Steak Salad, Cornbread, Small Things

Public Service Announcement! Those yeasted waffles we’re all obsessed with freeze beautifully and come back to life with just a pop in the toaster (and a schmear of Nutella if you’re strong enough.) Good morning! The weather continues to be beautiful in New York. I spent most of yesterday working on a chapter of my book called “A Vegetarian Parent’s Very Special Bag of Hooks and Tricks.” (Trust me, it will make sense when you read it.) I also went on two walks, and finished watching Unorthodox, that series on Netflix that everyone is into. Hot take: Not sure I loved it. Here is today’s PPP…

Pantry: Steak Salad

This is actually a continuation of yesterday’s post. On Saturday night, we didn’t only eat the flatbread with ramps for dinner. We also took advantage of the two strip steaks we ordered through our farmer’s market, grilled them over medium-hot coals (until they are firm, but not rock hard.) and built a salad around them. Since we are now firmly in the Meat as Condiment Camp, above was all the steak we grilled for four people (about 3/4 pound) and it was plenty. We tossed with two large bunches of gem lettuce, crumbled blue cheese, croutons, scallions, and a simple vinaigrette (2 teaspoons Dijon, 1 minced garlic clove, 1/4 cup white wine vinaigrette, squeeze honey, salt, pepper, 1/3 cup olive oil.)

Project: My Favorite Cornbread

I had chili on the menu and a carton of buttermilk about to go bad, so what better excuse to make a batch of The Silver Palate‘s cornbread, a quick bread I’ve been making and riffing on for almost three decades. The original recipe, called Cracklin’ Cornbread (how 80s is that?), calls for 1 cup diced bacon, but I just omit that entirely and it’s always good. Sometimes I throw in a handful of chives; in the summer, I’ll add a half cup of corn off the cob. Occasionally, I’ll add two more tablespoons of butter to make them a extra moist. PS: They look ridiculously yellow in this photo because the sun was setting gold at the exact moment I was rushing to get the pic and sitting down to dinner. Sun! PPS: I used the rest of the buttermilk to make some ranch dressing.

Butter, for greasing the pan
1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Then stir in the buttermilk, melted butter, and egg and mix gently. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, set on the center rack of the oven, and bake for 25 minutes. The corn bread is done when the edges are lightly browned and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut into 3-inch squares to serve.

Purpose: The Small Things are Everything

“I put food on the table every night and my love for these people is falling out of my eyeballs.” — Catherine Newman talks about the solace of small things in a beautiful essay over at Cup of Jo. You will love it.

Stay safe, stay home.

The goal of the Project, Pantry, Purpose series to keep us sane, distracted, and connected. Please continue to comment below with suggestions for recipes, projects (for kids and adults), good deeds, donation ideas, stories, movies, games, puzzles. Or just tell me how you’re doing, what your daily routine is, and especially how DALS can help you or people in your community. You can also email me directly at [email protected].