Steak Dinner

We have recently decided to try to start eating out less in an effort to curb our monthly expenses. It turns out when you're amateur foodies like we are (and/or lazy), you really prefer to eat out rather than eat at home. So I'm trying to make meals at least once a week that we might order out at a good restaurant. This past week I decided that I would make Friday night Steak Night. I had bought a Flat Iron Steak with no plans for it, so I set to searching for some ideas on how to make it special. My research taught me that Flat Irons are tender cuts of meat and easy to cook. Perfect.

I decided a while ago that you can't go wrong marinating beef (unless you marinate a Filet with Dales...NOT a good idea Matthew!). In a small bowl combine:

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crumbled

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup olive oil

I placed my 1 1/4 pound piece of steak in a gallon size zip top bag and added the marinade (as usual, I doubled the recipe...for some reason I'm afraid of not having enough marinade), refrigerating over night. When you're ready to grill your meat, pull it out of the refrigerator at least 15 minutes ahead of time to allow it to start coming to room temperature (it will cook more evenly this way). Preheat grill to medium-high heat and cook for 6 minutes on each side to reach medium-rare. If you want to be fancy about it, rotate your steak 90 degrees after three minutes on each side to give it authentic grilled steak markings. Cover with foil tent and let steak sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it to make sure all the internal juices don't run out on you. Cut against the grain (for more tender pieces) in small slices.

If you want to be real fancy about it, you can make a Blue Cheese and Chive Butter to melt over top of it after it's done cooking. Combine 3 Tablespoons butter at room temperature with 1-2 ounces of blue cheese and 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped chives. This butter is also good spread on a loaf of french bread and baked until toasted and golden in the oven.

I decided that since we were going to be a little decadent with the butter spread, that we would not have any other starches and eat two veggies with our steak. I did a quick steam and saute of green beans with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt. But for me, the star of the meal ended up being the roasted cauliflower. I know, I didn't see that coming either. I'd watched Anne Burrell make roasted cauliflower on her show before, and she made such a big deal about how good it is. I thought yeah, cauliflower is OK sometimes in a veggie platter, but it usually gets kinda mushy when you cook it. Roasting is most definitely the trick to great cauliflower - and it was SO easy.

Preheat oven to 450. Chop up a head of cauliflower into small to medium florets. Spread out in an even layer in a baking dish. Pour 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 cloves chopped garlic over cauliflower. Toss with hands to ensure all pieces are covered. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring half way through. Top with 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan and 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley and broil for 3-5 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

I know the cauliflower looks wimpy, but it really was super tasty. I would recommend using 2 heads of cauliflower if you are serving more than 2 people. I ate all of that, by myself, in two sittings. Don't judge.