Monday, June 05, 2006
A New Twist on Steak with Grilled Tomatoes
What a nightmare! Last night I decided that it would be a good idea to get my computer all backed up again and sort out all those files on my hard drive that I haven't used in ages. In the
process, I downloaded a little program that was supposed to help me backup my Outlook Express. That was a mistake. Hidden inside the .exe-file was a Trojan that my virus scanner had not picked up, so the moment I clicked on the icon my computer went wild. The firewall threw up warnings all over the place, new desktop shortcuts appeared and Internet Explorer opened with a new homepage. I pulled the internet cable after about 10 seconds, but that was more than enough for this thing to get itself well and truly set up in my machine.So I did what I do best: I cursed, I screamed, I despaired and then got on with dinner. No, really, I first tried a few scanners, but most of them were either disabled or unable to remove the problems they found. So it was back to basics. Lofty gave me a whole bunch of really good scanners that I left to battle the intruder while I was in the kitchen battling Lofty's steak.
One problem was that he likes his beef as rare as possible, which in the case of steak means blue. But I have no idea how to heat the inside of a piece of meat to the required temperature (46 to 52 degrees according to Wikipedia) without cooking the outer layers. My first attempt - high heat to sear the outside for 1 minute on each side and nothing else - went horribly wrong and Lofty had a cold dinner. Slinging the meat back into a slightly cooler pan for another minute on each side helped, but it was still far from perfect. I think I may just have to try the grill next time.
The second problem, which I solved much to my satisfaction, was that I was having the remaining halibut steak and did not want the same side dishes of grilled tomatoes and mushrooms as Lofty. So rather than simply making the dishes the traditional English way, I decided to give the accompaniments a modern twist by turning it all into a warm salad of red onions, cherry tomatoes and baby button mushrooms.
3 to 4 tbsp olive oilThis dish does not only go well with meat, you could also mix it with some uncooked baby spinach leaves to make a warm salad or sling it on a part-baked pizza for the last few minutes of cooking and then top it with ruccola. These are just some ideas. Be creative, try your own ideas. The combination of tomatoes, mushrooms and onions is a classic and lends itself to many things.
1 red onion, halved and then sliced
1 good handful of cherry tomatoes
1 good handful of small button mushrooms (if you only have larger mushrooms, simply halve or quarter them), cleaned and left whole
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1½ tsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar to taste
Heat the oil in a large, shallow frying pan over medium low heat. Add the onions and fry until tender and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and add the mushrooms. Fry, stirring occasionally until browned, about 5 minutes. Increase the temperature to medium high and add the tomatoes. The pan should really sizzle. Make sure that the tomato skins are seared, but not burned. When the tomatoes have attained the consistency you like, remove the pan from the stove and stir in the herbs and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Stir well and season to taste with salt, pepper and more balsamic vinegar.
Christine at 9:33 pm
