Strip Steak with Mushroom Sauce - Easy

 At about 6:05pm last night,  I decided to make this easy steak dinner.  Or, to be more precise, this recipe was the one theHubby selected out of the three I suggested to him at 6:04pm last night.

Fresh lawn mushroom, about 5 inches across.

This would be an easy recipe even if I had fresh edible mushrooms available. Except that at 6:05pm last night I didn't have fresh edible mushrooms handy.  There was this large fresh mushroom growing in the lawn after several days of rain, fog and humidity, but it would have been a bit rash (not to mention possibly fatal) to pick and use it, so that didn't count.

Usually I broil steak, but after noticing many recipes for steak that sing the praises of pan searing, I thought I'd give it a go.   I think the purpose is to incorporate all the yummy bits that remain after charring the meat into the mushroom sauce.  But I'm not a gourmet, and inexperience showed as the steak, though gorgeous, was ... shall we say ... practically mooing as it was cut.  And not in a good way.  It took several MINUTES of nuking afterwards to reach medium-rare.

So next time I'll just throw the steak on the barbie and make with mushrooms in the skillet the way I usually do.

I must admit, using canned mushrooms does speed up the process dramatically.  Several steps and precious minutes were saved.  But the taste was noticeably less spectacular.  If you have 10 more minutes to spare (and a pound of mushrooms), please choose the long route.  Your family will notice the difference.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! *sniff* HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Okay, they'll shovel the food down, maybe with some chewing even, and probably won't notice the improvement.  But you will at least savor dinner.

Strip Steak with Mushroom Sauce - Easy
Serves 2

2 strip steaks
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp. olive oil
1 (4 oz.) can sliced (or stems and pieces) mushrooms, drained
1/2 cup marsala wine

Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. 

Sprinkle both sides of steaks with the salt and pepper, then place in a single layer in skillet.  Let steaks sit, undisturbed for 5 minutes to sear, then flip and let sear on other side until cooked to desired doneness.  Remove steaks to a covered dish to rest; keep warm.

Add mushrooms and wine to skillet.  Allow wine to come to a boil.  Cook for 3-5 minutes, deglazing pan (scraping up the yummy bits, which also makes cleanup easier later), until liquid is reduced by half.

Plate steak.  Spoon mushroom sauce over each steak and serve.   Make it diner-style by serving with mashed potatoes and green peas.