Marinated Sirloin Steak

Valentine's Day. Year seven. Simone is back as babysitter (she graduated UL Lafayette and works in Baton Rouge now). The Valentine's dress. The candles. The dinner: this year I made a bouillabaisse — a French seafood stew with shrimp, crab, mussels, and fish in a saffron-tomato broth. Not Cajun. FRENCH. The ancestral cuisine, the original cuisine, the food that was on the boats from Nova Scotia before it became the food on the bayous of Louisiana. I made bouillabaisse because twenty years of marriage deserves the original, the source, the beginning before the beginning.

Danielle said, "This isn't Cajun." I said, "It's where Cajun came from." She said, "Before the cayenne?" I said, "Before the cayenne." She tasted it. "It needs cayenne." She was right. I added cayenne. Because we are who we are, and who we are is: the people who took the French out of France and put the cayenne in, and the cayenne is the point, and the point is Louisiana, and Louisiana is Danielle in the Valentine's dress with cayenne in the bouillabaisse and a laugh that holds everything together. Twenty years. The roux gets better every year.

We don’t always get the bouillabaisse right on the first try—Danielle reminded me of that, fork in hand, completely correct about the cayenne. But the years we’ve gotten right, every single one of them, have started with a piece of meat treated with intention: marinated slow, cooked with care, rested before it’s touched. That’s this steak. It’s what I make when I want dinner to say something without me having to say it out loud. Twenty years in, the marinade does the talking.

Prep Time: 15 min (plus 2–4 hours marinating) | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: ~4.5 hours | Servings: 2–4

Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 lbs sirloin steak, about 1-inch thick
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
Kosher salt, to finish

Instructions

Mix the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, garlic, Dijon mustard, black pepper, rosemary, and cayenne until well combined.
Marinate the steak. Place the sirloin in a zip-top bag or shallow dish and pour the marinade over it. Seal and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably 4. Turn once halfway through.
Bring to room temperature. Remove the steak from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Pat dry with paper towels—this is not optional; it’s how you get the crust.
Sear the steak. Heat a cast-iron skillet or grill over high heat until very hot. Cook the steak 4–6 minutes per side for medium-rare, adjusting time to your preferred doneness. Do not move it around once it’s in the pan.
Rest before cutting. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let it rest, uncovered, for at least 5 minutes. Finish with a pinch of kosher salt.
Slice and serve. Cut against the grain into 1/2-inch slices. Serve with whatever your twenty years together have decided goes best alongside it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Marinated Sirloin Steak — When the Bouillabaisse Needs a Night Off