Pan-seared steak, quick side hacks, and the pleasures of dinner for one
Various events have us all in different cities tonight,聽with me home in Chicago. Often in this situation, I鈥檒l take the opportunity to work late, then grab some takeout on the way home. That was the plan tonight. Until a fire alarm went off in our building, sending the last three of us at work down 13 flights of stairs to a lobby filled with firefighters. We didn鈥檛 smell any smoke (so I probably have an office to show up to tomorrow), but it was clear we weren鈥檛 going back upstairs tonight.
So we walked out into a steady rain (did I mention there was a tornado watch?) and made our separate ways home. Tonight would have been a perfect night for scrambled eggs, canned soup or whatever else I could scrounge in the kitchen. Except I had a necessary errand 鈥� one that took me close enough to a grocery store. And what I really wanted was my favorite home alone dinner: a steak, a potato, and a salad.
In my true ideal version of this meal, the potatoes are crisp, salty frites, and the salad is lightly dressed with a subtly garlicky vinaigrette. And it鈥檚 served to me in a little French bistro. But my semi-homemade version you see above wasn鈥檛 bad at all, and I was literally sitting down to it 10 minutes after walking in the door post-errand.
I ate sitting at our kitchen island, to me one of the simple luxuries of our new kitchen in our new old house. Not shown in the photo is the recent copy of聽New York聽magazine I paged through as I ate; the tea lights flickering on the windowsill (I often light them when I鈥檓 working in the kitchen); and the kitchen boombox playing the Chicago classical station.聽
Too many of us won鈥檛 cook for just ourselves,聽and I think that鈥檚 too bad. I鈥檝e written more eloquently and at greater length about the pleasures of cooking for one聽, complete with the hows and the whys. For now, I鈥檒l just say do it. Choose something you like, something simple, and make it even simpler.
The salad above is bagged spring mix topped with store-bought dressing. For more than a decade, we never bought dressing 鈥� it鈥檚 so simple to make. Then one of our daughters brought some into the house. Now it鈥檚 back in rotation. The baked potato is a microwavable one that comes wrapped in breathable plastic, one of the genius inventions of our time. It鈥檚 done in 6 minutes, using far less energy than firing up the stove to bake a single potato.
The steak is steak. It doesn鈥檛 get much easier. For this one, I tried a technique I鈥檇 just read about on the聽: Instead of adding oil to the pan, you brush the steak itself liberally with oil. I generously seasoned the steak (half of an eight-ounce strip steak, perfect for one) with salt and pepper and heated a dry stainless skillet over medium-high flame, letting the pan get good and hot. I put the steak in the pan and let it cook for 3 minutes on the first side, turning the heat down to medium about 2 minutes in. I flipped the steak and cooked it another 2 minutes on the flip side. Done 鈥� as in nicely charred on the outside and pink inside.
Next week, we鈥檒l probably be back with a legit recipe, with measurements and all. But for now, just a reminder that food is more than fuel, even when 鈥� especially when 鈥� dining alone.
Oh, and no tornado so far, but it聽is聽raining pretty good.
