Ok, I took some liberties with “local” this week, when I decided to explore the depths of my freezer and came across two elk ribeye steaks that a friend had given me last summer. The meat comes from his family’s ranch in Minot, North Dakota, and was part of an enormous dry-ice packed cooler that is sent to San Diego each season. I eagerly accepted the steaks when he offered them, but had let them hide in the back of the freezer for some time because, well, I wasn’t sure if I could do the steaks justice.
But this week, the time just seemed right, and out of the freezer and into a skillet they went. While they are from halfway across the country, somehow eating game hunted by a friend’s family seems just as much in the spirit of local as eating produce grown by a farmer you know. In fact, even though the meat was from hundreds of miles away, I still felt very close to my meal. I’m excited to have had the chance to cook them and proud to include them in this week’s “local” meal.
Here’s went into this week’s meal:
Pan-Seared Elk Ribeye Steaks
Braised Collard Greens
Saute of Carrots, Summer Squash and Sage
Smashed Peruvian Blue Potatoes
Santo Tomas Red Table Wine
The recipe for the steaks came from a recipe for beef ribeyes on Epicurious, which allowed me to use a bottle of red table wine from Santo Tomas winery that I picked up on a recent trip to La Bufadora, in Baja, Mexico. The recipe proved easily adaptable to Elk, although the thick steaks I had did require a bit longer searing time. The key to elk, apparently, is to cook it no more than medium rare (130 degrees), lest the meat become too tough–I did just that and the steaks came out perfectly tender. For the pan sauce, I simply omitted the non-local soy sauce and had a local sauce that was rich and luscious.
I’ve always thought of collard greens as something that required a long simmer with a ham hock, but I stumbled across a vegetarian version that adds flavor through an onion and spices. Coincidentally, it comes from a local vegetarian restaurant, the Che Cafe on the UCSD campus.
Inspired by the balsamic vinegar I picked up from Temecula Olive Oil Company, I whipped together a honey balsamic drizzle for the carrot and summer squash mixture. The honey I have, from Chrystal’s Pure Honey, is a sage blossom honey, so I couldn’t help but throw some fresh sage into the mix.
And then there’s my favorite new potato recipe, smashed potatoes. I simply roasted the whole potatoes for 40 minutes at 425, then smashed them with a mallet to break the skins before serving. They’re delicious drizzled with olive oil and garlic, or can even stand alone.
I also had fun this week pouring over the vivid and engaging Local Flavors, the new cookbook from Deborah Madison. I encourage anyone participating in OLS (or anyone just wanting to cook straight from the farmers’ market) to pick up a copy!
Tags: one local summer