Wagyu steak, sweet carrot coins and butter broccoli served with wild rucola and parmesan salad

So here is the second recipe (for dinner) that I spoke about a few days ago in my Easy Peanut Chicken and Mango Salad recipe post. This dish is just as simple and quick to prepare. Happy cooking!

Wagyu steak, sweet carrot coins and butter broccoli served with wild rucola and parmesan salad (serves 2)

What you need:

• Two wagyu steaks. (Remember the thicker the steak, the longer it will take to cook.)
• Coarse salt (in a salt grinder)
• Coarse pepper (in a pepper grinder)
• Cold water
• A drizzle of olive oil
• Two carrots
• About ten florets of broccoli (a small broccoli head should be enough)
• Ice blocks
• Two teaspoons of sugar
• Two tablespoons of butter
• A box of wild rucola (rocket) leaves, rinsed
• A cup of coarsely grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
• A sprinkle of olive oil for the salad
• A sprinkle of white balsamic vinegar for the salad

Tips before we start...

Here are some guidelines for cooking steaks. I'm still working on my 'perfect steak' techniques but I've been doing some reading online and I came across these times which work well with the times I've used in the past. (I found these on this site: http://www.lobels.com/recipe/perfectsteak.aspx)

Rare (120-130°F)	2 minutes each side
Medium Rare (130-140°F)	3 minutes each side
Medium (140-150°F)	4 minutes each side
Medium Well (150-160°F)	5 minutes each side

 
Tips for working with wagyu meat...

Before you start cooking, remove steak/s from the packaging and let them sit on a plate to breathe for about 15 to 20 minutes so they warm up to room temperature.

To make the recipe...

• Put the rocket in a bowl and grate pecorino or parmesan cheese on top. Drizzle a little olive oil and white balsamic vinegar over it. Toss and set to one side.
• Rinse your carrots and cut them into carrot coins. Throw the ends away.
• Cut off the trunks of your broccoli and rinse. Break it into bite-size florets.
• Fill a medium-large saucepan with water and bring to the boil.
• Drop the vegetables into the water once it's boiling and cook until tender. (2 to 6 minutes.) To test if the vegetables are tender take one of each out and bite into them.
• Once cooked, drop the vegetables into the ice water. This will stop the residual heat from cooking them further and will keep them crisp until you want to butter them.
• Heat two small saucepans.
• Put a tablespoon of butter in each.
• Melt the butter in each.
• In the one you'd like to cook your carrots, put two teaspoons of sugar and stir until the sugar melts.
• Add the carrots once the sugar is melted and cook until golden. They shouldn't crisp but they should change colour.
• Put the broccoli into the saucepan with no sugar and cook for a few minutes until the edges are just wilting.
• While the vegetables are cooking, take your steak/s and poke it with a few holes using a fork. Grind some salt and pepper into a bowl and add a drizzle of olive oil (about a tablespoon) to the mix. Baste the mixture on one side of the steak using a basting brush. Remember to leave a little for the other side.
• Heat a large non-stick or cast-iron frying pan. Make sure it's large enough so that each steak has a decent amount of empty space around it to cook properly. I wouldn't recommend cooking more than two steaks in one pan at a time.
• Once the frying pan is very hot, put the steak (salt-and-pepper-basted side down) in to the frying pan. It should sizzle when it hits the pan.
• There should be enough olive oil basting on the steak for it not to smoke until the time you have to turn it over, but if it does, dip your fingers into the cup of water and flick the water into the frying pan to add a little bit of moisture to the steak so that it doesn't dry out or burn. This will also cool the pan down a little. Don't put too much water or the steak will lose its colour and flavour. This might sound funny, but to make sure the steak sucks up the water and then steams it out evenly, take a spatula and hold the steak down in the pan, turning it around and around like a record as you do so. This will encourage it to suck up the water and cook without getting watery.
• Before you turn your steak over the first time, remember to baste the top with the olive oil, salt and pepper again. You can just baste it while it's in the frying pan.
• Turn it over as per how you'd like your steak done. (See the table above or go to the link above for more steak cooking time tips.)
• Once the steak is cooked, take the vegetables and steak off the stove and serve hot with rocket and pecorina/parmesan salad.
• Enjoy!