Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Sunshine, Steak, and Potatoes

Aahhhhh, sunshine.  Warm, inviting, lovely, sunshine!  I thought you'd never come back.

Seriously though.  This winter was long.  Maybe it was the stress of all the wedding putting together, or maybe it was just extra dreary, but I am so glad that it is almost summer, and that it has decided to warm up finally.  Today I walked outside in flip flops and a t-shirt, and I didn't even get a little chilly.  I went and got ice cream, and I didn't take my car, and it was fabulous, and I loved it.

The changing seasons also bring in a change of pace for me and John.  He has finished school!  (For now, at least.)  Yay!  Now there's just the ever daunting task of finding him a job before the sharks come after us for the money he owes on the loan, but I have hope.  And by hope I mean I have put the fear of an incredibly upset wife into him should he slack off on his job finding duties.

Ha, of course I am kidding!  (Mostly.)  I am pretty happy with my little family how it is - the two cutest kitties in all the land, and a cute, doting husband - and life is good.  Once John does find a job, hopefully we'll be able to move somewhere a little less dungeon-y, and I will be entirely content.  Until then... At least I can open up the windows now so it's not quite as dank.

Obligatory recipe time!

I made the most delicious steak today.  I'm not even going to be modest about it.  It kicked the pants off of any steak I have ever made before, and I would like to share with you my tasty secret.  (It's not really a secret.  You can get this stuff off of allrecipes.com.  Except for the sauce... BUT I WILL GET TO THAT IN A MOMENT.)

The steak is pretty straight forward.  Just go to your local supermarket, or wherever you buy meat from, and pick up a couple of steaks.  Ok?  Ok.  We just used a couple of strip steaks for this recipe.  (Tip on buying steak - the more marbling, the better!)

I've tried to marinade steaks before, but I can't ever get it right... It's something that I'm still working on.  For this meal, I didn't marinate the stakes, I used a dry rub for flavor instead.  And you know what?  It was good.  Here's the recipe:

DRY BEEF RUB

Ingredients:

2-1/2 Tsp. Dark Brown Sugar
2 Tsp. Paprika
3/4 Tsp. Mustard Powder
3/4 Tsp. Onion Powder
3/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp. Basil
1/4 Tsp. Ground Bay Leaf
1/4 Tsp. Ground Coriander Seed
1/4 Tsp. Savory
1/4 Tsp. Thyme 
1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp. Cumin
Salt To Taste

Directions:

Mix everything together in a small bowl.
(Yep.  That's really it.)

Super easy, and I actually had all of the spices I needed in my cupboard thanks to to the sweet seasoning rack (complete WITH seasons) we got as a wedding gift.  Score!  It kind of smelled like taco seasoning when I was finished with it, which kind of worried me, but it turned out really good on the steaks.  Also, before I forget, I did not come up with this recipe.  I found it here on allrecipes.com, a site that I love dearly.  Anyway.  Now that you have your dry rub put together, set it aside for a moment.

Cooking steaks is pretty simple.  We don't have a grill, (I don't even know where we would put it if we did) and so I cooked these on the oven/in the stove.  Grab your steaks, tenderize them, (while they're cold) cover them, and leave them (somewhere your cats can't get into them - a lesson well learned) out until they reach about room temperature.  (Use your brain... Don't leave them out for hours, that's gross.  It should only take about 30 minutes.)

Once they've reached that temperature, it's time to get your hands dirty.  Grab some olive oil, and your rub, and get to work.  Poor some olive oil, (about 1/2 - 1 tsp for each side) on your steak, and use your fingers to spread it around so it's nice and covered.  Then take your dry rub and sprinkle it on liberally (or not so much if you're not into TOTALLY AWESOME FLAVOR) and rub it in.  And I mean rub it.  Don't mutilate it, but use some force when you're rubbing it into the steak... You get the idea.  Do the same for both sides.

Now for the cooking!  Take an oven safe skillet, and pop it in the oven.  (Yes, empty.)  Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.  Once it's finished preheating, turn your burner on to high, and let it heat up.  (If you have a gas stove, which I wish I did, you don't have to wait for it to heat up.)  Once you've got some good heat coming off of there, take your skillet out of the oven, place it on the burner, and drop your steaks in.  You don't have to add extra oil or anything, just put them right in.  Cook them for one to two minutes on each side, making sure you have a really good sear.  Once you've finished searing them, throw them back into the oven for 3 - 5 minutes, depending on how rare you like your steak.  (I prefer medium rare, and I cooked mine for about four minutes and it was perfect.)  Now, steak needs a chance to sit and let the juices flow through it, so once it's done cooking, take it out, remove it from the pan, and onto a plate.  Leave it there for about five minutes.  

IN THE MEANTIME, turn your attention to that pan you just pulled the steaks out of.  If you did it right, there should be some juices left in there.  That is what we will use to make a semi-unconventional steak sauce.  Since it's mostly fat and oil, it makes an awesome roux.  Toss a little bit of flour in there until you have a thick, pasty substance.  Stir in some milk or cream a little bit at a time (if you add it all in at once, your roux will clump up and be gross) and then put it back on the burner and turn it on to low heat.  Let your sauce simmer and reduce a little bit, and then take it off the stove and put it on your steaks, and voila! Delicious steak.

Now just pair it up with some broiled potatoes (you can find my favorite recipe here) and you have yourself a meal.  Happy eating!

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