Sirloin and Eggplant Stacker

Oct 24, 2011 by Colleen

This dish is something I came up with during the Easter Kamikaze Chef dinner. I’ve refined it and am posting the recipe below. The sirloin is encrusted in a unique blend of pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), green peppercorns and parsley and I use French’s Fried Onions to coat the eggplant on the bottom.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1” thick rounds
1/2 cup French”s Fried Onions, coarsely chopped
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup Shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup Portabella mushrooms
1 red bell pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 lb top sirloin filet
1/4 cup pepitas (You can find these in most grocery stores, sometimes just called pumpkin seeds, out of their shells. I get mine at Trader Joe”s and I get the roasted, salted kind. If you get the unsalted, you will want to add a generous pinch of salt to this rub)
1 teaspoon whole green peppercorns
2 tbls fresh parsley, finely chopped
Freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the egg wash by beating the two eggs together with a splash of water. Place the fried onions in a shallow bowl after roughly chopping them. I use a silicon baking dish. Dip the eggplant rounds into the egg wash and then into the bowl with the fried onions. Press the eggplant gently into the onions to help them adhere. Repeat on the other side. Place the eggplant rounds on a cookie sheet and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes or until the onions are browning and the eggplant is tender.

While the eggplant is cooking, saute the mushrooms together with 2 tablespoons of the butter and garlic until they have sweated off their moisture. Set aside.

Once the eggplant is cooked through, remove from the oven, and turn the broiler on (if your broiler is separate from your main oven, feel free to do this step earlier). Slice the red bell pepper in half, top to bottom, and remove the stem and seeds. Place the halves skin-up on a baking sheet or dish and drizzle a little EVOO on top. Season with salt and pepper. Place pepper under the broiler for just a few minutes until the skin starts to blacken. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Remove any skin that has burned and cut into slices from top to bottom. Set aside. Keep the broiler on; we will need it at the very end.

Grind together the pepitas and green peppercorns in a coffee or spice grinder. Then incorporate into the chopped parsley. I like to give the mixture another rough chop after it’s all mixed together. Portion your sirloin into individual steaks, approximately 1/4 lb each, but do not slice yet. Coat the sirloin in the spice mixture and set aside.

Heat a skillet to medium-high heat and melt the remaining two tablespoons of butter. Add the sirloin to the skillet and sear on both sides for about 3-4 minutes per side depending on the thickness. Once medium rare, remove from heat and set aside a few minutes to rest.

While the meat is resting, assemble the stacker. Keeping the eggplant on the baking sheet, top with a few slices of roasted red peppers and a generous portion of the mushrooms. Take the sirloin, slice into thin slices and arrange on top of the mushrooms. If the center is too pink, place under the broiler for 1 minute. Sprinkle the cheese over the stacker and serve!