Name: Steak and Fries with Pickled Onions
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup white vinegar; 1/2 cup sugar; 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced; 2 rib eye steaks, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick; 1 1/2 to 2 cups crumbled blue cheese; 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for slathering; 16 to 20 cremini mushrooms, stems removed and caps left whole; 1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar; 1/4 cup soy sauce; 1 tablespoon truffle oil; 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger; 3 or 4 scallions, sliced, white and light green parts only; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 3 cloves garlic, smashed 2 sprigs fresh thyme; 1 sprig fresh rosemary; Triple-Cooked Fries, for serving

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Photo by Evan Sung

I love this technique for prepping steaks, which I bastardized from my friends Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, who write the blog Ideas in Food. It involves burying the steaks in blue cheese overnight to mimic the funk of dry aging. It works! For anyone with beer budgets and aged Bordeaux tastes, this is a godsend. Rib eye steaks are boned rib steaks, and one can be substituted for the other. I like them as thick as I can get them, so do your best to find hefty cuts.

Recipe notes

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Smothered Italian Sausage

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Smothered Italian Sausage

This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.