Stephen is working from 4:00PM to 1:00AM today, which leaves me with quite a bit of quality time with myself this evening. After a week of work stress and baseball-tension (no one makes me wring my hands quite like the Red Sox) and before a long weekend with my mom visiting, the timing seems fortuitous. I'd planned on eating some spaghetti with garlic and olive oil and maybe a tomato salad then curling up for a long evening on the couch with a book. Then I remembered a little treat stashed away in my freezer. A few weeks ago a made steak frites, a dish that is surprisingly time-consuming and dish-dirtying for simple bistro fare. I bought three steaks, cooked two, and hid one away for some later occasion.
Tonight turned into that occasion. For my solitary dinner I had the unintentionally alterative Strip Steak with Stilton-Shallot Butter. I've always liked doing luxurious things for myself for no reason, and this dish seemed to fit the bill. However, it's also simple enough not to mess up the kitchen when one is dining alone. In deference to my own extreme fondness for the cocktail and to Julia Child's assertion that the secret to her long life was red meat and gin, I also had a Bombay Sapphire martini, not too dry.
Strip Steak with Stilton-Shallot Butter
(Serves 1)
For the compound butter:
1 tbl. butter, softened
1 1/2 tbl Stilton (or other quality, stinky blue cheese) crumbled
3/4 tsp finely minced shallot
Scant 1/4 tsp minced fresh thyme
Lemon juice,
Pepper
Worcestershire sauce (optional, but it adds a nice depth if you're using unexceptional supermarket butter)
Mush together the butter, Stilton, shallots, and thyme. Season with a few drops of lemon juice, four good grinds of pepper and no more than two drops of Worcestershire sauce. Store covered in the fridge until dinner.
Classically, compound butter is formed into a neat log wrapped in parchment or plastic wrap. When it's just me, I don't bother with this step. Any leftover compound butter is wonderful melted over green beans.
For the steak:
Remove 1 strip steak from the refrigerator, rinse, and pat until very dry with paper towels. Let it sit at room temperature for at least half an hour.
Heat a heavy (preferably cast iron) pan over medium-high heat.
Pat the steak dry again. Rub it all over lightly with olive oil and generously season with coarse salt and pepper. Turn on the exhaust fan over the stove or open a window. Cook 2-4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the steak and how well done you like it) on each side. Don't panic about the smoke.
Remove the steak from the pan and let it rest, tented loosely with foil, for a few minutes. Slice it on the bias and serve with a generous dollop of the compound butter, a big green salad, and preferably, a cold gin martini.
--------
Leave a comment