10 Ways to Dress a Steak
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A Steak Lover’s Guide to dressing your meat with the proper Steak Topping. Unique Steak Toppings to give your dinner a little zip!
We’ve had a really mild winter in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with little to no snow, and temperatures ranging from 40 to 70 degrees most days. Although I like to get one good freeze for the sake of the garden, it’s been pretty nice.
Weather like this means one thing in my family, grilling year-round. Steaks tend to be our go-to meal on a rushed night.
“What’s for dinner, honey?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you pick up a couple steaks on the way home and we’ll just throw them on the grill.”
Sound familiar?
Yet even steak can become a little mundane. …Yes I just said that.
With a few simple ingredients you can turn a plain steak into something really spectacular.
10 Ways to Dress a Steak
- Gremolata. With just 3 items, minced garlic, lemon zest and chopped parsley (or basil, thyme, mint) you have a wonderfully bright steak topping to sprinkle over your plate.
- Compound Butter. Butter smashed with herbs or spices; possibly even the gremolata above. A lovely dollop of compound butter over a steaming steak is a glorious dripping thing.
- Creamy Pan Sauce. So you’ve just seared your steaks in a skillet? Why not add a splash of cognac and cream to the dripping for a quick luxurious sauce? This says smart and sophisticated, every time. (Here’s a fruity rendition.)
- Â Mushrooms. I know, I know, this is the most cliche of all steak toppings, but WELL cooked mushrooms offer an earthy rustic punch. Try sauteing the mushrooms long and low (medium-low heat for 20+ minutes to render out the moisture and create caramelization) with a little butter, salt and pepper and a splash of sherry at the end. Heavenly.
- Crispy Herbs. One Word, Fancy. You want to impress your dinner guests? Flash-fry basil leaves so they look like little pieces of stained glass laying on top of their steak. Super quick with Big Impact.
- Salsa. I’m not talking about runny jarred picante sauce. I’m talking FRESH chunky homemade salsa, piled high atop your filet. Here’s a fantastic creamy avocado salsa verde and a spicy fruit salsa that would work perfectly.
- Creamy Blue Cheese with a Kick. Try pureeing some sour cream, crumbled blue cheese, horseradish and a little honey, for a zingy, spicy steak topping that will have you licking your plate clean!
- Olive Tapenade. Whether you use a store-bought variety or make your own, this briny bite of goodness atop a juicy red steak is a thing of beauty.
- Tomatoes. Oven roasted tomatoes or a quick fresh tomato sauce make any weekday steak taste like a weekend meal to remember.
- Chimichurri. Honest to God, this stuff make everything, EVERYTHING, better. I wouldn’t blame you if you just had to take a sip!
And as a bonus, I’ve got Steak with Pickled Vegetables. Sweet and salty raw veggies make the steak want to do a little dance in your mouth. The smell alone, might make you faint.
Steak Topping: Pickled Veggies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha chile sauce
- 1 English cucumber peeled and sliced thin
- 1 bunch radishes sliced thin
- 1/2 small red onion sliced thin (or one shallot)
Instructions
- Mix the vinegar, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Microwave for 30-60 seconds to dissolve the sugar. Mix in the Sriracha and allow to cool while slicing veggies.
- Place the thinly sliced veggies in the vinegar mix. Toss and refrigerate until ready to use (at least 30 minutes).
Nutrition
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Appealing a lot from the looks itself
Great ideas
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Great article.
My version of chimichurri is similar, but I skip the vinegar and parsley, and use fresh lime juice and culantro (recao) and cilantro. I add shallots, green onions and cubanelle & red bell peppers. All hand chopped finely except the garlic (juiced and pulp added). Parsley and vinegar are ok for marinades but on chimi, they tend to overpower the other flavors.
Another idea for a steak topper is to juice onions, and take the dried out pulp and freeze it on ice cube trays, then take a few frozen onion pulp cubes and drop them directly on a hot griddled steak pan with fat and drippings to caramelize. Delish. And a distinctly different taste than using raw onions.
I love onions and mushrooms on my steak but the pickled veggies sounds good I will have to try them, thanks for sharing.
Oooh, how fun! I love a good steak, but you are so right that sometimes you need to jazz it up. Those crispy herbs sound fun! And I love the pickled veggies recipe. Yum!
That looks wonderful! Thanks for the great post.
looks great! Love this post
My favorite is a blue cheese compound butter – so creamy and something close to heaven once it melts all over it!
You have some creative and delicious ideas here!
These are all really great ideas! Personally I love a good blue cheese component to a steak. Horseradish is also a great addition to any beef dish, if you ask me. Yum!!
These all sound scrumptious!
All the toppings for a steak sound amazing. I really like the idea of butter and herbs.
Butchers everywhere are trying to figure out why everybody is buying steak this weekend! You have induced cravings with those beautiful cuts of grilled deliciousness! I think the butter would be my first choice – yum!
Great topping ideas! It’s a fun way to change it up and tie into your side dishes.
Chimichurri is my kids’ favorite! Great ideas Sommer.
Yes, it DOES sound familiar!! {laughing}
Chimichurri is one of my all-time faves – it’s beyond good. Compound butter is also pretty delish. Or just the flavor of a good steak!
I want them dressed up every which way! I guess depends on my mood….