Get creative with your preparation. Although a conventional recipe combines sirloin steak with fried eggs, select from the variety of steak cuts and egg styles to create a signature dish—and name it after Dad.

Add a green vegetable to set off the plate (and the cholesterol), and pick a “signature condiment”: anything from chimichurri sauce or chutney to curried ketchup or homemade wild mushroom and red wine sauce.

START WITH THE STEAK

Sirloin is a popular cut; a petite sirloin makes individual portions easy. But if your budget allows, go for a New York strip or rib eye. You can employ other favorite cuts as well.

A Father’s Day favorite. Swith the homemade potato chips for something green. Photo courtesy Peach Valley Cafe.

DECIDE ON THE EGGS

Fried eggs are popular, and the yolk provides a “sauce” for the steak—as do poached egg yolks. But you can serve any style of eggs that Dad prefers: scrambled, boiled, hard-cooked and sliced, a mushroom omelet, a frittata.

Our signature steak and eggs recipe was inspired by the clever renderings of Chef Thomas Keller (his Oysters and Pearls is a sabayon of pearl tapioca with oysters and sturgeon caviar [caviar eggs are called pearls}):

We designed our steak and eggs as a filet mignon served with boiled potatoes. The top of the potatoes is scooped out (with a small melon baller), filled with crème fraîche and topped with caviar (i.e., the eggs) and garnished with a hard-cooked quail egg, halved and garnished with chive mayonnaise.

Most restaurants serve steak and eggs with a side of hash browns or other potatoes. But the dish needs more of a balance than that provided by a pile of fried beige simple carbs.

So go for something green. We like:

 
FINISH WITH A HERB GARNISH

Nothing picks up a dish better than fresh herbs. Sprinkle your creation with a favorite herb or two: a basil chiffonade, chopped chives, cilantro, parsley or rosemary.