Steak with Friends

At Home, with Rick Tramonto

by Rick Tramonto

Price: $35.00
ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-9257-1
ISBN-10: 0-7407-9257-1
Format: Hardcover
Size: 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.
Page Count: 304 pages

Steak with Friends: At Home, with Rick Tramonto is big and juicy, just like a steak dinner with all the trimmings. It showcases a dazzling array of steak and seafood recipes along with delicious accompaniments ranging from appetizers to desserts. Sophisticated, yet easy to prepare, these dishes will delight readers who love great beef cooked to perfection. Rick teaches the secrets to choosing and preparing the best steak, suggests music to listen to while cooking mussels, and recommends some of his favorite drink pairings. In this cookbook, Rick shows cooks how to reproduce the delicious flavors of his great steak house food at home.

What I like most about the recipes in this chapter is that they are all about relaxed celebrations. Most can be served on a big platter so that everyone can graze, pick and choose what they want, and decide how much they want to eat. These appetizers are perfect for sharing with good friends and family while enjoying a cold beer or a glass of wine.

After an hour or so of appetizers, I fire up the grill for the steaks, or whatever food I am cooking that evening, and most people drift toward the grilling action. This is the second phase of the party, followed by the main meal when we sit down and enjoy what’s on our plates and on our minds. But without the very first part of the evening, when we casually and happily share cold appetizers, the rest of the meal would not be as successful. It’s a natural progression, a train of good eats and conversation that first leaves the station with these delights, gaining speed as it moves through the party.

I thought long and hard about what recipes to include here—just as I did with every chapter in the book—and kept coming back to how well these dishes could be shared. I also relied on my own affection for “surf and turf.” Ever since I first discovered the marriage of seafood and beef, I have been an enthusiastic fan. I have even been known to stop at a sushi restaurant for a few bites before going on to a steak house. This explains why I have included the Spicy Tuna Roll, the Spicy Shrimp in Lettuce Wraps, and the RT Hamachi Sashimi with Pineapple. All are perfect before a steak meal.

I also like to start off a steak dinner with another meat, as evidenced by the charcuterie plate and the steak tartar. Both are sensational and both are updated with some tasty twists, such as the violet mustard with the tartar and the pickled onions on the charcuterie plate.
If you prefer appetizers with no seafood or meat, try the beets. I have never put out platters of these and had a single leftover! They are that good. And the spring rolls hark back to my fondness for Asian-style foods before the main course.

These are easy, light dishes for the most part, meant to be enjoyed with friends. They are great at a cocktail party, but can also be enjoyed on their own for a very casual meal.

Mussels are often overlooked when we think of shellfish; clams and oysters are favored in the United States. However, mussels are absolutely delicious and have a mild, briny taste that can only come from the sea. And they are inexpensive, which adds to their appeal. Always buy fresh mussels and cook them within a day of purchase. Choose those with tightly closed shells and avoid any with broken or chipped shells. Remove them from the packaging when you get home, wrap them in a moist towel, and refrigerate the mussels until you cook them. This keeps them alive.

Cooking the mussels in a heady broth of ale, smoked ham, garlic, and herbs leaves them bursting with great flavor. I like to use Belgian-style ale for its earthy, from-the-pub flavor, but you can use any beer you like. There is nothing fussy about eating mussels; serve these in a big bowl in the center of the table as an appetizer. To make a meal out of these, just add a salad and soup. Don’t forget some crusty bread to sop every last drop of the cooking juices.  Serves 4

2 pounds mussels
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup diced smoked country ham (about 4 ounces)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 shallot, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 (12-ounce) bottle Belgian-style ale
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Juice of 1 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 crusty baguette, cut into 1-inch-wide slices

Under cool water, scrub each mussel’s shell with a stiff-bristled brush. Remove the byssus thread (or beard), which connects the mussel to rocks in the water. Grab the fibers with your fingers and pull them out, tugging toward the hinged point of the shell.

In a medium-size saucepan or skillet, heat the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat. After the butter melts, add the ham and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until crispy and the fat has rendered.

Add the garlic, shallot, and thyme and cook in the rendered fat over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, or until soft. Add the mussels, stir to coat with the vegetables and pan juices, and cook for about 1 minute.

Add the beer, cover the pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until all the mussels open. (Discard any that do not open.)

Add the parsley, tarragon, basil, lemon juice, and the remaining tablespoon of butter. Toss to distribute the herbs and lemon juice and allow the butter time to melt. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Using a slotted spoon, serve them in a large bowl or divide the mussels evenly among 4 smaller bowls. Pour the broth from the pan over the mustsels, and serve with the bread.

This amazing steak is my favorite.It’s cut from the rib section of the steer, or rib roast, and is one of the juiciest and most popular steaks available. It is well marbled—webbed with streaks of fat—so it is full flavored and moist, and particularly well suited to dry heat cooking, such as grilling or broiling. The rib eye can be cut with or without the bone and generally is 1 to 1½ inches thick, although when cut 2½ to 3 inches thick, it’s called a “cowboy rib eye.” This is an expensive cut that should be cooked carefully, but it needs no more embellishment than a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I like to serve it with Bordelaise Sauce, but you may omit it and savor the meat unadorned. When I was a judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, the Quickfire Challenge was to take a full rib eye and cut long-bone chops from it.   Serves 4

4 (20-ounce) bone-in rib-eye steaks, each about 1½ inches thick
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bordelaise Sauce (page 78)

Remove the steaks from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to take off the chill.
Meanwhile, prepare a charcoal or gas grill so that the charcoal is medium hot and the heating elements are hot.

Brush both sides of the steaks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for 6 to 8 minutes on each side for medium rare, turning the steaks with tongs so that you don’t puncture the meat. If using a gas grill, you may not need to grill the steaks for quite as long on the second side. (For medium steaks, extend the grilling time for 2 to 3 minutes on the first side; for rare steaks, grill for about 5 minutes on each side.)

Using tongs, remove the steaks from the grill and let them rest for 8 to 10 minutes.

In a saucepan, heat the Bordelaise Sauce over medium heat until bubbling hot. Remove from the heat, cover, and set aside to keep warm.
Slice the steaks against the grain and serve topped with the sauce.

Most of us grew up loving macaroni and cheese and I am no exception. But now that I am all grown up, I prefer a more sophisticated version than the one my mom made for me. I add a little truffle oil to kick it into another sphere. If you really like truffles and have some fresh ones on hand, chop them up and stir them into the casserole before baking for even more flavor. On the other hand, you could omit the truffle oil and still end up with an amazing mac and cheese.  Serves 4

3 tablespoons white truffle oil
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half
¼ pound Swiss cheese, grated
¼ pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated
¼ pound Fontina cheese, grated
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces elbow macaroni

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon of the truffle oil, the breadcrumbs, and the Parmesan and set aside.
In a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for about 3 minutes, or until the flour blends with the butter. Whisk in the half-and-half, bring to a simmer, and cook for 3 minutes.

Stir in the Swiss, cheddar, Fontina, and mustard. Remove the sauce from the heat once the cheeses have melted. Stir in the remaining truffle oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over medium heat and cook the macaroni for about 7 minutes, until al dente. Drain the pasta and add to the saucepan with the cheese sauce. Stir well.

Pour the macaroni and cheese sauce into a 1-quart buttered baking dish. (At this point you could refrigerate the casserole dish for up to 24 hours.) Top the casserole with the breadcrumb mixture and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the casserole is bubbling hot and the crust is nicely browned and crisp. Serve immediately.