Grilled Steak with Peach Salsa

This was a yummy summer dinner earlier this week. Mavis bought a really fat (1.25-1.5") New York steak at the farmers' market. I dosed it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and grilled it outside on my charcoal behemoth to a nice medium (actually a little less rare than would have been ideal, but still very good and juicy). I served it with the sides you see below, all from the farmers' market: multicolor baby potatoes (the purple ones are insanely bright purple inside), sweet corn on the cob, and mixed brassicas (broccoli, romanesco and cauliflower).


I felt the need for something juicy, sweet and savory to put on the meat, plus I had peaches that needed to be eaten, so I whipped up this peach salsa to put on top (we've since also had it on pork--I think it's a little better with the beef). The flavors are more Italian (parsley, basil, garlic) than Mexican (cilantro, lime), so just imagine that "salsa" is in Italian, not Spanish.

Fruit salsas are amazingly easy to make, and make delicious. You need one or more fruits, one or more alliums (onion family--onion, shallot, scallion, garlic), one or more herbs, optional hot chiles, and acid from some kind of citrus. I usually add just a small drizzle of olive oil to help fix the fleeting flavors of the herbs. Whip it all up in the Cuisinart with a little salt and pepper and you are good to go.

Peach Salsa

1 small shallot, roughly chopped
1 sm-med clove garlic
handful fresh Italian parsley leaves
10-12 basil leaves
a little salt and freshly ground black pepper
a drizzle of olive oil (not extra-virgin)
juice of one Valencia orange
2 ripe medium peaches, peeled and cut into chunks

Drop shallot pieces and garlic clove one at a time through feed tube while processor is running. Open top of processor and add parsley, basil, salt & pepper, olive oil, and orange juice. Process until finely chopped and fairly well-blended, stopping to scrape sides of work bowl as needed. Add peaches and pulse until blended--I like my salsa to be fairly smooth, but if you like it chunkier just process for a shorter time, or mix diced peaches in by hand.