Pan Seared Steaks With Asian-Chili Sauce

Good evening everyone! We've been featuring a lot of fall themed recipes on the blog recently - for good reason - it is fall after all! But tonight I'm breaking from that trend and using a traditional summer time staple - steak. Now, it's not grilling season and it's not exactly prime weather to have a BBQ, so why would we be featuring a steak recipe now? Well, this steak recipe doesn't use the grill at all - and yet it may result in the best steak you've made all year.

But we're not just cooking up any boring old steak (you should know us better than that by now) we're taking in some flavors of the orient and creating a delicious butter sauce to top the whole meal off. Let's get cooking!

The Recipe: Pan Seared Steak With Thai Chili Butter Sauce
Original Recipe Found In: The Complete America's Test Kitchen Cookbook 2011 Edition

What You'll Need:
(Serves 2)

2 - 8 Ounce Sirloin Steaks

For The Butter Sauce:

4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (Softened)
1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Cilantro Leaves
3 Teaspoons Asian Chili-Garlic Sauce
1 Small Garlic Clove (Minced)
2 Teaspoons Fresh Lime Juice


Begin by preparing the steaks. Set you oven to 275 degrees and pat the steaks dry with a paper towel. Season each side of the steak with salt and pepper, and place them on a wire rack set atop a rimmed baking sheet (as pictured).

Place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven and allow the steaks to cook for 15-20 minutes for medium rare, 25 to 30 for medium or 35 for medium-well. Use a meat thermometer to ensure you're hitting the 'doneness' of choice. 90 to 95 degrees at the thickest part of the steak indicates a medium-rare steak while 100 to 105 is medium and 110 and above is medium-well.

Next, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large (12 inch) non stick skillet over medium high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, place the steaks into the skillet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until the steaks develop a nice sear. If you so choose, you can stand the steaks on their side (using tongs) and sear the sides of the steaks as well.

Once the steaks are nicely seared, transfer them back to the wire baking sheet and loosely tent them in foil. Allow them to rest for 10 minutes prior to serving.

While the steaks are resting, you can begin making the butter sauce.

Place the butter in a small bowl and whip it vigorously with a spoon or fork until it becomes soft and fluffy. Once fluffy, add the chili-garlic sauce, garlic clove, lime juice and cilantro, making sure to stir well until everything is evenly incorporated.

By now, you steaks should be ready to serve. Simply spoon a dollop of the butter sauce on top of each steak and allow it to melt slightly before serving. Enjoy!

The Results:

The method of cooking the steak is similar to methods we've used for pot roasts in the past. By cooking the steak at a low temperature for a long amount of time (relatively speaking in regards to steaks - 20 minutes is a long time) and then searing at the end, you're allowing all the natural juices to stay within the steak while still creating a great crispy sear.

The Asian-chili butter sauce added a nice spicy kick to the final flavor of the dish. The rich and savory beef flavor helped tone down some of the heat from the butter sauce - resulting in a harmonious blend of rich and warm flavors.

You're free to adapt the butter sauce in any way you see fit (or even try another form of sauce entirely) tonight's blog provides two creative muses for the at home chef - a fall friendly steak cooking method and a new way to spice up the everyday steak. Try one, try both - either way you won't be disappointed!

That's all we have for you this evening. Join us tomorrow night as Maggie takes to the kitchen to create a brand new dish featuring a new form of an old favorite. Until then,

~Cheers