For the spinach artichoke dip,
you can buy a large, like a 16 ounce bag
of chopped frozen spinach,
defrost it in the microwave,
throw it in a kitchen towel
and kind of just ring it out
over your garbage bowl over the sink,
or you can take fresh spinach,
chop it, throw it inside a clean kitchen towel,
put it over a colander,
pour hot boiling water over the top
and it instantly cooks it
and wilts it down,
so you can go either way.
And either way you're gonna wanna ring out
as much liquid as possible
'cause you don't want
a watery spinach artichoke dip when you're done.
We're really making cream spinach
and artichokes to go up on top of our sliced steaks.
When you're cooking any protein,
first of all the equipment I prefer to use
is a cast iron skillet.
So we're going to liberally salt
with kosher salt
and coarse black pepper.
You can use affordable steaks
that are well marbled,
so they're very forgiving
when you cook them in a frying pan.
The next tip is to keep the steak
out on the counter for a few minutes
and take the chill off from it.
Season it liberally right before
you put it into the pan.
I cook my steaks over medium high heat.
I hit it with just a little bit of oil,
regular olive oil
or vegetable oil,
a higher temperature cooking oil.
Put it in seasoned side down
and do not mess with it.
When you are cooking steaks it's essential
not to turn the steak until it's ready to be turned, okay?
You don't want to stop that beautiful process
where you're developing the color
and the flavor in that delicious crust.
So then we're gonna season up side two.
It's going to take for every inch
eight minutes, turning the meat occasionally
for a pink center.
The thing about me
and toast points is I'm not allowed to toast them.
First of all, save all of your edges of your bread.
I am trimming the crust,
but save all this, it's great for croutons
and of course bread crumbs.
In this pan I melted some butter
and olive oil together.
I added a couple of minced shallots
and a couple of fat cloves of garlic chopped or grated.
I added a little salt and pepper.
Now we're gonna make a rue.
This is for our spinach and artichoke,
cream spinach and artichokes
that are gonna go up on to of our sliced steak.
Gina is working on our toast,
which is the most challenging part of this meal for me.
To the pan, once we add in our flour,
I'm just gonna whisk that around a little,
that's what's gonna thicken up our milk or half and half,
whatever you put in your morning coffee.
So spinach artichoke dip, of course, is made with
cream cheese and a lot of people put mayonnaise in it
and a lot of mozzarella and parm.
This is just a white sauce with a lot of vegetable
and a little bit of parm.
So we're gonna whisk in our milk,
put my spoon off to the side for a second,
milk or half and half, whatever you put in your coffee,
oh about a cup,
and we'll let that thicken up just a touch.
And to that I'm gonna add a little hint of nutmeg.
Anything with dark greens
or dairy, I always put a little nutmeg in
'cause it highlights both.
In this case we have both spinach
and a milk based sauce.
So a little hint of nutmeg will be delicious in there.
Then I have one can of artichoke hearts in water,
or one box of artichoke hearts defrosted,
12 ounce box.
So the can will be 14 ounces.
Just make sure you're not getting it packed in oil,
and you don't want marinated.
We drain that off,
throw in all of the artichokes,
and your defrosted frozen
or fresh spinach that we've taken
all of the excess liquid out of.
Drop that down in here.
We're gonna spin this around together
and add one cup of grated parm cheese.
Mmmm, couple of fat handfuls.
Get that right down in there.
I am going to add a little bit of lemon juice.
The juice of half a lemon is fine,
just a little brightness to pep it up.
I took three toast points
and stretched them across on our platter.
You let your juices redistribute back inside your steak,
slice the steak
and arrange it on the toast points.
And then top the toast points
with the spinach and artichokes.
I know.
(audience laughing)
Like that is a gorgeous,
easy, elegant, lovely.
(audience applause)