Steak and Arugula Salad

For many of us spring has arrived. Sunny days and warm temperatures call for grilling, and tonight I just so happened to have access to a grill...and a steak. 

Before grilling the sirloin steak rare I coated it with just a little bit of olive oil, salt, and fresh-ground black pepper. After the grill was nice and hot I cooked the steak for just a few minutes on each side, leaving it seared on the outside and tender and rare on the inside. After removing it from the grill I let it sit for a few more minutes before slicing it, allowing the juices to circulate and settle. 

While the steak cooked and sat, I prepared an arugula salad as the final resting place for the lovely steak. Before I ate it, of course. The salad was simple--just baby arugula, chopped fresh cherry tomatoes, and finely chopped red onion. I tossed it all together with a vinaigrette composed of blood-orange olive oil, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, crush red pepper, and a raw egg yolk. 

I tossed the dressing with the salad and topped it with the sliced steak. It's a simple and absolutely delicious dish for these delightful spring days.

Put it on the Pizza: Part III

Putting it on the pizza is always a good time, whether you're surrounded by friends or just spending a lovely summer evening in solitude. I found myself in the latter of those situations this weekend, and putting it on the pizza seemed like perfect way to further enjoy my already sublime summer day. After all, a day of lying in the sun, reading, and swimming can really take a lot out of a girl.

But what to put on the pizza? I had two ideas, so I decided to just split the pizza into two different toppings. On one side I mixed together tomato sauce with Sirracha and spread a thin layer of the dough (store-bought, if you're wondering. I was going to make my own dough but got lazy). Then I topped it with mozzarella, provolone, and veggie-sausage that I'd found in the fridge.

The other side of the pizza got a liberal helping of fresh basil and garlic pesto, covered in sliced mushrooms, grilled chicken, green peppers, red onions, tomato slices, feta, mozz, and kalamata olives.

When I placed the pizza on the grill I cracked an egg on top of the side with the Sirracha sauce. Beautiful.

Unfortunately by the time the egg was cooked the dough had burnt a bit, but otherwise it was delicious. The yolk on the Sirracha side was perfectly cooked (or not cooked, rather), and it oozed out delicately over the sauce, cheese, and dough. The other side with pesto and chicken was also delightful--nice, garlicky, and satisfying without being overly heavy. 

I sat down, enjoyed some pizza, finished re-reading Hemingway's The Garden of Eden, sipped a glass of red wine, and soaked in the late summer evening. Then the doorbell rang.


I'd been cupcaked. (To be continued...)

Song of the Week: Hang On Little Tomato

Family Dinner

While in Maine I had the pleasure of enjoying a Sunday family dinner with my newly acquired Maine family. Susan, one of my favorite cooks and just an amazing person in general, whipped up a delightful Mediterranean linguine with shrimp and sausage. Susan always uses fresh, high-quality ingredients, and since she cooks everything with love, you know it's going to be a good meal. 

The pasta dish consisted of tomatoes, anchovy paste, garlic, yellow onions, Kalamata olives, hot Italian sausage, shrimp, parsley, and baby spinach, and was seasoned with salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and shaved Parmesan cheese.  Can you say "amazing"?

We also enjoyed a salad with fresh greens, tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and prosciutto, served with a simple vinaigrette, as well as some satisfying and hearty bread. I wish everyone could have joined in for this delicious Sunday family dinner, but you'll just have to enjoy it vicariously though these photos!

Song of the Week: You Say Tomato, I Say Tamato...

Poached Eggs with Tomato and Basil

It’s Saturday morning—you sleep in, wake up to the sun shining, and actually have time to make something nice for yourself for breakfast. But what to make? There are, of course, the classics: fried eggs with buttered toast and bacon, pancakes or French toast with sausage…but how about something a little more interesting?

After mastering the poached egg a couple of months ago, I’ve been experimenting with different versions of the traditional eggs benedict. One of my favorites is poached eggs atop an English muffin with slices of tomato and fresh basil. This dish has a light and fresh taste and won’t weigh you down like so many decadent brunch and breakfast items.

Poached Eggs with Tomato and Basil

Ingredients

Eggs
Tomato
Basil
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Water

1. The first step is to poach the eggs. This can be intimidating and might take a couple of tries to get it right, but it is worth it. I use Julia Child’s instructions for poaching eggs, which can be found in Mastering the Art of French Cooking or by searching on the internet.

Fill a pot with one inch of water and a splash of white wine vinegar and bring to a simmer—the water should really be barely simmering and definitely not boiling. Julia Child’s recipe states to crack the eggs as close as possible to the water and let them drop in and then quickly push the whites over the yolks with a wooden spoon. I don’t know how many hands Julia Child had, but this step is simply too complicated for the average cook to perform by oneself!

I recommend taking the egg and cracking it into a ladle. Holding the ladle in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other, carefully drop the ladle into the simmering water and let the egg slide off. With the wooden spoon gently push the egg whites over the yolk. I never know if I’m doing this step correctly so I basically just try to encourage the egg whites to stay close to the rest of the egg instead of wandering off into the water like a disobedient child at an amusement park.

Repeat this step with the other eggs.

2. After four minutes from the time the first egg was placed in the water, lift the eggs carefully out of the simmering water (I recommend using the ladle for this action—it’s less easy for them to slip off as they can do on a smaller spoon) and place them into a bowl of cold water. The cold water will stop the cooking and rinse off the vinegar.

If for some bizarre reason you want the yolks to be hard not runny, just let them stay in the simmering water for another minute or two.

The eggs can remain in the cold water for a while. Simply give them a quick bath in warm water to heat them up before serving.

3. Toast an English muffin.

4. Drizzle the English muffins with a little extra-virgin olive oil.

5. Place a large slice of tomato (or a couple of slices if the tomatoes are small) on the English muffin.

6. Cover with a few pieces of basil.

7. Place the eggs on top and sprinkle on little salt and pepper.

Voila! A delicious and nutritious breakfast.

A Simple Summer Salad

Summer simply begs for simplicity in the kitchen. In the heat of summer, who needs to let stew simmer for hours, adding even more heat to the house? It’s a perfect time for cool, fresh dishes like a simple tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad.

This classic combination comes in many forms depending on the cook’s preference for cherry versus hot-house tomatoes, or large slices versus little pearl-sized spheres of mozzarella. Despite the varieties available for each ingredient, at its heart, the tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad is simple and delicious.

This recipe reflects one preference for the ingredients comprising the salad, but feel free to substitute different tomatoes, basil, or mozzarella varieties and switch proportions as you are so inspired.

Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Salad

5 Campari tomatoes
4 oz. cherry-size fresh mozzarella
½-cup of basil (as fresh as you can get it)
1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove of fresh garlic
Pinch of salt

1) Slice each Campari tomato into eighths

2) Halve the mozzarella

3) Combine the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil

4) Mince the garlic and stir into the olive oil with the salt

5) Drizzle the oil onto the salad

6) Buon Appetito!