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My spouse spontaneously taking me out on a date night a couple weekends ago to Wegmans (yes, we are THOSE foodies!) rekindled my dampened creative spirit, while simultaneously rejuvenating our combined love of cooking together. We decided to push our culinary boundaries by buying ingredients we’ve never cooked with before, and among other things, we ended up with flat iron steak and black trumpet mushrooms.

My flat iron recipe definitely has room for much needed improvements, but the benefit of challenging myself in the kitchen with “failures”, “mishaps”, or “subpar” meals, is that it brings awareness to the ingredients I need to further educate myself on and to which specific cooking techniques are in need of a tune-up.

Take flat iron steak for instance. It is a very flavorful section of beef from the shoulder blade, but it has a fascia membrane running through it that lends the cut tough if not removed properly, which you may have surmised already I did not remove properly. The next time I want to cook with flat iron, I will march myself straight to my local butcher shop instead of buying it from the grocery. Lesson learned. The steak was incredibly tasty and tender, as long as we cut around the dang membrane, and honey, ain’t nobody got time for that!

However, the black trumpet mushrooms were a gorgeous little find! They are woodsy, nutty, and have a soft, chewy texture and were absolutely delicious in the risotto. So, I am posting my recipe for that, along with the compound butter I made to accompany the steak. The flat iron recipe is still pending, however, and so I won’t be posting my method on that until I’ve tweaked it a bit more.

Compound Butter

Ingredients

2 sticks salted butter, softened to room temperature

1 bulb roasted garlic, cloves removed and skins discarded

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, minced

Method

In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, roasted garlic, and minced rosemary. Mash until all ingredients are very well combined. Transfer the butter to a sheet of plastic wrap and roll the compound butter back into a log shape. Place in the fridge until the butter completely cools and hardens, at least 45 minutes. Remove from the fridge as needed to top baked potatoes, steak, vegetables, etc.

Black Trumpet Risotto

Ingredients

1 cup black trumpet mushrooms, washed, trimmed, and rough chopped

1 cup Arborio rice, rinsed until water runs clear

1 cup dry white wine

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/4 cup leek, thoroughly rinsed and diced

2 tabs butter, divided

Salt and white pepper to taste

Method

Bring the 4 cups of stock to a boil in a med saucepan on a back burner over high flame. Reduce flame to low and keep at a continuous simmer.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet over med high flame, melt one tab of the butter until just bubbling. Add in the trumpet mushrooms, a sm pinch of salt and pepper, and saute the mushrooms a few minutes until just tender. Set aside.

In a small dutch oven over med high flame, melt the second tab of butter and add in the diced leek, a pinch of salt and white pepper, and saute until the leek is just tender, maybe 2 minutes. Add in the rinsed rice and stir to combine. Toast the rice 3 – 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Deglaze the pan with the one cup of white wine and then continue to cook until the wine has completely reduced. Ladle in the simmering stock, one ladle full at a time, and continuously stir the rice until all the stock is absorbed. Repeat this process until the rice is plumb and tender, about 25 – 35 minutes. Turn off the flame and stir in the trumpet mushrooms. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve immediately.