Sunday Evening Experiment

I didn't intend to spend the whole day in the lab on such a beautiful Sunday, but time has a way of getting away from me when I get my head into my NMR data. I am relatively new to structural biology, but I'm told that this is how it always works -- people lose entire days, miss meals, and time accelerates when you're in that dark room full of computers...

We picked up some flank steak at the grocery store looking for a relatively thin cut that's good for marinating quickly and pan frying. Melissa made up a fresh, zesty marinade of lemon and lime juice with salt and pepper, then seared the steak in a ridged, cast iron griddle pan. Leeks and baby portobello mushrooms were sliced and sauteed in olive oil before she added the last of the chive butter she had made up a while back to have with hot sourdough rolls. Steak and vegetables were served on a base of white bean puree. Melissa uses canned small white beans pureed with roasted garlic and a bit of lemon juice to make this flavorful base with a thick, mouth-filling texture.

The 2006 Sebastiani Chardonnay (yes, we buy quite a bit of it) picked up both the crisp acidity from the citrus marinade and the buttery, earthy tones of the leek and mushroom accompaniments. The wine actually brought the dish together a bit since the disparate flavor palates in the lemon-lime marinade and the buttery vegetables had some clash potential. Melissa says next time she would probably leave out the citrus and sear the steak with just salt and pepper.

The lemon-lime marinade made us think of good steak fajitas, though, and we finished the last scraps of steak in resepctable Tex-Mex style with fresh guacamole and tortilla chips. Lucky we had those avocados...