Steak or Vegetarian--You Decide

In this part of the country, nothing beats a big, thick juicy Black Angus steak grilled to perfection...unless you're a vegetarian.  Lucky me, when I came across fresh green beans and fall sweet potatoes at the local Aldi's to go with my ribeye ...love that store (always reminds me of little European grocery stores).  Picked up some fresh mushrooms, brought it all home and couldn't wait to put a fork in it while we watched the Sooners beat whoever they were playing (Texas?) in the Big 12.

For the steak - buy a good-sized Ribeye or New York Strip so you can split it with your honey.  You need to buy McCormick's Montreal Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Please, please do not marinate your steak--it just makes them mushy.  About one hour before you plan to grill your steak, remove it from its packaging, dry it off with paper towels, season both sides with the steak seasoning AND rub a thin coat of brown sugar into both sides and set it aside.  This allows those flavors to really blend into the meat.  If you have big dogs, definitely hide it in the microwave or your cool oven.  Trust me about this.

For the green beans - if you've never made fresh green beans, there's a little something I learned from watching Madame Julia's videos from The French Chef and that's blanching.  It makes all the difference in flavor and color of the vegetables--just an extra step or two for wonderful results.  The first thing you need to do is SNAP the beans.  Put your beans in a bowl, get a smaller bowl for the pieces you'll be snapping off and throwing away and a strainer for the newly-snapped beans. Sit down and watch something on TV that's not too interesting 'cause this is only going to take about 10 minutes.  Snap off the ends of the green beans and if they are longer than 2-3", snap the bean in half--throw them in the strainer and when finished, rinse them thoroughly and shake off excess water.  Fill a large pan with water and add about 2-3 TBSP salt--I always use coarse sea salt--easier to grab with your fingers and you can just keep it sitting out in a cute, little bowl by the stove.  About 30 minutes before you plan to eat, get the water to a rolling boil and carefully drop the green beans in.  Let them cook for about 8-10 minutes but NOT until they are done--you will have to take a bean out of the water and see if it is crunchy-but-starting-to-get-tender by tasting it, maybe several different times.  At this point, immediately remove from stove, pour in strainer and run cold water over the beans to stop the cooking process.  Shake off water and set aside until you are ready to cook.  If you want to throw in some new potatoes, you can cut those up, boil them until almost tender and add them to the beans.  When you are ready to heat the beans for serving, if you are vegetarian, add about 1/4-1/2 c vegetarian stock.  Cook until barely tender.  If you are not vegetarian, you can add chicken broth and a little plop of butter to finish or cook some bacon until a bit of bacon grease starts oozing out, add the beans, stir, then add the broth.  Of course, salt and pepper to taste.  OK, I know this seems like a big pain in the butt doing all this prep work for a stupid green bean, but it's the difference in 'oh my gosh these are good' and 'no comment' because they came-out-of-a-can green beans.

For the Sweet Potatoes - Scrub, prick with fork, place on rack in oven at 400 degrees OR wrap in foil and place on upper rack of grill about 30-45 minutes before you cook steak.  When done, serve sliced, halved or whole.  Your choice, your calories.  Top with butter.  Yum.

For the Creamy Mushroom Sauce - Rinse mushrooms under water and gently dry with paper towels or a soft cloth.  Cut off bottom of stem and throw away, then slice and dice.  When ready to cook, put 2 TBSP butter and 2 TBSP olive oil in skillet or saucepan, saute mushrooms for just a few minutes, pour on 1/2 c cream, stir well and add 1/2 c white wine (or broth or water).  Cook on medium low heat with lid off until reduced and thickened--about ten minutes.

Fire up grill to high heat.  When you cannot hold you hand 3-4" from the heat without it feeling like your hand is on fire, the grill is ready for the steak.  Put the steak on the grill AND DO NOT MOVE IT.  Don't flip it, don't rub it, don't peek at it.  Let it cook for about 5 minutes, then with your tongs, gently flip it to the other side.  For a 1" steak, rare is going to take about 3-4 more minutes; medium 5-6 minutes and well done is when it shrivels up and looks like a boot.  Remove from heat, put a dollop of butter on top and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.  It will be one of the best-tasting steaks you've ever had.  Guaranteed.