SteakFilter: Help us wow our Mom's with a great steak recipe for Mothers Day!

May 4, 2009 12:34 PM

SteakFilter: Help us wow our Mom's with a great steak recipe for Mothers Day!

The Mom's in our family have requested steak for Mothers day dinner. We're tired of cooking the same old stuff (dry rubs, BBQ, plain grilled). What we need is a recipe that will wow them!

If it helps, so far the side dishes ideas being tossed around include:
Cauliflower Popcorn
Garlicky Greens
Polenta Fries or Spinach Mashed Potatoes
Salad

Help us wow our Mom's!

posted by pghjezebel to food & drink (28 comments total)

Au poivre is a great way to do steaks and, frankly, it's about as "fancy" as I'd get with a nice hunk of beef.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:41 PM on May 4

Find some "Great American Land and Cattle Company" Steak seasoning. Sprinkle steaks liberally on both sides. Use a blade meat tenderizer to gently tenderize the meat. Heat grill on high for about 10 minutes. Then put steaks on to sear for about 3 min. per side. After they have seared, turn down heat, and slowly bring steaks up to desired doneness. I usually pull mine at 140 degrees, for medium, and let them rest for a few minutes.

I know this isn't real scientific, but this makes the best steaks ever. Nice crust on the outside, juicy tender insides. If you can't find that seasoning, I guess another type of steak seasoning would work, but Great American is the best.
posted by snoelle at 12:44 PM on May 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

My favorite steak recipe of all time happens to be one of the simplest (provided you can get the cut). Buy Hanger steak (have to get it from the butcher, and even then many butchers don't carry it). - one cut feeds 1 large hungry guy, or 2 women.

Marinate with salt, pepper, rosemary, olive oil for 30 minutes.

Slice about 3 shallots per cut very thinly and set aside.

put olive oil in a cast iron skillet and heat it until the oil starts to smoke. Put the steak on the skillet for 4 minutes on one side, cover loosely with aluminum foil, then flip for 4 more minutes. remove, and let sit covered for 5 minutes (it will keep on cooking).

Throw the shallots in the skillet and cook them until soft.

Serve shallots over the steak.

SOOO GOOD.
posted by nyc_consultant at 12:48 PM on May 4 [2 favorites has favorites]

take a package of sirloin strips and marinate it overnight in a mixture of equal parts red wine and worcestershire sauce, plus maybe a teaspoon of ground coriander. Grill to taste, and serve.

It'd probably go well with the garlic greens, or I usually do mashed carrots (add salt, pepper, and brown sugar to taste) and/or green beans (boil, drain, then sautee in butter and a touch of sherry with salt, pepper, oregano, and rosemary to taste).
posted by xbonesgt at 12:52 PM on May 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

We enjoyed this Jamaican Jerk Ribeye when we made it.
posted by genefinder at 12:54 PM on May 4

- 2 (1-inch-thick) steaks of your choice-- I'd go with ribeye or new York (strip) steaks-- should be around 1 lb each
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- fresh-ground pepper
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and cut in half
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- good balsamic vinegar (the real stuff, not the caramel-colored fake crap)
- around 4 cups of baby arugula, rinsed and thoroughly dried
- small block or wedge of good imported Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

- Pour a small amount of olive oil into a dish and use the rosemary sprigs to brush the steaks with the oil.
- rub steaks all over with cut side of garlic cloves
- sprinkle steaks generously with salt and pepper, set aside for an hour
- When grill is ready, put the rosemary sprigs on the coals, pat steaks dry, and grill to medium rare. When done, allow to rest, loosely covered, for at least 5 minutes, but no more than 10.
- Make a quick vinaigrette with 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 3 Tablespoons olive oil, and a pinch of salt
- Toss arugula with vinaigrette, and arrange in a bed on a platter
- slice steaks on the bias around 1/4" thick and arrange on top of arugula
- pour any acccumulated juices from the steaks over the arugula and steak
- using a vegetable peeler, shave a small amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano onto steak and arugula

Serve family style with good bread, roasted new potatoes and grilled or roasted asparagus.

Serves 4 - 6 depending on how carnivorous your group is.
posted by dersins at 1:14 PM on May 4 [2 favorites has favorites]

It sounds simple, but the best idea is to

1. Buy the highest quality steak that you can afford, preferably a nicely marbled ribeye. You will not find a decent steak in a supermarket. You need a good butcher who sells grass fed beef.

2. Grill the ribeye to perfection. This will involve a cast iron skillet. Do some research about grilling steaks, because otherwise you will ruin the steak. After grilling the steak to perfection, take it out of the skillet and leave it alone for 5 to 10 minutes, under some tin foil.

3. Make a béarnaise sauce. Recipes abound on the internet. Basically it's an unhealthy amount of egg yolk to which is added an unhealthy amount of butter and some estragon.

4. Peel potatoes and hand cut some french fries. You need to fry the fries twice, once at 130 ° centigrade, then at 190 °, in beef tallow. Serve with some mayonnaise. Yes, I know we already have béarnaise. Regardless of the amount of calories already on our plate, one simply needs mayonnaise on ones fries.

A good kitchen is a product kitchen, which is to say: you simply buy the best of everything, and then you prepare it in a way that brings out the best of your superior product. You mother will agree with me.
posted by NekulturnY at 1:19 PM on May 4

Diane Rossen Worthington's Seriously Simple: Easy Recipes for Creative Cooks has an absolutely delicious recipe for steak. Simplified a bit, this is it.

Make a marinade of:
1 large shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 T soy sauce
3 T olive oil
1 T fresh thyme, chopped, or 1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp seasoning salt (I use an Italianish one)
black pepper

Marinate 2 lbs of flank steak, trimmed, in a Ziplock bag for at least two hours and preferably overnight. To cook, just stick it under the broiler for 5 to 7 minutes per side. Let it rest for a few minutes, then slice it thinly against the grain.

She serves it with creamed horseradish:

1/4 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
2 tsp cream-style prepared white horseradish (I think it needs more)
salt and pepper
1 T finely chopped fresh chives or scallions.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:21 PM on May 4 [7 favorites has favorites]

(Note: I was simplifying the directions, not the ingredients. If I oversimplified, feel free to ask for clarification -- I make this all the time.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:23 PM on May 4

Flank or skirt steak for the win. Most people don't think of it when they think of "steak," which most people associate with loins and rib-eyes. Yet I like it much, much better. And it's half the price

Flank steak recipe, but don't do that "actually put it on the coals" thing. That was an epic fail in the Cool Papa Bell household:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/skirt-steak-recipe/index.html

Side dish:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/chipotle-smashed-sweet-potatoes-recipe/index.html
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:26 PM on May 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

My family does filet mignon occasionally from a beef tenderloin (surprisingly cost effective). I do the following with individual steaks:

Rub butter all over steak
Season with salt, pepper, and other herbs to your taste (I sometimes do some sage and rosemary, depending on my mood)
Pre-heat oven to 500 with foil-covered baking pan already in there
Sear both sides of butter- and herb-rubbed steaks in a pan on the stove. Immediately place in oven on pre-heated pan.
Let it go for five minutes, then flip the steak. Let cook until desired doneness.

Delicious, and very close to what they do at places like Ruth's Chris.

I also like to sautee some mushrooms in olive oil, garlic, basil, and salt to throw on top of the steak, but YMMV.

And a random note: my parents' new favorite accompaniment to steak is brussels sprouts with chestnuts. Maybe more of a winter dish, but oh my goodness so good.
posted by olinerd at 1:29 PM on May 4

This recipe for Filet Mignon with Truffled Mushroom Ragout was a huge hit with my husband and best friend and one of the easiest yet fanciest meals I've ever made. I also made garlic, bacon, scallion and Parmesan scalloped potatoes (something like this, with scallions added) and this Spinach Salad with hot bacon dressing (which is still one of my all time favorite salads to make--YUM!!).
posted by Kimberly at 1:53 PM on May 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

I've noticed through experiments and reading that adding salt to a steak WHILE it's cooking can toughen it. I usually add salt after the steak is done.

This sounds barebones, but I like to marinate the steak in a bit of worchestershire sauce and tomato juice. Not too much, but both will help tenderize the steak while accenting the flavor. Then go nuts while frying it with butter, rosemary, onions, garlic - whatever you like. I like a smidge of blue cheese, but just a smidge, on top as well.
posted by OrangeDrink at 2:06 PM on May 4

Normally I cook steaks very simply, as you do, probably for the exact same reasons. But I did try this recipe for Really Old-Fashioned Marinated Rib-Eye from the Minimalist because it's got a great back story and because it sounded so unusual. My roommate and I both really liked it, and my mom made it independently and she loved it as well. The marinade sounds strong, but the meat had a subtle sweet, clove-y taste and the color was really different.
posted by thebergfather at 2:31 PM on May 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Woah, am I missing something, thebergather, or is that recipe just marinating the steak in wine and that's it?
posted by OrangeDrink at 3:07 PM on May 4

I am missing something. Nevermind. Flashblocker was my downfall. Carryon.
posted by OrangeDrink at 3:08 PM on May 4

Here is a similar question that I asked.
posted by kamikazegopher at 3:21 PM on May 4

I always used to marinate or use a season mix on my steaks, but I now find that simpler is better. Get some really good quality T-bones or porterhouses and try this one. As simple as it gets, and so yummy. (There's a link to a gas-grilled version on the same page.)
posted by DakotaPaul at 4:31 PM on May 4

I like fillets for the tenderness and ribeyes for the flavor. My local Costco sells both cuts in USDA Prime grade. If I am not grilling them, I use Alton Brown's recipe. That and a digital thermometer yield perfection every time.
posted by DB Cooper at 4:37 PM on May 4

The best method for both flavor and tenderness is pre-salting. Using about a TB of Kosher salt per side, per steak, you liberally salt the steak and then let it sit at room temp for one hour. Rinse and thoroughly dry the steak with paper towels. Heat your skillet with the highest flame possible without the oil. When the pan is hot add just enough olive oil to coat the pan. The oil should be shimmering when you drop the steak in the pan. I like to sprinkle on Montreal Seasoning, but naked is fine too. Blacken each side -- about 2 or 3 minutes. Splash a little Worcestershire and some butter if you really want to be decadent and remove from the pan. Let the steak sit for a few minutes and serve.

The three most important things is the pan should be very heavy and very hot and the steak should be dry.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:46 PM on May 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

I have been making a Mushroom Sauce for Steak which is becoming the most indecent habit imaginable - it's so delicious and really simple. It's the details which make it better than I would imagine such a sauce should be. It's important to take your time, make this sauce before cooking steaks, then warm it again when steaks are cooked.

Sauce for four steaks:

You'll need...
• 5+ cups of wonderful mushrooms - I have made this with regular white button mushrooms, but this is even better with a big variety of mushrooms like field, oyster, chantarelle, portabello, and ESPECIALLY porcini. I try to get a big variety, and chop the ordinary, ho-hum ones up into little cubes, leaving the pretty, fancy ones just cut in half, so the shape remains (with morels for example, you really want to be able to see them). If you re-hydrate porcini from dried, keep the top half of the water you used to add to the sauce later (the bttom half can sometimes have sand in it. If you re-hydrate porcinis, make sure they're dry before adding top the other mushrooms.)
• 2 Tbsp of finely chopped eschallot or onion
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Port or sweet sherry - doesn't really matter, just something fortified and relatively sweet.
• Pouring cream (have 2 cups handy)
• Salt and pepper

In a big frypan, put a good glug of olive oil and a small knob of butter. Over a medium heat, pan fry the onions and mushrooms, slowly so that the mushrooms become a lovely toasted brown. It's important the mushrooms have enough room in the pan so that they don't sweat and become wet- they really need to be frying gently to a nice brown for this recipe. Stir often and add more butter or oil if they look dry and aren't browning. This might take a little while, but it's worth it - it's all about the browned mushroom flavour to get this sauce right.

Once the mushrooms all have all become a gorgeous light caramel colour, turn the heat up to high and quickly add a good splash of port/sherry. I would use maybe 1/3 of a cup. The liquor will sizzle and disappear quite quickly, but the flavour is all there.

Now grind in some pepper and season with salt. Pour in a cup or so of cream, and turn the sauce down again to med-low, and simmer until the cream turns the same sexy caramel brown as the mushrooms. Taste it and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper again.

You can now set the sauce aside until steaks are cooked, warming again later with the addition of more cream, a tiny splash of water, or the porcini water if you're lucky enough to have re-hydrated some expensive porcinis.
posted by lottie at 5:02 PM on May 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

The most important thing is the beef. Get grass fed beef.
posted by trbrts at 8:08 PM on May 4

Slight tangent - what's this cauliflower popcorn side dish? I've got a head of cauliflower at home right now mocking me, and I could use some new ideas...
posted by web-goddess at 8:26 PM on May 4

Agree with the above on simplicity. Get the best beef you can find and prepare it simply with light oil, salt and pepper in a rocket hot cast iron skillet. At most I would add to this is a sauce of some sort or a compound butter.
posted by mmascolino at 8:29 PM on May 4

I was recently wowed by steak very simply marinated in Oyster Sauce. A richer flavour than your basic soy & garlic marinade.

Agree with the above posters that the key is high quality steak, properly cooked - seared, not stewed!

Get grass fed beef.
Well, obviously.
posted by Catch at 9:44 PM on May 4

@web-goddess -
Here's the recipe for the Popcorn Cauliflower. I make it all the time and its amazing. I do prefer to use red pepper flakes though instead of 1 fresh red pepper as she states in the recipe. And I always bump up the garlic. Can't have enough garlic!

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions!
posted by pghjezebel at 5:25 AM on May 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

@olinerd - Funny you menion brussel sprouts, no one in my family would eat them until I started pan frying them with garlic and red pepper flakes. It's our new favorite side dish too!
posted by pghjezebel at 5:29 AM on May 5

It's been mentioned obliquely here, but for the record know steakmasters always allow their meat to rest until it reaches room temperature before cooking. It's really not an option to omit this step for optimum results. Something about the temperature differential tends to causes a contraction and toughening if the meat goes from extreme cold to extreme heat. A much more tender and relaxed cut of meat results when allowed to rest at ambient temperature before applying heat. High heat is also imperative to successfully grill or sear a steak cut.
posted by Muirwylde at 4:32 PM on May 7