Sirloin with Celery Root, Sauteed Cabbage & Popovers

By ltrodrigu

By chef Michael Anthony.

His Restaurants: Gramercy Tavern in New York

What He's Known For: A fine-dining take on hyper-seasonal American cuisine. Treating foie gras and fingerling potatoes with equal respect.

Ingredients

• 6 cups milk, room temperature
• 4 sirloin steaks, each 1 1/2 inches thick (about 2 pounds total)
• salt, to taste
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter, plus 3 tablespoons unmelted butter
• 1 large celery root, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• 2 teaspoons grapeseed oil
• 1 sprig thyme or rosemary
• 1/2 head red or Savoy cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 2 teaspoons chopped chives

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from online.wsj.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add 2 cups milk to a saucepan and set over high heat. Simmer until reduced by two-thirds, about 20 minutes. Season steaks with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, make popovers: Whisk flour, ¾ teaspoon salt and 1½ cups milk together. Beat in eggs and melted butter. Grease a 9-by-12-inch muffin tin with 1 tablespoon butter. Once oven is at temperature, heat tin 2 minutes. Remove hot tin and fill each cup a little less than halfway with batter. Bake popovers, without opening oven, until puffy and golden, 15-20 minutes.

While popovers bake, make celery root purée: In a medium pot set over medium heat, melt ½ tablespoon butter and sweat celery root, shallots and 3 cloves garlic. Once vegetables begin to soften but not brown, after about 3 minutes, cover with milk (about 2½ cups). Increase heat and bring to a boil, then simmer until celery root is fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Strain vegetables and reserve cooking liquid. Transfer vegetables to food processor and purée until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in enough reduced milk to give purée a silky consistency. If need be, thin with reserved cooking liquid, too. Season purée with salt and keep warm.

Cook steaks: Add grapeseed oil to a large pan set over high heat. Once oil begins to smoke, carefully lay in steaks. Brown both sides, about 2 minutes per side, and then lower heat slightly to maintain a steady sizzle. Add 1 tablespoon butter, 2 cloves garlic and herb sprig. Continue to cook while basting steaks with butter, garlic and herbs until rare, 1-2 minutes more. Discard herbs and garlic and let meat rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make cabbage: Set steak pan back over high heat. Once hot, add cabbage, cumin and caraway to pan. Season with salt and cook until slightly wilted, 3-5 minutes. Toss cabbage with ½ tablespoon butter and chives. Remove from heat.

Distribute steak, purée and cabbage among four plates. Serve with popovers straight from oven.