The Royal Chef At Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining

MINUTE STEAKS WITH BLUE CHEESE & CARAMELIZED ONIONS & CANNELLINI BRUSCHETTA BEEF AND BLUE CHEESE ARE A BELOVED MCGRADY FAMILY COMBINATION. These minute steaks are easy to pull together, are great at room temperature and satisfy a hungry bunch of teens and adults. Oh, and they go great with beer! While bruschetta (and please pronounce it as brusk-etta. It drives me nuts in restaurants when they say brush–etta) are normally served as an open faced bite, these are more like sandwiches, the better to hold together the beef with the arugula and caramelized onions. MAKES 4 PORTIONS

FOR THE ONIONS ½ red onion, peeled and sliced thin 1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons olive oil

4 (3 ounce) center cut beef tenderloin steaks, flattened to ½ inch thick Salt, pepper, garlic powder, English mustard powder to season 2 tablespoons olive oil, for steaks 1 small clove garlic, minced 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 8 slices crusty white bread ¼ cup Maytag blue cheese crumbles 1 cup fresh arugula Place on the grill over direct heat for about 30 seconds and then turn over and repeat. Remove to a plate to rest. 4 Stir the minced garlic into the olive oil and brush each slice of bread top and bottom. Place on the grill to heat, crust and get grill marks. Turn the bread over and do the other side. Season with salt. 5 Spread some cannellini paste onto four slices of the bruschetta. Lay one of the steaks on top of one. Top with the onions and some maytag cheese crumbles and arugula and place the second piece of bruschetta on top.

FOR THE CANNELLINI SPREAD 1 (11 ounce) can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped Zest of 1 lemon

1 Prepare the cannellini spread. In a food processor, blend all of the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. 2 Caramelize the onions. In a heavy based pan, add the oil and onions and cook on low until they start to soften, add the sugar and salt to taste and stir until the onions start to turn brown. This can take up to 20 minutes, so be patient. Set aside and keep warm. 3 Preheat the grill to around 400ºF. Brush each steak front and back with the oil and sprinkle each with the salt, pepper, garlic and mustard.

80 THE ROYAL CHEF AT HOME