Sliced steak

Sliced Delmonico steak (which can mean about 100 different things depending on where you get it), white and red cipollini onions (Can cipollinis be red? Not sure, but that's the basket where the fine folks at Snake Hill Farm put them, so we'll go with that.), wilted spinach, and some leftover grits (I made this a few days ago, so the grits weren't too old.). Some mushrooms may have been nice (I've really been slacking on taking advantage of the great things from Killbuck Valley Mushrooms.), but they weren't required. The steak and spinach were from the grocery store (hormone free and organic, respectfully), so options were limited.

Onions
Ingredients:
- Onions, halved and sliced
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Heat butter in a pan
- Add onions, salt and some pepper
- Maintain on a medium-low heat until they're to your liking, stirring relatively often

Steak
Ingredients:
- Steak
- Salt and pepper
- High heat oil
Method:
- Get uncoated frying pan very hot and add oil
- Season steak
- Sear both sides and the sides of the steak
- When it's how you like it (As you can see, I'm a medium rare-rare person myself.*) leave it to to rest
- Turn off heat, but don't clean pan

Spinach
Ingredients:
- Spinach
- Salt and pepper (See a theme with the ingredients in this meal?)
Method:
- Pan should still be a bit greasy and hot (if not add some oil/turn on heat)
- Add spinach and a little salt and pepper, quickly turning being sure none of the spinach stays on the bottom of the pan too long
- Remove from pan with tongs, squeezing and leaving as much liquid as possible in the pan

Grits
- See previous post, or just bake or mash a potato

Once spinach is laid out on a plate slice steak across the grain (As much as possible--the grain is not to consistent on this cut of beef, and this step is not all that important here.) and plate. You could make a quick pan sauce with stock or cream (or both), but it's not really necessary.

* My two cents on ordering a steak in a restaurant (Which I rarely do, as such great meat is available at the consumer level, and it's a pretty easy preparation.)--order it rare, medium-rare, medium, possibly medium-well, or well (if you're not concerned about your piece of meat). My point is that I do not recommend saying something like "Medium-rare but on the rare side," or "Slightly more cooked than medium." It just doesn't work, generally, and it messes with your server. At the typical restaurant the server is writing your order on a ticket that will be placed in front of a cook or relayed through the restaurant's computer system. At least in any place I've seen, there is no "Medium-rare but on the rare side" code for the ticket, or button for the system.

I agree, it is a service industry. But, while I truly believe that restaurant personnel adulterating (for lack of a better term) customers' food is not all that common, why annoy them? First, very few servers that I know want to get into an extended conversation with the cook about an order during a busy dinner service (the cook is likely even less inclined to participate in that discussion). Second, if you're that picky (and I tend to be), just make it yourself.

Midwestern Shrimp and Grits

Not too good a picture, and that's a shame. This is one of the best things posted on this blog so far. I got a little carried away laying out the shrimp when it probably would have looked much better with them just dumped on top of the grits or mixed in. It didn't affect the taste though, and I wouldn't change a thing as far as the the ingredients and methods go.

Ingredients
For Grits:
- Grits, 3/4 cup (Plenty of places to get quality organic stone ground grits in the area.)
- Milk, 2 cups (Same as parenthetical above. And I used 2%.)
- Half & Half, 1 cup (")
- Water, 1 cup
- Cheese curds, chopped pretty well (Can substitute a good cheddar.)
- Smoked trout, flaked
- Habanero type chile pepper, minced (Not optional. The milk and cheese tone down the heat.)
- Parsley, chopped
- Salt & pepper
For Shrimp:
- Thawed shrimp, peeled (Or now you can get never-been-frozen shrimp at Kate's Fish at the West Side Market.)
- Shallot, minced
- Old Bay seasoning
- Cayenne pepper
- Oil for high heat

Method
For Grits:
- I pretty much started with this recipe, minus the butter, and then added some touches--Google: Chef Ryan Hermann and Simple and Sublime Grits (For a smaller portion, this linked recipe looks good: http://www.mikeandshelly.com/aboutgrits.html.). It seems like a lot of liquid for the grits, but it's not, it just requires some patience. If you're not into looking for the recipe I copied, here it is, with my additions . . .
- Add milk, half & half, and water to a saucepan and bring to a strong simmer
- Whisk grits in well
- Once it starts thickening up add some salt & pepper, lower heat, and whisk well from time to time being sure nothing is sticking to the bottom (It won't be a problem if the heat is low and you're whisking well.)
- After around half and hour, or when the grits are about as thick as you'd like them, add in chopped cheese curds and habanero and whisk well
- Once cheese is incorporated make sure you have a hot frying pan ready for the shrimp
- Add parsley and smoked trout to grits and whisk well, being careful not to totally destroy the texture of the trout
- Check for seasoning and adjust
- Turn off heat and make shrimp
For Shrimp:
- Add Old Bay and some cayenne to shrimp (Pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel prior to adding seasonings.)
- Oil a hot pan
- Add shallots and seasoned shrimp to the hot pan
- Cook shrimp on each side and turn off heat
- As best as you can, it doesn't have to be perfect, separate shrimp from shallots, adding the shallots to the grits and stirring the grits again
- Add shrimp to the grits (Mix together if you'd like)

This is really worth trying if it appeals to you at all. The smoked trout is a change from the more traditional bacon or sausage. It gives a great smoky flavor, and if you get a bite without a shrimp you don't feel like you missed out.

As for the grits, I had always thought grits were just like a loose polenta (Even after seeing My Cousin Vinny.). Making them with the milk (And I imagine that all 2% milk could have been substituted for the liquid mixture.) reminded me of the first time I had powdered hot cocoa made with hot milk instead of hot water. The difference is huge. While I in no way claim to have just described the authentic way of making grits, these were very good, and were way better than what is served around here.