October 30, 2008

La Cense Petit Sirloin with Beurre Blanc and a giveaway


There have been a couple of offers for free foodstuffs that I've passed up since I started my foodblog but the offer of free grass-fed beef was beyond my breaking point. What intrigues me tremendously is the better heath of the animals as well as a better product that is potentially better for you. I've searched for good local grass-fed but haven't really been thrilled with what I've found in the Detroit area. Then I was contacted by the Grass-fed Party site with an offer to try their beef.

Last week I received my package. I was on my way out of town and the still solidly frozen meat transferred easily to my freezer to await my return. My trail package contained 4 burgers, 2 petit sirloins and a rib eye. This week I decided to defrost and try the whole steaks first. I knew they would be ready to go today so I made an extra special purchase at Whole Foods yesterday...REAL BUTTER. I know, this is supposed to be a dairy-free site but I just had to!

When it came time to eat I reduced the wine, shallot and a splash of champagne vinegar until syrupy and then pan seared the two sirloins. For the sauce, I followed the proportions in The Professional Chef but they are the same as the Alton Brown recipe that I'll link to at the end. The petite sirloins were both a perfect deck of card sized portion of meat which was great for me. While the steaks rested I added the butter to finish the sauce (no cream, that's cheating). The steaks were flavorful and fairly lean. John, who is the pickiest steak eater, liked his a lot. We're probably going to fight over the rib eye for a steak and egg breakfast.

Follow these links to learn more:
Alton Brown's Raymond Beurre Blanc
Join the Grass-fed Party
La Cense Beef

The Giveaway!
If you'd like to try a sample of La Cense grass-fed beef leave a comment between now and midnight Saturday November 8th with the line Where's the beef? (My grandmother Margaret loved to say that back in the day.) To be eligible you must live in the US. You'll receive: 2 burger patties and 1 petit sirloin

Update: La Cense is offering 1lb. of free Ground Steak Burger for any purchase over $75. The only way to get this offer is by visiting this link to La Cense Beef and using the code “GFP75”.