Moo

So I've cooked pasta, salmon, couscous, risotto, and even chicken. Today, for the first time, I attempted to cook beef -- a steak to be exact. I've always been afraid to cook beef because pan-frying steak can be difficult and steak purists would thumb their noses at such sacrilege. Nevertheless, I wanted to try it if only to say I have.

I found these nice-looking 'eye round' steaks at Cold Storage in MidValley. I know they were fresh because I saw the butcher place them on the shelf minutes before I took them. They may have been part of a cow only recently! In any case, at MYR 15 for two (admittedly small) steaks, it seemed a bargain compared to the salmon I usually buy.

Moo...

I usually use couscous and stir-fried broccoli as sides for my meats and this time was no different. As an a-side (har har), I took this picture of the freshly blanched broccoli and it turned out kinda nice (if you like close-up pictures of cruciferous vegetables).

Green!

In another first, I also decided to make a mushroom 'ragout' as a sauce for the steak and as a sort of side dish. The mushrooms I selected were baby portobello and Swiss white and brown. I wanted some oyster mushrooms too but the store didn't have any. Just as well, I had a LOT of mushrooms...

Is there such a thing as too many mushrooms?

The mushroom sauce called for some chicken stock and some garlic and onions. I pre-mixed the chicken stock in a small cup of water, chopped the garlic, and peeled the onions.

Chicken stock looks icky...

With the prep work done, the time came for the pièce de résistance -- the meat. I had taken the steaks out a few hours from the chiller and added a little salt and pepper on each side just before cooking. The pan was pre-heated to smoking (I need a cast-iron pan) and I used olive oil to fry the steaks. I guess I fried them too long as it was kinda blackish when I turned them at four minutes. I did the other side for three minutes then let them rest.

I dumped out most of the oil from the pan, preserving the 'fond', and added the mushrooms and a bit more oil. After a while, I added the garlic and onions and fried them until the onions caramelised. Then came the chicken stock. While waiting for the chicken stock liquid to reduce a bit, I mixed a bit of flour and water in equal proportion and added to the mix and let it reduce. I ended up with a LOT of mushroom sauce :)

Mmmmm... mushrooms...

Then I did the usual couscous. I only seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic powder instead of using chicken stock since the gravy was already quite rich. After that came the broccoli and I ended up with this:

Pity the lighting is not great... also I need a bigger plate...

It looked pretty good if I do say so myself :)

The test of the steak is in the eating they say (or something like that), and this steak sorta passed. It was a bit tough and too well done. I was actually going for more medium rare, but I guess I overdid it. It was still tasty although it was quite chewy. The mushroom sauce was however, quite delicious, so I'm quite happy with that. Many thanks to a friend of mine who provided cooking tips (you know who you are).

So it was a qualified success! Next time, less time on the meat :)