没有错误的时候一个牛排餐厅dinner. Sizzling haunches of beef, double-stuffed potatoes, creamed spinach, and slabs of roasted bacon—if these things are wrong, there's no reason to be right. But here's a way to get your beef fix without spending your bonus. It's a menu that has everything the steakhouse does: juicy meat, stripped-down sides and a killer dessert.
In the summer, when the market's still crowded with ripe tomatoes, use them to make a salad with enough punch and acidity to cut through beef's richness (grape or cherry tomatoes will work out well come winter). You'll want some sort of hot, crispy potato dish alongside, of course, and the good news is that you don't need to set up a deep fryer or babysit pan-fried potatoes to reach your goal. My favorite method for roasted potatoes requires vigorously shaking parboiled potatoes in a lidded pan. The potatoes seem to magically batter themselves as they break down, and after a trip to the oven, the result is crispy, golden perfection without the stress.
A steak dinner won't leave you with much room for dessert (or much energy to whip one up on the fly). Instead, take a cue from that steakhouse classic, Baked Alaska, and serve a simple (but perfect) scoop of ice cream with some booze-enhanced berries and a killer make-ahead chocolate sauce. The only thing left to do? Pray for leftover steak for next-day sandwiches.
A few strategies to keep in mind:
Try serving your wine in tumblers instead of stemmed glasses for a more casual feel. Set them on your counter along with a wine opener so guests can start opening up bottles and sipping when they arrive.
Once your potatoes are made, you can transfer them from the baking sheet over to an ovenproof dish to rewarm in the oven. Bring them straight to the table as soon as your steak is ready.
Pre-slice your steak in the kitchen and serve your steak at the table on a wooden board for guests to share.
Flavored butters (aka compound butters) are a classic topping for steaks. At restaurants, you'll usually find a lovely round pat of it melting on top of your T-bone as it hits the table. At home, though, there's no need to endure the somewhat tricky process of molding butter into a sliceable log. Just stir up the herbed butter and pack it into small bowls or ramekins so that guests can help themselves.
Keep your ice cream scooper in a container of hot water to scoop a perfect ball of ice cream every time.
