Porterhouse Steak

Whole Foods has a really nice butcher station.  They dry age their own meat, and sometimes I can't help but splurge.  Last night was one of those nights.  I knew I was getting steak - I was in the mood to celebrate the coming of the weekend with something rich and decadent.  I saw the massive dry-aged porterhouse steaks, and couldn't pass them up.  Despite the fact that they were about $30 each - come on, I'd easily pay that or more in a good steak house, and I KNOW I can cook a steak just as good (or better) than a steakhouse.  :)

I grabbed some baby bella mushrooms and Stilton bleu cheese to top off the steaks.  And for vegetables, the bag of baby carrots just called out to me - as did the artichokes.  So I was set to head home and...wait.  With keith's new job he usually doesn't get home until 7pm - that's not all that late, but in an effort to shape up I've curtailed my weekday eating habits so by 6pm I'm nearly drooling with desire for something of substance to put in my mouth.  So I simply make a habit of having some little tidbit to munch on.  I found this cute little box of vine-ripened tomatoes from a local greenhouse and they serve as the perfect snack.  And I have to tell you, when I pulled the first tomato off the vine and smelled the spot where it was attached to the vine, I was transported.  It's things like smelling a tomato off a vine that I completely miss here in NYC.  The smell is at once comforting and hopeful, earthy and uplifting.  Seriously, I think I stood in the kitchen deeply inhaling the fresh tomato smell and completely forgot that I wanted to eat the juicy vegetable.  :)

Oh right...I was telling you about the steak.  I have a pretty typical way of cooking steak (given the fact that I don't have a true grill, just a fantastic indoor one that doesn't do steak justice).  I heat up a large skillet - really, really hot - usually with a touch of oil (unless I use the cast iron).  At the same time, I heat the oven up to 450 degrees.  The steak gets seared like crazy on both sides in the pan, and then thrown in the oven.  And my secret - at the very end of cooking I drop a pad of butter over each and let it melt into the steak.

I made a raw artichoke salad that I placed overtop the steak.  It wasn't necessary - at least not on top of the steak.  I have a new appreciation for artichokes because of past episodes of Molto Mario - and I'm learning to be quicker as I break them down.  It's still pretty time consuming and challenging.  I also served it with some baby carrots that I boiled for about 4-5 minutes, drained, and then tossed in some brown butter, salt & pepper.  YUM!

There isn't much to this recipe, so I'll just give you some details.  The mushrooms I cooked in oil for probably 15 minutes, until they were soft and delicious.  For the steak, salt & pepper each side, then sear both sides in a hot, hot pan for maybe 4 minutes (until really browned and lovely).  Then into a 450 degree oven for no more than 6-8 minutes (I'm a mid-rare kind of guy).  At the very end, throw a piece of butter on top and let it melt.  Pull out the steaks and let them rest for 5 minutes.  Pile the mushrooms on top, and then crumble some Stilton over top.  No steak sauce - no nothing, don't you dare.  Especially with a cut of meat like this.  :)