Steak & Shishito Pintxos
Tender marinated hanger steak, seared hard and served on lightly toasted bread with bright chimichurri, blistered shishito peppers and crunchy sea salt.
Directions
1. Marinate the Steak
Combine the garlic, olive oil, lime juice, kosher salt and black pepper in a mini blender and blend until smooth. Place the hanger steak in a zip-top bag or nonreactive container and pour the marinade over it, making sure the steak is well coated. Refrigerate for 2–4 hours.
2. Make the Chimichurri
Add the parsley, cilantro, garlic, Calabrian chiles, red wine vinegar and olive oil to a mini blender. Pulse until finely chopped and combined, but not completely smooth—we want a loose sauce with some texture, not a purée. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the pintxos.
3. Sous Vide the Steak
Set the sous vide circulator to 127°F. Place the sealed bag of marinated hanger steak into the water bath right away, while the water is still coming up to temperature. Cook for 90 minutes total, including the time it takes the water to reach 127°F. The steak can remain in the bath for up to 2 hours total without a problem. This timing is intended for relatively thin cuts such as hanger or skirt steak. Thicker cuts will require additional time to heat through evenly.
4. Sear the Steak
Remove the steak from the sous vide bag and discard the liquid. Pat the steak extremely dry on all sides (see note). Heat a cast-iron skillet to over 400°F, then add 3 tablespoons canola oil (see note). Season the steak with salt and carefully place it in the hot pan. Use a splatter guard if needed. If the pan is properly ripping hot, sear for approximately 1½ minutes per side, until deeply browned. Remove the steak from the pan and let it rest before slicing.
5. Prepare the Bread
Choose a baguette with a relatively soft crust (see note). Slice it on an angle and toast the pieces lightly—just enough to give the surface a little structure without making the bread hard or crunchy.
6. Blister the Shishito Peppers
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shishito peppers and toss to coat. Cook, turning occasionally, until the peppers are heated through and their skins are blistered and charred in spots.
7. Assemble the Pintxos
Slice the rested hanger steak against the grain into 1/4-inch slices. Spoon a small amount of chimichurri onto each piece of lightly toasted bread, then top with a slice of steak. Sprinkle the steak with a little crunchy sea salt, top with a blistered shishito pepper, then finish the pepper with another small sprinkle of crunchy sea salt. Serve immediately.
Notes
Hanger steak is one of my favorite cuts of beef. It's nearly as tender as filet mignon, but with far more beef flavor and better marbling. Its pronounced grain is an advantage here: when sliced correctly across the grain, it gives you an exceptionally tender bite that cuts cleanly with your teeth instead of pulling the entire piece of steak off the bread. Hanger can be difficult to find in a typical supermarket because there is only one per animal. A good butcher is your best bet—ask for hanger steak, hanging tender or butcher's steak. It's also readily available frozen from a variety of online meat suppliers. If you can't find hanger, a well-trimmed skirt steak will work in a pinch.
Getting the steak thoroughly dry is critical. Any moisture left on the surface has to boil away before the steak can begin to brown. A wet steak steams; a dry steak develops the deeply browned crust we're after. Don't be shy with the paper towels.
At these temperatures, we need an oil with a high smoke point and neutral flavor. Canola oil can handle the heat without contributing a competing flavor. This isn't the place for extra-virgin olive oil.
The bread is supporting the steak here, not competing with it. Avoid a heavily baked artisan baguette with a thick, hard crust. We want bread that will hold the steak and shishito but still bite through easily, so the whole pintxo comes away cleanly in one bite.
Paul's Tips
Shishito peppers are generally mild, but roughly one in ten can be surprisingly hot. You won't know which one you've got until you bite into it—which is part of the fun.