Simply Delicious

So my first food post is about a meal I made for dinner that, while simple, I think is the perfect example of everything that I love about food and cooking. I know it's been said by every good cook before, but it's really the truth...when you have good ingredients, there's no need to mess with them that much!

I also think the worst thing you can do is take beautiful meat and vegetables and cook them to death - what a waste - and also I have always believed simpler = delicious AND easier!

This meal was made up simply of good steaks, corn on the cob still in the husk with lime and chili powder butter, and asparagus with grilled red onion.

The trick to this meal (like most of mine) is that you keep it simple and then throw in a few special tricks to "spice" things up.

None of these ingredients take long to cook so it's about being prepped (and in my case moving quickly). I secretly pride myself of having "organized chaos" in the kitchen, moving at light speed, looking like I know what I'm doing but really "winging" about 40% of it ;)

The first step is the corn on the cob (or mielies as we call them in South Africa). Soak it, husk and all, in a bowl of water for about 5 - 10 minutes. The best cooking method for these is on a grill and we had two of them left over from a BBQ (braai in SA) for Mother's Day the day before. But you could easily do them in the oven at very high heat, having soaked them in water in the husk will protect them from burning.

Once those are cooking move to the steaks. Now having steaks like these on a casual Monday is rare for us...pun intended. I simply did salt, pepper, and EVOO that you want to massage in.

Massage, massage!

Then it's all about a hot pan, and only ONE turn, that's it! The two other tricks I use to ensure our steaks come out the way we want them (which is medium-rare by the way) is #1 You wait until you see juice start to rise to the top of the steak, then you turn (again, only ONCE) #2 My mom taught me the cheek, chin, and forehead method - this simply means if you push on the steak and the resistance feels like your cheek (aka not very firm - squishy) then it's rare, if it feels as firm as your chin, it's medium, and if it feels as firm as your forehead then it's well-done. For these steaks it was about 3-4 minutes per side.

One turn!

Once the steaks are done, turn the oven down with the corn still in (or even off, it'll stay quite hot) and put the steaks in the oven and make sure to remove both the steaks and the corn about 10 - 15 minutes before you eat.

The next step is to saute some sliced red onions and diced garlic in EVOO for about 4 minutes and then toss in the asparagus. Toss for 2-3 minutes, add salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lime juice.

Pull the corn out, it's ok if the husk goes black, as I mentioned before, because of the husk being soaked in water the inside will be protected. If anything, the blacker the better, it gives the corn a great roasted and smokey flavor.

The 'Piece de Resistance' for this dish is the butter for the corn. Take out about 1 tablespoon of butter per person and let it go soft at room temperature (or just microwave it for 5-10 seconds), squeeze lime juice and put in chili powder and mix to taste (I like ours pretty tangy so for about 2 - 3 tablespoons I did half a medium lime of juice and about 2 - 3 teaspoons of chili powder).

Voila! Your meal is done, make sure your steaks have rested at least 10 minutes, de-husk your corn and top it with a big dollop of the chili-lime butter, and dish up your asparagus and you have a delicious meal - that's healthy too! ;)

Enjoy and see you for the next meal!