TacoCat (kinda) Cooks! #37: Perfect peppery Steak and Roasted Veggies! 😋
Hey Steemit!
We're back with more of our home cooking! If you're unfamiliar with this series, it's where I showcase some of the food we've been making at home since we've been cooking a lot nowadays! Both because it's cheaper and also healthier to cook for yourself compared to eating out. While I usually stick to the usual recipes I do like to try new ones once in a while and figured I'd share the new ones I've tried once a month so here we go!
Last month it was Sean's birthday so I wanted to cook him a special birthday dinner and since I've never tried making steak before I thought this would be the perfect occasion for it!
I've been wanting to try and make steak for a while now especially since we don't order it often in restaurants as it's so expensive. I thought to make it at home would be pretty pricey too until I found out our local supermarket sells these frozen steaks for less than 10 bucks!
Granted it's not the usual tenderloin or sirloin cut we'd normally get at a steakhouse but there weren't many options so we decided to try this one first. After all this was the first time I'd be making steak so I wouldn't want to chance it on an expensive cut anyway.
We're not steak connoisseurs since we don't eat it often so I wasn't sure what striploin even was but turns out it is the most versatile cut of steak and has slightly higher fat content and is more tender than sirloin and is apparently popular for having a delicate texture and a rich, buttery flavor!
Source: tastyfoodaffair
I looked up how to cook a steak and found this really helpful link for beginners. But first, since I bought a frozen steak I had to let it defrost for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, for sides I was planning to make baked potato and some veggies including air-fried corn and eggplant.
Ingredients:
- 1 corn
- 1 eggplant (or half depending on the size and portion)
- 2 carrots
- frozen broccoli
- frozen striploin steak
- potatoes
- butter (for corn and/or steak)
- sunflower oil
I was going to be roasting the potatoes in the air-fryer and since that takes the longest, we prepare those first.
Seasonings:
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- black pepper
- cayenne pepper
- parpika
Step 1: wash and scrub the potatoes to rid them of dirt, then use a fork and poke holes over the whole surface of each potato.
Step 2: Coat the potatoes with olive oil, and sprinkle salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper.
Step 3: Since I don't have an oven, I used an air-fryer to bake them at 200°C for 20 to 30 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, I prepared the corn. Basically all the veggies would be in the air fryer since I wanted them to be roasted.
Step 4: Wash and cut the corn if necessary. I was preparing half a cob for each of us since there was a lot of veggies.
Step 5: Drizzle some melted butter on the corn and sprinkle salt and black pepper.
Step 6: Pop it into the air fryer at 180°C for 10-12 minutes. The veggies all cook at different timings and temperatures so I had to do it in 3 batches.
Step 7: Wash and slice the eggplant into discs.
Step 8: Slice the carrots into strips.
Step 9: Drizzle some olive oil and season the broccoli, carrots and eggplant with salt, paprika, cayenne pepper and black pepper.
Step 10: Put them into the air fryer at 190°C for 10 minutes. If you used fresh broccoli you could probably lower the temperature but since I used frozen ones I had to use a higher temperature.
With the veggies all cooked/cooking, it was time to prepare the steak!
Step 10: Once the steak is defrosted, rub sunflower oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the steak. I read that you want to oil the steak not the pan and we want a oil with a high smoke point like sunflower oil.
Step 11: Heat up a pan on high heat and once it's hot, place the steak in the pan and cook for 4 minutes, turning every minute.
Optional: on the last minute you can add butter to the pan and some chopped garlic and baste the steak with the butter on a lower heat.
Step 12: Make sure to flip it every minute to make sure it comes out medium rare. If you like your steaks on the rarer side then 3 minutes is enough.
Step 13: After 4 minutes remove the steak from the pan and let it rest on a plate for 5 minutes.
It was deceptively simple, and I did try to add some butter for the other steak and baste it for a bit to see how it would taste.
After I let the steaks cool, the veggies were done too so it was time to plate it up! I sliced the steaks and sprinkled some herbs we had on top. It ended up looking (and smelling) so good!
The steak was also really nicely cooked! I was scared that I had overcooked it but I was watching my timer very diligently and made sure to flip it at every minute exactly and I think it turned out perfectly medium rare!
Although Sean does like his steak a little more cooked so I did cook it slightly longer for his one, he agreed it still tasted yummy and was deliciously tender!
All in all it was a very delicious meal and although it did take some time with the air fryer, it was still relatively simple and I'm so glad Sean enjoyed it! What a great end to a nice birthday! I think we'll definitely be trying to make more steak at home after this for sure.
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
