Listen, you can be as fancy as you want to be, but some days just call for an ice cold dirty martini (straight up) and a big fat steak – no messing around with froufrou ingredients or painstaking preparation. This is a dish my dad used to make before he moved to southern California and started eating sprouted wheat, plain yogurt and fruit juice-sweetened cookies. He would get gorgeous, 1½-inch thick, marbled rib-eyes for each of us, crack open a beer and fire up the grill. There would be a perfectly baked potato (crispy skin, lots of butter and sour cream) and a green salad with tomatoes and Italian dressing. Throw a little Coltrane on the stereo and you’ve got all you need to put your day behind you. Don Draper, eat your heart out.
Steak and Mushrooms Serves 4
Courtesy of Dee Ryan
4 rib-eye steaks (or other cut if you prefer)
2 cups mixed fresh mushrooms (portabella, oyster, shiitake, button, cremini, whatever looks good)
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup beef broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Oil for the grill
4 oz. Gorgonzola or blue cheese of your choice
• Prepare grill (or heat broiler) and bring steaks out to sit at room temperature for a few minutes (this helps keep the meat tender and juicy).
• Carefully clean and coarsely chop mushrooms.
• In a saucepan, combine mushrooms, balsamic vinegar and beef broth, bring to a boil and then reduce heat until just barely simmering. Cook until liquid has reduced by about a third, 15 minutes or so.
• Generously salt and pepper both sides of the steaks and place them on the oiled grill (or in broiler). Cook to your desired doneness, remove from heat and let rest for at least 5 minutes.
• Put 1 ounce of cheese on each steak, and cover with mushroom sauce (about ¼ cup per steak).
This article appears in Jul 1-31, 2011.