Now "Really" Back in Munich
21 July 2009
After our long absence – living in Japan for a year and three months, followed by a number of visits to friends and family across Europe and a nice, long holiday in California (sooo beautiful…) - we're now kind of settled in Munich again. The first time I felt like really, really "coming home" to this city was when I finally found the time for an extended visit to Viktualienmarkt. I took my time to rediscover the beautiful market – tasting different reserve balsamic vinegars, having a long chat with my fruit & veggie dealer (very happy to see that he’s still there as usual), and choosing some nice, juicy and tender beef filet at the butcher’s.
After such a long time in the land of fish, I had decided to sear some steaks for dinner this weekend. Meat is usually served in homeopathic doses in Japan (we’ve had situations where the waiters absolutely couldn’t believe we wanted to order one steak each – they rather suggested to share one among three…). We’ve of course had plenty of meat during our recent vacation in the US, but preparing a nice, sizzling chunk of meat myself is still a different matter - and I hadn’t done so in a long, long time. And the meat I got at the market tasted sooo good – it had a very refined aroma, and it was juicy, tender, almost melting on your tongue. Having easy access to the right produce is such a blessing…
Some Japanese influence will always remain in my cooking, so (to Simon’s delight) I decided to rub the filets with a bit of ginger and garlic before frying them medium rare – really a simple recipe, but with a very nice twist. Also, I have very much embraced the Japanese concept of serving different smaller dishes at the same time rather than in a sequence of courses, at least when the dinner is casual. It’s more relaxed not having to worry about the next thing to prepare, and people can all just eat in the order they prefer, or combine things if they like…
To go with the steak I prepared some simple fresh tomato and basil salad (refined with a dash of the wonderful balsamic vinegar I had just bought), as well as an orange-dressed wild rice salad – recipe to follow shortly!
Ginger and Garlic Rubbed Beef Filet
| serves 4 |
| 4 steaks of filet mignon |
| 1-2 dents of garlic |
| about 3 teaspoons of a freshly grated ginger root |
| some butter for frying |
| some freshly ground sea salt |
| some freshly ground pepper |
First of all, go to the butcher’s and get some really juicy and tender filet mignon. As this is an extremely simple recipe with few ingredients, the right quality is more important than ever…
Peel the ginger root and grate it to the point it yields about 3 teaspoons. Mash 1-2 dents of garlic (I would take 2, but up to your taste) and mix well with the grated ginger. Rub half of the mixture onto one side of the steaks and salt them slightly.
Heat some butter in a frying pan, and when very hot add the meat with the marinated side down. Sear for about 30-60 seconds, depending on how thick the steaks are and how you like them done. While they sizzle, season the steaks with the rest of the ginger-garlic paste on the upper side, then turn them round and fry again. (30 seconds on each side worked perfectly for our 2 cm, not-quite-medium-rare steaks.)
After taking out the steaks quickly add a dash of water to the pan, stirring strongly to dissolve the remainder sticking in there; pour the juice over the steaks, finish them with some freshly ground salt and pepper and enjoy immediately.
| Suggestions for Starters | Suggestions for Desserts |
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