I am not one to set specific daily or weekly meals, but I must admit that at least once a week I get a craving for a good STEAK!!! Tonight was that night - and NOTHING beats STEAK NIGHT! Often served with many different sides, but tonight -

the menu is as follows...

ROSEMARY RUBBED STEAK WITH A CHEESE, CHILLI & MUSHROOM SAUCE - SERVED WITH SPICED COUS COUS AND A KALE & BABY SPINACH SALAD.

YUM!!! - I know, right! hehe!

I am not a fan of buying "pre-packed" anything! So when it comes to the sauce (whatever it is), unless I am feeling PARTICULARLY lazy, I will make it from scratch. Tonight it is a cheese, chilli & mushroom sauce. It is a "combo" sauce because as any good woman and mother would - I try to keep EVERYBODY in my family happy! lol - Thankfully, all the flavours marry well, so its a "win win".

Making the sauce is really as easy as ABC, so if I am honest, there is no excuse for me to occasionally buy packet sauces..lol

First things first... melt a tablespoon of butter in a pot...

In this instance I added the ground pepper and chilli sauce (which is a homemade one, so no additives or rubbish in it!)

One of my moms age old secrets for ANY base sauce (which is now a staple when I make sauce), is a half a chicken stock cube. I put this into ANY sauce that I make these days and it just adds that "wow factor" to the flavour profile!

Whatever your choice of flavouring for the sauce, in terms of herbs and spice... now is the time to add it!

As I am adding a mushroom flavour to this sauce - I sauteed some white button mushrooms separately in a pan... Whilst brown mushrooms are more flavour filled, I find they tend to make the sauce "grey" in colour, so I stick to the white mushrooms.

Mushrooms hold a lot of moisture naturally, so I A) don't wash them (yes I am still alive and kicking lol) and B) sautee them for quite a bit longer than say an onion.... as for the most part they tend to "boil" a little in their own moisture in the beginning... but when they look like this... they are good to go!

Back to the sauce...

whilst the butter and spice etc. is busy melting I get the grated cheese ready. A nice handful is about right...

The butter and spice is now melted and ready for a tablespoon of flour. Use a whisk for this part and do it quickly! Add the flour and whisk briskly. It turns to paste very quickly and also burns fast if you leave it for even a second.

You need to have the milk on hand for this part... before the butter mixture burns! You can use cream, but on most days I either forget to buy cream or feel like too much of a cheapskate - so I generally just go with milk. lol

Add about a cup of milk and continue to whisk! You can always add more later to thin the sauce - but re-thickening it is not always as successful! lol

Keep whisking.... as the mixture heats and gradually reaches boiling point, it will thicken - but again... if left unattended for even mere seconds it will burn on the bottom... so now is a good time for those arm exercises ;)

Once the sauce is a nice thick consistency, remove it from the heat and add the grated cheese. NEVER add the cheese while it is still on the heat (we all know what happens to overheated cheese) and also, do not add all the cheese at once as it will cause the sauce to cool down too quickly and it will struggle to melt.

Once the cheese has melted and blended with the sauce into a nice creamy consistency you can add your deliciously sauteed mushrooms and stir them in... The sauce is quite "stodgy" right now, but like I said - thinning it is a lot easier than having to thicken it again ;)

It is time to prepare the rub for the steaks... and I must just say here... DO NOT REFRIGERATE YOUR STEAKS PRIOR TO COOKING! They should be room temperature. (I was a little pressed for time today and my steaks were still a little "chilled" which is why they don't have the delicious "griddle" burns that they usually do) >insert sad face here<

Tonight the steak rub is just freshly chopped rosemary and ground Himalayan salt. I normally add black pepper to this rub, but as the sauce has chilli and pepper in it, I thought I would leave the rub rather basic.

I pour a little olive oil onto the steaks and then add the rub...

I heat the "griddle pan" for about 30 minutes before placing the steaks on - but sadly, like I said... tonight the steaks were still a little chilled so I didn't get quite the magnificent griddle marks that I usually do.... but hey... there is sauce, so who's worried, right ;) - I like a VERY RARE steak, so two minutes per side normally does it.

Some people might argue this point, but I generally prepare my steaks an hour or two before we eat them because it allows you to get everything done in advance and when entertaining this is a major advantage. I cannot STAND still being busy in the kitchen when my guests arrive - and ANYBODY who has "dined" at my house will know well, that EVERYTHING - is ready to go, well in advance. But, apart from that - meat also needs time to rest - and doing it this way allows for that.

I cook the steaks almost bleu and then I just "zizz" them for a minute in the microwave before serving. It doesn't at ALL affect the texture or flavour of the meat and having slightly under cooked them allows for that "re-heat minute" - nobody is the wiser I can assure you!

With the steaks done and resting, it is time to get the sides ready. I went rather easy on the sides tonight, because the steaks are filling and the sauce is chunky and rich...

So a small ramekin of spiced cous cous with added veg it was...

Accompanied by a baby spinach and kale salad...

Well, that's a wrap folks :) As I sit finishing this, it is pretty much time for me to serve up for the family!

Bon appétit!

For the other foodie lovers on steemit - I thought I would include you in my favourite night of the week ;)

@sweetsssj
@krischy
@stacee
@elfkitchen
@nicolemoker
@gringalicious

Until next time...

Much love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx