Friday, November 27, 2009

Chicken or Steak with Balsamic Mustard Sauce


The cover of GOOD FOOD is a photograph of one of my favorite "go-to" quick and delicious meals - free range, organic chicken thighs with Balsamic Mustard Sauce. The sauce is tangy and delectable, requires no effort, and gets raves every time I serve it. The recipe below uses grass-fed beef steaks for those who love a good steak, although any grilled chicken variation would be my personal favorite. Either way, the sauce is the real star of the show. Hmmmm. I wonder how it would taste on left-over Turkey. . . .

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 grass-fed, organic beef strip steaks, 6 to 8 ounces each, (approximately 3/4 inch thick) seasoned to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard (No sugar – check the label)

Preparation:1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season steaks generously on both sides with salt and pepper; place in skillet. Cook, turning once, until browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium‐rare.
2. Transfer to a plate; cover with foil.
3. Add vinegar to skillet; boil until syrupy, 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Remove from heat; whisk in mustard and any accumulated juices from steaks.
5. Serve sauce with steaks.
See our notes about cookware.

Notes:
Bar‐b‐que is a fair weather cooking option. If I were making the sauce only, I would begin with a dash of olive oil and one clove of minced garlic, and then work from step 3.

The organic grass-fed beef steaks recipe will serve 6 to 8 people. Most of us consume too much protein at one sitting. When the meat is from a grass fed animal, it is so nutrient dense that half of what we are accustomed to eating is quite filling.