le blog de tranny

Merry Christmas from the Hummer-Tran abode! As an expression of our gratitude for the presence of our other stinky housemates, Caro and I made plans to cook a huge dinner for everyone — a Christmas gift of sorts and a chance for us to all be together in our home (as we so rarely are) during this holiday season. We considered roasting a goose or having a multi-course Italian menu, but in the end wanted our menu concept to be grounded in the sentiments of gifting our housemates (i.e. having a decadent spread with special ingredients) and expressing our love through food. Hence our menu ended up being very hearty and traditional American, quite reminiscent of this Mad Men post I did:

Old-fashioned cocktails
Cheddar fondue with Acme bread
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Caesar salad with croutons
~
Wine and champagne
Surf ‘n turf – Top sirloin with red onion pan sauce and dungeness crab with lemon and butter
Scalloped potatoes
Crimini and portobello mushrooms roasted with garlic and butter
~
Flourless chocolate souffle cake
New York style cheesecake with strawberry-blackberry compote

[Caro making old-fashioneds]

Guess who headlined what? C’MON GUESS. If you said Caro – SALAD (and fondue and crab and chocolate cake), Michelle – POTATOES (and mushrooms and steak and cheesecake), you’d be correct! I suppose those are our relative strengths? Double-teaming the prep for this feast was all the easier with a steady flow of cocktails. Considering how extensive the menu was, it was actually not very time-consuming at all.

[Caro's homemade croutons]

[giving the romaine a caesar dressing bath]

[Caro's chocolate souffle cake, fresh out of the oven]

[cheddar cheese fondue]

I took a page from Smitten Kitchen and tossed the mushrooms with chopped capers, minced garlic, canola oil and s&p (not too much salt! — the capers are already salty) before topping them with chunks of butter and roasting them in the oven. When the mushrooms came out I squeezed lemon juice over them and sprinkled some fresh parsley over the top.


[mushrooms roasted with garlic and butter]

I did the scalloped potatoes with parsley, chives, swiss and gruyere cheeses, nutmeg, s&p and half and half with butter and parmesan over the top. Pretty straightforward though I let the potatoes brown before cooking them, making the dish less visually appealing.

[scalloped potatoes]

For the cheesecake topping, I combined quartered strawberries and blackberries in a saucepan with sugar, fresh orange juice and some cherry brandy. I simmered it for a while and used some cornstarch + cold water to thicken it up. (Discussion of how I made the cheesecake itself is forthcoming in a separate post.)

[strawberry-blackberry compote]

My partner(s).

No-No inspects the beef.

The salad, plated and lookin’ mighty fine.

[Caro's take on a caesar with croutons]

You know what’s funny, is that I, of all people, had only ever cooked steak once or twice before (and not necessarily well). That is ridiculous, considering that more than a few people consider my love of steak to be one of my defining characteristics. So I actually did a fair amount of research beforehand because I wanted the steak to be impeccably cooked. I borrowed the methods of The Amateur Gourmet and Gordon Ramsay, who I’m seriously obsessed with at the moment. (Over the weekend I discovered “Masterchef” on Hulu and ended up watching the entire season in a day and a half. Last night I discovered “Hell’s Kitchen” and watched the entire season that night and this morning. I just can’t get enough of GR’s apeshittery. I think he might even be more entertaining than Anthony Bourdain. D: ) I was going to go for a NY Strip but the butcher told me the top sirloin would be more flavorful and could be cooked the same way I was planning with great results. Plus it was a pretty good deal for USDA Prime.

I let the steak sit out at room temperature for a few hours before cooking it. I also made sure to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Before throwing the meat on the pan, I seasoned it liberally with s&p on both sides. (We only have kosher salt in our kitchen these days, which was a good thing in this case.) In a cast iron skillet, I heated up enough canola oil to cover the pan for 3 minutes on high. (I should’ve actually probably let it heat up for a few more minutes). I threw the steak on and browned it on both sides (a nice caramelized brown, not grey), about 3 minutes per side. Using my tongs, I also browned that fat strip on the side of the steak a bit. Tipping the pan, I spooned the juices over the steak for a minute or so before throwing some butter in the pan and popping it in the oven for about 3 minutes before checking it for doneness. At this point I was pretty wasted and realized that neither Caro nor I had any idea where the meat thermometer was. So I judged the doneness of the meat by touch — the firmness of the soft skin above where your thumb and index finger bones connect indicates medium-rare (back of the hand when your hand is relaxed). Does this not make sense? Watch the videos. I was pretty fucking lucky that I got the touch right though, for cereal. Sometimes I think it’s better to cook after downing a few because you follow your instincts more.

I think the most important thing is that the pan needs to be really hot when you put the steak on in order to get a good sear.

[nice and brown, could be browner]

After determining that the steak was probably (?) medium rare I tented it tightly with tin foil and let it rest for 5ish minutes (maybe I should’ve waited longer but I just couldn’t!). The interior was looking pretty red but the meat cooked up to a perfect color after I spooned some pan sauce over the top of it. Better too rare than not rare enough! My housemates and I agree.

I added some red onions and bacon fat to the pan then deglazed it with two buck Chuck before adding some veal (!!!) stock and reducing it. I know, I’m a bad girl. It was sinfully delicious and I used the pan sauce leftovers in some chili later in the week.

[red onion pan sauce]

Meanwhile, Caro was on crab duty. Whole Foods only had cooked crabs, which was kind of lame, but also delicious. Besides we ended up cooking/eating (or I guess watching someone else cook) live crabs the following afternoon lol.

[the ol' crab reheat]

[butchering the crabs]

Finally we were ready to sit down to dinner.

[Caro's glorious table setting]

[oh hey Chandon souvenir flute!]

[that sauce was the shit]

Dessert course.

[the devil's cake]

Truly a feast fit for kings. Tomorrow I’ll be making a stuffed pork loin for the nuclear family. Do stay tuned.