Steak Croutons

My brain was working over time last night on my way home from work, so I decided to make an appetizer for my salad, basically just in case my salad wasn't all that I was hoping for (luckily it was). So I decided to have a nice heart appetizer.

A few weeks ago I wrote about my experience at Gaslight, a French Brasserie in Boston's South End where we had an appetizer of Fromage Blanc drizzled with olive oil, some thyme and sea salt served with croutons. I decided to make a similar dish last night. I went to the market last night to pick up the ingredients, but unfortunately I couldn't find Fromage Blanc in my corner store last night. So I found another French cheese that looked as though it might have the same properties. Unfortunately I don't have the name of it with me, but one of the ladies who worked there also believed that it might be similar. So I picked up the cheese, and a sirloin steak and headed home.

I sliced a few pieces of french bread that I purchased a few days ago and was on the verge of going stale, and then toasted them in my grill pan. Once they were toasted on both sides I painted them with melted butter enhanced with some kosher salt and black pepper. Then I took the steak I had purchased, salted, peppered and drizzled some vegetable oil on both sides, and grilled in my grill pan until medium rare.

After the steak had cooled, I assembled my croutons- the cheese was spread as a base layer, I drizzled just a little olive oil over the top, ground some fresh black pepper, sprinkled some parsley and then two thinly sliced pieces of steak.

Unfortunately, the cheese was not at all a Fromage Blanc, but more of a Brie flavor. The result was good, very good actually, but I would have preferred the light flavor and delicate texture of the Fromage Blanc then the very flavorful, almost distracting Brie. Otherwise, the steak was a wonderful addition, the olive oil made it almost indulgent, and the pepper and parsley cleaned the taste nicely. Next time I make this, Ill search high and low for the true ingredient- though I wonder now if the Fromage Blanc would be lost beneath the steak? I guess I'll just have to test it to find out.