It was probably a steer, but it didn’t seem overly important at the time. Long story, short, I got a hella deal on a smallish whole New York. Perfect for home! I cleaned it up and cut ten beautiful thick steaks. Ummmmmhmmmmmm!
As to the Toy Shop, I discovered a new, to me, spice shop at the entrance to Alderwood mall. I’m not much of a mall shopper, but thought it might be amusing to wander amongst the suburban Christmas shoppers for an afternoon. Yeah, I know I’m fairly strange… LOL
To a Chef, an unexplored spice shop is the ultimate ‘Toy’ experience! “Savory Spice Shop” was all kinds of fun! So many pretty jars of tantalizing smells, tastes and colors!!
My basket of goodies included some lovely fresh, moist, crushed Urfa peppers. These delights hail from Turkey. They are a beautiful nearly black color. The heat isn’t massive; more the sneak up on you, variety. A wonderful ingredient to cook with! I simply rubbed a couple of steaks down with the Urfa and some salt.
To make the dish pictured, allow the steaks to come up to room temperature, then sear them in a hot cast iron skillet and place them in a 400 degree oven. When they are close to the desired temp, remove them to a plate to rest. Use the pan to make a beautiful mushroom sauce.
My steaks were fairly lean, so I added a touch more olive oil and sauteed minced onion and sliced crimini mushrooms. Other mushrooms would be excellent, too. When my mushrooms were close to done, I added some minced garlic, browned that a bit and deglazed with some red wine. Once that reduced I added chicken stock, a teaspoon of organic tomato paste, fresh dried oregano and salt. You can reduce this quickly, if you have time to watch it, or slowly, if you are busy with other tasks. Once it has reduced down to a fairly thick consistency, remove from the heat and begin ‘mounting’ with unsalted butter, stirring in each pat before adding another, until you have a glossy sauce. The butter, not only makes the sauce pretty, it is also mellowing the acid of the wine and heat from the peppers. This allows the full flavor of the meat and peppers to balance.
Enjoy!