Erica De Mane

My grandmother’s string beans, made low-carb.

Recipes:

Grilled New York Strip Steak with Thyme and Anchovy Salmoriglio
String Beans with Tomatoes, Sweet Vermouth, and Pine Nuts

Low-carb works for me, but I don’t go crazy with it, sucking cheese off mini crackers and then hiding the crackers on a bookshelf, as I once saw a friend do at a party. Some people do get carried away with low-carb eating, becoming ridiculously rigid, which makes them infuriating dinner guests. (When I spend hours making a fresh, flaky apricot tart, for instance, I don’t love seeing the inside gouged out by some crazed Atkins extremist). I have fallen into low-carb eating out of necessity but, I hope, not stiffly. I have to have bread and pasta in my life. I don’t eat low-carb every night, but protein and vegetable dinners four or five nights a week keep my butt where I want it, and that’s the only tack that has worked for me.

Until I actually starting eating low-carb myself, I viewed the Atkins-style diet as one big, greasy meat fest; bacon and fried eggs for breakfast, big slabs of cowboy beef for dinner. When I think about that kind of crass, dull “cooking,” my Italian mind goes a little nuts. I have, I’m pretty sure, an inbred ancient responsibility to create flavor. How can an Italian food lover go on a diet and forget about garlic, hot chilies, anchovies, rosemary, capers, pecorino, pancetta, and basil?

So my challenge most nights is to create really first-rate delicious meals. Not all food needs to be simple (simple is an overworked food word if there ever was one), and when you’re on a diet and feel deprived to begin with, you need all the help you can get. If you’re cooking a steak, for example, there’s nothing wrong with a plain, well-seared one, but when I put a little salmoriglio sauce on it, two things happen. First, it tastes absolutely delicious; second, I’m satisfied with a smaller amount, since the taste sensation is so intense.

Salmoriglio is a classic Sicilian olive-oil-based sauce that takes about a minute to prepare, and it’s something I turn to when I need a quick flourish. At its most basic it’s a mix of olive oil, garlic, salt, and oregano, but you can embellish it with anchovies, lemon, orange zest, hot chilies, rosemary, mint. The word actually means “brine,” but the sauce is most often used as a condimento, not a marinade. Sicilians spoon it over grilled swordfish and tuna, but I’ve discovered that it’s amazing on steak. I’ve always loved a touch of anchovy on a steak, having first experiencing it in a Provençal restaurant where a pat of anchovy butter arrived melting on my New York strip. It wasn’t a big leap to replace the anchovy butter with a drizzle of anchovy-laced salmoriglio, creating a Southern Italian version of this great eating experience. Salmoriglio can be heated or the ingredients can just be all mashed up together raw. For a steak, I think the fresher, raw version is best, since a grilled steak has such deep flavor.

I’ve reached into my grandmother’s recipe bag to come up with what I think is a perfect side dish (or first course, if you prefer) for this steak. In keeping with the Southern Italian theme here, I’ve reworked her string beans with tomatoes and potatoes, a dish typical of inland Puglia and Campania, where she hailed from. Always looking for ways to knock out starch, I’ve omitted the potatoes but added a little rosemary (dried oregano was her usual addition), and lushed it up with sweet vermouth. I have found these string beans a favorite, warming vegetable dish ever since my childhood. They taste rich while in fact being quite light (especially without the potatoes). The flavor comes from flash-cooking the tomatoes over high heat, so they become concentrated and sweet, and not hammering the string beans to death (something, I have to say, my grandmother specialized in, as was standard practice in her day). Since it’s winter, I’ve used haricots verts, which always seem to have more flavor than the stiff, starchy supermarket string beans I find this time of year. (In the summer I prepare this with the flat, fuzzy Roman beans my grandmother always preferred.)

I love the way all the flavors in this dinner naturally come together-irony beef, salty anchovies, acidic and sweet tomatoes, and a touch of hot spice in the string beans. I would say a glass of red wine is very important here for complete fulfillment. Try a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, which has good acidity and no heavy oak (an oaky taste, to my palate, often overpowers the flavors in fresh Italian food). This is my idea of a diet.

(Serves 2)

2 boneless New York strip steaks, about 1/2 pound each and cut at least 1 1/2 inches thick
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A big pinch of sugar

For the Salmoriglio:

1 garlic clove
3 anchovy fillets
The leaves from 1 large thyme branch
A few large sprigs of flat leaf-parsley leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Dry off the steaks with paper towels and season them liberally with salt, black pepper, and a little sugar (just a touch, but it will help browning when you’re using a stove-top grill plate, as I’ve suggested here, since it is winter).

In a small food processor, combine all the ingredients for the salmoriglio, and give it a few pulses until you have a well-chopped but not puréed texture (you can also do this in a mortar and pestle).

Set up your grill plate over a high flame, and let it get really hot. Place the steaks on the grill, and let them sit, without moving them around at all, until you get a good, dark sear, about 5 minutes. Flip the steaks, turn the heat down a touch, and sear the other side, leaving the steaks for another 4 or 5 minutes for rare but not blood rare, the best temperature for this cut. Check for doneness by pushing on the middle with your finger. It should be soft but have a little bit of resistance. You can also cut into one and peak inside. Pull the steaks from the grill, and let them rest for a few minutes under aluminum foil. Plate the steaks, and spoon on about a tablespoon or so of the salmoriglio. Serve right away.

String Beans with Tomatoes, Sweet Vermouth, and Pine Nuts

1/2 pound haricots verts, the ends trimmed
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 sprig of rosemary, the leaves well chopped
A shot of sweet vermouth
1 small can (15 ounces) chopped tomatoes, with the juice
Salt
A generous pinch of Aleppo pepper (or a smaller one of Cayenne)
Freshly ground black pepper
A small handful of pine nuts, lightly toasted

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop in the haricots verts, and blanch them for a minute. Drain them in a colander, and run them under cold water to stop the cooking and to bring up their green color. Let drain.

In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium flame. Add the garlic and rosemary, and sauté for about 30 seconds, just to release their flavors. Add the vermouth, and let it cook down for a few moments. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and the Aleppo, and cook at a lively bubble, uncovered, for about 4 minutes. Add the haricots verts, season with black pepper, and simmer for about 3 minutes longer, just to bring all the flavors together. The string beans should be covered with a slightly moist but not too liquid tomato sauce. If it gets dry, add a splash of warm water. Add the pine nuts. Taste for seasoning, adding a bit more salt or Aleppo if needed. Serve hot or warm.