Surprisingly Delicious Dinner for a Tuesday Night

So last night I cooked a strip steak, roasted asparagus and a loaded baked mashed potato dish for dinner. It turned out surprisingly tasty. It was one of those nights where we already had something thawed out and needed to use it. Christopher had thawed out two strip steaks to do his bacon wrapped steak bites the other night and decided to only use one of the steaks. So last night, I got creative in trying to figure out what to do with it - how was this going to feed both of us??? So I decided to slice it and bake it in the oven, along with the asparagus and the loaded mashed potatoes. It all turned out great! Below are the recipes related to our dinner success (no leftovers = recipe to keep!).

Sliced Garlic Strip Steak (serves 2)

1 NY Strip Steak, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
cornstarch or flour (to act as thickening agent)
salt & pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the strip steak across the width of the steak to about 1" thick slices. Season (if you like) with salt and pepper. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with a non-stick cooking spray. Place the steak slices flat on the baking sheet. If you are also roasting the asparagus, add the asparagus to the baking sheet. I roasted the steak and asparagus together; one half was the asparagus, the other the steak (so they are not mixed in together). Set your kitchen timer for 5-6 minutes. After the timer goes off, flip the steak slices over (and the asparagus) and bake for an additional 4-6 minutes, depending on how "done" you like your steak. I did 6 minutes and then 5 more minutes and our steak came out medium-well and the asparagus was cooked, but still had a crunch to it - I love that!

While the steak is cooking in the oven, in a small saucepan, add the soy sauce, garlic and olive oil. Heat through on low until the sauce starts to thicken. If it does not thicken, add a little bit (like a teaspoon at a time) of flour or cornstarch to the sauce and stir very quickly to dissolve the flour/cornstarch.

Once the steaks are cooked to your likely, add them to the saucepan to coat each of the pieces with the sauce. Serve immediately with your prepared sides.

Loaded Mashed Potatoes (with Bacon & Cheddar Cheese) - serves 2

1 cup Potato Buds, prepared as directed on the package (I totally cheated!)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
4 slices bacon, cooked and diced

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. After preparing the potato buds, mix into the bowl the 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and the diced bacon and mix all together. Scoop the loaded potato mixture into the pie plate and spread with a spatula until pressed into the bottom of the plate.

Cook in the oven for 12 minutes, just until the top of the potatoes gets that light brown tone and the cheese is melted. If you LOVE cheese, feel free to add more cheese to the top of the potatoes for a cheesier dish.


MMM - Yummy! I am so hungry...good thing it is time for lunch!