Steak al Limone
I think I did a pretty good job.
Time: 1 Hour 50 minutes + 4 Hour Marination
Ingredient Availability: 5/5
Difficulty: 1/5
I very rarely buy or order steak. For most of my life, I just hadn’t ever been impressed by a steak. What’s worse is that steaks are usually among the most expensive things on the menu. So, I think you cans see why I typically haven’t been a big steak fan. However, about a year ago I gave steak another chance at a somewhat fancy restaurant. That steak actually impressed me. As with most foods, if you make it yourself, you can do better than a restaurant. So when I looked through the Italian American Cookbook and found this recipe, I was more inclined to give it a shot. Hopefully It’s at least worth the price of the steaks.
Key Ingredients and Omissions:
Of course, lemons are very important to this recipe. I think I ended up using 8 lemons when making this. Really, you probably don’t need 6. I went ahead and made the lemon relish, which required I use a couple lemons to make some cured lemon slices. You can decided if that’s something you want to do based on my analysis at the end. The steak I used came from a local butcher and was prime grade. I’m honestly not sure if it’s worth the extra cost, as this steak is marinated in lemon juice. I forgot to put the Calabrian chiles in the picture.
Tools:
Grill or Grill pan
Sharp Knife
Mandoline
Cooking Review:
Cured Lemons: 15 minutes
To make the cured lemons, which are pretty much optional, I just sliced the lemons on the thinnest setting on my mandoline and combined it with some sugar and salt. I mixed them together and let it sit out for about half an hour before refrigerating until I made the relish.
Marinade: 33 minutes
After zesting and juicing the lemons, I whisked it together with the rest of the marinate ingredients. I set aside 3 tablespoons of the marinade for the relish then poured the rest over the steaks, which I had put into a gallon freezer bag. I let my steak marinate in the refrigerator about 4 hours.
Make Relish and Prepare for grilling: 22 minutes
To make the relish, I simply chopped up some of the cured lemons and whisked it with the reserved marinade from earlier. Next, I took the steaks out of the freezer bag and removed as much of the marinade as possible. I patted each steak dry, liberally seasoned them with salt and pepper on both sides, then sprayed them with cooking spray. While I was doing that, I had the grill heating up.
Grill steaks: 16 minutes
While the recipe suggests that it will take about 7 minutes to cook the steaks to medium rare, it took me 16 minutes to get a pretty perfect medium rare. I started off by following the recipe, cooking the steaks for 2 minutes per side before cooking for 1 and a half minutes per side. I measured the temperatures and I wasn't close to the 135 degrees that would be medium rare. You should take the steaks off when the temp is just under 135, as the temperature will rise a little once you take it off the grill. It could’ve just been the grill that I was using that made it take longer, but just be sure to keep an eye on the temperatures of the steaks after a few flips.
Rest & slice: 6 minutes
I let the steaks rest for 4 minutes before slicing and serving with the lemon relish.
Analysis:
This is probably the most flavorful steak I’ve ever had. The lemon flavor is excellent and there is a great balance of sweet and savory flavors. The steak was pretty tender, but not melting your mouth tender. As far as the relish goes, it actually adds a bit of a bitter note, as the cured lemons keeps the lemon peel in it. Despite this, if you like lemon a lot, you will enjoy the boost of lemon flavor it adds. Personally, I prefer the steak by itself. I think it has the perfect amount of lemon and beef flavor. I’m going to give this recipe a 9/10. If you don’t mind spending a little extra for some steaks and you have a grill, I think you’ll be very impressed by this recipe.
