Steak House Dinner at Home

I took the month of November off from posting to get married! I'm now (mostly) officially Meghan Stevens. It turns out that it takes a couple of months to make that name change, but I can officially use the name now! My new husband has been working super hard to catch up after taking some time off for our wedding and mini-moon, so I decided to treat him to a weeknight date night with a Steak House Dinner at Home. This one includes a few elements, but each of them are really very easy: blue cheese crusted steak, grilled asparagus and truffled mashed potatoes. Most of the prep work can be done in advance, so the dinner will come together quickly at the end of a long work day.

Blue Cheese Crusted Steak

• 2 oz Gorgonzola cheese, sliced
• 2 steaks (tenderloin, filets or any steaks will do)
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Rub steaks with salt and pepper. Allow to rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes.

Preheat cast iron skillet under broiler. Rub steak with a small amount of olive oil.

Place steak on skillet and broil approximately 4-5 minutes. Flip steaks and broil 4-5 minutes more, topping with sliced cheese for the last minute, until steaks have reached desired temperature. Allow to rest at least 4 minutes before serving.

Grilled Asparagus

• bunch of fresh asparagus
• salt
• olive oil

Cut off the bottoms of the asparagus.

To prepare the asparagus in advance, bring a large pan of water to a boil. Add a tsp of salt to the water. Add asparagus and cook until bright green, approximately five minutes.

Remove asparagus from water, drain and cool. Set aside to grill later.

To prepare the asparagus just before the meal, you can skip the boiling step. Toss asparagus in olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Preheat grill to high.

Cook asparagus on the grill until charred on the outside and tender in the middle just before serving.

Truffled Mashed Potatoes

• 2 medium Idaho potatoes
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1/3 c reduced fat sour cream
• 3 tsp truffle salt, more or less to taste

Peel and chop potatoes. (Usually, I leave the peels on, but I find that the skin can interfere with the experience in truffled potatoes.)

Add chopped potatoes and 1 1/2 tsp truffle salt to a medium pot of water. Bring to a boil with potatoes in the water. Boil for 20 minutes, until potatoes are soft.

Drain potatoes and return to pot. Add butter, sour cream and 1/2 tsp truffle salt.

Mash and add more salt to taste.

This whole recipe can be made in advance and reheated on the stove or in the oven just before dinner. If reheating, mix in another two tbsp of sour cream or 1 tbsp milk prior to reheating to avoid drying out the potatoes.