I love everything spring. For me, the first hints of spring are a happy reminder the fun will soon begin with friends, great food and lots of laughter under the “Willow Tree.” February was cruel in St. Louis. Snowy, icy and cold. As March approached and I looked at the 10 day forecast it showed one particular Saturday we were to have a 60 degree day. Honey, pull out the grill, we’re having steak! Those are beautiful words to speak to a man. Especially my man. Now I’m not saying that just because it’s March, we will have warmth and sunshine everyday. So you have to take advantage of the 60 degree days. Here’s a reminder of a mid to late March snow storm a couple of years ago.
So on this beautiful spring like day, I headed out to buy us a steak. We have this great little market near our home in Cottleville called Mannino’s. If you click on their name it will take you to their website. They have the most beautiful cuts of meats and their prices are phenomenal. I typically buy their bacon wrapped filets. You can buy a beautiful bacon wrapped filet for $6.29. Yes, that is correct. Amazing price and an amazing cut of beef. I decided to get my husband a ribeye, as that is his favorite. The menu for the night was going to be steak, loaded baked potatoes, fried zucchini, mushrooms, a chopped salad and this wonderful homemade baked bread they also sell at this market. Take a look at these beautiful cuts of beef.
I’m a firm believer the only seasoning you need for a steak is salt and fresh ground black pepper. I use a lot of pepper and then take my hands and pat the pepper into the steak. Now for the secret weapon. Steak butter. I buy it at the market I was speaking of earlier, but I have made it also. Just take butter and mix it with a bit of salt, pepper and garlic and add a bit of oregano. I then heat my iron skillet up with the butter and transfer the steaks to the skillet and sear them on each side. You will not believe what flavor this adds, but mostly it creates this wonderful peppery crust on each side. Yummy goodness!
It only takes about a minute on each side to create the crust. Turn the heat off and remove the steaks and just let them rest for a bit before they go on the grill.
Don’t dispose of the steak butter. We will be using that later for the mushrooms. As I said earlier, I decided to do loaded baked potatoes. I DO NOT like microwave baked potatoes. Growing up that’s what we always had and my mother would buy the squeeze Parkay margarine. I developed a strong dislike for baked potatoes. So, I prep my potatoes by slathering them in butter and covering the outside with Kosher salt. The butter creates a bit of a hard shell for them. It’s a bit messy, since I use my hands, but well worth it! I typically bake them at 375 degrees for about an hour. If I bake more than a couple it might take a bit longer. Once I know they are done I take them out of the oven and split them open. At this point I add butter, cheddar and bacon bits and then stick them back in the oven until the cheese is melted. And then top them with sour cream. This is my easy version of twice baked potatoes. I love them, but they are a lot of work.
I’m not sure if its my Southern upbringing, but I always feel as though we need something green with our meals. Tonight’s green choice was fried zucchini. Because, as I’m sure you know, we from the South fry. There’s no hidden magic to frying squash or any other vegetable for that matter. I only use corn meal when I fry vegetables. Some people like to use flour, but I find it just is a bit thicker than I like. I like to season the squash with salt and pepper after I’ve cut the slices. I also season the corn meal, because I like to dredge the squash in milk before I dredge them in the cornmeal. Go ahead and add salt and pepper to your milk. On this night I just used regular milk, but I have on occasion used buttermilk. The key to frying is not having your grease too hot. That’s a bit of a hard lesson to learn. If you’re using an iron skillet, it’s going to get hotter then say a teflon skillet. Test the grease out before adding your squash. I usually just take a bit of the corn meal and drop it in the grease to see how the temperature is. Frying anything takes practice. If you’re not great at first, you will be.
Now it’s time to put those steaks on the grill. My husband likes his rare. I’m more of pink in the middle kind of girl. And not a flaming pink. Growing up, steak was a treat. We didn’t have it very often and when we did, it was always sirlion steak and my poor Daddy would cook it to death. It had to be well done and it was like chewing leather. Of course my brother and I didn’t know any better. We assumed that was how it was. Well done steak and microwave baked potatoes with squeeze Parkay margarine. That was a big night in the Frazier household. It wasn’t until I started dating my husband that I found out there were actually other cuts of beef and believe it or not, it didn’t have to be cooked to death! My husband has really learned to grill a mean steak! He sets the timer and now grills them to perfection. Or at least mine! While he’s outside enjoying the now 50+ degree temp grilling our steaks I need to start the mushrooms. We NEVER eat steak without mushrooms. The steak butter with the drippings from the seasoned steak makes for the most delicious mushrooms you’ve ever eaten! I perfer the Baby Bella’s, however any kind of mushroom will work because of the amazing flavor from the seared steak. I alway buy the already sliced ones. I’m all about saving time. Go ahead and heat the steak butter up; once heated, drop those mushrooms in.
Once you have them cooking, add a little red wine and let that reduce. It creates the best sauce. You don’t need to season the mushrooms, since they are cooking in all those drippings from the steak and the steak butter. So many people are not fond of mushrooms. I say try them. Or come to my house and try mine. My sister-in-law, Cathy, did not like them either, now she is a fan! I mean seriously, what couldn’t be good cooked in steak butter and red wine? I also threw together a chopped salad. And guess what? It was one of those salad kits you buy at the grocery store. I chose the barbeque ranch one and it was great! And super easy! I love chopped salad and I started thinking this one would be perfect if you added some chicken to it. You now have a meal. And you could just run to Costco and buy one of their $4.99 rotisserie chickens. But that’s another post!
Dinner is ready!
This is what spring and summer is about in our home. We love to entertain, but we love having people over in the spring and summer. It’s not always a steak dinner. It could be a fish fry or a low country boil or a stuffed grilled pork tenderloin. But whatever the meal, you can always count on lots of laughter and fun. The girls doing their thing and the boys enjoying a good cigar. I can hardly wait until we gather around the beautiful table my husband built for us out of my girls’ old play set to share life with the people we love most! When you live away from family, your friends become your family. I love sharing my Southern heritage with them! Share some love with your friends. You don’t have to cook them a steak dinner, but I bet if you did they would love you all the more!
Until next time……much love and Happy Spring y’all!
Sandi
Southern Savorings 