Steak Out!

I love trying new recipes. I also like to remake favorites. Choosing what to cook is especially a dilemma when it comes to deciding on a steak recipe. As I’ve mentioned before, we try to limit our red meat intake, so the question always is, so we make that dish we haven’t cooked in months or do we try something new?

The new recipe won Sunday night. The good news is, it was delicious. The bad news: now we have another favorite that will vie for consideration in the future!

The recipe comes from Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean. The recipes in the Tuesday Nights cookbooks are ones that can be put together easily and quickly after a day of work. Obviously, I don’t need to worry about that anymore, but I can appreciate the approach. According to the cookbook, this recipe can be done, start to finish, in 35 minutes, and I’d say that’s a good estimate. I did the little bit of prep earlier, and also cleaned some green beans to serve on the side, but I was ready to serve about 25 minutes after I headed to the kitchen. The cookbook suggests serving with crusty bread to soak up sauce, and that’s what I did.

The only thing I did differently was to use a different cut of meat. The recipe calls for boneless ribeye steaks, and I’m sure that’s great. But I had a package of boneless top sirloin steaks—what Publix, our market, calls sirloin fillets—in the freezer. They were perfect for this dish. I reduced the cooking time because the steaks were smaller; the three steaks I had were just a shade over one pound. And although I had less meat than what the recipe originally called for, I didn’t adjust the sauce ingredients. You know me, there’s never too much sauce.

Steaks with Green Olive-White Wine Pan Sauce

1 pound boneless top sirloin steaks, trimmed
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium garlic clove, peeled and smashed
1/2 cu pimento-stuffed green olives, finely chopped, plus 1 tablespoon olive brine
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

Season the steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat until barely smoking. Add the steaks, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until well browned in the bottoms, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook for 3 minutes, then add 1 tablespoon of the butter and the garlic. Swirl the pan to distribute the butter and continue to cook until the second sides of the steaks are well browned, another 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish, tent with foil, and let rest.

Remove and discard the garlic, then set pan over medium-high heat. Add the olives and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Add the wine, bring to a simmer, and cook, scraping up any browned bits, for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, then stir in the olive brine and vinegar, followed by the remaining tablespoon of butter. Stir until melted. Spoon the sauce over the steaks and serve immediately. Serves 3-4.