As I was leaving the office on Friday, I had a slight problem. I was very hungry, wanted some comfort food, but didn’t want to attempt anything fancy. My first instinct was to find some short ribs or a lamb shank to braise, then zone out to some TV or Xbox as my dinner slowly cooked in the oven. I went out to Von’s and discovered that they had neither short ribs nor lamb shanks. Instead, I noticed they had a lot more steaks in the meat counter than usual, including some fillets. A number of people poo-poo the fillet because it lacks the fattiness and hence flavor of the strip or rib-eye. I like the tenderness of the fillet and feel that it cooks up quite nicely on the stove. I picked a thick one out (you generally want a steak at least an inch thick), grabbed a potato, asparagus, thyme, and a shallot, and headed home to make my comforting dinner.

One of the problems I had when I moved out to California is that I lived an apartment and had no space for a grill. I love a good steak, but in Texas I had only cooked them on a grill. I tried cooking some steaks just on top of the stove, but had little success. The middle would be pink, but closer to the outside the steak was well done. I gave up cooking steaks for a few months until I read something about cooking on the stove and in the oven. I don’t remember exactly where I read it, but I decided to give it a try. Later, after reading a number of different cookbooks, I realized this is a fairly common practice of searing something on the stove and finishing it in the oven. The extreme direct heat of the pan provides a nice brown crust (known as the Maillard Reaction), and the oven’s indirect heat cooks the meat to a nice even temperature. A grill does these things simultaneously. The grate is the direct heat, and the coals are the indirect heat. The great thing about cooking a steak using this method is that there is an easy way to make a quick sauce at the end.

Pan Roasted Steaks with a Red Wine Reduction

The “Mise”

• Steaks, whatever kind you like, preferably an inch thick
• Salt and pepper
• Oil (I generally use peanut oil, but canola or olive oil would work. Don’t use extra virgin olive oil as the smoke point is very low)
• An ovenproof skillet (I use an All Clad 10″ stainless fry pan)
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• A sprig of fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped (rosemary would work, too)
• 1-3 tablespoons of butter (depending on how much you want)
• A little red wine (nothing too fancy, nicer wine won’t make a better sauce)
• Thongs (if I haven’t said this before, thongs are the greatest kitchen utensil. Ever.)
• Two plates (One for seasoning the steaks, another for letting them rest)
• Aluminum foil (to cover the steaks after cooking)

The Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Take the steaks out of the fridge, pat them dry, and place them on a plate. Drying off the steaks ensures a nice brown crust as well as minimizes oil spattering when you add the steaks to a hot pan.
2. Once the oven is heated, heat an ovenproof skillet over medium high heat.
3. Add a little oil to the pan. Heat the oil until it’s almost at it’s smoking point. If you’re nervous around very high heat, at least heat it until the oil glides easily across the pan. As long as you patted the steaks dry, the oil won’t spatter.
4. Add the steaks to the pan with room in between them. If the steaks are too close together, they sweat as opposed to brown. The excess moisture inhibits browning. Don’t touch the steaks for two minutes. After two minutes, use the thongs to flip the steaks over. The seared side should have a nice brown crust. Cook the other side for a minute and a half, the put the pan into the preheated oven.



5. For a medium rare, cook about 6 minutes. For medium, cook for 7 or 8 minutes. The time for cooking the steaks depends on a couple things, so the previous times are more guidelines. If the steaks were cold or very thick, cook them a little bit longer. If you seared the steaks for a longer time on the stove, reduce the cooking time a little bit. It’s also possible your oven isn’t the exact temperature you set it, too.
6. When the steaks are near you’re wanted doneness, take the pan out of the oven. Before you do anything else, COVER THE HANDLE WITH A TOWEL. You will only forget to do this once. You make think you can remember the pan is scorchingly hot, but inevitably you’ll grab the handle and burn the hell out of yourself. So, cover the handle with a towel.
7. Open your hand and press the area of your palm near your thumb. That’s the way a medium rare should feel. Now press the tip of your nose. That’s closer to medium. The tip of your chin should feel more like a medium well, but if you want your steaks cooked that well you probably shouldn’t be cooking steaks. If you’re steaks aren’t done, put the pan back in the oven.
8. Once your steaks are at their desired doneness, transfer the steaks from the pan to a plate. Ideally, you have a Chinese roommate and therefore have some chopsticks in the silverware drawer. If you do, or just have some chopsticks, skewers, or other rods lying around, place them across a plate to form a grate. Put the steaks on top of the grate, and cover the plate with some aluminum foil.



9. Put the skillet over a burner, and turn the heat to medium. If there isn’t any fat/oil left in the pan after cooking the steaks, add a little bit more. Add the chopped shallot to the pan and cook until fragrant and soft, about 2 to 3 minutes.



10. Think about how much sauce you want. A tablespoon? A 1/4 cup? Whatever it is, double it and add that much wine (This is known as “deglazing the pan”). Scrape the cooked stuff (in French cooking this is known as the fond) off the bottom of the pan. Bring the pan to a simmer, and cook away half of the liquid. In other words, reduce the wine by half.



11. After reducing the wine, take the pan off the heat. Sprinkle in the the herbs, then whisk in the butter, a tablespoon at a time.
12. Uncover the steaks, and place each one on a plate. Pour any accumulated juices into the red wine reduction and stir. Pour the sauce over the steaks and serve.

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