Steak Frites

On Saturday, Andy sat on the sofa while I got ready to go out. We were heading to the hospital to pay a visit to Kate & Steve, who welcomed their new little girl into the world Friday morning! While I was putting on my make-up, I could hear the sound of one of my favorite cooking shows coming from the TV- America's Test Kitchen. I brought my eyeliner with me from the bathroom, and sat on the edge of the sofa long enough to learn how to make Steak Frites. We were inspired, and decided that after the hospital, we would make Steak Frites for dinner.

So after visiting baby Emmylou and the proud new parents, Andy & I headed to HEB and gathered the ingredients:

Two Ribeyes
Russett Potatoes
Peanut oil
shallots
parsley
chives
lettuce & radishes (for salad)
dijon (salad dressing)
red wine vinegar (salad dressing)

I had the basics- salt, pepper, garlic, butter- at home.

Andy got to work with the potatoes. He cut them into quarter inch fries, and rinsed them in the sink.

The Test Kitchen said that rinsing the potatoes would help get rid of excess starch- not sure why that's important, but I'm not arguing with the results. He let the fries soak in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Then he absorbed the excess water with a towel.

While Andy worked on the fries, I prepped for the herb butter and the vinaigrette. For the herb butter, I minced a shallot, a couple of handfuls of parsley and some green onion. For the dressing, I followed the Test Kitchen's direction for how to emulsify red wine vinegar and oil. It's really easy. I used one tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a tablespoon of minced shallot, a dollop of Dijon, a dollop of Duke's mayonaise, and salt and pepper to taste. I whisked three tablespoons of Olive Oil into the mixture.

For the steaks, I cut the Ribeyes in two, so that I had four pieces, approx. 8 oz a piece. I salted and peppered each side of the steaks.

After the fries had soaked in the fridge, Andy added corn starch and let them sit for another 20 minutes.

And I decided it was time to give Daisy a hug and kiss.

Andy added the fries to a pot of peanut oil, heated to 350 degrees. He removed them after they turned a blonde color. Then he removed them and absorbed the excess grease with paper towel.

I started cooking the steaks in a saucepan with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

I added 4 tablespoons of butter to the parsley, shallots and green onion, along with a teaspoon of garlic for the herb butter.

I added the herb butter to the steaks when they had finished cooking. Then I covered the steaks so that the butter could melt.

Andy finished the fries by dipping them in oil again, this time heated to 375 degrees. This second time in the oil left them really crisp. I salted them with kosher salt while they were still nice and hot.

The meal was delicious! If you're interested in checking out other recipes from America's Test Kitchen, you can check out their site:

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/