How to Bake a Steak

A while ago my brother's grill was hurled off his deck during one of our crazy thunder/wind storms. As a result he has had to get creative with his cooking techniques and in his quest for grilling alternatives he stumbled upon a rather interesting way to make a steak. He imparted this recipe on to me and I am now sharing with you . . . b/c its GEWD!!

There is a blog that Liz and I frequent for new recipes and the "author" takes a show and tell approach to her cooking blog. So, I have completely poached her style for this blog. All credit goes to: The Pioneer Woman (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/)

But now back to baking a steak . . .

Necessary ingredients (portions for 2):
1.5 lbs of dry aged NY Strip Steak (my brother has also used Rib Eye)
Sea Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
Vegetable oil (sorry, you can't use olive oil b/c you need a high smoke point)

Prep:
Prehat oven to 275
Place a large piece of tin foil perpendicular across a cookie sheet. Place a cookie cooling rack on top of the foil covered cookie sheet. Set aside

Step 1:
Liberally cover each side of the strip with sea salt and cracked pepper.


Step 2:
Put 3 tblsp of the vegetable oil in a large heavy skillet over high heat. You want the oil heated to the point of a light smoke rising out of the skillet . . . it looks a bit more like a mist not a black smokey smog. Once the oil has begun smoking, carefully place the steaks in the oil. 90-120 seconds a side.




Step 3:
After you have seared each side of the steak, remove them from the oil and place on the cooling rack on the cookie sheet. Place in the oven for 18-24 min. 18 min for rare, 22 min for medium rare, 24 min for medium. This of course can vary by oven but probably won't by more than a min or so. Keep in mind that the meat will continue to cook once you've taken it out of the oven.


Step 4:
After you've baked your steak for your desired time frame remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Tent the steaks with the layer of tin foil for about 5-8 minutes.


Step 5:
Remove from tent and devour


In case you were wondering, I had this with a side of steamed asparagus, roasted red potatoes, and a glass of Estancia Pinot Noir.