Pan Seared Rib Eye, Baked Potato, Fresh Baked Garlic Bread and Cucumber Tomato “Salad”

How fitting that yesterday I posted about The Great Steakhouse Tour of NYC and cooked a delicious steak…. all on the same night.

I had seen this cooking method on various cooking shows (including Good Eats) and finally decided to give it a go; if it’s what they do in steakhouses, how wrong could they be? 

It came out so fantastic… I told my boyfriend that I believed I’d outdone myself, to which he responded, “Ehhh… no, I don’t think so.”  I’m turning him into a discerning critic, aren’t I?  (He elaborated by stating that the steaks I’d made for us when we went camping last year were way better- let’s see; two porterhouses thrown into plastic ziplocs, covered in Peter Luger’s steak sauce and then frozen (to preserve them until we could eat them), then thawed and thrown onto a hot metal grill over a hickory wood fire; NO, it doesn’t get better than that, but I gently reminded him that the super really would not like it if I built an open fire made of hickory in our apartment.) 

What I did: ordered two rib eye steaks from FreshDirect.  I took them out when I got home (intending to eat around 9) and brought them to room temperature, which took that entire time.  I baked cupcakes in the meantime (pictures and recipes to come!), sliced up some cucumbers, threw some Idaho russet potatoes into the heating oven (varying the temperature between 350 and 450 for my various purposes), baked up some parbaked FreshDirect Italian baguette… and then the steaks. 

I seasoned with way more salt than I generally like, a bit of fresh ground black pepper, and splash of olive oil over each side.  The recipe I was looking at tells you to put your skillet into the oven for a few minutes, but mine had been sitting on the stove the entire time and was screaming hot already, so I turned on the heat, let it heat for good few minutes on top of that, and threw the steak in- they gave off a nice, satisfying sizzle when I did so.  I counted to 30 (okay, it went over a little), flipped, counted to 30ish again, then took the whole thing and put it into my nice and hot oven.  I timed it about 2 minutes on each side before pulling them out and letting them rest.  (I managed to NOT burn myself once, which was a nice touch…)

While they were resting, I slathered some butter onto my hot, “fresh baked” Italian baguette that I’d split down the middle.  I popped it into the screaming hot oven (that I’d lowered to 350) and let it sit in there for a few minutes while I plated the rest of my dinner- baked potato (slit down the center, add a pat of butter), steak, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes for a mock salad… and I peeled a garlic clove and cut a few slices off one side.  Popped the garlic slices into the still-hot skillet, threw in one roasted chicken stock ice cube, deglazed the pan and poured into a ramekin, set it on the table.  Then I pulled out the piping hot bread and wiped the remaining garlic glove all over the buttered side, releasing a delicious aroma into the air… cut the bread in half again and finished my presentation with a knife and fork.  (It smelled too good for me to pause and grab parsley to make it all fancy before snapping a photo.)

The steak was excellent, medium rare to perfection, oh so soft- like buttah, baby!- melt in your mouth goodness.  The extra salt (extra from my normal usage) caused my boyfriend (who always puts salt on any steak I make) to not even bother asking for the salt shaker, and in between bites he’d “cleanse his palate” (his words, not mine- told you, I’m turning him into a foodie!) with a cucumber slice, saying the burst of water in his mouth was perfect for this.  The potatoes were good, but the bread was the capper, according to him.  Garlic that wasn’t in your face but distinctly yet subtly there. 

Another great meal.  I can’t even really take credit since the ingredients shone on their own with little fuss on my part. 

Wish I was having another one tonight!