re: Feb Chopped Challenge Results: Champion is: #8 Got Blaze! (Voting is Closed)

Entry 7

I hereby submit my spin on Steak Frites for public scrutiny and ridicule.

FMy first thought when I saw the list of ingredients was, "Hot damn, STEAK! I'll grill a steak and have a side salad of fruit cocktail, cucumber and wasabi peas."

Putting serious thought to it, I figured I could try to take advantage of the wasabi peas using the traditional beef/horseradish sauce pairing. I changed my mind because I'm not all that fond of beef with horseradish sauce - I just think that horseradish is so strong that it often covers the flavors of the beef, itself. We're talking ribeye, here... Either go big, or go home! I ended up choosing to to Steak Frites, or "steak and fries", but putting my own spin on it. The wasabi peas and cucumber had me leaning towards doing this with an Asian flair, so that's the direction I went in. I made Steak Frites with my own spin: steak with a soy sauce glaze and cucumber fries battered and fried in wasabi pea flour. I used the fruit cocktail to sweeten both the glaze and the dip I made for the "frites".

The main ingredients - I went with a two inch thick ribeye. Clearly, the 2" thick ribeye steak is going to be the star of this show, but I chose it because I wanted a piece of meat that would stand up to the strong flavors of my Asian glaze.



I chose to grill the ribeye steak with a glaze I made with soy sauce, pureed fruit cocktail, fresh ginger, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes.


While the steak was cooking, I created a batter for my cucumber wasabi fries by combining powdered wasabi peas with flour. I then removed the seeds from my cucumbers and sliced them into 2 inch pieces that were approximately the size and shape of a french fry.


I let the steak come to room temperature and then seasoned t with salt and pepper. I grilled the steak over direct heat for 2-3 minutes per side and then finished it on the grill over indirect heat. I then set it to rest for 10 minutes.


While the steak was resting, I dipped the cucumber fries in my batter and deep fried them. I created a dip for the fries using mayonnaise, stone ground dijon mustard, pureed fruit cocktail, rice wine vinegar, and hot sauce.


After the steak was properly rested (10 minutes), I plated the steak with the cucumber fries that I sprinkled with more powdered wasabi peas.


Time to eat Steak Frites!


The fries turned out really good, and my kids all enjoyed them, although they thought it was kind of weird, at first. The steak was AWESOME, though. The glaze was very tangy, but didn't overshadow the real star of the meal - that big ol' ribeye.