Like many people, I have a ridiculously overfull freezer. Some of it is overflow from the 4-for-$10 Lean Cuisine special, but a lot more of it is leftovers. Odd and ends of things. Things I made, things I blanched and set aside for later use, things I meant to use and didn't get around to and froze raw in a panic. Last night we had some leftover braised short ribs with a side of paprika beans and broccoli. Broccoli was left over from Monday. Paprika beans are something I make to use up bacon and Rancho Gordos. And the short ribs? Were yummy. A great discovery. Though my husband became suspicious when I couldn't tell him exactly how long they'd been frozen. Yes, I should put dates on these things. At least I knew it couldn't be much more than a year since there wasn't anything in the freezer when we moved in.
Anyway, I was thinking also of restaurant leftovers, and how they don't always work out when you just try to reheat whatever it was, since it's not going to be as good as it was the night before. So, repurpose it. This is especially true of steak.
In this particular case, I was making steak sandwiches, and my strategy for that is to heat up the bun and caramelize some onions, but don't heat the steak itself -- let the heat of the other ingredients do the work.
But if you need to reheat restaurant steak, for sandwiches or otherwise, here's the trick. 15-second intervals. Blast in the microwave for a quarter of a minute, rest it til the minute's up. Blast, rest. Blast, rest. After maybe 5 repetitions of this for a small piece of steak, it'll be warm enough to enjoy, but not much more cooked through than the medium-rare you enjoyed the night before.
My favorite Ray's leftover: open faced steak sandwiches. Nice thick slices of French bread, a bit of olive oil, stick 'em in the toaster oven on broil, when the bread gets golden, yank 'em out and pop on slices of Michael's hanger steak, sprinkled with blue cheese crumbles (usually there's enough left over, too) or Gorgonzola from the fridge. Let 'em cook until the cheese melts, and they are fantastic.
Posted by: Chelle | April 05, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Heh. The steak pictured is not Ray's, but virtually every other steak I've made leftover steak sandwiches out of was. Oooh, I miss that hanger. Must plan another DC trip soon!
Posted by: Jael McHenry | April 06, 2009 at 05:07 PM