Summer Steakhouse Dinner Casa Charky: Grilled Steak and Caesar Salad

We try to eat red meat less often. So when we do, we make it worthwhile by buying the best beef we can afford.  Recently we splurged on two huge, well-marbled, boneless rib eye steaks from Black Angus Fine Meats & Game and shared them. They were tender and juicy with rich, full-on beef flavour. Black Angus has a beautiful selection of fine meats such as beef (Kobe, dry-aged, and Angus), local lamb, and free-range chicken. If you are hunting for game meat, this is your spot: bison, elk, kangaroo, game birds, crocodile, etc.  Shop on-line or in-store.

How We Prepare Our Steaks:

1. Rub a cut garlic clove over the surface of the steak. Season generously with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add your favourite steak spices if you like (if they contain salt, cut back on the coarse salt).
2. Bring to room temperature on the counter for half an hour before grilling.
3. Grill to your liking according to the temperament of your grill (ours is on its last legs).
4. Let rest 10 minutes before slicing across the grain.

We serve our steaks with nothing else but copious quantities of homemade Caesar Salad (who has room for anything else?). I like to set the warm steak right on the salad; the flavours of the juicy steak and garlicky dressing cuddle up so nicely together. It wilts the salad a bit so serve the salad on the side if you prefer.

It’s a meal fit for someone about to embark on their journey through high school, from a lovin’ mom with a secret agenda (I’m hoping the garlic will ward off the girls).

Classic Caesar Salad

I was thrilled when my friend Liz shared her delicious recipe (she is a fabulous cook). It brings me right back to my Mom’s kitchen counter, watching Mom lovingly prepare this classic dressing in her well-worn wooden salad bowl while I waited in eager, lip-smacking anticipation.

Coddling cooks the egg very slightly, just enough to warm the yoke and thicken the dressing.  Please read Eat Right Ontario’s warnings about consuming raw or slightly cooked eggs; most importantly, avoid serving to the very young, elderly, immune-compromised, or pregnant women. Serve the salad immediately after you make the dressing.

Ingredients:

1 head of romaine, halved and sliced into bite-sized pieces, washed and dried thoroughly
1 head of curly green leaf lettuce or a 2nd head of romaine, halved and sliced into bite-sized pieces, washed and dried thoroughly

Optional:
Cooked and chopped bacon
Croutons

Dressing:
1 very fresh egg
2 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3-4 drops Tabasco sauce
4-6 drops Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon
1 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, divided (the real stuff)
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Coddling the egg:

1. Fill a small but deep saucepan with enough water to cover the egg; bring to a boil while you leave your egg to sit at room temperature.
2. Carefully lower the egg into the boiling water using a spoon. Immediately cover the pan and remove from heat. Let the egg sit covered in the boiled water for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and run the egg under cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. Place the container you will make your dressing in and a small bowl on the counter. Crack the shell and separate the yolk into the dressing container and the white into the small bowl; discard the white and only use the yolk for the dressing.

Preparing the dressing:

1. Crush, mince, and purée garlic in salt; set aside.
2. Add the mustard, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, and the juice of only half of the lemon to the bowl containing the egg yolk; whisk to combine.
3. Slowly whisk in oil.
4. Using a wooden spoon, stir in garlic and 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (the garlic will get caught in a whisk). Add freshly ground black pepper to taste and more lemon juice, if desired.

Dressing the salad:

1. Pour about two thirds of the dressing in the bottom of a large salad bowl.
2. Add the lettuce. Toss gently, scooping under the leaves and into the dressing, gently rolling the dressing onto the leaves to avoid bruising the lettuce. Taste and add more dressing as desired.
3. Add bacon and croutons if desired. Sprinkle with remaining Parmigiano Reggiano. Serve immediately.

Black Angus Fine Meats & Game

Website: http://www.blackangusmeat.com/