I mean for real tiny! The stove-top has 2 burners that measure 6.5 inches. That sounds reasonable. Look at your basic cereal/soup/salad bowl and imagine cooking on it.
I got a steak. A beautiful New York Strip steak. A dinner to celebrate my new home! Steak and rice seemed like a nice, simple beginning. The steak was bigger than my burner. My rice pot was bigger than my burner. I was very tempted to stomp my foot but it wasn’t the neighbors fault. I took a deep breath and started going through the drawers and cabinets to find a solution.
The landlord considered the size of the burners. I found a tiny pot with a lid for the rice. I also found a tiny skillet for the steak. Using the tiny skillet would have meant that I had to cut the steak in half. I made a decision. I didn’t want to do that. I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat the whole thing but cutting the steak hurt my feelings. I decided on the tiny pot and the giant skillet.
The rice pot was perfect. However, the skillet was so big that I had to adjust the placement. I could only get about half of it on the burner and that required me to have a bit of the rice pot off of its burner. A stove dance!
The rice came from a box so it wasn’t as delicate as a plain rice. Once again I am excited about a packaged side! My main concern was the steak. It was not on sale, so I paid full price. The current market price at Sprouts is $23 per pound for Angus Beef. Twenty-three dollars will feed me for a week! It was a special occasion so I went for it. Like I said the rice was from a box so it was double OK to splurge on the meat.
I decided to do a wet marinade on the steak. I chose balsamic and Worcestershire sauce, mainly because it’s what I had on hand. I let the steak marinate for about 2 hours, 1 hour per side. I did the wet marinade at room temp. I feel like I read somewhere that room temp meat will take the flavors better but I could be making that up. After the 2 hours at room temp its time to cook the meats! Before I put it in the pan, I seasoned with onion powder, white pepper and granulated garlic. I didn’t add any salt since the liquid had so much. You can always use a finishing salt at the end if it doesn’t have enough.
I knew I was going to have leftovers so I went with a more rare cook on the steak. Reheating steak can turn it into shoe leather very quick so I am always thinking of this. This may be a bad thing but, a rare steak will have a bit more juice that comes out in the resting. That juice is meat magic and everything possible should be done to capture it!
Let me take a minute to talk about that meat juice magic. It can be made into a pan sauce, a gravy or a glaze. Depending on how much time you have. your flavor profile or your desired outcome, you can turn it into any of those. I went with a pan sauce. I let my steak rest in the tiny skillet so I could capture all the juice and make the sauce. I chose a pan sauce, for me it is the quickest and easiest. I let the steak rest for almost 10 minutes while I finished the rice and gathered the rest of my ingredients. Those ingredients were butter, white wine and fresh garlic. I cut the steak in half and put one in a Tupperware and one on my plate. As soon as the steak is cut more juice will come out and it is just as precious as the resting juice.
Now for my pan sauce. I had all the sexy meat juice, best base ever, butter and white wine. I am sure I don’t do any of this properly but I manage to make something that folks eat. I believe a proper pan sauce is made in the pan in which the food was cooked. I had added oil to the pan with the steak so it wouldn’t stick. Burnt oil doesn’t belong in a pan sauce. I bring the meat juice to a simmer. Then, I add the wine and let it cook. I let it cook until it is reduced enough to not taste like raw wine. Once the alcohol has cooked out I add the butter. The butter gives the sauce body and and silk and sexy and UUMMH.
So we have perfect box rice, a beautifully cooked steak and a sexy pan sauce. Let’s plate this dish! I plated the rice first so it could soak up some of the juice from the steak and the sauce. I am a lazy eater so I plate the steak and cut it and then add the sauce. This isn’t a bad tactic, it kind of creates a puddle of sauce all at once that can be shared between the rice and the meat. Not that eating it properly won’t create the same juice, it is just on a bite by bite basis.
I could have made this even more celebratory with a few extra ingredients. Fresh scallions on top. Frizzled shallots or sauteed mushrooms. Bleu cheese sauce or crumbled goat cheese. Crispy prosciutto topping or pancetta in the rice. We know that we can make boxed or canned sides sexy with just one or two ingredients. This dinner was in my first week here. I was stymied by the tiny fridge and the tiny cook top. I had nothing on hand that I could use to sex this up. I didn’t take my own advice! I am 3 weeks in and I still don’t have a decent pantry. I am limited by space, I have less storage here than at the tiny house! I am also farther from home base so quick trips are out. This is really going to be an adventure! I am going to have to get serious about meal planning and go back to weekly shopping.
Happy cooking! Embrace your kitchen!
Ali's Kitchen 