Easy Everyday Steak with Even Easier Steak Sauce

Easy Steaks with Even Easier Steak Sauce

4 modest steaks*, 6-7 oz. each, 1 to 1.5" thick

2 green onions, thinly sliced, whites and greens separated

3 Tbsp ketchup

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp wine vinegar (sherry, white wine, red wine, etc.)

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Remove the steaks from the refrigerator 30-40 minutes before you plan to cook them. (So if you started baked potatoes 20 minutes ago, now is the time to take the steaks out.) Dry them off with paper towels -- gently, use a patting motion -- and salt and pepper them liberally. Set them aside while they come up to temp.  Maybe now is a good time to slice up the green onions and measure the other stuff.

When the steaks are at room temperature, combine the ingredients for the sauce (whites of the onions, ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcerstershire, wine vinegar, and a pinch of salt and pepper) in a bowl or measuring cup. (I use my Pyrex measuring cups a lot. They have a handy spout.) Whisk to combine.

Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick pan**. 

Bring the olive oil to temperature over high heat, then reduce the heat of the burner a couple of notches. (From 9, for instance, down to 7 or 6.5) Using tongs, add the seasoned steaks to the hot pan. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until medium-rare. Or until they're browned and cooked to your preference. Some people like steaks rare. Some like 'em burnt. If you just want medium rare, though, 8 to 10 minutes over a medium-high heat.

Remove the steaks from the pan and let them rest on a plate or cutting board. Turn down the burner to 5.

To the hot pan with steak-flavored drippings, carefully add the steak sauce fixings, which you've just whisked a couple of times to make sure everything's still all mixed up. Stir it as soon as it's in the pan, using a spoon or spatula to scrape up the drippings and steak bits. This part goes pretty quickly because the pan is hot and wide, so the sauce should thicken up quickly. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

After the steaks have rested for five or six minutes, you can slice them against the grain for serving. Fan out the slices and drizzle a little sauce over them, and garnish with the leftover green onion slices. Pretty and tasty!

Serve with baked potatoes and salad; finish with a scoop of simple chocolate ice cream or leftover lemon icebox pie, and it's like your whole day has just been rescued.

*This recipe uses every day steaks -- nothing fancy, nothing super expensive, if you don't want to spend a fortune. If you do want to spend a fortune, look for another recipe blog. This is not special occasion steak cookery -- this is "coronavirus sucks and I just lost a friend because she hates science," Thursday night, "let me console myself with beef but not go crazy" cookery. Any nice little chunk of beef will do. Of course, if you just want to use tenderloin, it's really good with this sauce, too. 

**Cast iron is non-stick if it's properly seasoned and maintained. Otherwise, there are a lot of very affordable non-stick pans at Walmart and Target and even the Dollar Store. No, they won't last 2 years. They're almost cheap enough to be disposable, anyway.

My husband Wesley says that a glass or two of Carmenere wine helps this dish really erase the day, but he also recommends a Budweiser if you're so inclined. Let me know which you prefer!

--Bay