Steak & Potatoes Done Right!

Meat…beef…steak…rare. Insert manly grunt here. Or several grunts. What better all-American meal than steak and potatoes? Simple yes, but so many things can still go wrong and ruin a beautiful thing. I’m not saying I’m an expert by any means, but I do know how to do a good steak. Here are a few things I’ve learned after years of grilling, broiling, and pan-frying delicious, rich and succulent cuts of beef.

I think for my first post on our awesome foodie blog I should take a few steps back first and explore how I came to be so familiar with the grill. We were sophomores, maybe juniors when Eric and I first started exploring the FOOD Network. Late nights falling asleep to Bobby Flay’s pompous banter, our favorite Mr. Brown lecturing to the science of cooking or maybe watching Moriomoto mop up kitchen stadium’s floor with his opponent as he turned the nights secret ingredient into a culinary masterpiece. Whatever it was, we decided the key to happiness at that point in our lives was meat. To be specific, it was usually a t-bone or rib-eye steak. And as emerging men leaving our adolescent shells the BBQ was the obvious cooking medium of choice. Again, insert manly grunt here. So there in a nutshell was the beginning of my fascination with not only steaks, but the wonderful cooking method that is the BBQ.

So this was the inspiration for tonight’s meal. What should we make? What sounds good? When in doubt…grill up a steak! The only problem, like so many times in life something unexpected arises and changes your plans entirely. Half way through cooking our corn on the cob on the grill it happens.

“Honey, um, I think we are out of propane.” No! Two gorgeous steaks sitting on the counter adorned with delicious olive oil, salt and pepper, and some fresh thyme. No grilling tonight. Sad face. The only problem is, we still have to eat and there is no way I’m going to let 2 wondrous NY strips go to waste. It’s time to pan sear...

So we couldn’t grill them, so what? There is more than one way to skin a cat, or cook a steak in this case. So pan searing it was! Now let’s get into the good stuff. What have I learned from my years of cooking dead cow? First off, let the meat come to room temperature! Don’t take cold meat out of the fridge and throw it on a smokin’ hot grill or pan. Imagine what it feels like when you put cold hands under warm water, or dip your freezing feet into a hot tub. Tingly numbness. That’s what the steak feels like. Let the meat come up to room temp before you even THINK about cooking that bad boy! Secondly, cook steak hot and fast. You can make several   relationship jokes here if you would like, but it’s true. Hot and fast. Thirdly, let it rest. Walk away. Leave it alone! When you stop cooking the steak to your desired doneness walk away. Go read, clean up the kitchen, prepare you dessert, something! Just don’t mess with the meat for at least five to ten minutes. Trust me. If you don’t believe me, look up the science behind it but I’m telling you rested meat is delicious juicy meat.

Now that we have the steak wrapped up, lets hit the menu tonight, leave you with a few pictures and call it good.

Main course: NY strip steak marinated for an hour or so with salt and pepper, olive oil and fresh thyme (I love thyme because it is both earthy and fresh at the same time. Hard to find that combo anywhere else). The topping as you will see in the picture is brown cremini mushrooms sliced and sautéed in butter, olive oil, garlic and more thyme. When they are almost all the way cooked, crank up the heat and add in a few drops of soy sauce and about a cup of half and half. Reduce it down until it looks thick and delicious. Apply generously to the top of your perfectly cooked steak!

Potatoes and corn are pretty straightforward. Get some new potatoes, quarter them lengthwise, or hotdog style, as I like to say; toss them in oil, salt and pepper and you guessed it, more thyme. Roast in oven at around 400 degrees and finish with some grated parmesan. The corn is even easier. Foil. Salt. Pepper. Oil. Cook. Done.

Enjoy our dinner tonight! Comment on what you think about it, or if anyone has any other ideas on how to cook this stuff. The point of this blog is to share our ideas and get ideas from others. So have at it!

We will post desert tomorrow ☺

Evan + Emily
Boom!

Balsamic Breakfast Tower

When we woke up this morning, we wanted to make breakfast at home, but none of our standard fall-back ideas seemed interesting enough or even worth the effort. I began rummaging through the fridge in search for produce that needed to be used as soon as possible. I found one large tomato, half of a white onion and a Zip-Lock bag full of fresh basil that I clipped from my parents beautiful vegetable garden when we were over at their house for dinner last night. I decided I was going to take a risk, and it was very probable that we would need to find something else to eat after my cooking endeavor turned out to be unsavory…

In a large skillet, I started to fry hash browns over medium-high heat. In a second smaller skillet, I added olive oil and added the white onion that I’d just sliced. After browning the onions, I removed them from the heat and set them aside. I then reduced the heat and added two thick slices of fresh tomato that I had just coated in olive oil, kosher salt and ground pepper. I let those cook. After the hash browns were cooked and browned on both sides, I removed them and added even amounts to two small, round dishes and pressed them firmly into the bottom of the dish in an attempt to make them into hash brown patties. I set them aside to let them cool. After reducing the heat in the larger skillet, I cracked and carefully place two eggs inside, making sure to keep both egg whites separate. 

I then flipped the small dishes containing hash brown over onto two separate plates. I added the grilled onions to the hash browns, and then the fresh basil on top of that. I then place a thick slice of tomato to each tower, poured a small amount of balsamic vinegar and olive oil over each and then finished off each tower with a sunny-side up egg.

See for yourself!