Week Night Dinner Dates: Tri Tip Steak

If you’re like me then the idea of cooking after work can be a daunting thought. However, it’s very easy to get sick of take-out, frozen food, and canned food. So every so often my boyfriend and I make an effort to have one dinner date night during the week. This usually involves a stop at the local meat shop, cheese shop, and veggie stand and somewhere along the way we come up with a plan.

The result:

Tri Tip Steak Encrusted with Shropshire Blue Cheese – Accompanied with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Peppers and Broccoli

This isn’t a new recipe for us in fact the only thing that was new was the type of blue cheese and cut of steak.

Ingredients:

1 18oz Tri Tip Steak (cut in 2)

100 grams of Shropshire Blue Cheese (extra for snacking on)

1.5 Cloves of Garlic

White Onion

1/2 Cup of Butter

Tbls. of Milk/Cream

Broccoli

Yellow Peppers

***

Before cooking we always start with a glass of wine, some olives and a bit of cheese as an appetizer. The cheese we bought to snack on and use on the steak is Shropshire blue cheese which is a very strong and firm blue. It goes perfectly with a full bodied red wine.  We picked an Italian Negroamaro Salento  varietal that complimented both the cheese and steak perfectly.

The first thing we got started on was the garlic mash:

take 1 large Yukon Gold potato and cut into cubes. Bring a pot to a boil and put potatoes and 1 entire clove of garlic (separated and peeled) into the boiling water.

Once the potatoes and garlic are soft, drain water and return potatoes and garlic to pot. Add 3/4 Cup of Butter and 1 Tbls. of milk. Mash with masher. Use a fork at the end to whip.

Once the garlic mash is done leave on low heat. You can now begin cooking your Tri Tip steak. (Note: If we had a BBQ that would have been ideal, instead we  used a pan).

Tri Tip Steak is one of those cuts that people under estimate. Luckily my boyfriend and I have a friend who works at The Healthy Butcher and informed us that for the price it’s a very tasty, tender cut. We purchased one 18oz piece and it only cost us $11.12.

Add 6 cloves of garlic sliced thinly with onion and 2 Tbls. of butter to a pan. Caramelize the onions and garlic then add the steak. Make sure that the pan is on a high heat.

When the steak is about medium rare (or 3/4 of the way done depending on preference) begin sauteing the broccoli and peppers with 1 Tbls. of butter. Cook until crisp.

C’est Fini!

There you have it, a simple middle of the week dinner date recipe that was affordable, yummy, and a touch romantic!

Image Credit: Jason van Veldhoven