Beef n' broccoli Surf n' Turf(s) by brokedinner
I do not like to revisit dishes. I am not designed for that kind of thing. I openly admit to having a severe case of S.O.S(Shiny Object Syndrome) mixed with a equal doses of A.D.D(you all know this one) and C.R.SrsS(Can't Remember Shit for Shit's Sake). Luckily my muscle memory isn't too bad so if I do something enough time's I get the hang of it but I still get bored quickly. Except when it comes to asian food.
If I had to eat food from only one continent for the rest of my life it would easily, at this point in my life, be Asia. If you know anything about me you know how much of a he-slut I am for a good curry. As much as I can inhale fistfuls of pork belly baos, or chicken butt yakitori(I know it's not Chinese), when I attempt to emulate Chinese cookery I do so wisely. I don't try to mimic technique, I like to go for their ingredient pairing.
For all I know the combination of ''Beef and broccoli with dark soy sauce'' could be a ''western'' Chinese combination and not truly authentic. Beats me, I just know that every GOOD Chinese restaurant I have ever been to had it on the menu in some form. I wanted to pair those ingredients and I instinctively chose to add a seafood element to the dish and make it a surf and turf kind of thing as well. Beef n Broccoli surf n' turf was gonna happen. If it would work is another thing.
Of course it did. I would not be writing about it right now if it didn't. Anything can work if you balance flavours right so I am no prodigy clairvoyant here. The first time I put it together I used a fillet of beef. I marinated it overnight in a char siu marinade I made. Heavily marinading fillet steak, I can hear the moans of Escoffier's ghost. It makes sense to me. Beef fillet is at it's best closer to the raw side of the spectrum(sorrybutnotreally vegans) and I was going to be cooking it blue. Besides, fillet steak doesn't really taste like anything anyway(I am in the comments to argue). But...what about the broccoli? How much am I going to LOVE that?
Alot.
Broccoli is my favourite green. I loved the stuff as a kid with melted cheese. As an adult I am heavily partial to having it roasted. The stems of broccoli are usually shown the least attention and they mostly wind up in soup. I wanted to reverse that thinking and wound up roasting the stems and turning the florets into a puree(which is just a really thick soup). The surf part of this dish came in the un-expected form of a sauce. I had some roast chicken stock that I reduced to a near syrup and added some clams to that with some of their juice before. Butter, soy sauce, thyme, and white wine vinegar did the magical binding. A little sticky rice later and I was a very happy cook.
Today I wanted to pay a bit of homage that concept. I wanted to revisit beef n' broccoli surf n' turf but with a refreshing approach. I know it has only been 6 months but I am a romantic cook and I still got love for all ex-dishes. I decided to pick up the proverbial phone and call....just to say hi :)
Veal rump. Yep....thats a thing. Chefs. Go. Find this stuff. Thank me later. I only recently got put onto this FANTASTIC cut of meat that just isn't seen on menus ANYWHERE as far as I have been. It's still beef and I had some tenderstem broccoli. This is gonna happen damnint! Veal rump has a delicate flavour and magnificent texture. It has enough meaty body to absorb some flavour so I decided I was going to pan braise it with thyme....and pomegranate. I don't know if I decided upon the surf element before or after but I knew it was going to be a sauce. I just needed to burn some cucumbers first!
Something else you should know about me. I burn everything. I even like to do it on purpose. I love burning cucumbers and I remember Tom Sellers (Ironically on a Staff Canteen video) saying he made a dressing out of cucumber ash so I wanted to try it. I burnt the life out of some cucumbers and made an emulsion of that and squid ink. The flavours were working so well in my head. Succulent pan braised veal rump coated and basted in thyme and butter before being hit with some pomegranate honey/seeds and reduced roasted chicken stock(I keep this stuff in my freezer its that good). To season and balance the veal I also added some gordal olives at the end...I figured the saltiness would bring out the squid ink in the emulsion. This was ready to go! The tenderstem broccoli would not take the center stage in this pagent...this was all about the veal, cucumbers, salinity, burn, and a savoury tartness. Would this even work?
2 for 2. This dish not only worked, but it is very much one of my most creative dishes in my opinion. I stepped out of my comfort zone of usual flavour pairings and peered into the squid ink black abyss and didn't poison myself....I haven't done that since I made that glow in the dark cherry tofu pink curry almost a decade ago. Sigh....the good old days. Thanks for reading guys! Nuff Respect!
~brokedinner
*picks up the phone...stares at number....hangs up*
