Celebrating 3 years of Longer Tables
Vegetables with steak sauce are a perfect recipe for every growing table, everywhere
Hello my friends, I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and that you got outside as much as you could! We are just around the corner of the 3-year anniversary of Longer Tables, and so I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for being part of this amazing community. Each year, our table keeps getting longer, and I love hearing from all of you, and sharing stories and recipes inspired by my home country—but also from all of the other places that have brought me to where I am today.
If you are considering upgrading to a paid subscription to Longer Tables, remember that a portion of your subscription goes towards World Central Kitchen. Last year, the Longer Tables community raised almost $20k, which went directly towards making sure the people and communities impacted by wildfires and hurricanes and conflicts around the world have been able to get a hot meal and a bit of comfort.
And in the spirit of always building longer tables, I wanted to share with you a recipe that I think is a perfect one for sharing with your own community. It’s fun to prepare and beautiful on the table, and it’s perfect to welcome everyone, vegetarians and omnivores and anyone who appreciates good food and good company: grilled vegetables with steak sauce. It’s time to get outside and light up your grill, open a bottle of wine, invite some friends over, and have a feast.
The vegetables I suggest here are just suggestions (and you’ll notice that the farmer’s market inspired what you see in the photos, so they’re different than the recipe below!)…the beauty of this recipe is that you can make it at any time of year, with any hearty vegetable that holds up on the grill. We have “steaks” all around us in the produce aisle and farmer’s market—think of a head of cauliflower cut into thick slices, or super tasty root vegetables like rutabagas or celeriac, or meaty mushrooms—and they are cheap, versatile, and good for us and the planet. And the sauce is so delicious that it might become your house favorite steak sauce, for meat too.
Thank you for being a part of our community, some of you from Day 1, some of you joining us when I told you about why I love jamón and sparkling Spanish wines, when we talked about a new way to fry eggs, or when I spoke with my friend Eric Ripert on my podcast, or when I shared the most amazing recipe for burnt Basque cheesecake. Whenever you came along for the ride, thank you and gracias, my friends.
Vegetables with steak sauce
Serves 4 to 6
For the steak sauce
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup raisins
Combine the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, mustard, brown sugar, chili powder, pepper, onion, garlic and raisins in a saucepan and bring to a boil; turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
Transfer the sauce to a blender and puree until smooth. Pass it through a strainer into a bowl or other container and discard the solids. Let it cool, then refrigerate until you’re ready to use it. The sauce will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
For the vegetable steaks
Kosher salt
2 knobs celeriac, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (reserve the end pieces for stock)
2 rutabagas, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch slices (reserve the end pieces for stock)
1 head cauliflower
1 head cabbage
2 thick mushrooms, cleaned (portobellos, king trumpets, oysters—as long as they’re hearty enough to not fall apart on the grill)
Extra virgin olive oil
Heat up a grill, preferably a charcoal one, or preheat a grill pan about 5 minutes before you are ready to cook.
Fill a large pot with water, add a little salt, and bring to a boil. Add the celeriac and rutabagas to the boiling water and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, until just tender enough to pierce with a knife (be sure to not overcook).
While the celeriac and rutabagas are cooking, core the cauliflower and cut crosswise into 3/4-inch steaks (save the trimmings for another use). Leaving the base intact, slice the cabbage vertically into 3/4-inch steaks. Clean and stem the mushrooms.
Rub all of the vegetables, including the mushrooms, on both sides with olive oil and put them all on the grill or grill pan. Grill the vegetables, turning once, until they are almost completely cooked through (the cabbage and mushrooms should take about 10 minutes, the cauliflower about 15, depending on your fire). You can use a heavy pan to press down on the vegetables as they cook to ensure a nice sear—and this helps to release as much liquid as possible from the mushrooms. Once each vegetable is mostly tender, paint each side with a good slather of steak sauce—don’t be shy!—then sear briefly on both sides, just enough to caramelize the sauce a bit, being careful not to burn it. Serve each vegetable as soon as it is done (slice the mushrooms if you’d like to!), along with the extra sauce for dipping.