Steak and taters and eggs, oh my

I invited a buddy over for dinner the other day. He jokingly said we should have steak, eggs, and hash browns. Hmm... challenge accepted.

I went fishing through the freezer and pulled out a package of New York strips and another of T-Bones, as I was cooking for four people, and wanted the challenge of two types of steaks and thicknesses. I went ahead and put the packages on a plate on the bottom shelf of the fridge to thaw for the night.

The next day I removed the packages from the fridge and then carefully trimmed them. For the New Yorks it was a matter of cutting off the top ridge of thick connective tissue and then the ends. The T-Bones were easier to cut. I trimmed the larger piece from the bone and set the rest aside for cooking later. These were also trimmed so as to be a nice piece of meat without a bit chunk of fat across the top. I then lightly seasoned both sides of the steak with a bit of my seasoned salt blend and placed them back on the plate in the fridge while I got the other dishes prepped.

I removed six eggs from the fridge and cracked them into a bowl. I’m still getting a bunch of eggs daily from my chickens, so my egg yolks are a deeply rich yellow color. To the bowl I added about a quarter of a cup of heavy cream and then whisked with a fork until the eggs were fully broken up and had incorporated the cream. When the potatoes were removed from the pan, I put the pan back on the heat and poured in the eggs. I waited a few minutes for a reasonable layer of the egg before gently stirring so as to get large curds to form. I’d stir, then let the eggs sit and cook a bit, then stir again, until the eggs reached my desired doneness. I placed the eggs on a plate inside my oven, which I had set to 170 degrees to keep the eggs warm while I finished the carrots in the same pan.

I trimmed three carrots to remove the tops. I then took a knife and cut them into rectangular pieces, as close as I could to the same size. I quickly wiped out any residue from the eggs that were left in the pan and then returned it to the heat. I dropped in a knob of butter, about 1/8 of a cup of brown sugar 1/8 cup of water. I heated it until the butter was melted then stirred to make sure the sugar was fully incorporated. I then turned up the heat to high and then placed in the carrots. The bit of water would help the carrots cook quickly, but then would evaporate while I gave the carrots a bit of color in the butter. This way my carrots would not be overcooked and mushy, but not crunchy either.

I’ve cooked fresh potatoes before as a shredded hash brown, and they’ve turned gray and mushy, so this time I cut them into diced potatoes. After peeling them, I cut them into a small dice and placed them into a bowl of water. I had a revelation in that most commercial processes cook the potatoes twice, so I went ahead and put the bowl into the microwave and nuked them until the water was very hot, but not boiling. I suppose I could have put them into a pot of water on the stove and heated it to a boil and then reduced the temperature to barely a simmer for a few minutes. Either way, I then put them into a colander and drained them for about 10 minutes, to really give them a chance to dry out.

I then heated a knob of butter in a frying pan until hot over medium high heat and then dumped in the potatoes. I gently seasoned them with salt and pepper and stirred to mix. I then let the potatoes sit to make sure they started to brown well before stirring well. I continued to let them sit a bit before stirring. Finally they reached the point seen in the picture, so I removed them from the heat and set them aside.

I quickly wiped out the potato pan and placed it back on the heat. It still had a slight shimmer of butter left from the potatoes, so I didn’t add any further oils. I turned the heat up and let the pan get very hot. I placed the cold steaks in the hot pan, the thicker ones first and boy did they start to sizzle right away. I didn’t move them for a few minutes, to allow them to get a bit of char. When I flipped them over, I had a nice brown sear on all four. I then turned down the heat to medium to finish cooking to my desired doneness. I was not going to allow them to cook through, as I don’t care for the shoe-leather texture of well-done steak. That said, cook them to your favorite level. Times will depend on your steak thickness, the heat conductivity of your pan, and how hot your stove actually gets. While my steaks were finishing, I topped them with a small smear of butter. I then removed the steaks, one at a time, allowing them to drip slightly before putting on a serving plate.

I put the pan back over medium heat, with the remaining butter and meat juices and fond, the crispy bits of well-cooked meat juices. I added a half cup of heavy cream and brought it back up to a boil, carefully, as cream can quickly overtake your pan and bubble all over the place. Stir frequently, being sure to scrape the pan with the spoon, to release the fond. As it started to boil, I turned the heat down to low and kept stirring and started to reduce the cream until it was sufficiently thick for a bit of gravy. I was thinking I would not need to add any seasoning to the gravy, as the pan drippings would be enough to flavor it. It worked out this time, but if I had overcooked the steaks to the point of burning, my gravy would have been burnt too.

Now it was time to plate the food. Not everyone serves their steak and eggs with just gravy, so I had ketchup and hot sauce available. The steaks should be served within a few minutes of finishing. Cold steak is best for leftovers.

Now to tell the truth, I wasn’t that hungry. After trimming the meats, I had a couple of nice pieces of tenderloin available calling my name. Before cooking the meat, I had passed them through the hot pan to about a medium-rare doneness. Mmm...