marinated steak tips over herby rice
with smashed pickled cucumber salad!
First of all, can we take a second to appreciate how stunning this meal is!?!
If you’re new here, Caro is on maternity leave after the birth of her fourth son, Tavish, so each week an amazing recipe developer/chef/cook is stopping by What To Cook to share a delicious recipe they cook when they don’t feel like cooking. The wonderful Dan Pelosi is our guest this week, and he’s sharing a recipe — two, in fact! — that can be categorized as “what to cook when you don’t feel like cooking but do feel like entertaining.” This meal is an A+ option for a cookout (maybe you’re hosting one this Labor Day Weekend and are still deciding what to cook?!). It’s also perfectly doable on any old weeknight.
Today’s recipes — marinated steak tips over herby rice and smashed pickled cucumber salad — are sneak peeks from “Farmer’s Market Feast,” the first chapter in Let’s Party, Dan’s new cookbook hitting shelves next week1.
From Dan: Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub is a chain in New England that’s famous for steak tips. They’re perfectly marinated, nicely charred, and served over buttery, herby rice. The dish is absolute perfection, especially for a family-style feast. Steak tips are a popular New England cut, but it’s just sirloin or tenderloin sliced into cubes. Even though the rice and steak cook quickly, it’s worth planning to prep this one a couple days ahead because the longer the steak marinates, the more tender and flavorful it’ll be, saturating the soft rice with its incredible juices.
As for the salad: When my boyfriend, Gus, and I started dating, he had a job waiting tables at a restaurant — I’d occasionally stop by just to bat my eyes at him and, obviously, have a snack. They had these incredible house-made bread and butter pickles on the menu that I would plunge my fork into and eat like a salad. I wanted to replicate that joy with this pickle-inspired salad. Chunky bites of smashed cucumbers plus the spicy bite of crunchy radishes have a soak in a garlicky brine. They’re ready the next day, but like any worthy batch of pickles, a nice long soak only improves the flavor.
To learn more about Dan, read our Q&A with him here and follow him on IG. And to preorder Let’s Party, click here!
This is a meal that not only can be prepped ahead of time, various elements of it should be prepped ahead. Here’s a breakdown of what to prep when:
The cucumber salad needs at least 24 hours in the fridge to pickle, but can be prepped up to a month in advance.
Dan says to marinate the steak tips and onion for anywhere from 8 and 48 hours. The longer the better!
This is optional: the rice can be cooked right before dinner or up to 3 days in advance. If cooking ahead of time, let it cool completely, pack it in an airtight container, and refrigerate. Reheat it in a large saucepan over low heat with a splash of water.
If you’re entertaining this long weekend (or any time!), here are some ideas for apps, sides, drinks, and desserts that would pair well with Dan’s recipes:
Apps: grilled brie and grapes, summer tomato galette, and/or whipped pistachio feta and pita fries
Drinks: a pitcher of berry mojitos, no-hangover margs or a pitcher of strawberry jargaritas
Extra sides: the summer chicken chop (with or without the chicken), ranch butter smashed potatoes, and/or sesame scallion slaw
Desserts: strawberry-peach shortcake with bourbon whipped cream (if you’re feeling ambitious!) or a s’mores platter
A good “job” to give a non-cook is to make the s’mores platter. Grab a big platter and assemble the graham crackers, chocolates, and marshmallows on it. It makes it so much more fun and festive than just pulling everything out of the bags and boxes.
Two more delicious and summery steak dinners that could feed a crowd are the sesame-ginger grilled steak and grilled steak caprese. If you’re not into steak, try the most perfect grilled chicken with fluffy rice pilaf (in that recipe, you’ll learn how to cook rice on the grill!).
By Dan Pelosi (formatting modified for What To Cook)
