Steak Crostini

This Steak Crostini recipe is a delicious, savory appetizer with seasoned top sirloin steak cooked in a sous vide or grilled, then sliced and served atop a crispy baguette with creamy horseradish goat cheese. The steak crostini is finished with a drizzle of balsamic glaze and fresh basil for an incredibly flavorful snack, side dish or appetizer.

Well hello there appetizer deliciousness! What says “welcome to the party” more than mouth-watering steak, on top of creamy horseradish goat cheese, with a drizzle of balsamic reduction, all on a crispy sliced baguette!

The steak for this recipe is made in a sous vide. If you’re not familiar with sous vide cooking, it’s a method that restaurants have been using for years, but has recently became popular in households. Sous vide is a method of cooking food in airtight sealed plastic bags submerged in a temperature controlled water bath for 1-6 hours, sometimes up to 48 hours.

The result is perfectly even-cooked food from the inside out, thus making it awesome for cooking steak. After the meat comes out of the sous vide, I give it a quick sear over high heat for a little color on the outside. And voila, perfectly cooked, perfectly flavored, perfectly tender meat awaits you!

For this steak crostini recipe, a top sirloin is lightly seasoned and added to a sous vide. After the steak comes out of the sous vide, it’s seared for about 60 seconds, then thinly sliced.

When testing and perfecting this recipe at home, I tried several different toppings to go along with the steak on the baguette. From blue cheese, to goat cheese, to cream cheese, to horseradish cream, to a combination of several, with and without balsamic reduction. Needless to say, there was a lot of steak crostini taste-testing going on!

The crowd favorite was a combination of goat cheese and horseradish cream spread on the baguette, then topped with the steak, with a drizzle of balsamic reduction on top. So much flavor and a great variety of textures make this one amazing appetizer recipe!

Ingredients

• Top sirloin steak – for this recipe, I recommend a steak that’s approximately 1 ½ inches thick. This recipe requires 2 pounds of steak. This could be 2-4 steaks, depending on the size and thickness of each steak.
• Olive oil – or another neutral-flavored vegetable oil, like canola or avocado oil.
• Garlic – I recommend fresh cloves for the best flavor.
• Red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper – to season the steak.
• Fresh rosemary – I love the flavor of fresh rosemary to season the steak as it cooks in the sous vide, but dried rosemary can also be used in it’s place.
• Baguette – a sourdough or French baguette will work, whatever you prefer.
• Olive oil cooking spray – to spray on the slices of baguette before toasting. This will help them get brown and crispy, and add flavor to the toasted bread.
• Goat cheese
• Horseradish cream
• Balsamic reduction – also called balsamic glaze, this ingredient can be found bottled near the balsamic vinegar at all major grocery stores.
• Fresh basil – to garnish the crostini.

Instructions

I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Cook the steaks in a sous vide

1. Add the steaks to a large vacuum sealer bag with olive oil, crushed garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and fresh chopped rosemary.
2. Vacuum seal the bag closed, using a vacuum sealer.
   • Note: if you don’t have a vacuum sealer, you can use a gallon size freezer-safe zipper bag and the water displacement method. To do so, you’ll need to place the bag of steaks almost all of the way under water, leaving just about an inch of the top of the bag open. The water will press out all of the air around the food in the bag. You can then seal the bag closed.
3. Place the sealed bag of steak in a large pot, or container, filled with water. If properly sealed, the steak should sink in the water. You want to make sure that the steak is completely submerged in the water for proper sous vide cooking.
4. Attach a sous vide to the pot and set the temperature to 131°F for medium-rare steak. Set a timer for 4-8 hours. I’ve now made this recipe several times, cooking for 4 hours, 6 hours and 8 hours. Each time, the steak was perfect. That’s the beauty of sous vide cooking, because the temperature is low and precisely controlled. It will never overcook your food, even if you leave it in the sous vide for an extra hour or two!
5. Remove the bag of steaks from the water. Cut the bag open and use tongs to remove the steaks from the bag. If using a grill to sear the steaks, they can go directly on the grill. If using a cast iron skillet to sear the steaks, I recommend you pat them dry first with paper towels. Make sure the grill or pan is very hot before adding the steaks. You only want to cook them for 30-60 seconds on each side to sear the outside of the steak.
6. After searing the steaks, place them on a cutting board. Allow them to rest for 10 minutes before slicing them. This will allow the juices to evenly distribute throughout the steak after searing for a tender, juicy steak!

Prepare the crostini

1. While the steak is resting, heat the oven to 375°F. Slice the baguette and place the slices on a baking sheet. Spray the tops of the baguette slices with olive oil cooking spray, or brush olive oil on each slice of bread. Place them in the oven for 3-5 minutes to lightly toast.
2. Remove from the oven and set the bread aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine the goat cheese and horseradish cream, set aside.
4. Slice the steak very thin. Using an electric knife works great for this!
5. Spread the goat cheese and horseradish cream mixture on the sliced baguette.
6. Top with the thinly sliced top sirloin. Drizzle with the balsamic reduction and top with fresh chopped basil to garnish.

How to cook the steak on a grill

No sous vide? No problem! Use this popular recipe for marinated grilled sirloin steaks. Grill the steaks until they reach an internal temperature of 130-135°F on a meat thermometer. Rest the steaks for 10 minutes after they come off the grill. Thinly slice the steaks and follow the crostini recipe as directed.

Recipe substitutions

You can use other cuts of steak to make this recipe. A filet mignon is another great choice to make tender, flavorful meat for this steak crostini.

You can replace the goat cheese and horseradish cream with blue cheese. Combine 8 ounces blue cheese with 2 tablespoons blue cheese dressing to make a spread for the crostini.

Frequently asked questions

• What does a sous vide do? Sous vide cooking is a method that restaurants have been using for years, but has just recently became popular in households. Sous vide is a method of cooking food in airtight sealed plastic bags submerged in a temperature controlled water bath for 1-6 hours, sometimes up to 48 hours! The result is perfectly even cooked food from the inside out, thus making it awesome for cooking beef.
• Is it safe to sous vide in Ziploc bags? Ziploc bags are safe to use in a sous vide. They do not contain BPA so you do not have to worry about the chemical leaking into your food. Ziploc bags will not soften until 195°F. Most meats cook in the sous vide between 130°F -140°F.
• Can you sous vide steak from frozen? Yes! I’ve actually made this steak crostini recipe with steaks from the refrigerator and the freezer, and could not tell a difference between the two. This is just another benefit of sous vide cooking, no need to defrost your meat before taking it from the freezer to the sous vide. I do recommend a minimum of 2 hours in the sous vide for any cut of frozen steak.
• Why do you need to sear the steaks? Technically, you don’t need to sear the steaks, as they’ll be completely cooked in the sous vide water bath. Searing the steaks adds flavor, texture and color, to create the best steak that’s tender, juicy and flavorful, with a nice crust and beautiful presentation.

Sous vide steak temperature chart

Use the temperature chart below for top sirloin steak, or filet mignon. For the steaks that you see pictured throughout the post, I cooked them at 131°F.

• Rare: set the sous vide at 120-128°F
• Medium Rare (my recommendation): set the sous vide at 129-134°F
• Medium: set the sous vide at 135-144°F
• Medium Well: set the sous vide at 145-155°F
• Well Done: set the sous vide at 156-162°F

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