A steak chimichurri surprise from a teenager

Last week, while I was in Mumbai, my wife sent me a photograph of a steak with chimichurri sauce. It had been made, apparently in 15 minutes, by our 16-year-old daughter.

- SAMAR HALARNKAR

Now, I've never made a steak, just one of those things I've been meaning to do for years. Plus, there’s the hassle of trying to find a good steak in these uncertain times. While I was away, all that got sorted out.

I should leave town more often.

Her mother, a vegetarian, not only found a good steak but now authoritatively says that an undercut is best. For this column, the daughter replicated the steak and gave me, a veteran cook of 40-odd years, a personalised class, impatiently rushing me through steps that I hesitated with, such as using butter and oil.

How had this girl—a singer, athlete and largely indifferent student until her class X board exams—become such a confident cook?

I have given her no lessons, she refuses to help in the kitchen and tries to dodge daily plate washing duties. But since she was a little girl, she has either silently watched or evolved her own style. And there’s Instagram to fill in the blanks and supply fresh inspiration.

“She cooks exactly like you, except she’s very easy on the butter and oil,” said the wife. “She has little patience or a plan, wanders into the kitchen, reads something, and starts doing it. She’s her own biggest critic.” A few months ago, to our astonishment—and nervousness—she proclaimed that she would make a pasta aglio olio for us from scratch. Her only condition was that we stay away from the kitchen.