Executive Chef Woody Back, from Table & Main, shares his recipe for Seared Beef Spinalis.
Chef Woody Back launched his career in the hospitality industry as a host, server and bartender in New York restaurants. Those positions, coupled with a household understanding of Southern cooking traditions, fueled Back’s passion for the food business and inspired his career trajectory. Back graduated from Johnson & Wales University College of Culinary Arts and immediately became the sous chef at Havana in Norfolk, Virginia, where he stayed for eight years and climbed the kitchen ranks to executive chef. Now, as the executive chef at Table & Main in Roswell, Georgia and the newly-opened Coalition Food and Beverage, chef Woody Back serves as a role model for responsible food sourcing and agricultural sustainability.
Ingredients
- Spinalis steak
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- Steak seasoning
Instructions
Set the EGG for indirect cooking with a convEGGtor at 275°F.
Season all sides of the spinalis with your favorite steak seasoning – clean any of the hard-fatty tissue on the inside. Roll the steak and tie it together with butcher’s twine. Take the rosemary sprigs and tuck underneath the string for cooking.
Cook the steak until it reaches an internal temperature of 120°F. Remove the steak from the grill and let it rest 15 minutes.
Set the EGG for direct cooking without a convEGGtor at 600°F.
Heat a cast iron pan in the EGG for 10 minutes. Sear the steak on all sides; remove and rest another 10 minutes. Slice and serve.
Hakerai Turnip Gratin Ingredients
- 10 Hakerai turnips with tops, cut ¼ inch thick and roughly chopped greens
- 2 cup heavy cream
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 1 yellow onion, julienned
- 3 cups crushed Ritz® crackers
- 1 cup pecorino cheese
- 2 cup dried morel mushrooms
Hakerai Turnip Gratin Instructions
Set the EGG for indirect cooking with a convEGGtor at 300°F.
Add the heavy cream to a pot with bay leaf, thyme and salt and pepper. Bring the cream to a boil and let the herbs steep.
Add the turnips, their greens and onions to a bowl with the hot cream. Discard the thyme and bay leaf. Mix the contents of the bowl and add them to a cast iron skillet. Arrange the turnips in a shingled pattern.
In a separate bowl mix the chopped morels and pecorino cheese and the crackers. Top the gratin with the crackers mixture and spread evenly. Cook in the Big Green Egg for 45 minutes; check the doneness with a toothpick. If the toothpick can be inserted without any resistance the gratin is done.
Charred Pepper Relish Ingredients Ingredients
- 3 bell peppers, any color
- Half a yellow onion, diced
- ½ cup basil, minced
- ½ cup sherry vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Salt
Charred Pepper Relish Ingredients Instructions
Set the EGG for direct cooking without a convEGGtor at 500°F.
Grill the whole peppers until the it is charred on each side and the skin is blistered. After the peppers have cooled, deseed the peppers, leaving the charred skin on and dice.
Add the bell pepper to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix together. This is a wonderful steak topping.