Fire Up the Grill

Ever wish a steak salad came in convenient hand-held form, or wondered what peaches would taste like straight from the grill?  No.  Yes?  Well then, this post is just for you, as today brings a couple preparations perfect for outdoor entertaining, particularly for summer patio parties!

Start with just-seared steak, finished to a slightly-rare medium, surrendering succulence with every cut, every bite, virtually with every longing glance.  Best to let the steaks rest for ten minutes, concentrating the savory juices.  Here are today’s skirt steaks doing precisely that:

Next, pile on thinly-sliced radishes and just-picked cilantro, and a squeeze or two of juice straight from the lime.  Then wrap it up in a cool sheath of leaf lettuce, freshly harvested from the garden.

Oh, before you close the bundle, drizzle on a spoonful of creamy-hot dressing, taking most of its dual identity from an amplitude of peppery adobo sauce and cooling Greek yogurt.  Then, finally, the first bite!  Hot, cool, fresh, savory…this preparation has them all.  This outcome was suspected when the recipe appeared in the August 2018 Bon Appetit, and it was confirmed, gloriously, upon realization.

Elsewhere in the same issue was a recipe for grilled peaches.  Though the two ideas appear separately, they’re a great pairing and are introduced together here.  Chef Beverly Kim developed the recipe at her Chicago restaurant, Parachute.  The grill’s flame concentrates the peachy sweetness, and Kim paints the fruit with Thai ingredients like fish sauce and palm sugar, and finishes them with torn Thai basil, giving them a sweet-salty Asian/fusion flair.  So much for this blog’s “principled” skepticism of fusion cuisine.

Oddly, the article fails to mention specific quantities, providing only vague directions.  Very well, allowing experience to guide intuition, the recipe below appears.  Together, the peaches and steak wraps cover the full range of flavors, and will have people talking all summer.  And dreaming this coming winter.  Is your grill ready?

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Grilled Peaches, Thai Style (*1)

• 4 peaches, halved and pitted, yet retaining the skins
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar (*2)
• 4 large leaves Thai basil, torn

Set your grill to a medium flame.  Place the peaches, cut side down, directly on the grate.  Cook for ten minutes, until the peaches are slightly softened and nice grill marks appear.  Take care not to let the peaches burn, moving them or reducing the flame as necessary.

Remove the peaches to a plate, then mix the fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar in a small bowl.  Brush the peaches’ grilled side with the sauce.  Top with torn Thai basil and serve.

NOTES:

1 – In addition to not offering quantities, the recipe didn’t name the dish either, other than heading it, “How Chefs Do Simple.”  Therefore, here’s the name I chose.  What do you think?  Excuse me?  How is that relevant?  You would’ve done the same thing.  Fine, then who cares what people think?

2 –  Finally, a recipe that actually calls for palm sugar!  If you don’t have it, light brown sugar is nearly as good.

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Spicy Steak Salad Wraps

For the marinade:

• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce, from a can of chipotles in adobo sauce
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound skirt steak

Mix all the ingredients but the meat in a small bowl.  Cut the steak crosswise into three pieces, then add salt and freshly-ground pepper.  Place the steak in a zip-top bag and pour marinade over it  Force the air from the bag and seal the top.  Store at room temperature for 15 minutes, flipping occasionally.

Meanwhile, make the dressing:

• 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon adobo sauce, from a can of chipotles in adobo sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk together all the ingredients in a serving bowl until smooth  Set aside until mealtime.

Next prepare the other wrap ingredients:

• 1 large head lettuce, trimmed and outer leaves removed
• 6 radishes, trimmed and sliced thinly
• cilantro bunches, cut from the tender half farthest from the root end
• 2 limes, wedged

Place a large skillet over a high flame.  Take the steaks from the marinade, allowing excess to drip back into the bag.  (*3)  Pour a tablespoon of oil into the skillet.  When it just starts to smoke, place steaks in skillet.

Sear for four minutes, until deeply browned.  Flip to the other side and cook four minutes more.  Remove steaks to a cutting board and allow to rest for ten minutes, then slice thinly at an angle, perpendicular to the grain.

Arrange on a plate some of all the ingredients (the steak, the radishes, the cilantro, the lime wedges and the lettuce leaves).  Pour the dressing into individual ramekins, or leave in the serving bowl for all to help themselves.  Assemble and eat.

NOTES:

3 – Yes, there’s a slight gap between turning on the flame and adding the oil.  This is by design, as the goal is for the skillet to be hot when the oil arrives.  Always remember Martin Yan’s favorite direction, “Hot wok, cold oil, food won’t stick.”