Steak à la Steamywith fennel apple salad

A couple of weeks ago, Jaden of Jaden's Steamy Kitchen posted her method of turning cheap steaks into tender and tasty. I decided to give it a try with a $5 New York strip from Safeway.

You salt your steak liberally, some would say insanely, and let it sit for an hour. (Use kosher or sea salt, not iodized.) Then you rinse off the salt, pat the steak very dry (important!) and grill it. The salt tenderizes the meat, but supposedly will not overwhelm the flavor of the meat.While the steak was sitting, I made fennel apple salad by slicing half a fennel bulb and a granny smith paper-thin on the mandoline. I tossed the apple slices with a little diluted lemon juice and patted them dry, then mixed them with the fennel, along with the zest of a lemon, a couple tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of salt, fresh pepper and some chopped fennel fronds.

I also made Jaden's garlic herb butter to top the steak by mixing together crushed garlic, chopped parsley and softened butter, then molding the butter into a log and refrigerating it.

	Here's the steak and salad! Both yummmy. The meat was tender and flavorful. I would say it verged on too salty, but just barely. I used about a teaspoon of salt per side, so I would scale that back next time.

Sophie says, "I can has steak?"