap the steak in cheesecloth and place in the coolest part of your fridge (the shelf closest to the freezer is best). We let our steak age for a week, and it was amazing! I let it come to room temp before cooking and coated it with salt and white pepper. Look at this amazing color before it was cooked!

The steak was seared in a hot hot hot cast iron pan for five minutes, then I flipped it and cooked and four minutes on the second, then I let it rest for ten minutes before the Mr. sliced it. Look at the size of that filet!!

Okay, now for sides - Leek Bread Pudding! Yes I said it: Leek. Bread. Pudding. It's f-ing delicious. Of course the recipe is Thomas Keller's from Ad Hoc. A beautiful book, I highly recommend. Start with 2 cups of 1/2 inch thick slices of leeks (be sure not to use the tough, dark green parts at the top). Make sure you really really wash the leeks with cool water - sand can hide in all of those layers. Heat a medium sized saute pan over medium high heat, and add the sliced leeks. Season with salt (couple of pinches) and cook for a few minutes so that the leeks begin to release some liquid. Add 4 tablespoons of butter (yup) and turn the heat down to medium low. Stir often, as this will help the butter to emulsify (thicken). Add a few grinds of pepper (I'm really loving white pepper these days kiddos - I find it a little spicier and it's pretty without the black specs) and cook for a half hour or so (don't forget to stir) until the leeks are very soft. If the butter breaks (or separates) add a teaspoon of water to re-emulsify the sauce.

Whilst the leeks are cooking, slice a loaf of Brioche into 1 inch cubes - you're going to need 12 cups, but i just used one loaf of bread and it was perfect. Thomas' recipe calls for crustless Brioche but I used one with a crust and I really enjoyed the texture. Spread the cubes on a baking sheet and toast up in the oven at 350 degrees for around 15-20 minutes. You want the cubes to be pale gold and dry. Leave the oven at 350 degrees. Once the leeks are soft, mix the leeks/butter with the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl with 1 tablespoon of chopped chives, 1 teaspoon of chopped thyme, and set aside.

Now for the custard! Whisk 3 large eggs in a bowl, then add 3 cups whole milk, 3 cups of heavy cream, a big pinch of salt and (white!) pepper to taste, along with a pinch of grated nutmeg. Side note: as ya'll know, the Mr. is lactose intolerant, so I used lactose free skim milk (4 cups) with half and half (2 cups). I was worried the custard wouldn't thicken, but it totally did.

Okay let's assemble! Sprinkle 1/4 cup of shredded Gruyere (Thomas calls for emmenthaler but I prefer Gruyere) in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Spread half of the leeks and bread cubes with a spatula over the cheese, then add another 1/4 cup of the cheese. Add the rest of the leeks and bread cubes with another 1/4 cup of cheese, then pour enough of the milk/egg mixture to cover the bread and press gently down with your clean hands so the custard soaks in the milk. Let the bread soak in the milk for fifteen minutes or so. After that, pour more custard so that the tops of the bread cubes stick out and add 1/4 cup of cheese on top (you'll need 1 cup of grated cheese total).

Bake for an hour and a half (at 350 degrees) until the top is golden brown and amaaaaazing. Dudes. Do it now, it's creamy and savory and all over satisfying.

Now for some salad! Quarter around 15 cherry tomatoes and place in a small mixing bowl. Add a 1/4 cup of champagne vinegar (red wine would work too, but I'd like ya'll to try the champagne vinegar, it's super special), one tablespoon of dijon or horseradish mustard, salt/pepper to taste, then whisk in a 1/4 cup plus some (prolly 1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil. Whisk, whisk, then let the cherry tomatoes marinate and break down in the vinaigrette. When you assemble your salad, use butter lettuce and toss in the vinaigrette with some chopped chives and more halved cherry tomatoes. You won't be sorry, this simple and fresh vinaigrette is bright and really cuts the richness of the porterhouse and bread pudding.

This is a fantastic and special meal that I insist you try this weekend, dear friends. Let me know how it goes!

xoxo

d

Carne Asada according to Sunday Night Dinners

Hello All! I'm back in California from a lovely trip to Minnesota. What better way to celebrate being back than to grill some Carne Asada? Seems about right. Here was the menu tonight:

Citrus marinated flank steak and shrimps

Fresh grilled corn and black bean salad

Guacamole

Flour and/or corn tortillas

Brewskies by way of Pacifico

It was a really great summertime meal with bright, simple flavors. For the steak, you can use either flank or skirt steak. I asked the butcher for a piece that would feed about six. To marinate the flank steak, I put it in a plastic freezer bag along with the following:

-The juice of two limes, as well as the husks.

-The juice of one lemon, as well as the husk.

-The juice of half an orange, as well as the husk (sensing a theme here? Why not chuck the whole thing in after you've juiced it and get as much flavor as you can? That's what I thought).

-One chopped jalapeno pepper. I took the seeds and ribs out, but if you want more heat, by all means leave them in. It totally won't hurt my feelings.

-Two or three chopped cloves of garlic.

-Salt and pepper, depending on your taste. I threw in a couple of good pinches of salt and grinds of pepper.

-An eight to ten count of olive oil.

-A couple of splashes of beer. A little for the marinade, a little for me.

I sealed the bag and mooshed everything up together and threw it in the fridge. I only had time to marinate for an hour, but you could go up to two or three. The marinade for the shrimps was quite similar but, but I didn't put jalapeno pepper. Instead I added a dash of cayenne pepper. Also there were way less shrimps than steak, so I just eyeballed it and cut back on the marinade. The shrimps were purchased already peeled and de-veined, by the way. No need to do that yourself. Shudder.

While the meat was in the fridge getting delicious, I made the guacamole. This is my wonky version, but I find it to be pretty popular. Add or change as you feel, but only if you're super lame. I took four ripe Haas avocados and added the juice of one lime, two grated cloves of garlic, some chopped cilantro (although I had to omit the cilantro tonight on account of my dear friend, let's call her Shmannie), a few splashes of beer (another theme this evening), and some salt and pepper. I mixed this all up together and mashed the chunks of avocado with a fork - I like my guacamole fairly smooth. Be sure to taste and taste until you get the seasoning just right.

Next I made the corn and black bean salad. I shucked four ears of fresh corn and brushed them with some olive oil and salt/pepper. Adam threw those guys on the hot grill for a few minutes to give them a nice char, but not too much. You don't want them to be over cooked. Once the corn had cooled a bit, I cut it off of the cob into a bowl. I then added two cans of black beans that I had drained and rinsed. In a separate bowl, I made a vinaigrette with four table spoons of red wine vinegar, two tablespoons of dijon mustard, a few......splashes of beer (yes, again. Deal.), the juice of half a lemon, some salt/pepper, and half a teaspoon or so of chili powder. Whisked that, then streamed in a quarter of a cup of olive oil. You don't want this vinaigrette to be too thick, so watch the consistency, and add more beer if necessary. To the vinaigrette I added half a red onion that I sliced thinly and a chopped jalapeno (again with the seeds removed, you know the drill). When I put raw onion or shallot in a salad, I like to let it sit in the vinaigrette first to take out some of the raw bite. After the the onions and jalapeno soaked for about ten minutes, I added the mixture to the corn and black beans. I tossed in some chopped parsley (should have been cilantro, but whatevs. I love Miss Annie) and some Manchengo cheese. You could also use a softer cheese here: a feta, ricotta solata, or cojita would all be super tasty. Finish it off with another squeeze of lime, and as always, taste for seasoning. A few dashes of sriracha or tabasco would be yummy too.

Okie, so that was the side dishes. As the steak marinated, I made sure to toss the bag around a few times so that the marinade was evenly distributed. I wrapped some flour and corn tortialls in foil and had Adam throw those on the grill with the steak. I really like flank steak medium rare, and it depends on the thickness of the steak but it seemed as though it was around seven minutes for the first side to get a good sear, and about four or five for the second. As it rested, Adam skewered the shrimps and threw those on the grill for really no more than five minutes total. Apparently overcooked shrimps aren't so tasty. As if I would know. I'm a giant baby and don't like seafood. Yeah yeah yeah I know. I don't know what I'm missing blah blah blah.

This last step is super important kids: after the meat has rested a bit, slice it AGAINST the grain of the meat. It will be super tender if you do so. Then it was time to build some tacos! Guac, black bean and corn salad, cilantro (hooray!) carne asada and mmmmmmmmmmmmm. I ate too much but it was totally worth it.

Do it.