Beef - It's What's For Dinner

I saw this in Gourmet's June issue under their Gourmet Everyday column. It really was quick and very easy. By far the creamed spinach was my favorite, as I've mentioned before I really, really like creamed spinach. Husband devoured everything in like two seconds flat, so I'm assuming he meant it when he said he liked it.

I paired it with roasted baby red potatoes and topped it with some sautéed mushrooms I needed to use from my trip to the farmer's market. I also used two eye-of-round cuts about 6 oz. each, skipped the lemon juice and blue cheese (didn't have any in the house, didn't feel like going to the store) and used 1/3 cup cream instead of 1/4 cup. Also, if you're making this for two, make sure you at least double the spinach, I could've easily eaten all of it and more. It still amazes me how much spinach cooks down sometimes.

Everything was pretty superbly delicious, all would be well in the SweetBird household had I not burnt the everloving crap out of my hand on the pan I was using. I swear to god I'm going to start wearing chain mail gloves in the kitchen. This is the second time in two weeks I've burnt myself badly.

I should at least stock up on burn cream...or stop being such a wussy.


Steakhouse Dinner

1 (1-inch-thick) boneless beef top loin (strip) steak (1/2 lb)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp Saga Blue cheese
5 oz baby spinach (10 cups)
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Pat steak dry and sprinkle all over with a scant 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Heat oil and butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook steak, turning once, until well browned, 7 to 10 minutes total for medium-rare. Transfer to a cutting board and let stand, uncovered, 10 minutes.

Add shallot to skillet and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add cream, blue cheese, and spinach and cook, scraping up brown bits from bottom of skillet and turning spinach with tongs, until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.

Stir in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Thinly slice steak and serve with spinach.