I made this on Sunday for my dad (AAIByteU) and I. It's definately one of my favorite recipes, and is sure to be a crowd pleaser should you attempt it.
NY Strip steaks with red wine reduction, with morel mushroom/asperagus/romano risotto, and asperagus spears.
Pics and instructions to follow.
We're starting with the prep work. Get your ingredients together. You'll need two Steaks (2-3 inch thick cut NY strip or Filet). Fresh garlic, shallots, 1 white onion, asperagus, celery, arborio rice, chicken stock, beef stock, butter, fresh rosemary sprigs, dried rosemary, dried thyme, salt, ground pepper, shredded romano cheese, 1/2 lb morel mushrooms, and a semi sweet red wine (I like using a shiraz for this one).
First thing, chop your white onion, celery, carrot, 2 shallots, 3 cloves of garlic. This will be the base for your red wine reduction sauce.
Get a pan warmed up. Use a bit of extra virgin olive oil. For risotto, you want to use a very starchy, short grain rice. There's different schools of thought on this, but I prefer arborio. 1 cup will make 4-6 servings. I'm using 1 cup for this... There was plenty left over.
Add about a half cup chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 good sized shallot, and one fresh rosemary sprig to the olive oil. Stir it until the onion starts to become clear. At that point, add the 1 cup of arborio rice. Stir it up good so that it gets coated with the olive oil (very important). Work it around in the pan until you start seeing the rice start to brown (not dark... LIGHT BROWN). At this point get your chicken stock ready in a 1/2 cup measuring cup.
Add the chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time. Let the previous 1/2 cup absorb to about 75% before adding more. This releases the starch in the rice and gives the risotto it's creamy texture. Just let the rosemary sprig hang out in the mix. It won't be removed until the ending steps.
Chop 1/2 lb of asperagus (chop the stalks, but leave the tips intact. 1/4 inch slices work great). Chop 1/2 lb of morel mushrooms (if you can't get morels, then baby bellas work. If you use baby bellas, only use 1/3 lb as they've got a much stronger flavor).
You bought wine didn't you??? Drink some!
Warm a pan on medium heat, add about 3 tbsp of olive oil, and add your chopped asperagus and mushrooms. Be CAREFUL here. The mushrooms like to stick. Stir often and add a bit more olive oil if you need it. also, keep adding chicken stock to the risotto as it gets absorbed.
After the chopped mushrooms and asperagus have cooked for about 5 minutes, it's time to add them to the risotto. Just dump em in and stir it up. The rice is at a a great temperature for absorbing liquid at this point.... Add more chicken stock. Don't let it get thick this early, but only add a 1/2 cup at a time.
Remember that mix of onion, carrot, celery, and shallot that you chopped earlier? Yep, add it to a pan on medium heat with some olive oil, dried rosemary, and dried thyme. After about 30 seconds, evenly sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sugar in, and stir the whole mix until the onions start turning opaque. The vegetables in this step are creating the flavor for your red wine reduction.
Add 1 cup of beef stock and 1 cup of the red wine... I know this will make you run low on vino... Buy two bottles next time.
Bring the mix to a soft boil, then back the heat off until it's just barely boiling. Stir every few minutes.
Check the risotto! Add more chicken stock if you need to.
Take your prepared asperagus spears and coat them in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix em up in a bowl.
If you don't know how to prep asperagus, it's really easy. The bottom of the spear is really woody and tough tasting... Just break it off. Take the spear by both ends and bend it until it snaps. The bottom part can be thrown away, or be used for stock later on. The top is what you keep.
Also, refill your glass of wine or other preferred beverage. Enjoy!
Salt and pepper your steaks. Be generous with the seasoning, as 30%-50% of it will fall off in the pan. Also, salting a few minutes early will draw water out of the steak, which is a good thing.
These two were cut by the butcher at 2 inches thick. Both weighed out around 16oz. These are pretty big cuts. If you need times for a smaller cut, just send me a message.
When you're working with a NY Strip, make sure to season the fat side with salt and pepper. Trust me on this one... Also, check your risotto. It probably needs some more chicken stock. Your wine and vegetable mix could probably use a stir as well. Keep an eye on all of it.
Ok, so your wine and veggie mix has cooked down, the risotto has plenty of liquid to cook off, and you've got a full glass of wine.... Time to make your reduction sauce. Take your pan of wine/vegie mix and pour it through a strainer into a bowl. Take a spoon (like in the pic) and push the liquid out of the vegetables. This step really makes the sauce great. Don't skip it.
At this point, your risotto should be close to done. Taste it often to get a feel for how tender the rice is. Once it's where you want it to be, add your romano cheese, stir it in, then take it out of the pan and put it in a bowl. Cover it with tin foil to help it retain heat.
The Risotto should be creamy... NOT runny. Arborio rice can soak up an immense amount of liquid, so if it's runny... Keep it cooking. At this point, the Risotto is pretty much done. Pull out the rosemary sprig now.
Ok, so I've transferred the liquid from our red wine reduction to the pan on the right (low heat just to keep it warm). I transferred the risotto out of the pan to a large bowl with a lid. At this point, you want to preheat your oven to 450 degrees (IMPORTANT).
Now for the really fun part. Heat a clean pan on high until it starts giving off a little bit of smoke. Once you see that you've got a hot pan, add about 3-5 tbsp of peanut oil (peanut oil is better for really high temps, as olive oil would smoke like crazy here).
Once you've added the peanut oil, make sure the bottom of the pan is coated well. Then place your steaks in the pan. Gently press the steaks down, then leave them alone. Don't flip them over and over.... One turn is all it takes. For a 2 inch thick steak, go 2 minutes each side for medium rare, 2:30 for medium. If you want a well done steak... Go stick it in the microwave, because I'm not ruining it for you.
Now that's what I want to see! One turn, and the sear is perfect. Another 2 minutes on this side, and then we'll put it in the oven for 4 minutes to finish.
After you pull them from the oven, add 1/2 tbsp of butter to the pan. Once it's melted, spoon it over the steaks.
Also, if you haven't refilled your glass of wine yet... Do that.
Once the steaks are out of the oven (4 minutes), take them out of the pan. Put them on a plate and cover them with aluminum foil for 5 minutes to let them rest (again... important).
Use your steak pan to finish your asperagus spears. They're already salted, peppered, and drizzled with olive oil, so just toss em in. They'll cook in about 4 minutes. Just make sure to turn them a couple of times. When they're done, they'll still have a slight crispness when you bite into them.
The steaks have rested for about 5 minutes. At this point, all the food is done. Now it's time to put it on a plate.
You probably need a wine refill now. Take care of that as well.
Plate the risotto first, pushing it to one side. Lay the steak on the opposite side (the steak will act as a barrier to the sauce). Place the asperagus over the risotto. Lastly, spoon the red wine reduction sauce on the far edge of the plate, letting it run around the steak.
This is good for any occasion (father's day today).
Give it a shot!
