It’s not often that I prepare a meal centered around steak. I’ll order it out from time-to-time, but generally if there’s red meat appearing in my recipes, it’s ground beef or a less expensive cut like flank, hanger, or skirt steak.
On Saturday, however, I was feeling adventurous. I wanted to branch out from my usual make-a-really-delicious-homemade-pasta-dish and try something new. As I approached the butcher, I was eyeing three different cuts of meat: ribeye, sirloin, and strip.
Ribeye = cut from ribs (without the bone); known for marbling and, thus, very tender
Sirloin = cut from the hip; less tender than NY strip, but full-flavored
NY Strip = cut from the strip loin; tender
You really can’t go wrong with any of these. I know from experience that I enjoy them all, but in the end I went with the NY Strip. Why? It was $1 less expensive per pound than the others. (Pretty good logic, right?)
Great! So now I’ve got a steak… but what do I serve with it?
I knew I wanted to get mushrooms – preferably porcinis – but these are apparently non-existant at any of our local markets. Instead I picked up some shiitakes and enoki mushrooms, neither of which I’d ever cooked with before. (Did I mention I was feeling brave?)
I grabbed a box of polenta and a few brussels sprouts, and my vision for dinner was finally complete.
Here’s the final product:
Continue reading Steak and Polenta with Shiitakes, Enokis, and Brussels Sprouts
