Steak & Eggs, With Flair

I've never had steak and eggs. I like steak. I like eggs. I'm not opposed to the idea of putting them together, but steak never seemed like the type of food that creamy, runny yolk would improve. Hoping for a pleasant surprise, I made Giada's Grilled Tuscan Steak with Fried Egg and Goat Cheese (pg 106).

I know I've mentioned this before, but cooking steak makes me uncomfortable. I usually just let Matt do it. I gave it a go myself this time. After seasoning with salt, pepper, and herbs de provence, I grilled two rib-eyes for five minutes per side. They turned out to be a decent medium-rare. I was hoping for rare, but oh well. The instructions say to grill the steaks for 6-8 minutes per side for medium rare, but  I have no doubt that these would have been well done if I'd waited that long.

I served the steak on top of fresh arugula, according to Giada's suggestion in the intro. A fried egg tops the steak (sunny-side-up, which the recipe gives you, skeeves me out), and crumbled goat cheese tops the egg. You're supposed to throw some parsley on top, but I didn't want to buy some just for this.

So, was steak and eggs all it's hyped up to be? Honestly, I don't really see what the big deal is. The egg annoyed me a little, because the steak was quite fatty and needed a good deal of trimming, and all that stuff on top of it made it hard to see where to cut. I think I'd prefer an egg on a leaner cut.

 For me, the goat cheese tied the egg and steak together. Without it, I don't know that I'd have liked this as much as I did. It contributed a creaminess that complemented the yolk, but with a tang that went great with the steak. The cheese also balanced out the arugula, and made it pleasantly peppery, instead of overwhelmingly bitter.

Conclusion: Liked it. Matt cleaned his plate and said it would be a perfect breakfast. False. Pancakes are the perfect breakfast. No contest. That said, I can see myself working this into our rotation of standard dinners.