Garlic, garlic, garlic!

Hello! I've mostly been doing old favorites this summer like tuna & white bean salad, or having cold meals like a sandwiches, or a hummus plate with olives and cucumbers. 

I was craving steak and found myself cruising Just One Cookbook. I had to do some extra shopping for this recipe, but it's totally worth it. 

I scaled the recipe down for one, but I will be making it again at full volume. It's too good not to share!

I will note there are a lot of steps, but none of them take a particularly long time. The whole recipe comes together in less than hour once your rice is at the right temperature. It tastes like it took much longer.

For the Steak

• 8 oz sirloin flap steak (or ribeye; ½ inch thick; trimmed of fat) Flap steak was not available at my grocery store. My go-to cut is a shoulder steak, which is generally affordable, tender, and versatile.
• ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tsp Homemade Smoked Soy Sauce (you can buy it on Amazon, make my Smoked Soy Sauce, or add ¼ tsp of liquid smoke to 1 Tbsp regular soy sauce) I did indulge on Amazon, but I have a friend who is celiac, so if they are my guest, I'll be using the Liquid Smoke workaround with some tamari. It's a useful burst of umami in many things
• 2 Tbsp mentsuyu (concentrated noodle soup base) (Amazon has this as well if you don't have a Japanese market easily available)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp neutral oil (for searing the steak)

For the Garlic Rice

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (for cooking the garlic) I know some people don't believe in unsalted butter, but I believe it makes a difference here. The soy sauce and the mentsuyu add plenty of salt, there's also some in the rice and in the marinade. 
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice (cooled; day-old rice, preferably; if you haven‘t prepped the rice yet, cook 1½ rice cooker cups (270 ml or 1⅛ US cups) of short-grain rice and follow my instructions below on how to cool it) (I did my rice the day before)
• 2 tsp mentsuyu (concentrated noodle soup base)
• ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp unsalted butter (for reheating the rice)

For Garnishing

• 1 Tbsp of finely chopped green onion/scallion
• 1 Tbsp fried garlic chips (you can buy them on Amazon or make my Homemade Garlic Chips) (I bought them and I suspect I'm going to need to add them to my subscription box)

Prep:

1. Bring the refrigerated day-old rice or frozen rice to room temperature. If you don‘t have day-old rice, cook the rice as you normally would. Then, transfer the cooked rice to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Evenly spread the hot rice and let cool on the countertop. (Leave it on the counter in a sealed container for at least an hour before you start getting the rest of the ingredients together.
2. Gather all the ingredients. Prepare two carbon steel pans or cast iron skillets so that you‘re ready to cook the steak and the garlic rice simultaneously (My pans are stainless and they worked just fine.)

For Marinating the Steak:

1. Lightly season both sides of 8 oz sirloin flap steak (or ribeye) with ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper. Set the steak aside on the countertop to bring it to room temperature, about 20–30 minutes. Tip: Bringing the steak to room temperature is important for achieving a medium-rare doneness.
2. In a medium bowl, combine 4 tsp Homemade Smoked Soy Sauce, 2 Tbsp mentsuyu (concentrated noodle soup base), and minced garlic (I pressed 1 clove garlic using a garlic press) for the steak sauce. Mix them all together and set aside. (I don't own a garlic press, I find them a pain in the arse to clean, so I minced)

For the garlic rice:

1. Mince 2 cloves garlic (I use a garlic press) for the rice. Transfer 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice to a large bowl.
2. Heat a frying pan on medium low. When it‘s hot, add 2 Tbsp unsalted butter and minced garlic. Cook on medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. (your kitchen is going to smell delightful. I went closer to 5 minutes, but as Nami notes below, one must be careful not to burn either the garlic or the butter)
3. Be careful not to burn the garlic and butter. Once the garlic is fragrant and no longer raw, remove the pan from the heat and transfer the garlic butter to the bowl with the rice.
4. Add 2 tsp mentsuyu (concentrated noodle soup base), ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper to the bowl. Gently toss all the ingredients together and set aside for now.

Putting it all together. Instead of jumping back and forth between sections of the recipe, I'm going to put the steps in order here.

1. Heat a carbon steel pan or cast iron skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Once hot, add 1 Tbsp neutral oil and spread it evenly. Add the steak to the pan and sear it for about 3–4 minutes on each side until medium rare. While the steak cooks on the first side, start cooking the garlic rice.
2. While the steak is cooking on the first side, heat 1 Tbsp unsalted butter for the garlic rice in another carbon steel pan or cast iron skillet set over medium heat. Once the butter is bubbling, add the cooled rice to the pan. Stir-fry the rice at first, tossing and flipping it over to heat up thoroughly. When it‘s heated through, spread the rice evenly in the pan and let it get crispy on the bottom. You can mostly attend to the steak while you crisp the garlic rice. Do not stir the rice during this time. (emphasis mine. It is sometimes really  hard for me to just let things sit and do what they need to do. This is worth the patience.) Tip: Try to time the rice so that it‘s done crisping when the steak is done soaking. For example, you might turn up the heat a bit to help speed crisping or lower the heat if it‘s cooking too fast.
3. This is a step I skipped as I don't own any kind of grill press, but if you have one: use a cast iron grill press to press down the steak for even searing. After 3 minutes, flip the steak to the other side.
4. Press down the steak and sear the other side for another 3 minutes. Remove the steak from the pan when it reaches an internal temperature of 130℉ (54.4℃).  (we're going for medium-rare)
5. Wrap the steak in a sheet of aluminum foil and let it rest for 2–3 minutes. The steak will continue to cook as it rests to reach medium-rare doneness.
7. While you finish crisping the rice, cut the steak into ½-inch (1.3 cm) strips, then dice the strips into ½-inch (1.3 cm) cubes. (mine were not this small, but I think I can be forgiven)
8. Add the dice-cut steak to the steak sauce that you made earlier and toss to coat well. Then, assemble the Steak Garlic Rice.
10. When the rice is done crisping, take the pan off the heat. Then, add the dice-cut steak centered neatly on top of the garlic rice in the pan. You can drizzle some of the remaining steak sauce over the rice. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of finely chopped green onion/scallion on top. To finish, crush 1 Tbsp fried garlic chips between your fingers and sprinkle over the rice.
11.  Serve in the pan at the table.

I regret I don't have a picture for you, but next time!

Thank you for reading. If you make this, please let me know.