Nothing says love… Like steak

So, we decided to have our Valentine’s dinner a little early. Tomorrow, we’re doing a wine / chocolate tour… and Virginia has a meeting on Sunday evening, so we had to enjoy our special meal tonight. Just so happens, today is also our 5 month anniversary, so it worked out well.

So for the blog followers, we have a special treat… one of my favorite main courses, but I rarely get to cook it.

Like all good things… it all starts with butter. Take a good sized pan, and put it on a large burner at high heat. After it’s heated rather nicely, drop about 1 TBSP of butter into the hot pan ad let it melt from edge to edge.

Here’s the main attraction, seasoned with salt and pepper and ready to go into the buttery pan. The meat of choice is 1-1/2” thick Filet Mignon. These are organic pieces of moo-cow, bought at our local Earthfare Grocery. But of course, any high quality PRIME Filet will do. Choice ≠ prime. You can see the marbling on the meat, just enough fat that everything will be juicy and wonderful. Be prepared to pay a little more for a good cut of meat. The lesser quality is good for making stew… or hamburgers… but for a good steak, spend a few bucks. The end cost will be less than you’d spend in a restaurant for a crappy steak.

So, the pan is HOT, the butter is melted. Drop the steaks in, and sear the meat on each side.

You see above, the meat is seared. The point is to lock all of the natural magical juices in. So, you want about 1/8 of an inch of the meat cooked on each side. As soon as you hit 1/8” on each side, REMOVE THE PAN FROM THE BURNER. Turn the burner down to medium-low and do not put the pan back onto the burner until the burner has cooled down to medium low.

Now, back on the burner, cover the pan and let the steaks go on medium low for 3-5 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, get any side-dishes ready, pour yourself a nice glass of wine (our wine tonight was a Zinfandel we brought back from Napa, CA … awesome compliment to the meal)

 

 

 

 

 

Voila. This is after a few minutes on each side. Next, let the meat rest for 3-4 minutes on a plate before cutting. By letting it rest, you’re allowing the juices to soak back into the meat instead of flowing out of the meat the second you cut into it. … You know what I’m talking about… you’ve cut into a steak, and next thing you know, you plate is covered in juices from the steak… Your thoughts are” Wow… what a juicy steak”… well, yeah, it was… before you let all of the juices out.

We paired our steaks with some lovely fresh broccoli that Virginia steamed, and some Macaroni and cheese from earlier.

This is the result. Brown on the outside, a deep pink on the inside. Go ahead. Look at it. Imagine it. You know you want it.

 

Happy Valentine’s to everyone. May you enjoy it as much as we will!