steak dinners are good dinners.

tonight was a rough night, so i decided to pick up my spirits with a satisfying dinner.  its amazing what food can do for your mood!  tonight's menu featured my beautiful organic grass-fed sirloin steak from the farmer's market, in a lime and garlic marinade, served with roasted rosemary potatoes and fresh corn on the cob.  yum.

i had a late lunch with a friend, so i was nowhere near hungry around my normal dinnertime.  but i knew i would be hungry later (much later... i finished eating at 9:45 haha), so i decided to get my steak marinating so i could throw it on the heat when i was ready for it.  **note:  generally, beef, pork, and chicken can sit in a marinade for half and hour to overnight because they are tough enough pieces of meat to withstand the marinade for a long period of time. but if you are marinating seafood, it should not stay in the marinade for more than half an hour or it will begin to cook from the citrus or vinegar that most marinades have in them.  so watch out!**  my marinade had a splash of olive oil, a splash of teriyaki sauce (or soy will work fine), a teaspoon of minced garlic, the juice of one lime, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.  i tossed my steak in to a quart-sized ziplock bag and poured the marinade right on top, massaging it around to coat the meat completely.  i placed the bag in the fridge to marinade for about three hours (anywhere over half an hour will work).

when i began to get hungry, i started preparing my potatoes.  i took the small butter potatoes i picked up at the farmer's market and cut them into wedges (about six per small potato).  i mixed them around in a bowl with olive oil, dried rosemary, salt, and pepper until coated.  then i threw them on a baking sheet and popped them in a 375 degree oven for about half an hour (or slightly more), checking on them and turning them every ten minutes.  check out these shots:

Before:

After!

with the potatoes still hot, i put on a medium pot with water to boil my corn on the cob.  in the mean time, i got my steak out of the fridge and put a skillet on the stove with a touch of olive oil on medium heat.  **note:  if you have a grill or a grill pan, by all means use them!  i do not have either in my apartment, so a skillet worked great for me**  once the water came to a boil, i tossed my corn in to cook for ten minutes.  at this point i also cranked up the heat on my pan to medium high and laid my steak in to sear.  i let it grill for about six minutes per side to achieve my desired "medium" steak (your meat will take longer or shorter to cook depending upon its size and thickness, and depending upon how you like your steak cooked).  i took my corn off the stove and out of the water, and after about twelve minutes, took my steak off as well.  it is very, very important that you let your steak rest when it comes off the grill or pan.  set it on your cutting board and leave it alone for about five minutes so that when you slice your steak, the delicious juices don't run right out of the meat and on to your board.  

when your steak has rested, take a sharp knife and slice it against the grain (aka, look at the lines on the meat and slice the steak perpendicular to the lines you see, not along with the lines) and plate it up with the potatoes and corn.  i like to put a little butter and pepper on my corn, but season it just the way you like it.  

and here's the finished product!  (complete with some slices of green onion for color... Ms. Kwami would be so proud!)

buon appetito!