© Constantine William Spyrou
One thing that my family has always stressed is eating very healthy. We rarely go out to restaurants because we get worried of there being too many calories, and prefer home-cooked food to eating out. This translates into my college experience because I miss being able to cook a lot, which is one of the reasons why I created this blog. When this year is over, I'll be able to finally cook my own food again, which will be exciting! Anyways, the inspiration for this dish came from a challenge I presented myself in my college writing class: to write an article on food that could be served in a restaurant without being fatty, high-sodium, or anything else that is bad for you. Using a calorie counter website ( http://caloriecount.about.com/ , check it out!), I was able to create a dish that was under all of the USDA guidelines for a main entree.
USDA Guidelines:
Maximum limits for a main entree dish:
667 calories
26 grams of fat (35% of calories from fat)
7.4 grams of saturated fat (10% of calories from saturated fat)
767 mg sodium
1 serving of this dish:
442 calories
14.6 g of fat (29.7% of calories from fat)
3.5 g of saturated fat (7% of calories from saturated fat)
317 mg sodium
52 g of protein
25.5 g of carbohydrates
139 mg of cholesterol
Fitting comfortably under all of the USDA guidelines, this hearty dish is a light version of surf-and-turf that will be sure to liven up your taste buds, from the rich steak to the bright potato salad, this will be one that any restaurant would love to serve- at a good price too! Note that the steak is extremely lightly battered in this dish.
Recipe will make 4 servings of this dish.
For the Steak:
4 3.5-ounce portions of top round steak
About 1/4 cup flour (slightly less is optimal)
4 egg whites
4 tsp of water
4 tsp black pepper
4 tsp salt
4 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tsp rosemary
2 tablespoons canola/grapeseed/soybean oil (grapeseed and soybean oils have less cholesterol and don't add flavor, so they make great choices for frying the steak.)
For the Potato Salad:
1 cup (3/4 lb) red potatoes, skin-on
1 cup chopped fresh green onion
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 tsp olive oil
1 cup roughly chopped parsley
1/2 pound cooked dungeness crab meat
4 tsp salt
4 tsp black pepper
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Pound the portions of steak to about 1/8-inch thick. Season with the steak portions of salt and pepper.
2. In the flour, mix in the garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and rosemary.
3. Add the water to the egg whites, then whisk until the egg whites are combined and foamy (don't let it start to stiffen! You can't make a good batter with stiffened egg whites, make sure they are still liquid!)
4. Quickly lay the steaks in the egg white wash, coating both sides, then transfer to the flour, lighting coating the steak on each side evenly. Make sure the whole steak has flour on it!
5. Add the oil to a pan on medium-high heat. Place the steaks in, cooking to golden brown on each side- about 4-5 minutes total, or roughly 2 minutes per side.
6. As the steaks rest after cooking, boil the potatoes in unsalted water for about 10 minutes or until fork tender.
7. When the potatoes are done, drain them and place into a bowl. Gently crush the potatoes with a fork, leaving plenty of large chunks.
8. Add the olive oil and lemon juice, and slowly mix into the potatoes. Then. add the salt, pepper, and green onion, and mix again. Finally, add the chopped parsley and dungeness crab meat into the potatoes, and mix once more until everything is evenly distributed.
9. Each serving should have one of the portions of steak and a fourth of the potato salad.
This dish is really fresh, light, and delicious. Using the egg whites as a batter lets it stay much less fattening while still adding a good, crunchy batter. Egg whites are actually used to batter chile rellenos, a popular Mexican dish of fried chiles stuffed with cheese, so they are not uncommon to use in frying.
Let me know what you think of this dish, and any questions/comments you may have! Enjoy!
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