Chef Tony De Luca has long been a proponent of Niagara Regional cooking. Combine the sun-ripened fruits, vegetables and wine with the region and De Luca’s Italian heritage and you’ve got an amazing repertoire of recipes from which to call upon. You’ll find these presented month by month in Chef De Luca’s newest cookbook, “Simply In Season- 12 Months of Wine Country Cooking.”
The recipe below is one of this writer’s new favourites. Try it on for size before the summer’s gone- it’s so good, you’ll find new ways of using it on everything from pork to chicken. Guaranteed. And the bonus is that you’ll find a tasty way to use celery leaves! Read on to see what the fuss is about.
My Mother’s Steak-Basting Recipe – Courtesy of Chef Tony De Luca (excerpted from Simply In Season)
Chef writes, “This is the basting recipe my mom uses on any meat she throws on the barbecue, and it’s perfect or the summer grilling season. I find it tastes best slathered on the thick sirloins or rib-eyes she grills up. The unique part is that, instead of a basting brush, she uses leaves cut from the middle of a bunch of celery. The number of celery stalks you’ll need depends on how long you grill your steaks. The recipe makes enough basting sauce for 10 or 12 steaks so refrigerate any unused sauce to use another time (it will keep for up to one week).”
Makes about 1½ cups (375 ml)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (250 mL) olive oil
- ¼ cup (60 mL) red wine vinegar
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp (15 mL) packed brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp (15 mL) dried oregano
- 1 Tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped Italian parsley
- 6 to 10 leafy stalks celery cut from the centre of a bunch of celery
- sirloin or rib-eye steaks
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Method:
- Combine the oil, vinegar, garlic, sugar, oregano, and parsley in a sealable jar.
- Put on the lid and shake well to combine.
- Take the lid off the jar and put the celery stalks, leafy ends down, in the jar.
- Preheat the barbecue to high. Season the steaks with salt and pepper to taste.
- Put the steaks on the grill. Remove 1 celery stalk from the jar and brush the basting sauce clinging to its leaves over the steaks (do not put the celery stalk back in the jar after it’s touched the steaks).
- Discard the celery stalk. Continue grilling the steaks, turning once, until they are done to your taste, basting them often and using a new celery stalk each time.
Mary Luz Mejia - Colombian-born and Canadian raised. After earning an honours History degree from Queen's University and a Journalism post-grad diploma ...
