Bringing the Steakhouse Home

Steak au Poivre, perfect for a date night

It's already a week into February, which means Valentine's Day is quickly approaching.  Whether you're single or in a relationship, you can't escape the red & pink decorations, hearts, flowers and chocolate everywhere you look.  Personally, I'm not a huge a fan of Valentine's Day.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy any reason to eat chocolate and get presents, and I love girly things like pink hearts everywhere, but there's something about Valentine's Day that always feels forced.  Which is why I will not go out to dinner on Feb. 14th.  I have no desire to sit in an over-crowded restaurant with couples holding hands across the table, all while eating food that is ridiculously marked up in price for the day.  I much prefer to stay at home with a bottle (or 2) of a good wine and make dinner for Doug and myself. 

Usually, Doug and I make dinner for ourselves almost every night, so for Valentine's Day, I like to surprise him with something new and/or something that we would order out to eat.  While I have yet to decide what I'll be making next week, I wanted to share a recipe I would recommend for a great Valentine's Day in.  Doug had sent me this recipe a while back, but at the time I didn't own a cast iron skillet.  Well, once my parents bought me an awesome Lodge one for Christmas, I was pumped to be able to make Mr. Bourdain's Steak au Poivre.

With the steak recipe, Anthony Bourdain recommends serving with french fries or sauteed potatoes.  I choose the healthier option of sauteed potates.  I simply cubed the potatoes, since dicing them takes a little bit of time, as you cut them, hold them in a bowl of cold water to keep them from turning brown, and then seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika and some parsley.  But you can add whatever seasonings you like!  Then I added them to a warmed saute pan and added a little EVOO.  I don't add to much (like I said, I was aiming to keep it healthier), just enough to coat the potatoes.  Toss them a bit and let them cook until desired doneness.  I personally like mine on the crispier side, so I had them on the stove for a while.  Also, I had halved Tony's recipe because I was only making 2 steaks, but below is the full recipe.  I hope you and who ever you're cooking for enjoy!

Servings: 4

Ingredients4 8-ounce steaks
2 ounces olive oil
2 ounces freshly cracked peppercorns (crushed but not ground to powder!)
4 ounces sweet butter
1 ounce good Cognac
4 ounces strong, dark veal stock (something to keep in your freezer)
Salt and pepper

Equipment
Heavy skillet
Kitchen tongs
Wooden spoon
Serving platter

Instructions for Steak
1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Moisten the meat very slightly with oil, then dredge each of the steaks in the crushed peppercorns to thoroughly coat. Don't be shy with the pepper.

2. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet over high heat. Once the oil is hot, add 2 ounces, which is half of the butter. Place the steaks in the pan and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes per side.

3. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook until desired doneness, about 5 to 7 minutes for rare, 10 minutes for medium rare, and so on. Remove from the oven and remove the steaks from the pan to rest. Have I told you yet to always rest your meat after cooking? I've told you now.

Instructions for Sauce
1. Return the skillet to the stovetop and carefully stir in the Cognac. As much fun as it is to create a column of flame as you add flammable material to an incredibly hot pan, it's not really desirable or necessary — especially in a home kitchen. Unless you're a pyromaniac, I recommend carefully adding the Cognac to the still-hot pan off the flame, stirring and scraping with the wooden spoon to get every scrap, every peppercorn, every rumor of flavor clinging to the bottom of the pan.

2. Now place the pan on the flame again and cook it down a bit, by about half. Stir in the veal stock and reduce over medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with French fries or sautéed potatoes.

Note on searing: With any recipe that calls for searing meat and then using the pan to make a sauce, be careful to avoid blackening the pan; your sauce will taste burnt. Avoid by adjusting the heat to, say, medium high, so it will still sear the meat but not scorch the pan juices. But stoves and pans vary, so pay attention.

Recipe and reviews can also be found here.  FYI - sweet butter is just unsalted butter, I had to look that up to be sure after not finding "sweet butter" in the grocery store.

Steak & potatoes cooking away on the stove

Philly in New York?

So I don't know about you guys, but I often find myself stopping on the Food Network in awe of half of the stuff professionals and amateurs are making. One of my favorite chefs happen to be Bobby Flay whose expertise happen to be in grilling which also happens to be some of the best food you can make in my opinion.

However, living in NYC without a backyard or rooftop access makes it very difficult (read: impossible) to grill. So instead, I often look to my stove and a pan to do my "grilling."

Today I decided I wanted to try my "chops" at a Philly Cheese steak and I can report, it really isn't difficult or time consuming at all. Let's break it down:

I hit the supermarket and purchased USDA round ribeye steak sliced thin. I highly recommend doing this instead of cutting it yourself. I personally like my cheese steak pretty straight forward so the only other things I picked up were an onion, green peppers, American cheese and of course, French bread. (Make sure you pick a good break for this as too soft the hero will get soggy, too hard, and you simply won't enjoy the sandwich as much).

So I got home and got my equipment: A 12" stainless steel pan, cutting board, bowl and a knife.
First step was to cut up the onion and peppers. I used half of a bell pepper and a whole small onion. I then put a bit of olive oil in the pan and set the heat to high. First, I threw the onions in:

(click to enlarge)

A word of warning, you are going to get some sizzle and pop from the oil, just be careful as you saute your onions. You want them cooked enough where they are limp and lose their normal "crispness."

I then added the bell peppers and sprinkled a bit of black pepper on to it:

(click to enlarge)

Next I took out the steak and laid them on my cutting board. I decided to not marinade these as I thought the flavor from the caramelized onions and peppers along with the cheese would be plenty. I did sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on both sides however.
I then moved the peppers and onions into a side bowl. I threw a bit more olive oil in the pan and placed the pieces of steak on the pan. Don't go to far from the pan as the steak will cook very quickly. I'm talking about maybe about 30 seconds on each side.

Once I flipped the steak I tossed the onions/peppers back in the pan and then proceeded to cut the steak (which is why I went with a stainless steel pan vs. non-stick). I then placed two slices of American cheese over the mound of meat and veggies.

(click to enlarge)

(side note. Feel free to use any kind of cheese you want. Provolone is another popular choice, or the classic Philly Cheesesteak style of using Cheese Whiz. In that case, just put the cheese directly on the bread).

I then placed the bread over the food and used that and a spatula to scoop the steak mixture onto my bread. And here is the finished product:

(click to enlarge)

This literally took me 15 minutes to complete and I can confirm it was delicious. I bought enough for 2 sandwiches and the cost came out to about $10.
If you decide to give this a go, comment back with how you made it and how it came out.

Until next time....