gourmet babble

• 1 New York Strip steak
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp Sunny Spain seasoning
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 - 8 oz cremini or white mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 clove roasted garlic, minced
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns
• 1 cup vegetable or beef broth
• 2 tbsp white wine

Mix mustard, oil, and Sunny Spain seasoning to form a marinade. Rub liberally over steak and refrigerate for 1-3 hours.

Heat a skillet to medium and cook steak to desired doneness. Remove steak and keep warm. Into the same skillet, add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Saute until tender. Stir in peppercorns, wine, and broth; bring to boil. Let boil for approximately 5 minutes or until sauce has reached desired consistency (although the sauce must boil for at least 2 minutes to evaporate alcohol and ensure safety). Return steak to pan to heat surface and coat with sauce. Remove pan from heat and serve immediately.

Notes: Whole peppercorns were a bad idea. They stayed in the sauce and were not fun to bite into. Reducing to a 1/2 tsp of fresh crushed black pepper would have probably made more sense.

When I took the steak off the heat, I put it on a plate and covered it with a dish. Kept it warm, alright; it sealed in everything, thus causing a steamer to form. I had it off heat for 20 minutes, so the steak steamed for 20 minutes; just enough time to take it from medium-rare to medium-well. The steak wasn't entirely ruined, as it was still mostly tender, but I definitely was looking forward to a rare or medium-rare steak.

I cut the onions way, way, way too big. The should definitely have been almost diced. The mushrooms turned out great, but the big honkin' onion pieces took forever to cook, never fully carmelized, and really unbalanced the dish. I had originally spec'd out 1/2 onion, and I think that was correct, but with the dice-size pieces.

This was also my first attempt at using Herb-Ox Salt Free Beef Bouillon. An hour or so after eating dinner, my stomach was a tad disquieted. Given the number of non-natural, freaky additives in the bouillon packet, my initial guess would be something in there disagreed with my system. I am leery of conducting further experiments, but how else will I learn?

Other than all of that, it was pretty tasty. It could have been better, and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it work.