Steak and Bluegrass

“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.”

― Philip K. Dick

THE DISH
Brown butter basted steak with roasted veggies
THE DRINK
Aviation
THE ARTIST
The Dead South

THE STEAK
– 8oz Rib eye steak
– 4 Cloves of garlic
– 2 Sprigs of fresh rosemary
– 2 tbsp Unsalted butter
– Miniature potatoes
– Brussel Sprouts
– Cremini Mushrooms
– Asparagus
– Herbs de Provence
– Garlic powder
– Salt and Pepper
– Olive oil

THE DRINK
– 1.5 oz Empress 1908 Gin
– 3/4 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur
– 1/4 oz Creme de Cassis blackcurrant liqueur
– Fresh lemon juice
– Lemon wedge and maraschino cherry for garnish

Shake all ingredients in shaker filled with ice until chilled, strain into glass and garnish with Maraschino cherry and lemon wedge.

Preheat oven to 425F.
Cut potatoes and place on a baking sheet with olive oil, herbs de provence, salt and pepper.
Cook in oven for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Reduce oven heat to 300F.
Add brussel sprouts and asparagus. Coat with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
Place back in oven for 30 more minutes.
Sauté mushrooms.
Heat a large skillet with extra virgin olive oil.
Place room temperature steak in pan and sear both sides to just under medium rare (About 4 minutes a side).
Add butter, garlic, and rosemary to pan.
Tilt pan towards you so that butter pools in one area, and use spoon to cover steak in butter for 2 minutes.
Let steak rest for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

THE REVIEW

This is a dish that I am actually really, really proud of. It’s one of those things that has just come together so perfectly. Not to blow my own horn, but it is one of the best steaks that I have ever eaten. It simply melted in my mouth. The only thing I would do next time is cook it a little less to get closer to a medium rare. The herbs de Provence that I used in place of oregano and basil had a lighter more floral taste to it. Why I chose it will be explained later on.

The drink, the Aviation, is an old prohibition era drink that actually calls for Crème de Violette. This particular liqueur had proven very difficult to find and the only bottle I have found is an hour away. It wasn’t even available in the states until 2007. So I opted to use Creme de Cassis, as was suggested by Reddit. The hunt for Crème de Violette continues however. I made this drink both with, and without Creme de Cassis as well. The Creme de Cassis added a sweetness to the cocktail as well as gave it a darker purple colour. The floral taste of the gin still came through however and that is the reason that I used Herbs de Provence in the dish itself. I wanted to try and tie the two together as this drink I didn’t think would pair exactly with such a savoury dish. It worked pretty well though. Next time I think I would try an Old Fashioned as it is more savoury than this particular drink.

The music for this was originally going to be some Nine Inch Nails, for the reason that I have been told it would be well worth my time to venture into them. Trent Reznor… the man is a legend. The reason I leaned away from that however, is due to my own personal mental state lately. I have been doing well but decided that his music may not be a rabbit hole that I wasn’t entirely prepared to venture down this time as some songs can be quite dark; even though I think it would have gone well. Instead, I decided to go with a little more upbeat band called The Dead South. They are a group from Regina, Saskatchewan and they very much have a southern bluegrass sound. Their album, Good Company (2014) has been a favourite of mine for a few years now and they have released two other albums called Illusion and Doubt (2016) and Sugar and Joy (2019). They are songs that will always get me up and dancing with a smile on my face, and they were a good match with the steak and veggies. It was tough to narrow down my top three songs for this meal but they are: In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company, Into The Valley, and Black Lung.

THE DISH
10/10 – Amazing, all of it. I will be making this one again for sure. Always make sure to use a good, top cut of beef though
THE DRINK
8/10 – I LOVE Gin. It’s one of my go to’s, a lot. It is so versatile. And this drink is pretty dangerous. You could easily drink 12 of them. I want to try it with the Crème de Violette however as I think it would be much better.
THE ARTIST
10/10 – They are always a solid choice and playing them with the steak really kind of reminded me of my farmhand days, working on a ranch out in the back woods.
OVERALL
9/10 – Overall it was all pretty amazing. I don’t really have any large complaints aside from needing the proper drink ingredients. That will have to wait however until I am in a larger town.