This was originally going to be my birthday dinner, but I postponed it until Christine was back: a hanger steak (NOT a hangar steak, unless you cook airline food) cooked sous-vide at 135˚ for 75 minutes and got a quick sear in the iron pan to brown the outside. Polenta, endive-umeboshi mash, and a reduction sauce of fresh raw cream from Pepper (pop locavore quiz: do you know the name of the cow(s) you get your milk from?) with pancetta, dried porcini, garlic, herbs, and lemon juice completed the plate.
The meat was really tender, uncharacteristically so for this cut, which I credit to the cooking method. The sauce was rich and decadent, and balanced well by the bitter, tangy mash. I made the polenta a little on the wet side so it would pool nicely on the plate. If we weren’t both so tired, I would have opened something fancier, but another 2003 Cheze St. Joseph Cuvée Prestige de Caroline did the requisite Syrah-steak dance and was interesting enough for the strong flavors of the garnishes. Don’t you just love the little line of juice around the polenta?
Looks absolutely delicious except, sadly, for the polenta which I just can’t warm up to. I know that disqualifies me for being a true foodie, but it’s the shameful truth.
I like it a lot more than I used to. Try mixing in a good amount of pesto, then grilling it in blocks once it sets up. Or just lard it with butter and cheese- that seems to work on everything.