I like the idea of a home cooked pub steak but fancier. With the ingredients spiffied up according to budget. Spend money on a good red wine to go with.
So, good steaks - fillet or wagyu or whatever for pan cooking. Marinate these overnight in your favorite rub. Bring to room temp before cooking. While steaks are resting after cooking, make Sauce Diane to go with, which is the pan residues dissolved in brandy with some cream, salt & black pepper added to taste. Plus chopped parsley if you can be bothered but this isn’t necessary. Very yum and very simple.
Mashed spuds - do this ahead of time. Pipe the mash into heaped spirals about the size of the palm of your hand and half that in height on parchment paper, sprinkle with grated parmesan and chill in fridge overnight. Bake in medium oven until outside is crispy and golden (about 30-40 mins) just before serving. These are called Potatoes Duchesse. Quite an old fashioned recipie, but the unbaked spirals can be frozen for later if you end up with a lot more mashed potato than you thought you’d need when you made the mash. Better to have too much than too little. Warning : these are addictive.
Maybe add a halved large tomato to the oven with the potato spirals for a fresh flavour blast that’s hot if you don’t want to put tomatoes in the salad.
Green salad of your choice. Maybe some butter lettuce leaves, chopped avocado, halved cherry/perino tomatoes, and a simple vinaigrette dressing with some crushed garlic in it.
Dessert - purchased apple pie with ice cream on top. Heat apple pie by popping it into the oven when the potatoes come out until heated through or you finish the first course. Adjust oven temp if required.
Estimated cooking time (not including potato mash prep and steak marination) will take maybe 1 hour, which is quite easily done while conversing with your guest and holding a glass of wine in your hand.
I like the idea of a home cooked pub steak but fancier. With the ingredients spiffied up according to budget. Spend money on a good red wine to go with. So, good steaks - fillet or wagyu or whatever for pan cooking. Marinate these overnight in your favorite rub. Bring to room temp before cooking. While steaks are resting after cooking, make Sauce Diane to go with, which is the pan residues dissolved in brandy with some cream, salt & black pepper added to taste. Plus chopped parsley if you can be bothered but this isn’t necessary. Very yum and very simple. Mashed spuds - do this ahead of time. Pipe the mash into heaped spirals about the size of the palm of your hand and half that in height on parchment paper, sprinkle with grated parmesan and chill in fridge overnight. Bake in medium oven until outside is crispy and golden (about 30-40 mins) just before serving. These are called Potatoes Duchesse. Quite an old fashioned recipie, but the unbaked spirals can be frozen for later if you end up with a lot more mashed potato than you thought you’d need when you made the mash. Better to have too much than too little. Warning : these are addictive.
Maybe add a halved large tomato to the oven with the potato spirals for a fresh flavour blast that’s hot if you don’t want to put tomatoes in the salad.
Green salad of your choice. Maybe some butter lettuce leaves, chopped avocado, halved cherry/perino tomatoes, and a simple vinaigrette dressing with some crushed garlic in it.
Dessert - purchased apple pie with ice cream on top. Heat apple pie by popping it into the oven when the potatoes come out until heated through or you finish the first course. Adjust oven temp if required.
Estimated cooking time (not including potato mash prep and steak marination) will take maybe 1 hour, which is quite easily done while conversing with your guest and holding a glass of wine in your hand.