Top round, spinach, onion

The top round was on sale, I think. It's a bit tough but when the meat is cut against the grain then there'll be no problem with mastication. The steak was cold out of the refrigerator so I put it in warm water for a about 10 minutes to bring it to room temperature, then dried it off and seasoned it a bit heavily with salt and pepper. Fried for a few minutes in a very hot pan then set aside to rest.

The spinach is packaged frozen. Microwaved for five minutes, seasoned, drizzled with balsamic vinegar aged seven years, and not the goofy aged seven years either, not the type that a portion is aged for  seven years mixed with newer vinegar aged for a single year, no siree, the whole thing is aged for a full seven years and I do believe that makes a huge difference. Have the people at the speciality store help you pick one out if you're interested, and I wish you would try it at least once, it will change your culinary perspective permanently. So, vinegar, sweetened as it is + butter + salt/pepper = dressing, simplicity itself. 

The onion is caramelized  in the same pan used to sear the steak. It picks up some of the fond left there while simultaneously leaving its own flavor in the pan now sweetened by caramelization. The pan is now nicely begrimed with olive oil mixed with rendered beef fat, the seasoning that sloughed off the steak, fond from the singed meat, and the trace of caramelized onion. It would be a real shame to waste all those layers of flavor, only to mention a crime against art. Therefore, the pan is deglazed with the remainder of the second-rate canned beef broth opened earlier down there ↓. Had I been up to it, or had I been entertaining, the liquid could have been enhanced even further with wine and with something unusual or sweet. I keep a bag of blueberries on hand frozen for exigencies and for impulse.   A handful of blueberries tossed into the pan, caused to melt and to impart their unique blueberry essence and then quickly processed to oblivion and their presence disguised, or any such thing as apricot jam or honey, all have the potential to elevate even second-rate, last choice broths and bottom tier wines, to a whole new plateau. Surprise yourself sometime by inventing your own sauce. 

But tonight it is late and I cannot be moved.  Tomorrow is a long day and I will be lucky to get the mess cleaned up that I have left behind.