I love a good steak dinner. A great steak, perfectly cooked, some old fashioned side dishes & a good bottle of red wine. This is not a cheap dinner to make but it's cheaper than going out to Morton's and tastes just as good (no, it tastes better!).
here's our dinner:
First you have to buy really good steaks. If you can afford it go ahead and buy some prime steaks, if you can find them. You will need to find a good butcher shop; grocery stores (at least the ones around me) don't carry prime steaks. I usually go to the good butcher shop but just buy choice steaks. Our favorite type of steak is the rib eye. Look for well marbled 1 or 1 1/2 inch cut steaks. My husband is in charge of steak cooking in our house. When I was pregnant I wanted steak dinner all the time & my husband kindly made them for me so he became an expert. This is his recipe:
Mr Marjoram's perfect steaks
2 12 oz Rib eyes
Salt & pepper
4 oz crumbled blue cheese
Take steaks out of fridge & bring up to room temp
Preheat oven to 250º
Preheat grill to med/high
Season steaks with salt & pepper and put in a heavy pan (we use a cast Iron)
Put in low heat oven for 10 minutes on first side & 6 minutes on the other.
Then grill on a nice hot grill for 2-3 minutes on each side. When you flip the steaks top with blue cheese & let it melt on...yum
Steak dinners make me want to serve old-fashioned side dishes. Tonight I chose potatoes, creamed corn & a tomato salad.
I love creamed corn but wanted a lighter version where the taste of the fresh corn shone through
Mrs Marjoram's Creamed corn
4 ears of corn cut off the cob
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp AP flour
1/2 - 1 cup whole milk
Fresh ground nutmeg
Salt & pepper
Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Whisk in flour and let cook until it starts to turn a little golden & smell nutty. Very slowly whisk in milk. Whisk in a little milk at a time and let it start to thicken then add a little more. Start with the 1/2 cup of milk and then add more if needed to get a creamy but not thick consistency. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt & pepper. Add corn and simmer for a few minutes until warm throughout. (Add more milk if it gets too thick.
If you want a richer & more unique corn dish add some cheese to the sauce before you add the corn. You could use blue cheese, goat cheese or grated cheddar.
herbed smashed potatoes
2 lbs red bliss potatoes (scrubbed but unpeeled)
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs salt
2 oz butter
4 oz cream cheese
Salt & pepper
1/4 cup veggie stock
3 Tablespoons fresh herbs (with chives)
Place potatoes in a large pot cover with 1 inch cold water, bay leaf & salt. Bring to a boil & simmer for 20-30 min. Drain potatoes & return to pot. Let stand until dry (about 5 min).
Melt butter (I usually do this in the microwave). Whisk in cream cheese until smooth. It will look all gross & gloppy (is that a word?) at first but keep whisking it will come together in to a whipped cream consistency. Whisk in stock, salt, pepper, and herbs.
Start to mash potatoes with masher or heavy spoon. Add liquid & smash...leaving some chunks.
Here are the ladies at my local organic farm picking cherry tomatoes:
Cherry Tomato Salad
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 nice sprigs of basil
2 Tbs good olive oil
Salt & pepper
(All amounts approximate please use your judgment)
Halve or quarter tomatoes & place in bowl. Pick off basil leaves, stack them, roll them up like a cigarette & slice to produce an herb confetti known as a chiffinade. Sprinkle over tomatoes. Season with salt & pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss & serve.
No political intermission this week. I'm sick of talking about politics so I'm spending my energy doing something instead. I'm updating our local Obama group database and networking in preparation to get lots of volunteers out to register voters & go to other redder states to help out. My only political message this week is to remember that it does make a big difference who is in the white house! Think how different our world would be of we had President Gore instead of Bush. Remember that when you consider whether you want to volunteer for or give money to the Obama campaign.