Steakhouse Pan Seared Steak →

You don’t need to spend upwards of $20. for a restaurant-quality steak dinner when you can make it at home the way professional chefs do for well less than $10. per steak. Here’s a simple, quick, and deliciously flavorful way to pan sear the steak of your choice. Patting the steak dry, seasoning, and refrigerating it uncovered in the fridge will dry the surface and create a professional crust when you sear it on the hot pan. Give it a try and you may never order steak off a restaurant menu again.

Allow 6-7 ounces of steak per person
Ingredients:

• 1 -1 1/2 inch thick Tenderloin, Sirloin, N.Y. Strip, Rib Eye steak or other steak of your preference

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 2 cloves of garlic crushed

• salt and pepper (or Montreal Dry Rub)

• a few sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary

Preparation:

1. Dry the surface of the steak with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper or Montreal Dry Rub. Place the steak on a rack uncovered in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

2. Remove the steak from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking to bring it to room temperature.

3. Heat a heavy bottom skillet like a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet. Heat the oil until it just begins to smoke. You want the skillet hot to give a good sear.

4. Add the steak(s) to the skillet and sear for 30 seconds on each side.

5. Add butter, the crushed garlic, and the sprigs of herbs to the pan and mix around.

6. Turn the steak and cook each side for one minute at a time spoon-basting the steak with the herb-garlic-butter sauce on each side.

7. Cook the steak until the internal temperature is 115-125 degrees for rare or until you press on the steak and it gives like the fleshy part of your palm just below the thumb. (2-3 minutes total after the initial sear depending on the thickness of your steak) For medium-rare, the internal temp should be 125-130 F.

8. Remove the steak from the pan to a plate and tent for 3-4 minutes.

Serve with a salad or vegetable of your choice and starch of your choice like Mango and Tomato Salad and Mushroom Risotto

Wine pair: full-bodied red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Chianti, Super-Tuscans, and Zinfandel are all good choices to pair with beef.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmC9SmCBUj4 Thanks to Gordon Ramsay.

Beef Pot Roast →

Slow cooked, braised Yankee Pot Roast with a rich sauce or gravy is a tradition in New England and a comfort food from my childhood. My adult sons still refer to “Grandma’s pot roast” as one of their favorite foods when they were kids. So this recipe aims to keep the Pot Roast tradition alive in my family and to share an up-dated version of this regional braised dish that came to this country with immigrants from England, Ireland, France and other European countries (pot roast, carbonnade, daube, fricassee, brisket, or stew). In addition to the traditional ingredients of onion, garlic, celery and herbs (typically thyme and/or marjoram), I like to add red wine and re-hydrated dried mushrooms for extra flavor. Both are optional and can be replaced by an equal amount of water or broth. Like most braised dishes Pot Roast uses an inexpensive, tough cut of meat with plenty of connective tissue (collagen) that turns gelatinous and allows the meat fibers to separate and transform into fall-apart tender flavorful meat during the slow, low-temperature braising process. This is a dish worth waiting for.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

*Special equipment: a dutch oven or other cast-iron pot with a cover that can go in the oven.

• 3 pounds chuck roast cut into 4 chunks

• 3-4 tablespoons flour

• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

• 1 medium onion chopped

• 3 tablespoons celery chopped (about 1 medium stalk)

• 2 large cloves of garlic (or 3-4 medium)

• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (2 teaspoons dried thyme)

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1/8 cup dried mushrooms like porcini or shitake

• 1 cup water, plus extra water or broth as needed for the braise

• ½ cup dry red wine

• salt and pepper

Preparation:

*preheat the oven to 300 degrees

1. Place the dried mushrooms in a cup of boiling water to re-hydrate. Set aside.

2. Salt and pepper all sides of the chunks of beef generously and dredge the beef chunks in the flour shaking off excess flour.

3. Working in batches brown all sides or the beef in the dutch oven over medium high heat. Place the browned beef on a platter and tent to keep warm.

4. Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the same pan you browned your beef in, adding a little oil if necessary.

5. Once the onion is translucent and the celery is tender, add the tablespoon of tomato paste to the pot and stir it around with the vegetables for a couple of minutes.

6. Strain the mushroom water (discard any sediment accumulated in the bottom of the cup) into the pot and add the wine.

7. Chop the re-hydrated mushrooms and add to the pot along with the chunks of beef and any juices left on the plate. Add ½-1 teaspoon of salt and half as much black pepper (to taste).

8. Add enough water or chicken or beef broth to the pot to just cover the meat and bring to a boil.

9. Put the pot or dutch oven in the preheated oven and cook for 1 ½ hours. Carefully take the pot out of the oven (it will be very hot!), take the lid off and turn over the pieces of beef. Carefully replace the pot in the oven and cook for an additional 1 ½ hours.

After three hours the meat should be almost fall apart tender and there should be a thick rich sauce in the pan. If the sauce is too thin, you can remove the meat to a platter and tent and reduce the sauce in the pan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally so the sauce doesn’t burn.

Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles and a vegetable or salad of your choice. I like roasted carrots and parsnips flavored with anise inflected tarragon: toss your cut-up inch thick pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper and a teaspoon of dried tarragon and cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until fork tender. Our friend Liz O’Shea from Ireland likes to boil and mash parsnips and carrots together with butter, salt, and pepper. You could add a little tarragon to that version as well.

A full-bodied dry red wine from grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, or Malbec from the U.S. or South America; a Super-Tuscan blend from Italy; or any of the big red wines from France, Spain or Portugal. Lots of choices, but you want something balanced and full-bodied with good tannins to complement the richness of the beef.

Pan Seared Filet Mignon with Red Wine and Wild Mushroom Sauce →

This is a delicious, rich, umami-laden sauce that is made for beef….filet mignon, porterhouse, rib-eye, flank steak, etc. Your choice. Enjoy!

4-6 servings

For the Red Wine Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons. olive oil

• 1 small onion chopped

• 1 small tart green apple unpeeled, chopped

• 1 celery stalk, chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, chopped

• 1 750 ml bottle Cabernet Sauvignon or other dry full-bodied red wine

• 1 cup ruby or tawny port

• 1 cup beef stock

• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme, or a ½ teaspoon dried thyme

• 5 tablespoons butter

• 1 lb. assorted wild mushrooms wiped clean, stemmed, and sliced (shiitake, crimini, oyster, beech, etc. I often use 1/3 shitake and 2/3 crimini.)

• 2 tablespoons minced shallots

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (optional)

• ½ teaspoon cornstarch mixed in a tablespoon of cold water (optional

Directions:

1. Saute the first 5 ingredients.

2. Add the wine, thyme, port, and beef stock and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to about 1 ¼ cups.

3. Strain through a medium wire mesh strainer, pressing down the vegetables to extract as much flavor and juice as possible, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. In a separate pan, melt 2 tbs butter and sauté mushrooms and shallots until golden brown

5. Add wine reduction to the mushrooms and bring to simmer.

6. Remove from heat and whisk in 3 tablespoons butter and the Dijon.

7. If you want a slightly thicker sauce, whisk the cornstarch and water to create a smooth slurry and slowly whisk it into the wine sauce. Bring sauce to a simmer to thicken and remove from heat.

Cook the Filet Mignon:

• 6 one inch thick Filet Mignon steaks patted dry with a paper towel

• salt and pepper to taste, or

• Montreal Steak Seasoning (optional)

1. Preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil.

2. Add 3 filets at a time, and cook for 2 minutes; turn over and cook an additional 2 minutes for medium-rare.

3. Remove from skillet, set aside, and tent.

4. Add remaining filets and cook as above.

5. Remove from heat and tent with the other filets.

6. Pour the wine sauce into the skillet and bring to a simmer, scraping up any bits of caramelized crust from cooking the beef.

7. Spoon the sauce over the filets just before serving.