Pan-seared New York Steak

Growing up I think we sat down to have dinner with some kind of red meat/meat at least 5 times a week. Yep, it was steak, salad, baked potatoes; or meatballs, pasta, salad; or pork roast with boiled potatoes, etc. And when I say “sat down” we really did – pretty much seven days a week. My three brothers and I would sit down with our parents all at the same time, have dinner, talk to each other (and yell at eachother – remember the Sicilian and Jewish thing), and then ask to be excused before we could leave the table. As much as I didn’t think anything of it at the time, I now realize it was one of the things that helped me feel that there was something I belonged to. And although my family was faaaaaaaaaar from perfect, I think this was a healthy and important tradition that has been lost in society. Oh, did I mention that part of that old school tradition was that I – being the only girl – was the only one who had to do the dishes. That’s right, all the males got to just leave the table. That wasn’t one of the positive aspects of this tradition I’m speaking of.

 Back to fact that we ate a lot of red meat: I rarely eat red meat these days, but I do have to say sometimes there’s nothing like a good, juicy steak.

I don’t own a barbecue right now since we live a pretty urban life in a 8th floor apartment with no deck. I’d prefer to grill a steak over flames, but I think you can pan sear a steak to sort of mimic that barbecued feel. So that’s what I did here.

Ingredients:
2 pieces of steak – your favorite cut. (I like New York or Rib Eye)
a couple splashes of olive oil
a few splashes of red wine (or more)
about 1/4 c water
freshly crushed garlic – a couple tbls
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

• Put enough olive oil to cover a generous portion of a heavy frying pan.
• Heat the pan to very hot, but don’t let the oil smoke.
• Rub salt on both sides of the steak and then add to the pan. You should hear a nice sizzling sound.
• You don’t want to burn the surface, you just want to make sure this first side gets nice and brown (carmelized) on the entire surface. If it’s too hot, turn it down a bit.
• Now flip over to the other side and on the browned side, rub the garlic on the top with the flat side of a fork. Add as much pepper as you like.
• Once you’ve acheived the same color on the other side, it’s time to add the wine.
• Add the wine – it will sizzle! You can flip the steak(s) over and add some more garlic to the other side if you like.
• You can also just add a little water if the wine starts to reduce too much.
• Now cover and make sure that for the next several minutes, until you get it to the doneness that you prefer, that there’s always liquid at the bottom.
• When the steak is done, remove from the pan.
• If you prefer additional “sauce” you can add more wine to the bottom and scrape all the drippings. You can also thicken with a little flour if you like.

Serving suggestion: A simple salad or side veggie (like brussel sprouts) and your favorite warmed bread is all you need.
Enjoy!