Happy Father's Day

It's what Dad wants. And just in time for Father's Day, The Oregonian's FoodDay offers up tips for cooking pork, lamb, beef, and veal chops, complete with a few thoughts on the tantalizing topic from yours truly. They even include one of my favorite pork chop recipes from my book Seared to Perfection for your cooking pleasure. Have a look for some ideas on how to create a truly memorable Father's Day feast for your dad this year.

Peppercorns on the Vine and Steak au Poivre

And cue the impulse buy.


A rare and intriguing ingredient that I've never experimented with before can always get me to part with a few dollars without a second thought. This time it was a jar of intensely fragrant peppercorns on the vine.


Inspiration came even before I could put the peppercorns into the shopping basket, and I knew the perfect thing to make with them: the Steak au Poivre with Red Wine Sauce recipe from Seared to Perfection.

Just a couple of things before I get to the recipe…

Here's my interview on Savor Portland, in case you missed it. We chatted about everything from the release of my book to government cheese—good fun. The day after that appearance, Seared to Perfection was written up in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Also, registration for winter Clark College cooking classes is now open. I'm very excited to offer Spanish Paella Supper, Hands-On Fresh Pasta, Hands-On Asian Appetizers, Valentine's Seared to Perfection II, and Real Texas Chili classes and hope you can join me in the kitchen! Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

And without further ado, may I present a glimpse of what's inside the pages of my book…


Steak au Poivre with Red Wine Sauce
Printable Recipe

4 1 to 1 ¼-inch thick rib-eye or strip steaks, weighing about 12 ounces each
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons freshly cracked black peppercorns
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, minced
½ cup red wine
½ cup beef broth
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 to 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced

Season the steaks generously with salt and set aside at room temperature for about half an hour.

Coat the steaks with the pepper, pressing it gently into the meat. Heat a large, heavy sauté pan over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the steaks and cook without disturbing for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they release from the pan and are crusty and brown. Using tongs, turn the steaks and continue to cook over high heat another 2 to 3 minutes, or until the desired doneness. Moisture will just begin to accumulate on the surface of the steaks when they are medium-rare. Remove the steaks to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the shallot to the pan, and sauté for 30 seconds, or until translucent and fragrant. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Add the broth and thyme and simmer another 5 to 6 minutes, or until thickened and saucy. Remove the pan from the heat, discard the thyme, and let cool for a minute or two. Whisk in the butter quickly, stir in any accumulated juices from the steaks, and season to taste with salt.

Arrange the steaks on individual plates, divide the sauce among them, and serve immediately.

Serves 4. No bistro menu would be complete without steak au poivre, the classic French dish of tender steak encrusted with crushed black peppercorns. Although the recipe calls for what seems like an enormous amount of pepper, high heat works an amazing transformation on the pungent spice—the peppercorns become toasted and mellow. For this dish, the peppercorns should be coarsely crushed, not ground to a powder. Crack whole black peppercorns with a spice mill or in a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, place them in a zip-top bag and tap them with a rolling pin or the bottom of a small frying pan.

Behold, the Perfect Rib-Eye

Most steak connoisseurs agree, the rib-eye is the ultimate steak. It offers the perfect balance of flavor and tenderness, and it's ideal for grilling, broiling, and searing. No other cut of steak can satisfy carnivorous cravings in quite the same way. When you're selecting a rib-eye from the meat case, here's what to look for…


1. A relatively small eye. The eye meat is tasty, but even better is…

2. A relatively large cap (also known as lip, lifter, or deckle), which any rib-eye aficionado will tell you is the best part of the steak. The most perfect rib-eye has about as much cap meat as eye meat. If I could get a cap steak, I would. By the way, a large cap indicates that the steak came from the chuck end of the rib.

3. Only a small lump of fat. Every rib-eye steak has a fat mass that's situated between the cap and the eye. The smaller it is, the better. However, fat is desirable when it comes in the form of…

4. Ample marbling. These flecks of fat melt as the steak is cooked and keep the meat moist and succulent. Prime grade steaks have the most marbling and also the highest price tag. Choice grade steaks are relatively affordable and often have impressive amounts of marbling. Select grade steaks have little to no marbling and are hardly worth eating.

5. A thickness of approximately 1 ¼ inches so that each bite has a good ratio of seared surface to juicy, tender interior. Also, look for a steak that's cut evenly so that it cooks evenly.

6. Small overall size. Ideally one rib-eye steak should equal one serving, and each diner should get a steak of his or her very own so as to avoid sharing and the inevitable fisticuffs over who gets the cap end.

Incidentally, this particular rib-eye steak is grass fed, grain finished, ungraded (but looks like choice), and wet aged (dry aged would be even better). It's just less than 1 ½ inches thick and weighs in at about 12 ounces.

Morels

Can you spot the morel? Yeah, they’re incredibly hard to find among all those pinecones. We recently went morel hunting, and we found one—count ’em—one single morel for all our efforts. Hardly enough for dinner, but I did add it to a gratin of Creamed Leeks. It’s one of those things, experienced mushroom hunters always keep their foraging spots closely guarded secrets, so we’re just guessing where and when to go. But luckily my morel cravings didn’t go unsatisfied for long—what I didn’t find in the woods, I found at the farmers market.


By the way, morels and asparagus are a perfect springtime pairing.


Seared Rib-Eye Steaks & Steamed Asparagus with Morel Cream Sauce*
Printable Recipe

2 1 to 1 ¼-inch thick rib-eye steaks
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces morel mushrooms, sliced into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red wine
¼ cup beef broth
½ cup heavy cream
2 sprigs thyme
1 pound asparagus, trimmed of woody ends

Season the steaks generously with salt and pepper and set aside at room temperature for about half an hour.

Heat a medium, heavy sauté pan over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the steaks and cook without disturbing for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they release from the pan and are crusty and brown. Using tongs, turn the steaks and continue to cook over high heat another 2 to 3 minutes, or until the desired doneness. Moisture will just begin to accumulate on the surface of the steaks when they are medium-rare. Remove the steaks to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the morels to the pan, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and sauté another 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Add the broth, cream, and thyme and simmer another 6 to 7 minutes, or until thickened and saucy. Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 3 to 4 minutes, or until tender (but do not shock). Using tongs, transfer the asparagus to a paper towel-lined plate and drain for about a minute. Discard the thyme from the sauce, stir in any accumulated juices from the steaks, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the steaks and asparagus on individual plates, divide the sauce among them, and serve immediately.

Serves 2 to 4. Fresh morels only appear in the spring, so make the most of their fleeting season while you can. The sauce is plate-licking good—my husband proved it—and also fantastic with seared salmon.


*For everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores in the fall of 2010.

And just in case you didn’t find the morel, it’s right there.