Day 11: Black Pepper-Honey Steak and Moroccan Chermoula Vinaigrette Dressing

Nothing is better on a hot day than a crisp salad topped with steak, cooked rare and sliced thin.

Black Pepper-Honey Steak
Moroccan Chermoula Vinaigrette

We just started ordering grass-fed beef from a little farm over in Walla Walla (Thundering Hooves) and this cookbook only has one steak recipe, surprisingly, so I wanted to try both steak and recipe at the same time.

This starts with sitting the steak (whatever cut is your preference, I used top sirloin) in a basic marinade of red wine, honey, garlic, and pepper. I let it sit for about 20 minutes while I prepared the dressing and the salad. Dry off the steak before you saute it in olive oil and toss the marinade. (You could probably cook down the marinade for a sauce, but I followed the recipe on this one.) I didn't cook this as long as they recommended as I wanted it to be a little on the rare side and these were pretty thin steaks.

I was worried that with such a quick marinade that I wouldn't taste the honey or wine much. But, happily, I was wrong. The honey gives it a delicately sweet, caramelized effect. You add salt and pepper while cooking as well and I wish I had added a lot more pepper. But over all this was a pretty easy and different way to cook a steak. Again, I think grilling this would have given a better texture and next time I make this I will be sure to try that.

I didn't want a big old steak by itself, so I sliced it on top a simple salad made from all of our farm share odds and ends that were mixed with the Moroccan Chermoula Vinaigrette, one of the many variations on a basic vinaigrette in the cookbook.

The chermoula is very similar to the Argentinian chimichurri sauce I frequently make to cook steak and chicken in, so it was interesting to try the same flavors atop a salad. I love the smell of cilantro, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. It doesn't get much better than this. They recommended letting the dressing sit 20 minutes before using to mellow out the flavors. That happened just in the natural order of me cooking things and it tasted delicious.

Another weird note, this cookbook always says coriander leaves instead of cilantro. (Yes, yes, I know it is technically the same thing) Is that another mid-west thing?

21 recipes down in How To Cook Supper.