Seared Steak with Garlic rosemary Butter
Serves 2 · 25 minutes plus tempering · cast iron
Seaweed and beef belong together — it's the same instinct behind aging a steak or finishing it with anchovy. A third of a teaspoon of Maine Sea Greens on each side of the crust, then a knob of garlic-rosemary butter with more sea greens folded through, melting down over the rested steak.
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Ingredients
For the steaks
- 2 steaks, 1¼–1½ inches thick — ribeye, strip, or sirloin
- ⅔ teaspoon Maine Sea Greens (⅓ teaspoon per steak)
- Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon neutral high-heat oil — avocado, grapeseed, or ghee
For the sgarlic butter
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped (1 teaspoon dried)
- ¼ 1 teaspoon Maine Sea Greens
- Pinch of flaky salt
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Method
Make the butter first
1. Mash it together. Stir the softened butter, garlic, rosemary, ¼ teaspoon
Maine Sea Greens, and a pinch of flaky salt until evenly combined. Scrape it
onto a square of parchment, roll into a log, and chill while you cook. Cold
butter holds its shape on a hot steak and melts slowly instead of running off.
Cook the steaks
2. Temper and dry. Take the steaks out 45 minutes ahead. Pat them
aggressively dry on both sides — a wet steak steams, and you cannot get a
crust on steam.
3. Season right before the pan. Salt and pepper generously, then sprinkle
⅓ teaspoon Maine Sea Greens over each steak, split between the two faces.
Do this immediately before searing, not earlier: the powder is fine and will
pull moisture back to the surface if it sits.
4. Get the pan properly hot. Heat cast iron over high until it's just
beginning to smoke, then add the oil and swirl.
5. Sear. Lay the steaks down away from you and don't move them — 3 minutes
for a deep brown crust. Flip and give the second side 2–3 minutes for
medium-rare, 125–130°F at the center.
6. Rest. Move to a warm plate or board and rest 10 minutes. This isn't
optional; cut early and the juice ends up on the board instead of in the meat.
7. Butter, at the end. Lay a thick coin of the sea greens butter on each
rested steak and let it melt down over the crust. Spoon whatever pools on the
board back over the top before serving.
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Notes
Go easy on the salt. Maine Sea Greens brings its own minerality, so season
with a lighter hand than you normally would and correct at the table. Between
the crust and the butter, each steak is getting a little over ⅓ teaspoon total.
Why the butter carries the rest. In a screaming-hot pan a fine powder is
close to its limit — most of what's on the crust toasts and turns savory, but
the brighter, more mineral notes get driven off. Folding sea greens into a cold
butter that melts at the end preserves that side of it. The two applications do
genuinely different things, which is why the recipe uses both.
Leftover butter keeps a week in the fridge, three months frozen. It's very
good on roasted potatoes, a baked sweet potato, or scrambled eggs.