Wah. My Sony Alpha Nex5 is out of battery and I still haven’t found my charger. Until then, I have to suck it up and use my old point and shoot. It just makes me sad. Sorry the photos aren’t that great. I tried.

Tonight I made 2 new recipes. That’s right, 2! I made steakhouse steaks and dill fingerling potatoes, both of which are Ina Garten recipes from food network. The reason these steaks are called steakhouse steaks is because apparently this is the way many steakhouses prepare their steaks. I will go through the process soon enough. It was really simple and the steaks turned out wonderfully! I will likely make this my new way to cook steaks. Also, I got to use my new cast iron skillet!

Here are the ingredients for the potatoes…

If you will note, my potatoes are not fingerling potatoes. HEB didn’t have any when I went grocery shopping, so I bought yellow potatoes instead. They worked out just fine.

Here are the ingredients for the steaks…

We bought the filet mignon at Whole Foods, and it was expensive… but fortunately it turned out great. Good food is worth the money in my opinion.

So the first thing that I did was prepped the Filet Mignons by patting them dry with a paper towel, brushing them with oil, and coating them with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, I had the cast iron skillet heating up on the stove, and I chopped the dill for my potatoes.

The smell of dill reminds me of my mom. She used to make the best chicken noodle soup with dill in it. I love it.

Anyways, I added the potatoes to a pot of melted butter and mixed in some salt and pepper and let the potatoes sit in the pot with the lid on top while I cooked the steaks.

To cook the steaks, I started by searing all sides of the steaks in the cast iron skillet. This took a total of about 10 minutes on the stove.

Then when all sides were seared, I added a tablespoon of butter (yup, that’s right) on top of each piece and placed it in the oven on 400 degrees F for 12 minutes… this gave my meat about a medium to medium rare middle. Cook longer if you like it cooked more.

After this time, everything was about done at the same time. I took my steaks out of the oven and let them rest on a plate for about 7 minutes with the plate covered in foil. Make sure you let your steaks rest or else they will bleed really bad, and it just doesn’t look pretty. You would also loose a lot of the juice that is so good inside the meat.

I stirred in the dill with my potatoes and let them rest for about another 5 minutes.

And.. it was good. Real good.

Anyways, if you have some time… and a cast iron skillet, try these recipes. They were awesome!

Steakhouse Steaks

Ingredients:

✔ 4 (2-inch-thick) filets mignons, tied (10 ounces each)
✔ 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
✔ 2 tablespoons fine fleur de sel
✔ 2 tablespoons coarsely cracked black peppercorns
✔ 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat for 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, pat dry the filets mignons with paper towels. Brush the filets lightly all over with the oil. Combine the fleur de sel and cracked pepper on a plate and roll the filets on all sides in the mixture, pressing lightly to help the salt and pepper adhere. The steaks should be evenly coated with the salt and pepper.

When the pan is extremely hot, add the steaks and sear evenly on all sides (top, bottom, and sides) for about 2 minutes per side. (Be sure the cooking area is well ventilated.) You’ll probably need about 3 turns to sear the sides and about 10 minutes total.

Remove the pan from the heat and arrange all the filets flat in the pan. Top each with a tablespoon of butter, then place the pan in the oven. Cook the filets for 8 to 12 minutes to 120 degrees for rare and 125 degrees for medium-rare. Remove the steaks to a platter, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Dill Fingerling Potatoes

Ingredients:

✔ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
✔ 1 1/4 pounds fingerling potatoes, rinsed but not peeled
✔ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
✔ 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
✔ 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions:

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed pot. Add the whole potatoes, salt, and pepper, and toss well. Cover the pot tightly and cook over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender when tested with a small knife. From time to time, shake the pot without removing the lid to prevent the bottom potatoes from burning. Turn off the heat and allow the potatoes to steam for another 5 minutes. Don’t overcook. Toss with the dill, and serve hot.