STEAK, BAKED POTATO AND A SALAD PLEASE!

My family loves steak, baked potato and salad for dinner.  I am going to share all my recipes.  Over the past year I have worked on cooking the perfect steak in my oven.  Did you know that many restaurants actually cook their steaks in the oven and not on the grill?  I thought that was an interesting fact.

You may be wondering why I would not want to grill my steaks.  When it is 90 something degrees outside with 150% humidity, the last thing I want to do is be around more heat.  I love the grill in the winter much better than the summer and use it more at that time. 

Today's post is all about cooking your steak in the oven.  Disclaimer:  I am not a chef.  I am a Mom who has been cooking for 27 years.  I love to cook and will really try to learn what I need to create the best dish.  So I am going to share what I have learned with you. 

OVEN ROASTED BEEF FILLETS

3-4 fillets
salt
garlic salt
black pepper
vegetable oil
3 -4 tablespoons of butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  
2. Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high heat for about five minutes  
3. Pat fillets with a paper towel to soak up any extra moisture.
4. Brush fillets on all sides with vegetable oil
5. Generously sprinkle salt, garlic salt and pepper on all sides of fillet.

Once the pan is hot, add the prepared fillets and sear for about 2 minutes per side.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Top each fillet with 1 tablespoon of butter and place in oven.  Cook fillets for 8 -12 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the steaks to a serving platter.  Cover with foil and let sit for 10 minutes.  Enjoy!!

These fillets have just been placed in the pan to sear.  Notice the salt, garlic salt and pepper.  Since your pan will be really hot you will want to make sure your vent is on because there will be a lot of smoke.

This is what the first side will look like once it is seared for two minutes.

These are the fillets right before placing them in the oven.  Cook for 8-12 minutes and that is it!!

Now that we have covered the steak topic I am going to move on to the salad.  If you have ever read my blog you know that I believe in using FRESH lettuce and not the stuff in the bag.  I like washing my own lettuce.  I truly believe it tastes much better.  There are exceptions to this.  I do like arugula and a spring mix out of the bag.  Iceberg, romaine, green leaf, butter leaf etc.  must be fresh and washed at my home.  I think is separates a so so salad from a great one.  The other thing that makes a great salad is the dressing.  A homemade dressing is so easy to make and tastes so much better.

The picture you see below is of my REGULAR EVERYDAY JUST A SALAD SALAD.

1 head iceberg, washed and torn into bite size pieces
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
5 large Spanish olives, cut in quarters

HOMEMADE ITALIAN SALAD DRESSING

1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

BAKED POTATO

Baking potatoes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Scrub potatoes and then place on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes.  I like to cover my baking sheet with foil so that it is not hard to clean especially if I am covering the potatoes with peanut oil.  This will make a little bit of a mess.

Baking potatoes this way gives you a crunchy skin.  I like this texture but if you don't, you can rub a little peanut oil on your potatoes, sprinkle with a little kosher salt and cover with foil.  The skin will be very soft.   Both ways are delicious. 

Sometimes the most basic meals are the most delicious!  Enjoy!