Easy, Elegant, and Garlic Free - Valentine's Dinner Suggestion!

As we discussed earlier today, I'm missing meat just a wee bit.  I'm loving all the fish and tofu and cheese that we're eating, but there's just something about a steak that's SO good, huh?

This was the last meat-inclusive meal Jay and I ate before we gave up meat for a month starting two weeks ago.  It was fabulous and SO easy, and I'd highly recommend that you consider making this next week for anyone you consider nice enough to be your Valentine.  Why not your mom?  She birthed you, so she probably deserves it.

This recipe is for 2 due to the impending holiday, so please increase the amounts as you see fit for a larger gathering.  You're an adult, you can do the math!

For this lovely dish, you'll need:

• 2 steaks (the ones in this picture are 8-ish ounce filets, but use whatever you like!)
• coarse salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
• ¼ cup blue cheese crumbles

First, salt both sides of the steak with salt - it'll make a nice crust when you sear the meat!  You can use pepper if you'd like, but I'm not a huge pepper fan.

Then,  heat a pan (you can do this outside, but it's not necessary) to medium-high heat for a LONG time.  Think 10 minutes of just heat.  Then, once the pan is hot, add a pat of butter and swirl it around to melt.

When the butter is melted, put the steaks in the pan and DON'T TOUCH THEM.  Let them sear for 2-4 minutes depending on the thickness and how well-done you'd like your steaks.  These steaks were a little less than an inch thick and 3 minutes per side worked well for us.

Suhweet.  That's just yummy!  When you can see that the bottom half of the steak is starting to cook (the edges will no longer be red) and the first side is very dark, flip the steaks and sear them on the second side.

Yum!  Same thing here, don't mess with them!  See how they're a leeeetle bit cooked on the edges?  That means the inside will be nice and rare, the way my valentine likes it.

Unlike Jay, I prefer my steak slightly more dead in a medium-rare fashion.  This is not an issue.  We're going to take the steaks out anyway and let them rest, so if you have a rare vs. medium rare (or any other temperature) issue, take out the rare steaks first and let the others keep cooking for a minute or two until you feel as though they are done.

Remember, though, that the steaks will cook close to 5 more degrees while they're resting, so they should look a little more rare than you'd like them to when you take them out of the pan.

Not sure how all this works?  Cut into one of the steaks.  Look at it.  If it looks the way you like your steaks you're good.  Chill out!

When the steaks are done, remove them to a plate and cover them with tin foil to keep warm.

Add the rest of the butter and the cream to the pan.  If it boils immediately, turn down the heat and take the pan off the burner for a minute or two to cool down the pan.

Stir the cream and butter around, and add some pepper to the sauce - as much as you like!

Keep stirring, and dump in the cheese - since the pan is nice and hot, this sauce-building stage only takes 5 minutes or so!

I used a third of a container of 3-month old gorgonzola crumbles, because I'm fancy like that.  You can feel free to use something a bit more....better.

Stir the sauce around just to combine everything, then pour it over the steaks.  With just two people I put the steaks on plates and serve them with sides right on the plate, but if you're serving a crowd you could leave the steaks all on one platter.  Up to you!

Perfect, and that's it!  I served these so simply with a half baked potato and some roasted carrots, which I'll show in the next post.

Quick baked potato:  Scrub one potato, and pierce it all over with a fork.  Microwave it for 5 minutes to start the cooking process.  Then rub the skin with olive oil and salt and cover it in tin foil.  Stick it in a 425F oven for 30 minutes until it's cooked through.   Half a potato is plenty for one person! 

If you're feeling fancy you could certainly make some roasted garlic mashed potatoes or casual but delicious home fries to go with this - the steak and blue cheese are the star of this meal, so I like to keep everything else simple.

Enjoy this!  There is a TON of flavor for so few ingredients - the way food should be!

Also Pictured:  Roasted Carrots.