The First Harvest and Thank You Gerald R. Ford

Boy does not judge me when I have to go look at my garden every time I leave my house, even if I've left the house just a couple hours before.  This is what happens when (1) you have an urban garden in downtown DC and your vegetables are growing just feet from your doorway, and (2) you are obsessive about your garden.  I had been noticing the rampant growth of my broccoli rabe, which I've never tried to grow before.  Due to my inability to actually kill off seedlings without feeling guilty (and pretending they seedlings were fancy micro-greens on my salads did not help), my sad efforts at thinning out my broccoli rabe resulted in a crowded garden bed.  A few of the plants were beginning to flower prematurely, and so, with a heavy heart and empty belly, pulled up a few so that the plants remaining were actually properly spaced. 

Broccoli rabe are supposed to be at their best right before they are about to flower.  Oops, I kinda was too late, but since these guys are still in their youth, I wasn't too worried.  The entirety of the broccoli rabe, leaves, stalks, and flowers are edible. 

They taste like a cross between broccoli and asparagus with a peppery finish. I sauteed them together with some radish greens from my CSA to eat along-side Eye-of-Round Steak Braised in Red Wine Gravy, inspired by Gerald R. Ford's favorite way to eat this tougher cut of steak.  For the last year, I have been dutifully trying to eat my way through about 40 pounds of grass fed beef.  My friends and I all went in on a grass fed beef share from a local farm in Virginia ... half a cow of amazingness!  This beef has been multi-purpose, serving as housewarming presents, birthday presents, and delicious meals.  One of the cool things is that it has introduced me to some very diverse cuts of meat that I'm not sure I have ever purchased at the store.  Its hard to make meat look sexy, but damn, this is a sexy looking piece of meat.

Okay, so I'm from Michigan.  At least I was raised there.  This fact has absolutely no bearing on the fact that Gerald R. Ford is also from Michigan and apparantly really like his steak cooked in a similar fashion.  I only discovered this tidbit when I searched online to figure out how one is supposed to cook eye of round steak.  Everything pointed to searing the outside and braising it for at least an hour.  I already had half a bottle of leftover red wine (malbec) and so this simple reciple came to fruition in a wonderfully impromptu last minute kind of way.  I heated my cast iron skillet to extra high, sauteed about half a large onion sliced thin along with about one piece of thick cut bacon cut into small pieces.  Once those had both browned, I rubbed two eye of round steaks with a bit of canola oil and seared them on both sides for about 2 minutes each side.  Deglaze the pan with about 1/4 bottle of red wine and 1.5 cups of beef broth and let cook over medium heat until wine cooks off (just a couple minutes).  Reduce heat to a simmer, add about 1 tsp dry thyme, 1 tsp garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and let it go for about 1 hour. 

Pull the steaks out and plate them with the onions.  Keep the leftover braising sauce in the skillet and bring the heat up to medium.  Mix together about 2 heaping TBSP cornstarch with about 1/2 cup cold water and slowly add to the braising sauce and stir until it thickens into a thick gravy.  Then pour gobs and gobs of this gravy all over your steak and in this case, your lightly sauteed broccoli rabe/radish greens/green onions.  This gravy, despite its simplicity, is addictive and delicious.  Boy had baked some delicous buttermilk wheat bread.  I had purchased some "limited edition organic pasture butter."  I don't know what that means, but it makes for some really tasty butter.  Fancy bread + fancy butter + not-so-fancy gravy = magical! 

Seriously, it was so good, there was some plate licking involved at the end of the meal.