Shallot Balsamic Steaks with Tahini, Pickled Onions and Blistered Tomatoes
For red meat eaters, this is a showstopper, plain and simple. This is a recipe I made off of a few inspiring meals in Tel Aviv, combining the delicious sweet and savory flavors of the shallot balsamic marinade with the nuttiness of tahini and the balance of acid to fat is stellar. I like to cook down the marinade into a sauce after, but if you’ve the time this is also great served with chimichurri on top. These steaks are totally doable on the stove but are excellent on a grill, either charcoal or gas, if you can. Serve as is, or with wild rice, cous cous, or a grilled veg like eggplant or asparagus.
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1 lb (450g) or more, assuming about 200g per person, high quality strip steaks (called ryggbiff in Sweden). Look for steaks at least 2-3cm thick, with a nice marbling to them or tell your butcher you’re planning to marinate them before grilling.
6-8 ripe cherry or small pomodorini tomatoes
Roughly chopped flat leaf parsley for garnish
For the marinade and sauce:
¾ cup (1.8dl) balsamic vinegar
½ cup (1.2dl) neutral oil like sunflower, grapeseed or canola
¼ cup (60ml) Worcestershire sauce
2 shallots, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp (15ml) cayenne pepper
1 small handful fresh cilantro leaves
1 tbsp (15ml) freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp (15ml) kosher salt
For the tahini sauce:
¼ cup (60ml) unsalted tahini
2-3 tbsp (30-45ml) olive oil, or more as needed
Juice of half a lemon
Coarse salt
1-2 tbsp (15-30ml) warm water, or more as needed
For pickled red onions:
Quick pickle recipe, done ahead of time or just in a bowl an hour ahead of cooking
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Do ahead:
Combine all ingredients of the marinade in a blender, or blend using a hand blender, until coarse (not fully smooth). Once the steaks have marinated in this, you will cook this down to turn it into a sauce, so do not discard when done.
Arrange your steaks in a deep baking dish that can fit all your steaks in one layer and poor marinade over them. The marinade will likely come up almost to the tops of each but not submerge them entirely. Cover with foil and refrigerate, marinating for at least 2 hours and no more than 5, flipping the steaks over half way through and spooning the marinade over to coat the new sides evenly. Remove dish from refrigerator 1 hour before you plan to cook so steaks return to room temp.
If you don’t have any already on hand, make your pickled red onions now as well and set aside.
When ready to cook:
Remove steaks from marinade to a dry plate and gently pat dry with paper towels. You want the surfaces to be fairly dry in order to achieve a nice crust. Pour remaining marinade into a saucepan and set aside.
In a bowl, combine tahini with olive oil, salt, lemon juice and a tiny bit of warm water, whisking until smooth. At first this may be clumpy and soupy, but just stick with it until it softens up and the color starts to lighten. Ultimately you want a smooth, very light beige color and a fairly soupy consistency, not too thick and not too runny. You will likely need to keep adding olive oil, lemon and more warm water to get it to this place. Continuously taste it until it tastes good to you (don’t skimp on the salt if using unsalted tahini to start), adding salt and lemon until it tastes like a yummy nutty sauce you want to bathe in.
If doing this on a BBQ, now is the time to prep your setup and get a nice hot even heat ready, with an off-heat zone to cook tomatoes.
If cooking steaks on your stove, heat a cast iron pan until very hot and add washed and very dried tomatoes, whole, to a dry pan. Shake them or roll them around until they start to take on a nice blackened char, some may pop or split, which is fine. If you’re grilling, do these on the grill off your central heat. Set tomatoes aside and let pan cool for a minute.
Reheat your cast iron pan on med-high until you feel the heat holding your hand 6 inches above the surface. Add your steaks and let sit, undisturbed, 3-4 minutes until they achieve a nice deep brown crust.
While meat is cooking, heat your saucepan full of marinade on a high simmer and cook, bubbling, stirring frequently, until it thickens about 10 minutes and any raw meat juices will have cooked off.
After 3-4 minutes of the steaks on heat they should release easily from the pan. Flip them once and sear the alternate side for 1-2 minutes depending on thickness, making sure not to overcook. If you press your finger into the surface while cooking, it should have the same density as the palm of your hand that connects to your thumb when relaxed. Remove steaks from heat and let rest, extra browned side up, on your cutting board under gentle aluminum foil for 5 minutes to allow the juices to recirculate back into your meat.
Once meat has rested, slice your meat against the grain into ½ inch (1-2cm) thick slices and arrange on a platter, sprinkling chopped parsley and good olive oil over meat. Serve tahini sauce, reduced marinade sauce, charred tomatoes, and pickled onions in small separate bowls on your table. If plating individually, I like to smear a heaping spoon of tahini on the plate, arrange the steaks, and layer my sauce or chimichurri with pickled onions on top. A nice sprinkling of za’atar, if you have any on hand, goes perfectly on the whole plate as well.
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