Fresh Grilled Steak Salad

A wonderful, quick and easy meal you can whip up in no time.

Ingredients:

1 lb / 450 grams Sirloin, T-bone, Porterhouse or Rib Eye Steak about 20
Lettuce
6-8 brown mushrooms
1 medium onion
1 large bell pepper / capsicum
2-3 garlic cloves
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your grill to high if using gas or light your charcoal and let it turn to white ash. While your grill is warming up, cut into long thin strips, the onion and bell peppers and place in a bowl along with a few dashes of olive oil – mix well. Finely chop the garlic cloves and sauté them in a pan with olive oil for about two minutes and set aside. Next, remove the stems from the mushrooms and lightly brush away any visible dirt (do not clean your mushrooms under water as they will absorb the water.)

Once the grill has reached the correct temperature lightly brush some oil on the grill grate and place the mushrooms, onions and bell peppers on the grill over direct heat. Once the mushrooms start to show a little liquid forming on the inside of the caps remove them from the heat and set aside. Grill the onions and bell peppers until the edges start to lightly brown and then return to the bowl, add the garlic to the bowl and mix. Slice up the mushrooms to whatever thickness you like.

Place your steaks onto the grill and season with salt and pepper, cook until medium rare then remove and let rest for about 5 minutes. While your steak is resting pull off some lettuce and placed into a bowl add the rest of the ingredients accept for the steak. Thinly slice your steak into bite size pieces and add to the bowl of lettuce, toss to mix well and enjoy.

Chicago Pan Pizza

The above picture is the Chicago Pan Pizza we made the other night, the recipe is not mine, but borrowed from a site I found online. This recipe is DKM's Chicago Style Pizza and it turned out very good, however do be careful of possible spillage when baking.

DOUGH INGREDIENTS:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (you can use semolina flour)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

24 Hours Prior to Baking:
In a mixing bowl, add the water, sugar, yeast, flour, cornmeal, and salt. Mix on low speed for a few minutes until the dough comes together, then slowly add the oil. Continue to mix dough for 7 more minutes. The dough should be somewhat moist and smooth, not sticky, and should weigh about two pounds. Form the dough into a ball and place into a bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and then with a dish towel and place in the refrigerator for an overnight rise. One Hour Prior to Baking Remove the bowl from the refrigerator about one hour prior to making the pizza. Set the bottom oven rack to its lowest position and preheat the oven to 450° F for at least 30 minutes prior to baking.

After resting for one hour, the dough is now ready to be placed into the baking pan. Coat the bottom of a well seasoned 15″ × 2″ deep dish pan with regular olive oil (do not use extra virgin). Place the dough ball in the center of the pan and press it out until it covers the entire bottom.
Then, using you fingers, pull the dough up the side of the pan. The edge should be pinched up against the side of the pan. If the dough resists holding shape, cover with a towel and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes before trying again. Using either sliced mozzarella or a blend of sliced mozzarella and provolone, cover the bottom of the dough with cheese. Add your desired toppings...top with...crushed tomatoes spooned directly from the can. Use your hands if necessary to spread out the tomatoes. Finish topping with Italian herbs/seasonings (chopped fresh basil and dried oregano flakes are favorites) and finally with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Place the pan in the center of the bottom oven rack and bake for 20 to 25 minutes,
turning once half way through, until the crust is golden brown. Remove the pizza from the oven and allow to cool for about 3 minutes.

Grilled Porterhouse Steaks

Porterhouse steak is actually a t-bone steak but the difference is that a porterhouse is the "choice" cut of beef which has more fillet on it than a normal t-bone would have. T-bones have two types of beef on them, the larger side is a sirloin while the smaller side is the fillet, and this is always a more tender and flavorful side (this is also where fillet mignon comes from. Please see below the recipe for more information regarding the steaks.

When cooking the steaks, never put anything on them other than a little salt (you should only use either kosher salt or sea salt, table salt is not good for anything really but I will explain at a later time why that is so) and cracked black pepper, there is never a need for any type of gravy when you have a decent cut of beef, again let me state that very clearly, there is NEVER any reason for gravy what so ever when you have a DECENT cut of beef, it will only ruin the flavor of the meat itself.

Ingredients:

1 ½ - 2 inch thick Porterhouse or T-bone steak
Fresh cracked black pepper
Kosher or sea salt

Take your steaks out of the refrigerator (they should be completely defrosted) 30-45 minutes before you plan to cook them and let them reach room temperature (this will ensure even cooking and a juicier steak.

Turn your gas grill to its’ highest setting and let heat up for about 10 minutes, if using charcoal use enough charcoal to cover the grill and light the coals and let burn until completely ash white.

Right before your ready to starting cooking your steaks, lightly season them with fresh cracked pepper and a pinch of either kosher or sea salt.

Gently put your steaks on the hottest part of the grill and close the lid if you have one, now DO NOT lift the lid or touch the steaks, there will be flare up and you will think your steaks will burn, but do not touch them for at least 1 ½ - 2 minutes.



After 2 minutes lift up and flip your steaks over to the other part of the grill and again leave them alone for 1 ½ - 2 minutes (if your steaks are sticking to the grill, leave for a few more seconds until they will remove without sticking, this is called divorcing the steaks, if they stick they are not ready yet.), do not touch, this will sear the steaks and give you those nice little grill marks on your beef. You can go ahead and add a little more cracked black pepper and kosher or sea salt and then cover.

After the 2 minutes has gone by you can now lift your steaks up and flip while giving them a quarter turn, lower your heat to medium and cook for a few minutes (usually about 5) and then flip again until they are slightly springy to touch, like how it feels between your index and middle finger, this is normally around 7 minutes and will give you a medium rare doneness.

Remove the steaks, set them aside and let them stand for about 3-5 minutes they willn continue to cook even though not on the grill.



After you have let them set you can then go ahead and plate them, it is at this time I usually add a little homemade garlic butter to the top of the steaks which will only add to but not cover the flavor of the beef. You can make this simply by taking 2 large cloves of fresh garlic and mince it and add it to 2 - 3 tablespoons of butter, then in your hands roll the butter into 2-3 balls.


I normally get my beef from one of two places in Ipoh, the first being Ipoh Frozen Foods. I buy the Brazilian or Argentina beef, normally the entire roast which is around 6-8 kilos, I also have them cut it for me to my size which is normally around 1 ½ inch to 2 inches thick, anything less than 1 ½ really is not worth the money you will spend, it will not be moist enough when cooked or rich enough in taste. The other place I also buy my meat from is a restaurant in Ipoh who gets their beef from either the US or Australia. I am very demanding on beef, I will "never" by any type of beef or pork from Tesco, Jusco or any grocery store in Malaysia, except for Cold Storage in Bangsar.

Country Pot Raost

Ingredients:

First Part of Cooking
4 garlic cloves
1 5-6 pound beef: chuck, sirloin or rib roast
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cooking oil
1 1/2 cup tomato juice
3 medium carrots
2 medium onions
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1/4 tablespoon kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 bunch of fresh oregano.

Second Part of Cooking
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 can (8 oz.) crushed tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 can (4 oz.) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 package of fettuccine

First Part:
Crush garlic and rub onto the roast. Coat meat with flour. In a 7 - 8 quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat, brown meat evenly on all sides. Turn heat down to low and add tomato juice and the rest of the ingredients from first part up. Cover Dutch oven and simmer for about 4 hours, turning the meat carefully every 30 minutes. Careful not to burn the bottom of the pot too much, you may need to add a little more tomato juice as it cooks.

After 3 hours, carefully remove the meat from the pot and using either a hand blender in the pot or you can use a normal blender by adding all ingredients to the blender. Blend until fully blended, gravy will be thick, set aside in a separate container.

Second Part:
Saute onion, green pepper and garlic in Dutch oven until tender. Add tomato sauce and water; stir to blend. Return beef to pot. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Turn heat to low; cover pot and simmer ;about 1-1/2 hours. Add potatoes and carrots; cover and continue cooking 30 minutes or until tender. Cook paste and lay sliced pot roast on top of pasta with gravy from first part and serve with cooked vegetables.