Beans with Rare Steak & Pesto

This is classic Tuscan-style plating, where the beans do as much heavy lifting as the meat, maybe more. Creamy mashed cannellini beans get folded with half a batch of bright basil-parsley pesto, topped with thin slices of rare steak, and drizzled with more pesto at the table.

The trick here is letting the beans and steak come to room temperature before you start. Cold beans dampen the pesto flavors, and cold steak hits the grill unevenly.

The pesto is worth making fresh rather than reaching for a jar. Combining basil with Italian parsley mellows the sharpness you’d get from basil alone, and the thin stream of water added to the food processor after the oil gives the sauce a silkier consistency that coats the beans without pooling.

Grill the steak to rare and don’t overshoot. Twelve minutes total for a 3-pound steak, turning once, hits the right internal temperature. Five minutes of rest before slicing is non-skippable (even though we can’t call it non-negotiable) because it keeps the juices in the meat.

Slice across the grain very thin, any steak this lean eats tougher when cut thick.

Chef Tips

• Use a flank, skirt, or hanger steak, the cuts that stay tender when sliced thin against the grain
• Mash the beans lightly with a fork, fully pureed beans lose their texture
• Make the pesto first so it has 10 minutes to rest, the garlic mellows as it sits
• Serve on warm plates, cold plates chill the thinly sliced rare steak into under-done territory

Variations

• Swap basil-parsley pesto for a sun-dried tomato pesto for a more pungent, red-hued dish
• Add halved cherry tomatoes and a handful of arugula to the plating for a more salad-like feel
• Use grilled lamb instead of beef for a bolder, more Mediterranean version