Contrary to my usual recipes for four people, this is for one. L. decided that he would prefer to have the accompanying salad with cheese and baguette instead and have his ribeye for lunch tomorrow. In a way this was nice, because, making this for one person felt somehow celebratory and I enjoyed that. It also meant that I could go crazy on the caramelized onions which L. doesn’t like.
Strangely enough for someone who cooks often, I always have problems with steak – it never tastes the way it does on an outdoor grill or in a restaurant. This ribeye did. I hardly messed with the inspiration recipe below at all and the taste of this steak will make every minute you need to spend cleaning the pan after worth it!
1 bone-in ribeye, best marbled quality that you can afford (for purposes of cooking times please note that mine was an 8 oz steak 1/2 an inch thick)
1/2 red onion, sliced into thin half moons
2 tsps olive oil
1 Tbsp dry white wine
1/4 cup sherry or red wine vinegar
2 Tbsps soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
2 tsps brown sugar
Salt
Half an hour before you are ready to cook the steak, remove it from the fridge so that it can come to room temperature. Blot it dry on all sides with a paper towel and salt it very lightly on both sides. Set aside.
Place the vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce and brown sugar together in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring from time to time, until the sugar is melted. Then lower the heat and allow to boil, stirring from time to time, until the liquid has reduced by half and is thick and syrupy. This will only take a couple of minutes. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and, as soon as it is shimmering, lower the heat and add the onions. Salt very lightly and cook, stirring often as the onions will stick otherwise, for a minute or so. Add the white wine and continue to cook for an additional 3-4 minutes until the onions are softened and translucent. Scrape into a bowl and set aside.
Place the skillet in which you cooked the onions back on the heat without cleaning it. Increase the heat to medium and let the pan get very hot for 2 minutes. Turn on your oven hood to high and add the meat to the pan.
Cook the meat for one minute and then flip and cook for an additional minute. Stand it on its side and cook for 30 seconds to crisp up the fat along the edge of the steak. Flip again flat and this time, brush the meat with some of the sauce. After a minute flip again and brush the meat with more of the sauce. Repeat this process one more time on both sides, for a total cooking time of 6 minutes 30 seconds for a medium rare ribeye. Remove the steak to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Let rest for 3 to 5 minutes.
While it is resting, add the onions to the pan in which you cooked the steak and, over low heat, reheat the onions, tossing them in the pan juices.
Serve the steak topped with the onions and a drizzle of pan juices. My side dish of choice was a dandelion and escarole salad -- bitter greens strong enough to stand up to the hot meat and deliciously absorb any remaining pan juices.
This was truly delicious, charred as a steak should be, and perfectly seasoned. And I now probably don't need a steak again for at least a few months so craving handled!
Inspiration recipe, here.
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