Scrumptious Steak “Stay-at-Home Date Night” Dinner

October 13, 2015

Not going to lie, sometimes stay-at-home date nights are where it’s at. Maybe you’ve been going out a lot and need a change of pace, maybe you’re a homebody and this is your scene anyway, or maybe you have an S.O. that happens to be gone pretty often for work (my situation) and you want to get in as much quality time together when you can. Whatever your case, a good dinner/drink pairing is always good to have on hand for these occasions.

While wine is usually the first thing I reach for – as I’m sure you probably do too – every so often I’m just in the mood for something different. So, for this week’s date night dinner I decided on some good ol’ Irish whiskey (yes, I admit, I chose my drink before my dinner. But sometimes these things happen :). Once this choice was made, there was little question as to what we would be eating that night: steak! Now, without further ado, I give you our go-to, absolutely most favorite, steak/baked potato/asparagus dinner.

What you’ll need:

Steak

4 steaks (your choice) about ¾ lb. each – room temperature
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp onion flakes OR ½ tsp. onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp butter
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
12-16 cloves of garlic (or whole head), peeled
Olive OR coconut oil

Baked Potatoes

2 large baking potatoes
Olive Oil
Your choice of dressing (I like sour cream, shredded cheese, and chives)

Asparagus

1 bunch of asparagus
Olive oil
1 tsp onion flakes OR ¼ tsp onion powder
(Depending on your taste)
½ – 1 tsp garlic salt
½ – 1 tsp pepper

1. Potatoes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Take your potatoes and pierce them all over with a fork. If yours are on the larger side, try to get the fork a little deeper. Next, rub them all over with olive oil (you can absolutely salt and pepper them if you’d like). Place in a pan or rimmed baking sheet and pop them in the oven. They should take around an hour to cook, but I like to check on mine about 45 minutes in, just in case. They will be done when skin is crispy and fork can be easily inserted.

2. Now we prep everything else

Garlic and Rosemary Prep – Pretty straight forward here, just peel your chosen amount garlic and pluck your rosemary

Asparagus Prep – Snap stems at their natural give then rinse. Set them aside while they drain.

Steak Prep – Combine in a small bowl the salt, pepper, cayenne, onion flakes/powder, and garlic powder. Rub steaks with oil, and then apply.

3. Time to cook!

Asparagus – Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat in a large sauté pan. Once the oil is hot, add the asparagus with another drizzle of oil, along with your desired amounts of onion flakes/powder, garlic salt, and pepper. Stir, cover, and set to low.

Steak – On high, heat a cast iron pan for a few minutes. When it’s good and hot, place your steaks down. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side for medium rare.

Back to the asparagus – While your steaks are still on side 1, take the opportunity to give your asparagus a good stir.

Steak Topping – When your steaks are finished, remove them from the pan and cover them loosely. Add your butter, rosemary, and garlic cloves to the skillet. Cook on high until the rosemary and garlic are perfectly crispy.

Finish your Asparagus – The topping for your steak will take a minute to cook. As soon as you place them in the skillet and stir them a bit, I would recommend checking your asparagus, as it should now be done. Once it’s crisp, but gives way easily to a fork, you’re all finished and can remove it from the heat.

Finish your Potatoes – Your potatoes should also be finished now. Give your steak topping another stir and pull those babies out of the oven. After letting them cool for a moment, you can halve and plate them with your desired dressings.

All done! – You should be finished with everything now. Plate your steak with it’s topping, add your asparagus, and enjoy!!

So that’s it! Seems like a lot of steps, but taking into consideration that you’ll be walking away with a full meal makes things far less painful. Like I said before, I prefer to have my steak and potatoes with a good whiskey (Jameson Caskmates is an awesome choice in my opinion). However, if you’d like to stick with a wine, I would absolutely recommend a good Zinfandel.