For The Love of Pepper

My Beloved adores pepper. While others may love salt and grow lyrical in their descriptions of Maldon, Fleur de Sel, etc., he gets really enthusiastic about pepper. He puts it on everything from cantaloupe to big, rare steaks - and when I say "puts it on," I really mean "loads it on!"

His Boston daughter introduced him to a battery-driven pepper mill that not only grinds the pepper but also lights the plate with a flashlight cleverly worked into the bottom of the mill so he can be sure he has 'way too much on his food; he keeps wearing out the batteries. This is a serious pepper hound.

So, when I saw this little palm-sized, spring loaded pepper mill in the SF MOMA museum store last weekend when we were there to see the Georgia O'Keefe/Ansel Adams show, I just had to buy it and hide it in my purse, awaiting the first restaurant meal where there was only a (miserable) pepper shaker on the table. I didn't have long to wait - why is it that restaurants, even fine dining restaurants, only offer shakers, rarely grinders? Anyway, when I saw My Beloved unscrewing the cap of the shaker, it was time to reveal my surprise!

You should have seen the look on his face! Am I a good wife, or what?

Peppery Love

My Beloved loves steak. He also loves pepper. It stands to reason that he'd really love Steak au Poivre and, every now and then, I make this favorite dish to insure his continued regard.

Epicurious.com had an easy and delicious-sounding recipe for Steak au Poivre with balsamic reduction so I started with that but I happened also to read some of the reviews and got another good idea from one of those.

Using two good-sized ribeye steaks (I like mine medium-rare while he likes his still to have a blood pressure), I patted them dry and loaded them up with freshly cracked black peppercorns and sprinkled them with just a little salt. A heavy skillet works best; I melted a little butter and oil until they were hot but not smoking, cooking the room-temperature steaks for about two-three minutes per side, then removed them to a platter to rest while I added a minced shallot and garlic to the pan. Once the aromatics had cooked just briefly, I added 1/4 cup of good balsamic vinegar and cooked them all together until the vinegar was reduced by about half.

The steak was sliced, the reduction was poured and the man took a bite, closed his eyes and savored in stunned silence for a moment, then turned to me with love in his eyes and said, "Wow, great steak!"