Every New Year's Day from as long as I can remember we have had roasted ham for our New Year celebration dinner. Boiled until tender, and then the skin stripped, fat scored and roasted in the oven with a glaze until the fat was all sticky and sweet and gilded golden brown.
Its been a tradition, and that would be followed in the coming days with a huge pot of Pea and Ham Soup, made with the bone left from the ham. Oh my mother did make lovely soup. The ham was lovely served cold and in thin slices with some mustard . . .
Red meat is not something we eat very often in our house. We eat mostly fish and chicken, but this year I thought I would treat us to some nice steaks for our New Year dinner. I am breaking with tradition all over the place for some unknown reason!
I picked up some lovely rib eye steaks at Costco the other day. Of course they come four in a pack but with there only being two of us I froze the other two for another time, maybe even Valentines Day. We will see.
The meat at Costco is lovely . . . Scottish Angus beef, dry aged . . . these were beautiful looking steaks. I should have taken a photograph of them before I cooked them. They had just the right amount of fat and marbling.
Of course they were rather expensive, costing about half of my grocery budget for the week, so I couldn't afford to mess them up. I decided to lightly season them and then pan sear them in some oil and butter, until golden brown . . .
I added garlic and sprigs of thyme to the butter in the pan, which made for a really nicely flavoured basting sauce.
The timings I have given were perfect for the steaks I was cooking, about 1 inch in thickness and at room temperature . . . with the end result being medium rare, which is how we like our steak.
I used the pan drippings and a bit more garlic to create a beautifully creamy and lush mushroom sauce to serve with the steaks.
I started by sauteing the mushrooms in a bit more butter along with some garlic, adding some good balsamic vinegar and then finally some cream . . .
Oh but it didn't half smell heavenly if I don't say so myself!
It was the perfect accompaniment to the steaks . . .
This made the perfect meal along with some salad and baked jacket potatoes . . .
Yield: 2
Garlic Butter Steak with a Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Perfectly cooked pan seared steaks, beautifully flavoured and served with a lush and creamy mushroom sauce.
ingredients:
- 2 (7-ounce) rib eye steaks, each about 1 inch thick
- fine sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1 TBS olive oil, divided
- 2 TBS butter, divided
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and bashed/broken open
- 3 to 4 sprigs of thyme
For the sauce:
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
- 10 to 12 quartered closed cup white mushrooms
- 120ml light cream (1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Garlic Butter Steak with a Creamy Mushroom Sauce
- Bring the steaks to room temperature by unwrapping them and leaving them to sit open to the air for at least half an hour. Season them all over lightly with salt and black pepper.
- Heat a large heavy based skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil and when it begins to shimmer and smoke add the steaks very carefully. It will sputter and spit. Cook for three minutes on one side, then flip over and cook for a further 3 minutes on the underside. They should be nicely browned.
- Reduce the heat to medium low and add 1 TBS of the butter to the pan, along with the sprigs of thyme and 3 garlic cloves. Once the butter begins to foam, and using a metal spoon, carefully tilt the pan and baste the steaks with the garlic/herb butter in the pan. Cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes, basting.
- Remove the steaks from the pan to a heated plate, discarding the thyme and garlic. Leave to rest while you make the sauce.
- To make the sauce add the mushrooms to the pan along with the crushed garlic and remaining butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring, for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the balsamic vinegar to the pan and cook for a few minutes longer until soft, then add the cream. Let bubble up and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately with the steaks.
You can safely double this recipe if you are wanting to feed more people. It makes a great dinner party entree for entertaining. The steaks don't take overly long to cook, nor does the sauce, especially if you have everything in place and ready to go when you start cooking them. Any sides can be done before hand, well ahead of time and just reheated when you are ready to serve. Enjoy!
