46: Flat Iron Steak / Caramelized Fennel & Bell Pepper Relish / Green Beans / Crispy "Bacon Fat" Potato Spheres

Oh, yes, indeed – another fine steak dinner! A perfect plate of food has three successful elements in color, taste, and texture. Keep these three things in mind when cooking, and you should be able to produce amazing plates of food all the time.  Does this dinner live up to that billing? Try the preparation, and let me know!

My good friend Jen was in town from Chicago, and she asked me to cook her some of the food she has seen in my tweets and Facebook posts. I tweet the photos and blog titles after each meal, and it’s usually a couple days before I get around to posting the recipe. I thought about the vegetables I had in my refrigerator, and then we picked up the meat from the butcher.

Getting a good cut of meat is always important to having a great steak dinner. While I usually go for the filet mignon, I opted for flat iron steak this time for its deep, rich flavor and tenderness like the filet mignon cut. To complement the flavor, I topped the steak with a relish of caramelized red bell pepper and fennel to bring out a little sweetness. I added lightly sautéed green beans and crispy potato spheres cooked in bacon fat for texture and to round out the flavor profile of the plate.

We drank GD Vajra’s Langhe Rosso (Italy, 2007) with dinner. GD Vajra’s wines are top notch.

Ingredients and Directions:

2 half pound filets of flat iron steak (aka top blade steak)

1 smallish-medium potato, sliced into 8 spheres

1 medium bell pepper - seeded, cored, ribbed, and then diced

1 small fennel bulb, sliced lengthwise and diced

10 green beans

Salt and pepper

Garlic powder

Olive oil

Bacon fat (can sub olive oil)
Balsamic Vinegar

Minced rosemary and sage for garnish

Boil the potatoes in well salted water until they are almost easily pierced with a fork, drain and set aisde. While potatoes are boiling, preheat broiler and dust steaks with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides, and use your press seasonings into each side.

Here’s where things get tricky because your task will be to cook everything at the same time from here on out. I will separate the remaining steps to make it easier. Add salt and pepper to each pan from here on out, except for the cast iron plate because you already seasoned the meat.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of bacon fat in a 10” pan over medium-low heat. Heat an additional 2 tablespoons of oil in another 10” pan over medium-low heat as well.

Place potatoes in bacon fat in a single layer, turn once after 7 minutes. Add diced fennel and bell pepper to the other pan, stirring occasionally. Stick a cast iron plate under the broiler for 10 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to another pan over medium heat two minutes prior to the 10 minute cooking time of cast iron plate.

Remove cast iron plate from broiler (careful, it’s hot!), place the steaks on them, and put them back in the broiler for 5 minutes. Add green beans to the last pan now as well, stirring occasionally. You can add a little garlic powder to the beans if you like.

Raise heat on potatoes and relish to medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar to fennel and bell pepper relish. Potatoes are done when they have a nice golden brown edge, about 2-3 minutes. Similarly, the relish is done when they take on a slightly charred look, about 3-4 minutes.

Turn off heat on all the pans, remove steaks from the broiler and cast iron plate to cool on a cutting board while you plate the potatoes and green beans. Add your steak to the plate, top with relish, and garnish the whole plate with herbs.

Enjoy!