Some kind of Steak w/ Red Potatoes that appear to be cooked, Asparagus and Shallots with what looks to be a Mustard Sauce and Prosciutto or some other kind of cured meat

Doesn't that look good?

I realized I hadn't made a blog post in quite some time. So I began going through my Asparagus archives and I found this picture. I don't really even remember making this. Those are our plates though. And it is clearly something I would make. It has all of the things I like: Asparagus, shallots, steak, cured pork. Now I don't want you to get the impression I just haphazardly throw together Asparagus recipes. A lot of thought, time, consideration, and sometimes even compromise go into each recipe. I'm not over exaggerating in the slightest. I typically keep rigorous and extensive notes on each recipe so I can either reproduce what I've done, or make subtle changes to make the recipe better. Some asparagus incarnations go through as many as 12-15 attempts before I deem them worthy of this blog. That being said, I began looking for my notes for this recipe and subsequent photo shoot. To no avail. I'm not sure if I should be exposing this much of my method to my readers but generally my notes get hand written on paper and then transposed to a word document and saved in the archives on my computer. As I have the handwriting of a dyslexic 4th grader the transfer from the written document to the word document is usually the most arduous task of the entire process. This time however I could not find any notes on my hard drive. I can only attribute this to one thing. I must have had 3 glasses of wine, and titled the document something really clever. So clever that at the time I was absolutely positive I would never forget what it was. What I'm getting at is that this recipe may be lost forever. Or at least until I start trying to figure out what I did. I think for now we should just appreciate the picture and leave it at that. If there were some kind of a public outcry I would have no hesitation in beginning the resurrection process, but seeing as I have little to no initiative and only 3 readers come here per day, and I sincerely doubt any of them have even made it this far into the paragraph we will just have to come to terms with the notion that this recipe may be lost forever.

Here it is smaller.

Broiled Parmesan Shallots and Asparagus with Grilled Steak

Remember that time you went out to eat and you thought to yourself, "That was good, but there was just too much cheese?" Neither can I. You should keep that in mind when you're performing the tedious task of cheese grating. This is another broiled asparagus recipe that will take about 8 minutes so when you put the asparagus and shallots into the broiler you should be grating cheese for at least half of the amount of time that the asparagus is under the heat. Unless you're slow at grating cheese. Then you should be grating for the full amount of time. I don't like to give strict measurements on cheese but in my experience the more you have the less likely you are to be disappointed that there's not enough. It's math.

Grilling Steak:
It was brought to my attention earlier today that grilling a steak isn't just common knowledge passed from one generation to another that can be taken for granted. I was at a butcher shop with a man that confessed that he wasn't that good at grilling. He said that he considered "taking a class on it". I thought it was the most effeminate thing that I had ever heard from a man before. I always knew it was a fickle art form but it's nothing like trying to teach your rebellious child appreciation for abstract expressionism. So this is how you're supposed to grill a steak:

1. Lay your steak(s) out so they reach room temperature.
2. Heat your grill (high medium heat) so they're going onto a hot grill and they're searing when they touch.
3. Leave it on the first side for 7-9 minutes. (This varies depending on the thickness)
4. Flip once. Only once. When you keep turning it over it dries it out.
5. Let it cook until it's just a little too pink for your taste.
6. Let it rest for at least 5 minutes before you serve it.

If you under-cook your steak just a bit then as you're letting it rest your steak is going to cook itself to your desired outcome. If you cook it on the grill to the place you want it done to, then as your steak is sitting it's going to over-cook itself and you will end up with a slightly over-cooked steak.


Now that that's settled we can move on to the important part: shallots and asparagus!

Ingredients:
1/2 bundle of asparagus
1 1/2 shallot
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan Cheese (To Taste)










Instructions:
Cut (or snap) the coarse ends off the asparagus. Place them in a pan that's broiler safe. Cast iron or a cookie sheet that has aluminum foil across the top. Add your salt, pepper and drizzle olive oil over them all evenly. Put them in the broiler on high for 7-8 minutes. Grate your cheese while this is happening. After they're blackened and almost done pour your grated Parmesan across the top and put back into the broiler for an additional minute. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

I have two post scripts to add to this post:

1. I assume children don't care for abstract expressionism for two reasons. 1. Most people don't seem to. 2. They always seem to be concerned with coloring inside of lines. Which is counter intuitive to the abstract expressionist.

2. When I made this recipe the person I cook for ate all of her asparagus before she ate all of her steak. As you can imagine she's tired of asparagus. I took this as a compliment.

New York steak with grilled asparagus w/ a shallot & whiskey butter sauce and a baked red potato

It's difficult to not get excited about asparagus and shallots when you're talking about using whiskey as a sauce for them. The New York steak doesn't hurt as a garnish either. Everyone has their favorite cuts of steak and I have mine as well. New York steaks are rich and full of flavor and easy to cook with. I have a local store that sells them in ridiculous sizes and it's difficult for me to not want to buy one when I see them. I grilled this on a Lodge cast iron skillet. I can't understate how much I like to cook on cast iron. I gave this skillet to my girlfriend as a Christmas gift. I'm a strong proponent of giving gifts to people you care about that are also useful to yourself. It just makes sense.

Ingredients:

2 large shallots sliced
1 bunch of asparagus
1 large New York Steak (or two reasonably sized ones)
5 oz of Whiskey (plus additional if needed)
2 tablespoons of butter
A few splashes of water (if needed)
1 teaspoon of mustard 
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 red potato
Salt/Pepper to taste

Instructions:

The thing that will take the longest is the potato. Drizzle some olive oil around the entire thing and add some salt and pepper to taste. Put it into the oven at 450 degrees on a preheated pan. Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and add your sliced shallots. Heat them up and let them brown. Pour 3 ounces of whiskey into a glass, and another two ounces into another glass. When the shallots are looking thirsty it's time to add the whiskey. Pour the whiskey in slowly and reduce the heat. Deglaze the pan. Let the shallots simmer while the whiskey is reducing. Drink the other glass of whiskey.


At this time you should be heating up your skillet for the steak and the asparagus. The asparagus should have their ends cut off of them (or snapped, but I find that practice to be time consuming and obnoxious).



The steak should be seasoned with salt and pepper. If you are preparing a cut inferior to the New York or a Rib eye I recommend coating it lightly with salt, pepper, garlic powder, a small amount of olive oil and some Worcestershire sauce. This can hide the lackluster meat quality. While you're preparing the steak you should add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the shallots.  The asparagus will cook for about the same amount of time the meat is cooked. Generally you should only flip the meat one time. I recommend waiting about 8-10 minutes and then flipping the steak. When you're cooking with cast iron it has the ability to retain heat very well. After you flip the steak for the second time you should wait several minutes. Not as long as you waiting on the first side however. Once you turn off the burner the steak and the asparagus will continue to cook. I like mine to be medium rare. At this point when everything is almost done add the teaspoon of mustard (stone ground) into the shallot whiskey sauce and stir it. It will help emulsify it. You may need to add some water if it looks to be separating. If that happens add a little water and whisk it all together. When all of this looks good to your standards you should plate the dish. You're ready to enjoy.