We still have no Internet access in my apartment. (Dear landlord: this is not okay.) Blogging from work is problematic, given that…well, my bosses read my blog. (Dear bosses: I wrote this at home. Really.)
The worst part, of course, is that blogging doesn’t just require an Internet connection to post but to write. I need my computer, my bookmarks, my tabs full of the posts I’m responding to, my Wikipedia page, my Word files so I can find that quotation… It’s an entirely different mental setup than other forms of writing, and it’s next to impossible without an Internet connection.
So instead of a real blog post, I will give you two quick and delicious recipes. They’re both adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, which has never directed me wrong in cooking.
Pan-Seared Steak with Mustard-Cream Sauce
Mince one shallot. Set out half a cup of low-sodium chicken broth, 3 tablespoons of white wine, 6 tablespoons of heavy cream, and 3 tablespoons of whole-grain Dijon mustard. (You’ll want them all ready when you make the sauce.)
Season your steak with salt and pepper. Any kind works — I tend to do it with the cheapest stuff I can find at Whole Foods, but if I had the money I’d use a nice strip steak.
Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s smoking, put the steak in the skillet. Cook the steak for about two minutes without moving it, then flip it with tongs. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook (again without moving — you want the brown bits) for about 5 minutes. If you have an instant-read thermometer, you want the internal temperature to be around 125 for medium-rare. I have no instant-read thermometer — or food processor, or mixer, or sharp knife — in my apartment, so I do it by sight, and it’s always been pretty good.
Remove the steak to a large plate and tent it with foil. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the skillet, then return it to low heat and add the shallot. Cook it, stirring frequently, until it begins to brown. Add the wine and increase the heat to medium-high. Simmer rapidly, scraping up the browned bits, until it’s reduced to a glaze. Add the chicken broth and simmer for about three minutes. Add the cream and any juices that have come off the steak, heat it through, then whisk in the mustard.
Serve the steak and sauce separately. Enjoy. If you’re serving boys or others with poor table manners, include some bread so they can sop up all the leftover sauce. Remember to keep some so that you can drink it from the measuring cup in the kitchen while doing dishes.
Quick and Easy Cream Biscuits
Heat the over to 450 degrees.
Whisk together two cups of flour, two teaspoons of sugar, two teaspoons of baking powder, and half a teaspoon of salt. Stir in a cup and a half of heavy cream. Knead briefly by hand for about thirty seconds. (Unlike most biscuits, these actually benefit from rough handling, so don’t worry about that.)
Divide dough into chunks about the size you want your biscuits. Bake until golden brown, 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the biscuits.
Devour all of them.
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