Steak Tagliata with Arugula

*Post by Angela.

Rating: FMLO (for meat-lovers only); vegetarians advised to avoid this post.

I've been trying really hard to cut down on my red meat consumption lately, but the other day, I was browsing Serious Eats and I ran across this recipe for Steak Tagliata with Arugula.  Which reminded me of this very similar recipe from yumsugar, a recipe that I've made more than once.  Which very quickly triggered the meat-craves, a condition resulting in excessive stomach growling, periodic drooling, and spasms of anticipatory shaking, which can only be treated by a big, juicy steak.*  Even though I felt a little bad about falling off the no-red-meat-wagon, my conscience was soothed by the inclusion of greens in this dish.  Also, it's crazy simple, and I used the leftover steak in a sandwich for lunch the next day. 

 

List of ingredients for the dish:

• One thick (2") boneless ribeye
• 1 1/2 tsp. each chopped fresh rosemary and sage
• coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 bunch of arugula
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• Parmigiano-Reggiano

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, and seasoned the steak liberally with salt, pepper, rosemary and sage.  I let the steak sit for about 20 minutes (covered) to let the meat absorb the seasonings a little.  I could feel the meat-craves start to ease just by looking at the steak.

 

Next, I heated my grill pan on high heat and added 1 tbsp. of oil and 1 tbsp. of butter.  Once the pan was fairly hot, I added the steak to the pan and seared it until nice and brown all over. 

 

I stood the steak on one side, placed the entire pan in the oven for about 20 minutes (for a beautiful, perfectly rare steak), then removed the meat to the cutting board to rest for about 10 minutes.  It was difficult to wait to cut into it, but resting the meat is important, as it helps even out the temperature and doneness, and retain those delicious meaty meat juices...mmmm, meaty meat juices...(at this point, the drooling kicked in again).

 

In the meantime, I heaped a generous plate of arugula on a plate, drizzled it with a little olive oil and lemon juice, and sprinkled it with Parmigiano-Reggiano.  You could almost hear the greens begging to be united with their red meat lover.

 

Finally, I couldn't wait any longer.  I sliced the steak thinly across the grain and placed it atop the arugula.

SO GOOD.  The luscious meat was balanced out perfectly by the freshness and slight bitterness of the greens, the brightness and acidity of the lemon juice, and the saltiness of the cheese.  While I don't usually eat very much beef, when the meat-craves hit, there's no better medicine than this recipe!

*This is to be distinguished from meat-sweats, a condition often occurring after consumption of said big, juicy steak.

Comments

[Evan]

now THAT is a perfectly cooked steak. I love steak salads

[Angela]

Thanks, Evan! I was so pleased with how it turned out! My most preferred way of cooking steak is to grill it, but since I don't actually own a grill, this is a good second-best alternative. I also love steak salads, and arugula works really well to cut through the fattiness of the ribeye.