STEAK AND ROASTED GARLIC BUTTER - A RARE TREAT.
Cooking steak at home has to be both well done, as in done well, and rare, as in not that often. It also has to have roasted garlic and mustard butter.
How do you like your steak? I love it, but rarely. I’ll only cook it at home when I really, really want it, because I need it to be special. And There Are Rules, evolved over years of getting more and more pernickety.
It has to be a nicely marbled rib-eye, or scotch fillet, or there’s no point.
There has to be a lot of sea salt, Dijon mustard and horseradish cream involved.
And if there’s no red wine in the house, then again, there’s no point.
But that’s until I remembered the joy of soft, nutty roasted garlic, which has none of the grabby sting of the fresh raw bulb. So I made a roasted garlic compound butter by squishing the oozing garlic puree into butter, adding sea salt, mustard and horseradish cream and whipping it until smooth. One disc of that melting on top of my still-resting steak, and a green salad on the side, and yep, I’m a happy camper.
STEP ONE: ROAST THE GARLIC.
If you have any sense you’ll do this while roasting something else at the same time. Ideal? Roast chicken, or an entire pan of roast vegetables. In fact, roast the chicken or vegetables with TWO heads of garlic, and serve one with the first meal and use the other to make the compound butter ahead of time. Stick it in the fridge for later.
Heat the oven to 180C.
Cut about 1 cm off the top of a whole head of garlic to reveal the cloves, leaving the head intact.
Drizzle with a little olive oil, and scatter with sea salt. Add thyme, rosemary, whatever.
Wrap in a scrunch of kitchen foil and bake for 1 hour or until soft to the touch.
When cool, squeeze out the nutty garlic puree.
STEP TWO: MAKE THE ROASTED GARLIC BUTTER
Place 150 grams of softened cultured butter in a bowl.
Add the soft garlic puree from 4 or 5 roasted cloves, a pinch of sea salt, a grind of black pepper, 2 tsp Dijon mustard and 1 tsp horseradish cream if you have it.
Beat or whisk until smooth.
Transfer the butter to a doubled square of baking paper and roll the butter into a log.
Twist the ends tightly to form a neat shape with no air holes, and refrigerate for a few hours.
To serve, remove, unwrap, and slice into 1 cm discs. To store, wrap in plastic and freeze for a month or two.
STEP THREE: COOK THE STEAK
Do this your way. Here’s my way, if I can’t be blowed cleaning the barbecue:
Heat a cast iron pan until hot, and put the fan on high.
Brush the steak with olive oil (not the pan) and slather it with sea salt.
Place the steak presentation-side down in the pan, pressing it down with something like an egg flipper, without moving it around.
Open the windows, in case of smoke. Panic slightly.
After 3 minutes, take a sneak peek underneath to see if it is nicely charred already. If so, flip it over, and give it just 30 to 60 seconds on the other side, because we don’t care about that side, then transfer to a warm plate.
Tip: I can’t give any specific rules for timing, because I don’t know how thick your steak is or how hot your pan is, sorry. But if you press your finger tip into the top of the steak and there is still a lot of give, it is still rare. If there’s no give at all, you’ve over-cooked it.
I don’t officially leave the steak to rest, because it takes me so long to pour wine, set the table, find my phone to get the music happening, remember the water glasses and toss the salad, that I figure that’s enough resting time for any steak.
STEP FOUR: REMEMBER THE ROASTED GARLIC BUTTER!
It’s in the fridge. Throw a round of it on top while the steak is still hot from the pan, so that it’s oozing across the top by the time you sit down. Garlic, mustard, horseradish, butter; all in one. Highly irresponsible, but excellent.
The most perfect salad for steak is rocket leaves tossed in a sharp mustardy vinaigrette, showered with grated parmesan.
Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments. Special thanks to Terry for shouting me a romantic candle-lit dinner at Restaurant Hubert. We had to go two weeks early so that he could publish the review in time for St Val’s Day, but you have to respect a bloke who shows his love with a stuffed pig’s trotter.
I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.
Definitely agree re the marbling in steak, which is the reason I would normally buy it from the butcher, and it has to be thick. It won’t matter if we don’t eat the whole steak, leftovers for lunch the next day with a salad is handy. I like your idea about the garlic, Dijon and horseradish butter, will put that in my file for next time we have steak, more than likely next week, we love our steak!
☺️ love this Jill, thank you. I don't often eat steak, but will plan a steak night this week. We grow pomegranate, so I often finish my steak with pomegranate molasses, Dijon and pepper. I'll give your roasted garlic butter a go.