(upbeat music) - If you're unsure about what cut a steak to get, I suggest going to your local butcher.

They will hook you up with the right cut of steak.

I'm Lauren Furey, "Now We're Cookin'".

(upbeat music continues) (waves splashing) (waves splashing) - We're on.

- Miguel, we're on.

Welcome to the kitchen.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

- Well, thank you for coming.

- Yeah.

- It's so fun to finally cook with you.

- Yes, long time coming.

I feel like we've been talking about it for, like, years so.

- It's so long.

- The time has come.

- We talk about cocktails.

We talk about food.

I feel like we have a lot in common.

- Yes.

- [Lauren] So today we're making this Italian salsa verde.

So salsa verde, how I make it, has more liquid in it.

So it's a little bit juicy.

It has some orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil, and honey.

- Yeah.

- So the first step to this will actually be finally chopping chives.

- [Miguel] Okay.

- Show us how it's done, Miguel.

- Oh, God.

I know you've got the- - My knife skills to work on camera.

Oh, yikes.

Yes, so I was born in the Philippines, moved to the United States back in 1992.

I was six years old.

But growing up, I was in the kitchen a lot.

So my two Filipino grandmothers were incredible cooks.

No formal training or anything, but I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

And- - Clearly.

- [Miguel] I think because of that is kind of like where my love of cooking kind of blossomed.

- Well, they sure must have taught you a lot because that is gorgeous.

Those are, we gotta show.

- Too much, too much?

Okay.

- No, it's beautiful.

We gotta show the viewers these chimes.

I mean, that is as fun as it can get.

So we can just bring them into this bowl.

- Yeah, I got you.

- And so these are capers.

- Love capes.

- You can also use, like, chopped green olives.

- Yeah.

- Capers provide a brawny flavor and also seem salt.

- Rough chop?

- Rough chop.

Yes, please.

- Cool.

These tend to roll on me, so just let me know if you want them a little finer to be one of these others, right?

- Oh, yeah.

I just can't stop checking out these chives.

They're so beautiful.

- You got any more?

I can shop more.

- Oh my God.

I'm gonna give you a whole bunch of them.

- Capers look okay?

- Yes.

- Okay, cool.

- The rough chop, it's perfect.

- [Miguel] And they go in.

Okay fool.

- Yeah.

And they'll add a little bit of texture to this salsa verde.

Today we're using a fresh orange and we're using the zest and the juice.

- Yep.

- You wanna juice about a quarter of the orange.

- Okay, yeah?

You ready?

- That's beautiful.

I'm ready.

(laughs) (both laugh) - I'm like, I'm ready to go.

It's like, are you ready?

- Ready, set, go.

- Cool.

How's that?

- Excellent.

Thank you.

And we could put that right in here.

- Garbage bowl.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Right tabletop.

I call it the tabletop trash can.

It's like my bestie.

- Love it.

Yes, one trip to the trash can.

- That's right.

And so the lemon zests as well.

And lemon zest is also really good in cocktails or lemon peels.

- Yes.

- We did a little honey in the salsa verde.

- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

- [Lauren] I just poured it right in and- - Is it local honey?

- Local honey, for sure.

- Of course.

- [Lauren] Why don't you take it away, Miguel?

- Sure.

- We're gonna do a, a rough chop of this flat leaf parsley.

I love using this flat leaf parsley.

- Yes.

- Because of many reasons.

- Easier to chop.

- And it's easier to chop.

(both laugh) You wanna come and chop them over here?

- Yeah, yeah.

- All right, show us how it's done.

- I've got my knife.

Let's go.

- All right.

- Yeah.

- I just love cooking with people, Miguel, and I'm open just cooking for my clients and it's a joy cooking with my friends.

- I completely agree.

Like, one of my favorite things is, like, whenever I'm cooking and there's people in front of me.

- Yeah.

- And I'm just chatting with me and same for drinks, right?

It's a, I feel like it's this whole, like, bartender mentality of being able to converse with someone and tell them what you're doing or just ask about their day.

- Oh, that smells so good.

- I know.

Super fragrant.

Yeah.

- I'll put a little salt and pepper into this bowl right here.

I think that's perfect, Miguel.

- Cool.

Let me know when you're ready to throw it in.

- I'm ready.

- All right, let's go.

- Ready set salsa verde.

- All right.

It's done, right?

- Yeah.

Oh yeah, our trash can is- - Uh-huh, uh-huh, getting full.

- Getting full.

- You need to take it out.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) You're my guest today.

(both laugh) So- - I can do it.

Let me know.

- I'll let you know.

So I'm finally grating some fresh garlic on this zester.

Now, we're gonna add a little bit of really good extra virgin olive oil.

Oh yeah.

- Cool.

That looks delicious.

- Beautiful.

- And you wanna give it a little stir there?

- Sure.

- All right.

- [Miguel] Nice gentle, gentle stir.

- Yes.

And I'm gonna get a little crazy today and add some more orange juice.

- Yeah.

- Let's go.

- [Lauren] Oh yeah.

Wow.

- [Miguel] Ooh, I like that zest that just came out too.

- Yeah.

- It's the money shot in cocktails.

- Yeah, The money shot.

- Uh-huh.

- That's it.

Oh yeah, that looks terrific.

- Beautiful.

- You have the herbs fully coated in the olive oil, the citrus juice.

There's not a lot of liquid on the bottom of the bowl when you stir it.

It's just the right amount.

It's not soggy.

- Yes.

- And it smells so good.

- Yes, gorgeous.

- I'm getting real hungry just looking at it.

- You know, this, this would be good with like a steak.

- Oh, like a steak.

I think that's next for sure.

- Yeah, beautiful.

- All right, wanna get cooking?

- Yeah, let's go.

- All right.

Ta-da.

- Beautiful steak.

Look at that thing.

- So this is a New York strip.

So the marbling is when the fat is incorporated throughout the steak and this is called a prime New York strip.

So the grade of the beef is prime, which is a really high level.

- Yeah, only the best for the show.

- Only the best.

- Only the best.

- Only the best for my guest here.

So we're gonna season this steak, which has been sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

- Cool.

- And we wanna be generous with our seasoning because some of it comes off during cooking and so a little salt.

All right and a little- - Is this kosher salt here or?

- Kosher salt.

- Cool.

- That's right, Miguel.

And a, and a little bit of pepper.

Little bit is a understatement.

(both laugh) - That's just as much pepper as salt.

Yeah, that was great.

- A lot of it.

(both laugh) And then if you flip that- - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Please, oh yeah.

I can tell you've done this before.

- Cooked a couple steaks in my lifetime.

- [Lauren] So here is our highly seasoned steak.

- Yes.

- Just right.

And Miguel and I are gonna bring it over to the stove, make it nice and juicy, and then doll it up.

- Cool.

- Ready?

- High heat.

What are you doing?

- High heat.

- Okay.

- Cast iron pan because we in Charleston after all.

- That's right.

- Got our hot cast iron here, add some oil.

Oh yeah.

Now we're cooking.

That's perfect.

- So fat down first.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Miguel is searing the fat on this steak and we're gonna get it nice and crispy because you don't wanna bite into that and it's tough, you know?

- Exactly.

- So how are we looking here on that other- - I think we're looking pretty good.

- Yeah, all right.

- Some golden brown.

- Yeah.

- What do you think?

We ready to set it down?

Okay.

- I'm ready.

- All right and oh.

- Oh, yeah.

- All right, beautiful.

This is sliding.

- We're gonna flip it.

- All right.

- Ready?

- Let's go.

- Do you think it's time?

- I think so.

- All right.

- Are we looking?

- Oh boy.

- [Miguel] Okay, that looks pretty good.

- Miguel, I've got to keep you in the kitchen at all times.

(Miguel and Lauren laugh) - Can we try to flip it over again?

- Sure, yeah, let's do it.

I think that'd be great.

- [Miguel] Looking good.

- Trying to move it onto the, the wire grate so that the juices can drip off and- - Do it.

- Who knows?

We might want to do something with those juices later.

- Hope we nailed it.

- Let's go let this rest a little bit and then cut it up.

- Perfect.

(waves splashing) (upbeat music continues) - Miguel, this steak is glistening.

I can't wait to try it.

- Hope it turned out.

Ready?

- Yeah.

- [Miguel] I'm gonna take it off the tray right here- - Beautiful.

- And give you some of those drippings.

- Oh, yes.

I'm pouring the leftover steak juices into the salsa verde.

And so I'm going to put a dollop of this salsa verde and just to show y'all how it looks.

- It looks incredible.

- Thank you.

- Looks so good.

- So I'm going to put a little dollop of the salsa verde right in the middle where we're going to put the steak.

And sometimes salsa verde just, it, it needs a little love, so we're going to make it look extra pretty.

- Cool.

- All right.

- Okay.

- Take it away, Miguel.

- You ready to cut this?

I'm going to cut this little piece off right here.

And then- - Oh my gosh.

- Let's just see how this turned out.

- I am so excited.

- Yay.

- Oh.

- I think we did pretty good.

- Yes.

Yeah, we went for a medium rare, so it has all of the steak flavor and you can cook it to your liking.

- All right.

- [Lauren] Wow.

That is what I'm talking about.

- Okay, here we go.

- Okay.

- I mean, I think we did pretty good.

- I think we did really, really good.

- All right.

- I'm just want to take a whole sliver.

- (laughs) I'm ready.

I'm ready.

- A little flaky sea salt never hurts.

Totally optional, but highly recommended.

- [Miguel] Totally.

And it looks incredible, you know?

- Yes.

Mm.

That is that.

- Oh my god, looks incredible.

- You can add more on top, but I think this is just ready for us.

- Yeah, amazing.

- Let's take a bite?

- Yeah, let's do it.

- All right.

About time to try it.

- Okay, can we try it?

- Let's do this thing.

Ready?

- Okay.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Mm.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

- The salsa verde's- - Wow.

- [Miguel] Incredible on the steak.

- I really taste that flaky sea salt, both the crunch and the flavor.

- Totally.

Well, I think it, like, accentuates everything in the salsa verde.

So like, you know, a lot of that citrus is coming out and I think the salt kind of, the flaky salt on top accentuates it.

- Yes.

- And just compliments the steak so well.

- This steak was incredible.

- So good.

- Unforgettable.

- Yes.

- And I believe it's time for cocktails.

- Yes, I was about to say- - It's about happy hour.

- What we're missing is maybe a drink.

- All right.

Let's get into it.

Let's rock.

- You ready to make one?

- Oh yeah.

- I think I got the perfect one that would go real well with this recipe.

(upbeat music) (waves splashing) - What do we have here, Miguel?

- So I figured we'd make something to kind of compliment our last dish.

So here I've got elements of kind of just that lemon, that brininess, but we're gonna make it into a spritz form since it was kind of Italian inspired, right?

So we're gonna use a good Italian Prosecco, Italian limoncello, and some castelvetrano olives to kinda compliment the capers that were in your your salsa verde.

- [Lauren] I love that.

- Yeah, let's get started.

We're gonna zhuzh it up a little bit.

- Ooh, getting fancy.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Let's start with our wine glasses.

- All right, we've got our wine glasses here.

- Cool.

And so we're just gonna fill these with, with ice.

- With ice, all right.

- All the way to top.

- Ice, ice, baby.

- And the secret to a good spritz is to make everything as cold as possible.

So we have had our Prosecco chilling.

We've had our limoncello chilling and our soda water also ice cold.

So when it hits the glass, it will melt a lot slower.

- Okay.

- And so there's less dilution and you can enjoy your drink for a little longer.

- [Lauren] All right, a couple more ice cubes.

- [Miguel] Yep, looking good.

- Good.

- All right.

- All right.

- So our next step is some fresh lemon juice.

- Perfect.

- So let's slice this bad boy in half and we're gonna use your fancy new lemon juicer.

- And Miguel, I got a little trick for you up my sleeve.

- Okay.

- [Lauren] I roll my lemons before I juice them.

- Yes.

- So.

- A juicier lemon.

- That's right.

- Also with cocktails, we're gonna start with the cheapest ingredients first, right?

- All right.

- So that's always a bartender's rule.

You start with the cheapest ingredients first because if you mess up, yes, you can add more, but if you're in service, you don't wanna serve that to someone, so you, you can toss it easily so- - Interesting.

- Lemon juice and we're about to use some olive brine.

- Okay, all right.

So I've got half an ounce of brine.

- [Miguel] Yep.

That's it.

- Mm.

- No you just do the same for the other one.

- It smells so salty and... - Yes.

- I'm so about it.

So lemon cello.

- Hey, let's pour it in.

- All right.

- So two ounces of limoncello here and same thing for the other side.

And, you know, the limoncello, I was kind of thinking with the lemon zest that was in that salsa verde- - Yes.

- Again, a little bit more of that complimentary flavor here.

- Oh yeah.

It smells so lemony like.

- Yeah.

- Smells like a fresh, like a lemon tree like.

- Exactly, exactly.

So we are at the end of our ingredients here and we're up to the number three of our ratio.

- Oh, number three.

- And I'll let you do the honors here, but we have a Prosecco from Italy.

- Okay.

- That I will let you do the honors for.

- All right.

So we're gonna pop some bottles here.

- This is gonna be awesome.

Yeah, that's right.

It's the end of the day.

We're gonna pop some bottles.

- Do yo know what's my biggest fear?

- Is it really?

Do you want me to do?

- I'm gonna face my fear and do it anyway.

- Not at the cameras.

Not the cameras.

Whoa.

(Miguel and Lauren laughing) (reel beeping) (reel ticking) Amazing.

- We did it.

- Yes.

- All right.

- So I'm gonna show you a little trick here that I like- - Please.

- I like to, like to use and it kind of just makes a little bit less of a mess.

- I love that.

- Well, you know, like we're making drinks here.

We're having fun.

So the bar spoon's really interesting.

And if you look at the bar spoon here, you can see that there's a little cork screw here.

So we're gonna leverage that and again with our science and physics, right?

So if you put this in the center of your drink.

- All right.

- And you your Prosecco down the bar spoon, it's actually gonna slow down the rate of flow.

And do you see how the bubbles aren't bubbling up past about an inch?

- [Lauren] Yes.

- [Miguel] So it's just making it bubbly.

- Wow.

- And settling.

So all it does is settle on the ice.

It, it softens the landing for the Prosecco while still making it bubbly if that makes sense.

- So you're a magician as well.

(Miguel laughs) - I don't know about all that, but do you wanna give it a try?

- I'll hold the spoon if you pour the bubbles.

- Sure.

- Okay, ready?

- Ready.

- Same thing.

- Wow.

- Give this a quick stir.

Nice job.

- Thank you.

- So we're gonna use an ounce of club soda.

- Okay.

- And honestly, just eyeball this one.

- Let's eyeball it all right.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And just top it off, just a, just a quick splash so you see some effervescence pop up.

- Effervescence.

- Mm-hmm.

- I see it.

- That's right.

- That's great.

- All right.

- And then we're gonna give us another quick stir.

You mind if I get in there?

- Oh yeah.

- Okay.

- You know, this could also double as like a backscratcher.

- Oh, totally, totally.

Or, or, hey, do you want an olive, you know like?

- Oh yes.

- Mm.

It works too, it works too.

- The answer's always yes.

Yeah.

- We are gonna garnish here.

- Okay.

- And the garnish here is very simple.

We're just gonna add a lemon wheel to each one.

- Okay.

- You wouldn't mind doing the honors.

- Lemon wheel, all right.

- Yep.

So just right down, maybe pretty thin.

There we go, that's perfect.

Perfect.

And one more.

Beautiful.

Nice job.

Okay, cool.

How about I garnish mine, you garnish yours?

- Perfect.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- All right, let's do it.

- [Miguel] So we're just gonna add this inside.

And I like it because you get to see it through the ice.

- Oh yeah.

- Which is really fun.

- [Lauren] Check that out.

That's beautiful.

- And last but not least, our Castelvetrano olives, so- - Oh, you know, I'm pumped up.

- You have your choice.

You pick whatever, whichever one you want.

You can put as many as you want in there.

- As many.

Oh the whole bowl then.

All right, all right.

- So, nice and simple.

Just something to snack on while you're drinking your drink.

- Me and my two olives.

- Perfect.

- Yeah, absolutely.

And that's it.

- Thank you so much, Miguel.

- That's the limoncello fritz.

Absolutely.

Should we give it a try?

- Absolutely.

- All right.

- All right, cheers to you.

- Cheers.

- Now we're cooking.

- Now we're cooking.

Here we go.

- Mm.

- So lemony, briney, got a little that Prosecco in there.

- Yeah.

- What do you think?

- [Lauren] That is so bright and zesty.

- Yeah.

- And I taste that olive brine.

- Yeah.

- It reminds me of the ocean since we're at the beach house.

- Right?

- This is the perfect fit.

- Oh my gosh.

Well, I'm glad you like it.

- Miguel, we've had a full day of cooking and making cocktails.

- Had a blast.

- It's been so much fun.

- Thank you.

Thanks again for having me.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

Thank you so much for watching "Now We're Cookin'".

I'm Lauren Furey.

Catch you next time.

(waves splashing)