Dear Reader,
I hope you’re doing well tonight.
This week, there have been warnings that meat, fresh fruit, and vegetables will be in short supply because of supply chain problems.
I stocked up on some beef to hopefully get me through the next couple of weeks. I saw a piece of steak that caught my eye and decided I’d have it with a pumpkin salad.
As an example of the shortages, I’d generally make a pumpkin salad with rocket (arugula for friends east of the North Pacific Ocean. I couldn’t get any, nor spinach, for my breakfast 😱 so I went with kale!
I hope wherever you live; the situation isn’t drastic. The spread of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-COV-2 Omicron Variant has rapidly swept through some areas. There are personnel shortages in critical areas with public health measures requiring isolation and quarantine for the infected and contacts.
I now know people, friends in fact, who have COVID-19. To keep my mind off this, I’ve been grateful for the fellowship of those close to me. I’ll always be thankful to those who I love for keeping me in good spirits.
Ingredients
- Ribeye steak
- Mushrooms
- Green peppercorns
- Iodised salt
- Black peppercorns
- Kent pumpkin
- Marmalade (homemade by my friend Claire)
- Rice bran oil
- Kale
- Walnuts
- Red onion
- Butter
- Plain flour
- Beef stock
- Sherry
Instructions
- Carefully handle your meat. I’ve never liked seeing people on cooking shows slapping their meat around. Meat is delicate and precious. Handle it with care.
- Unwrap the steak and dry the surface with kitchen paper (noting it too seems to be the new toilet paper concerning scarcity in shops).
- Season your meat with some iodised salt and freshly ground black peppercorns.
- Place the steak on a rack and refrigerate overnight. This process is called dry brining.
- Before cooking, slice some mushrooms and place the steak, mushrooms, and green peppercorns into a vacuum bag.
- Seal the bag and put it into a water bath set at 54 °C for 2 hours and 10 minutes.
- At the end of the cooking time, remove the bag and open it. Remove the steak, mushrooms, and peppercorns. Dry the surface of the steak and in a bowl, add the mushrooms, peppercorns, and meat juices. Those juices are precious. Savour them like any juices formed with loving-kindness.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet and sear steak until it forms a crust knowing this will taste amazing and add texture to the mouthfeel.
- Allow your meat to rest after so much fun and excitement. It will taste better for it.
- Make a roux with the flour and butter by gently melting the butter in a saucier pan and adding the flour. Whisk the flour and butter for three minutes to remove the taste of the flour.
- Slowly add the beef stock and some sherry to form a sauce.
- Add your meat’s juices, cooked mushrooms, and green peppercorns and finish the sauce with a bit of butter.
- Cut some kent pumpkin into bite-sized pieces, and with your hands, massage in some oil and then some marmalade.
- Gently cook in an oven set to low to moderate heat.
- Properly cooked pumpkin is when you can penetrate it with a smooth probe. You can move it in and out, and when you withdraw, the shaft is clean.
- Remove the pumpkin and allow it cool.
- It’s worth cleaning the kale. I think we should all clean our veggies. While fomite transmission is not efficient for COVID-19, you never know when a wad of snot full of SARS-COV-2 might have landed on your otherwise healthy kale.
- Crush your nuts with something heavy. I use a stainless steel coffee tamper.
- I make the salad with pumpkin, kale, walnuts, sliced red onion, salt, and oil.
- With your fingers, pick up the steak and find the muscle plane between the deskle meat and the lean fillet. The steak will be tender enough so you can use the tip of your index finger and gently prise apart the muscle bundles and separate them. The meat is warm and moist and slippery and the bundles separate easily with a little gentle pressure.
- Keep the deckle meat for dinner and put the lean fillet into a container and refrigerate it.
- Take a sharp knife and slice the deckle meat with long slow strokes when your meat has rested. I like to draw my knife towards me, so my blade glides through my meat.
- Put the salad in a shallow bowl, stack some steak slices on the side, and then spoon some of the sauce on the sliced meat.
- This meat was moist, tender, and pungent in the aroma. I just wanted to dive in and get my lips and tongue into it and savour it slowly.
Final thoughts
- How has your week been?
- Are there supply problems for you at the moment?
- Are you worried about being infected with SARS-COV-2 Omicron Variant.
Ribeye Fillet Steak Raw meat 
Ribeye Fillet Steak seasoned 
Green peppercorns, Mushrooms, Ribeye fillet steak Vacuum packed for the water bath 
I like how the marmalade has formed glistening globs on the pumpkin. The marmalade and salt give the pumpkin a lovely salty-sweet contrasting flavour. It will be delicious. 
Coffee tamper to crush walnuts 
Sous vide ribeye fillet steak. Seared in a cast-iron skillet. 
Sous vide ribeye fillet steak with roast pumpkin salad and mushroom and green pepeprcorn sauce. Sous vide ribeye fillet steak with roast pumpkin salad and mushroom and green pepeprcorn sauce. 
Sous vide ribeye fillet steak with roast pumpkin salad and mushroom and green pepeprcorn sauce. 
Sous vide ribeye fillet steak with roast pumpkin salad and mushroom and green pepeprcorn sauce. 
Sous vide ribeye fillet steak with roast pumpkin salad and mushroom and green pepeprcorn sauce. 
Sous vide ribeye fillet steak with roast pumpkin salad and mushroom and green pepeprcorn sauce.
How about some non-food photos!
I went for a walk this afternoon.
The Belconnen Owl Statue taken from behind is some of Canberra’s finest public art. There are some who call this pubic art 😉 
Lake Ginninderra blue skies and cloud porn
Piece of art. Fabulous! \ooo/ 🙂
Thanks Brother 😊
Gary that looks absolutely delicious! Yes I now know people that have COVID and it’s only in the last month. I’ve also experienced the supply chain issues with onions and meat out of stock. We are ok so far but are holidaying on the Central Coast at the moment.
I hope all remains well where you and Mr NQN are.
I now know 3 families who have been infected with Covid (thankfully no one has needed hospitalisation) and I am terrified. Both my husband and I are vaccinated (he has had his booster and I am booked in to get mine tomorrow morning), but our 2 year old is unable to be vaccinated yet so it is for her I worry.
I hope you all remain safe. It is worrying to see so many infections and so many people ignoring wise counsel.
Must say I haven’t been to the grocery store for a week and didn’t find any issues then which is good. Just back from a walk around Gininderra Gary with my dog; went early incase it got too hot…it was so lovely.
The lake has been Nice lately, Sue. I hope it stays that way and safe too.
Your meal looks great! Yesterday, when I went to the grocery store, there was practically no produce and very little meat. However, there were lots of bottles of wine and potato crisps–so there’s that. We are definitely noticing the shortages. We worry about Alex on campus–his roommates are all sick, and the university is just moving forward with classes. He’s vaccinated and boosted, but still. The worst complaint he has is that the cafeterias are understaffed and mostly closed. We had him download one of those driver delivery apps, so he can order food from restaurants. (They don’t have a kitchen/access to grocery stores.) Stay safe and healthy!
I hope Alex is safe and remains well.
I think I could live off potato chips if I had too 😉
Brilliant ribeye steak meal, Gaz. The dish looks tasty and very colourfully eye-catching. Good meat in a meal should always be savoured slowly and enjoyed. As you probably know, the situation here in Melbourne is rather concerning. On my last grocery shop, I noticed some bare shelves, and supply issues will probably be a thing for the year ahead unfortunately. Like you I also know friends who have caught COVID and it hits home how the virus is everywhere. I think we’ll all get it in one form or another eventually, so if I get it, I get it. That said, I’m taking precautions and staying at home as much as possible. Hope this week goes okay for you, Gaz. Stay safe.
Thanks, Mabel. I hope we both stay safe. The situation will peak at some stage, but who knows if the next lineage of concern has more dramatic and worrying characteristics.
I know two families who have the omicron variant. No one hospitalised yet.
Hi Gaz, that looks yummy. I’m not a big fan of kale (it doesn’t half get stuck in between your teeth) but the brightness and colour of your dish is great. We’ve had supply chain problems in the UK for a while, compounded by Brexit. Whereas it’s not dreadful and does seem to highlight how much we in the developed world live in excess, I’m worried about our fishermen, farmers and other food producers who export to the continent. We’re lucky enough to have escaped Omicron so far, but do know a lot more people this time round who’ve caught it. I’m not that worried about catching it, as we try to stay safe and I’m fully vaxxed, but the risk of passing it onto someone vulnerable scares me so I don’t want it. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Thanks, Emma. I hope it can be contained in your area. It seems here, it’s just spreading like a crazy bush fire. The “kindly” and the “brush” are ripe for the “flames”.
Primary producers are hard hit here too. They never make much. The fruit pickers from regional island countries haven’t been able to get here and mainland residents don’t find fruit pricking an attractive option compared with other income streams.