Steak Night, Resurrected

Dear readers, I have to apologise for my infrequent postings. I have had no energy for baking or blogging for the last couple of weeks, and though I have written a few bits and bobs it took a lot of effort. It wasn't until yesterday, when some workplace wellness people were encouraging us to sign up for the latest and greatest "keep active" kind of challenge that I realised: I am probably low in iron. I know I'm not great at holding on to the stuff, and we don't eat that much red meat (I do try to get my leafy greens in but prior experience tells me that's not enough)...

So I decided we need to reintroduce the short-lived tradition of steak night. I probably don't need to tell you about it every week (I wouldn't want to become known as Mrs Steak!) but I got heaps of great tips when I asked you for advice so thought I'd share some of them - though my technique is still far from perfect -for anyone else who hasn't quite got the technique yet.

Tip number one was to buy some decent meat - so I popped down to Moore Wilson Fresh and checked out their selection. I couldn't remember which cut was most recommended but this one apparently won the "Steak of Origin" award, so obviously gets something right. ;-) It's also been aged, and is kind of pricey - I know that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best but price often closely correlated with quality so I went with it. Probably not the sort of money you'd want to spend on your dinner every night, though! (in our student flat we used to allow $3 per person per meal, so two pieces of steak = dinner for 6+ hungry students)

Most of the key things are pretty simple - and largely it's all around not messing about too much. The process I followed (with thanks to Mary, Grizabella, Kate and my Aunty Jenny!) was:
 - bring the meat to room temperature
 - rub with a little olive oil, salt and pepper
 - sear the steaks in a hot pan - preferably cast iron or similar (bonus points for ovenproof)
 - put in a hot oven for about 10 minutes (depending on size/thickness)
 - rest on a warm plate covered with foil for 5-10 minutes
 - eat!

Eye fillets are pretty thick, and the bloody look of them after 10 minutes made me think I needed to cook them a little more, which was misguided - for our preference of medium-rare they would have been perfect at 10 minutes. We didn't cook them much more, though - only a minute or two, so they were what I'd call medium, a bit of pink left, and beautifully tender and moist anyway.

This was definitely a good way of getting our iron and protein - and hopefully it will help fuel lots more baking. ;-) What cut of steak do you like, and how do you have it?