RED ALERT A quick roast in the oven lightly caramelizes the piquillo peppers. They complement the steak with a dash of color and zest.
Photo:
JENNY HUANG FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY TYNA HOANG, PROP STYLING BY SOPHIE STRANGIO
The Chef: Ryan Bartlow
Illustration:
Matthew Cook
His Restaurants: Ernesto’s in New York City.
What He’s Known For: Cooking Spanish classics without compromise. Paying homage to regional traditions. Raising New York’s tapas game.
A GOOD STEAK requires no sauce, in chef Ryan Bartlow’s opinion. At Ernesto’s in Manhattan, he often serves excellent cuts sauceless and free of fussy sides so diners can better appreciate the meat itself.
That’s more or less his approach in his second Slow Food Fast recipe. Here, Mr. Bartlow threads dry-aged rib-eye or strip steak onto skewers and quickly grills the meat until it’s well browned on the exterior and rare to medium-rare within. He serves the skewers simply, with a green salad and a few roasted piquillo peppers.
The salad consists of nothing more than fresh lettuce and slivered onions dressed in oil and vinegar. “It’s a palate cleanser,” Mr. Bartlow said. The peppers provide some sweetness and zing. “You don’t need anything else,” he added. “Except maybe some bread and a good bottle of wine.”
To let the flavor really shine through, Mr. Bartlow waits until the steak is on the grill to salt it. “I season the meat generously once it starts to sweat. You can use a kosher salt to start if you like. But then, off the grill, I use a coarse salt, like Maldon,” he said.
It took Mr. Bartlow years of working in restaurant kitchens (not to mention eating), in Spain and the U.S., to gain the confidence to cook so simply. “It’s about the meat. It’s about preserving traditions from the Basque region,” he said. “This is how it’s done there, and it’s food served with pride. Why change it?”
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Here, Ryan Bartlow threads dry-aged rib-eye or strip steak onto skewers and quickly grills the meat until it’s well browned on the exterior and rare to medium-rare within. He serves the skewers simply, with a green salad and a few roasted piquillo peppers
Ingredients
- 2 pounds dry-aged steak, such as rib-eye or strip steak, cut into 1½-inch cubes
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing meat
- 12 jarred piquillo peppers, strained
- Kosher salt
- 1 head green leaf lettuce, cored and roughly torn
- ½ Spanish onion, thinly sliced
- 1½ tablespoons cider vinegar
Directions
- Preheat a grill to high. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thread meat onto 8 flame-resistant skewers and lightly brush with olive oil.
- Arrange peppers on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season lightly with salt. Roast peppers until slightly caramelized in spots, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, lay skewers on grill and season with salt. Once meat browns on underside, after 1-2 minutes, turn skewers and continue cooking until interior is rare to medium-rare, 1-2 minutes more. Remove meat from grill and let it rest at least 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the salad: In a large bowl, toss lettuce with onions. Toss in vinegar and enough olive oil to lightly coat leaves, about 2 tablespoons. Season with salt and more olive oil to taste.
- Arrange skewers on plates or a large platter, and season meat with more salt. Drape roasted peppers over top and serve salad alongside.
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