Steak Bites with Bloody Mary Dipping Sauce

Happy Halloween! Here in Slovakia Land (I made that up), Halloween’s really more an All Hallows Eve; that is, it’s the night before All Saints Day, which is apparently a huge holiday here.

At home, the only sign that it was All Saints Day was that we were whisked off to church the morning after trick-or-treating for the holy day of obligation. Surely the priests and other religious out there were taking special care to pray for the poor children’s souls post-mischief, but otherwise no one seemed to celebrate.

Here, the tradition is closer to how Mexico celebrates Día de los Muertos, with families trekking off to the cemetery to decorate graves, according to Scott, the resident Slovakia expert.

While there were a few bits of Halloween decoration available at Tesco today (it’s an English chain, after all), they were well overshadowed by the bouquets of flowers available for the coming day. The perfume in the air was overwhelming.

Still, Scott and I chose to keep with our American traditions for the night, and I put together a ghoulish meal, soon to be followed by some candy indulgence.

On the menu this evening: Worms and Maggots (soy sauced-spaghetti with white beans), Toilet-Papered Trees (broccoli with strips of white cheese draped artfully about), Vampire-Scaring Garlic Breadsticks (from the Tesco bakery), and some Bloody Steak.

I’ve made Rachael Ray’s Steak Bites with Bloody Mary Sauce in the past, and originally I did cut the beef into cubes. They turned out pretty tough; I don’t know if that was from overcooking (likely with such small pieces) or from ending up with a gristly cut of meat. At any rate, I took no chances this time. I scrupulously removed any white bits and membranes from the steaks and left them whole so I would be less likely to overcook.

I also poked them several times with my knife tip to be extra sure of tenderness as I had no idea what part of the cattle I had ended up with. The only cut we could identify in the beef cooler was the one labeled in English “rump steak.” So we just picked based on what looked decent.

Anyway, here is the recipe for the main course. You can replace the vodka all or in part with water. And after all the holiday celebrations, perhaps I will get caught up with the Recipes of the Day!

Steak Bites with Bloody Mary Sauce
Source: Rachael Ray
Yield: 6 servings

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup vodka
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon rounded prepared horseradish
• Salt and pepper
• 1 ⅓ lbs. beef sirloin cut into large bite-sized pieces, 1 by 2 inches
• Steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and black pepper
• 6 to 8 inch bamboo skewers

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add oil and onions and saute 5 minutes. Add vodka and reduce by 1/2. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce, tomato sauce and horseradish. Stir to combine the dipping sauce and return the sauce to a bubble. Add salt and pepper and adjust seasonings.

Heat nonstick skillet over high heat. Coat meat bites lightly in oil. Season with steak seasoning blend or salt and pepper, to taste. Cook the meat until caramelized all over, about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer dipping sauce to a small dish and place at the center of a serving platter. Surround the dip with meat bites and set several bamboo “stakes” or skewers along side meat.

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