Top Drawer Dinner
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 4 servings
- Total: 40 min
- Prep: 15 min
- Cook: 25 min
Ingredients
Fiery Shrimp Cocktail:
1/4 cup hot pepper sauce, eyeball it (recommended: Tabasco)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 lemon zested and 1/2 lemon juiced
2 ribs celery, from the heart, finely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
1 pound small to medium peeled, deveined and cooked shrimp, tails removed
4 pieces leaf lettuce
Creamy Parmesan Spinach:
3 boxes frozen spinach, defrosted
2 (3-ounce) bricks cream cheese
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
2/3 cup grated Parmesan, 2 rounded handfuls
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
Steak:
2 large T-bone steaks, about 3 pounds, 1 3/4-inch thick each
Vegetable oil, for drizzling
3 to 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
4 slices white toast, buttered and cut from corner to corner
Green Onion Fritters:
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup all-in-one pancake mix
1/2 cup water
7 to 8 scallions, cleaned, dried and trimmed of roots, chopped
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Preheat a large griddle pan or 14-inch skillet over high heat.
- Combine hot pepper sauce, ketchup, lemon zest and juice, celery and parsley in a small bowl. Add shrimp and coat evenly. Chill 20 minutes, then line 4 cocktail glasses or small dishes with leaf lettuce and top each with 1/4 of chilled shrimp.
- Place spinach in microwave to defrost. Place boxes on a dish to defrost the spinach because it will leek. While spinach defrosts, place cream cheese and onions in a medium sauce pot over low heat. While cream cheese is melting and spinach is defrosting, continue forward with meal prep then return to spinach. When the cream cheese melts, add Parmesan and black pepper to the cheese. Drain spinach in clean kitchen towel, wringing it out until dry. Stir spinach into sauce, season with a pinch of salt, to taste, if necessary and let the spinach sit over lowest heat possible 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Drizzle the steaks with oil and add to screaming hot pan. Cook 8 minutes on each side for medium doneness. After you flip the steak, baste it with Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper. When you remove steak to cutting board or serving platter, baste opposite side and season it up. Let meat rest a few minutes before you cut into it to let the juices redistribute. Cut meat from bones and portion into 4 servings. Push toast down in toaster, butter it and cut from corner to corner.
- Fill a medium saucepan with 2 to 3 inches of vegetable oil and heat to medium-high heat. Arrange a paper towel lined plate on the counter to place the fritters on when they come out of the hot oil.
- In a bowl, make the batter by combining the all-in-one pancake mix with the water (the batter will be on the thick side). Add the chopped green onions and season with the cayenne, salt, and pepper. When the oil is ready for frying, drop spoonfuls of the batter into the oil and fry on all sides until golden brown and puffy. This should take no more than 3 to 4 minutes. Remove and drain on the paper towel lined plate. Season with salt while they are still hot.
- Serve steaks on toast with green onion fritters and spinach alongside.