Peppered Steak and Sauce

 A quick and easy Steak Dinner

Ingredients:

• Good quality steaks (filets, New York Strip, Porterhouse, T-bone etc)
• fresh cracked black pepper
• salt
• knob of butter
• dry onion flakes (shallots also would be nice replacement)
• garlic seasoning
• 1/4 cup sherry

Directions:

Turn oven onto 425 degrees farenheit. Take your steaks out of the fridge and salt, pepper, and garlic season them on both sides. Be very generous on the pepper. After all we are making peppered steaks 😉 Let your steaks come to room temperature while you go about preparing whatever else you have to for dinner. I made baked potatoes with mine.

Turn on a heavy skillet to high heat.  Cast iron skillet works the best but I don’t have one so I will use my all-clad pan. I add a small bit of veg oil to bottom of my pan if I had a well seasoned cast iron skillet I would not add any oil at all. The nice sear you get with this technique works with a very dry pan.

Once you drop them in the pan let the heat do its magic! DON’T MOVE THEM! Let sear for 2-3 min.

Then when you turn them over you should have a nice brown evenly seared surface.

Notice a few of my pieces are uneven cuts of meat therefore I don’t have an even sear.

Once you have a good sear on the other side (after another 3 min or so) you can add a knob of butter on each steak for extra yummyness. Take your pan and place in the hot oven for an extra 5-10 min depending on how you like your steaks done. My family likes it med-rare so they aren’t in there very long. Remember once you take your steaks out of the oven and they rest for 5 min before you cut into them they will continue to cook a bit while resting. Place the steaks aside and I cover mine with foil to rest.

Now you have a frying pan with the juices and beautiful brown fond(bits in the bottom).  Take that back to the stove. #$%@#### DON’t FORGET TO USE YOUR OVEN MITTS! Add your shallots or onion flakes and let that simmer and reduce slightly.

Now we are going to deglaze the pan with some sherry! I add about 1/4 cup.

whisk and scrape up all those bits on the bottom of the pan that is great flavor right there.

I taste the sauce from here and see if it needs any extra salt it should be plenty peppery though 😉  If I didn’t use any knobs of butter on the steaks before they went into the oven then I usually add a 1/2 tbsp of butter to whisk into the sauce at the end here, it provides it with a nice silky bodied sauce.

Bon Apetite!

 

Peppered Steak and Sauce

• Servings: 4
• Time: 30min
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

 

Ingredients:

• Good quality steaks (filets, New York Strip, Porterhouse, T-bone etc)
• fresh cracked black pepper
• salt
• knob of butter
• dry onion flakes (shallots also would be nice replacement)
• garlic seasoning
• 1/4 cup sherry

Directions:

Turn oven onto 425 degrees farenheit. Take your steaks out of the fridge and salt, pepper, and garlic season them on both sides. Be very generous on the pepper. After all you are making peppered steaks 😉 Let your steaks come to room temperature while you go about preparing whatever else you have to for dinner.

Turn on a heavy skillet to high heat.  A well seasoned cast iron skillet works best. Place your steaks into the pan and allow to sear for 3-4 minutes without moving them around. Make sure you don’t crowd your pan you don’t want to steam them, they need room to get the great brown coloring.

Then when you turn them over you should have a nice brown evenly seared surface.

Now you have a frying pan with the juices and beautiful brown fond(bits in the bottom).  Take that back to the stove.  Add your shallots or onion flakes and let that simmer and reduce slightly.

Now deglaze the pan with some sherry! I add about 1/4 cup.

I taste the sauce from here and see if it needs any extra salt it should be plenty peppery though 😉 Add a 1/2 tbsp of butter and whisk into the sauce. That is it!

Easy Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of onion flakes
• 1 tsp of garlic seasoning (like powder or seasoning if you only have garlic salt then you will need to decrease or omit the kosher salt)
• 1 tsp of kosher salt
• 1 tsp of freshly grounded black pepper
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 large can of regular spaghetti sauce (I use ragu….costco baby)
• 1/4 cup of ketchup ( I use this to add some sweetness as well as the vinegar in the ketchup add a nice acidity and brightness to the sauce)
• 1 tbsp of dried oregano
• 1 tbsp of dried parsley flakes
• 1 tbsp of dried basil
• 3-4 bay leaves (if you have any not crucial but nice touch to the sauce)
• 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Pre heat  your crock pot to high and add the ground beef, onion flakes, garlic seasoning, kosher salt, and pepper.  Add a bit of water to the crock pot: small splash like 1/4 cup.  After a 1/2 hour your meat should be nearly cooked. This may very from crock pot to crock pot. Once the meat is brown use a fork and break up the ground beef till crumbly.

Now add  the rest of the ingredients, stir well, and turn your crock pot down to low.  Allow to simmer for 5-6 hours.

Serve over pasta and enjoy 🙂

 

Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

• Servings: 10
• Time: 5-6 hours
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of onion flakes
• 1 tsp of garlic seasoning (like powder or seasoning if you only have garlic salt then you will need to decrease or omit the kosher salt)
• 1 tsp of kosher salt
• 1 tsp of freshly grounded black pepper
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 large can of regular spaghetti sauce (I use ragu….costco baby)
• 1/4 cup of ketchup ( I use this to add some sweetness as well as the vinegar in the ketchup add a nice acidity and brightness to the sauce)
• 1 tbsp of dried oregano
• 1 tbsp of dried parsley flakes
• 1 tbsp of dried basil
• 3-4 bay leaves (if you have any not crucial but nice touch to the sauce)
• 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Pre heat  your crock pot to high and add the ground beef, onion flakes, garlic seasoning, kosher salt, and pepper.  Add a bit of water to the crock pot: small splash like 1/4 cup.  After a 1/2 hour your meat should be nearly cooked. This may very from crock pot to crock pot. Once the meat is brown use a fork and break up the ground beef till crumbly.

Now add  the rest of the ingredients, stir well, and turn your crock pot down to low.  Allow to simmer for 5-6 hours.

Serve and enjoy!