Crampin' My Style

So the beginning of the school year has certainly impaired my energy level and desire to cook.  Quite frankly, I've been so exhausted that I've turned, in a word, lazy.  Looking back at this blog, this will only be the third entry for September.  Per usual, I emailed The Bride early this morning to find out what she might want for dinner.  I believe the exact response was "big fat steak with blue cheese."  Looking at The Guide, there wasn't a recipe that involved blue cheese and steak (although there is one for burgers that I've already done).  So I went with a steak that involved a cut of meat that I've never worked with before, the Flatiron Steaks With Steakhouse Sauce on page 100.  The Bride and I went down to Findlay, ate some gelato, and then picked up what we needed.

This looked (and proved to be) an easy recipe.  While the coals were firing up, I prepared the sauce.

From there, I added the salt and pepper to the steaks before bringing them outside.

As you can see, these are truly long and flat steaks.  They sat well below the edges of the pan, and so this was going to be a quick burn.  The Guide suggests a total cooking time of only three to five minutes, flipping the steaks once.  I opted for the longer of the times, as I was hesitant to eat raw meat. 

Other than the grill marks, there wasn't much browning on the outside of the steaks, but I set them to rest.  Meanwhile, The Bride began making her trademark blue cheese sauce while I put together some toasted French bread slices.  Then we plated!

Quick, simple, tender, and succulent are all adequate adjectives for this dish.  As I mentioned earlier, I'd never had flatiron steak before, and I was pleasantly surprised.  It almost has the tenderness of filet mignon (I could cut it with a fork), but possessed the flavor of a New York strip.  The simple seasoning of salt and pepper leaves a nice canvas for the steakhouse sauce, which reminded me of Open Pit.  The Bride's blue cheese dressing was a nice complement to the sauce, and having the dueling sauces made for a fun meal.  In all, I recommend this recipe just for the simple fact that the flatiron is an interesting cut of meat, and the steakhouse sauce is pleasant and well-seasoned. 

Well, so much for September....