Sunday, May 18, 2008

Saturday: smothered steaks

This main dish was based on a Kaltenbach recipe, here's my variant.

Dice some bacon and start it cooking in clarified butter over medium-high heat. When it has rendered a bit toss in a couple of thinnish steaks (Plätzli) that have been seasoned with salt and pepper. Brown the steaks for a couple of minutes on each side and then remove from the pan. Deglaze with some red wine.
In a separate pan, saute a couple grated carrots (I used Pfälzer because sweet wasn't required and I thought their aromaticity would help) with some finely chopped onion in some more clarified butter until the onions start to go translucent. Add the steaks, the bacon and red wine, a bay leaf, a splash of tomato puree, a couple good pinches of marjoram, a grind of pepper, and enough beef bouillon to make sure the steaks are comfortable. Cover the pan and let it simmer for about an hour, until the meat is tender. Leave the lid off for the last 15 minutes or so to allow some reduction of the sauce.

Serve with mashed potatoes so that you have something for the sauce. This is great stuff.

I also steamed a kohlrabi we got in the biokiste but that tasted "old", so we didn't end up eating it. Between the steak, the potatoes, and the obligatory green salad we had plenty of food.

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