My dinner with t-bone

When The Bob goes out of town and I'm on my own, I try to plan a nice dinner for one (and of course a "cry movie") so that I feel I'm spoiling myself. That situation presented itself recently, and I was in the mood for a Big Steak, spinach souffle and a nice glass of red wine. I encourage you to try this. Cooking for one is no big deal, seriously. You don't have to settle for a TV dinner or a depressing bag of microwave popcorn.

I decided to center my meal around a Big T-Bone. My steak was 1.4 lbs and about 1.5 inches thick! According to the Meatman, the t-bone has a smaller piece of tenderloin than the porterhouse. The cuts from the short loin, including the t-bone, porterhouse, club steak and tenderloin really should not be cooked for long periods of time, but are best either grilled or pan fried, and can also be broiled or sautéed. The trick is to have the heat pretty high, sealing in the delicious juices. I have a great cast iron grill pan, which is almost seasoned to perfection (a few more steaks on it and it will be ideal), so that was my pan of choice.

I have learned this technique from a lot of cookbook reading, as well as watching Food Network, but my mother was actually the first person who told me about it. (See my previous article on this subject here. )

Here is my step-by-step on the biggest t-bone of my life!

1. Drizzle a little olive oil over both sides of your steak and massage it in. Season it on both sides with some grill seasoning and salt and pepper. I used a premade mesquite seasoning, but use whatever you like, or none at all, salt and pepper alone would be fine. Leave the steak out of the fridge, but covered, to take the chill off it. Open your bottle of red wine (I had a decent Zinfandel), and YOU chill for about 15 or 20 minutes. The steak will be delicious.

2. Heat the grill pan over pretty high heat. When you hold your hand over the bottom of the pan for a couple of seconds it should feel HOT. Take another sip of wine and go to the next step.

3. Throw the steak into the pan unceremoniously. Then leave it alone. Watch the previews on your DVD rental, but whatever you do, do not touch this steak.

4. When you see some moisture (blood) coming up on the uncooked side, it should be ready to turn. You should have no trouble with the steak sticking at all; if it resists you, let it go another couple of minutes. Flip the steak and leave it alone. (Check out the sweet grill marks I got on this Big Steak!)

5a. Lower the heat just a tad, to medium. Don't move the steak around, it is fine. When you see some moisture coming to the top of the steak, it should be about medium rare. Leave it just a little longer for medium.

5b. This is optional, but not if you're from my family. Put a pat of butter (not margerine, butter) on the steak toward the end of the cooking time. There's something absolutely decadent about the flavor of the steak with a bit of butter.

6. Refill the wine glass and serve.

This steak was so huge that I got two meals out of it (I made fajitas with the leftovers). And, it did feel like I was totally pampering myself.

A meal for one can be fun and satisfying. Hopefully your movie will be as good!

Neat trick for organizing your spices

I know may people find it convenient to have their spices out near the stove for easy access, but for me, it becomes a clutter issue. I have never been a fan of spice racks because, call me lazy, I don't want to take the time to decant them into pretty little jars. Putting them willy nilly on a cabinet shelf is a problem because then I waste time rooting around to find the cumin. So, ideally, I would store all the spices in a cabinet close to the counter and stove, and access them very easily.

But I'm cheap – I want an organization method that is very inexpensive if not free. And I found just the thing. Empty silverware drawer organizers. These were leftover from a previous house, but for some reason I kept them and I am so glad I did. Because they're going into a cabinet, they don't really need to be pretty, although I am sure if you wanted to invest some money you could find wooden or colorful plastic organizers that would work. These happen to have nice, straight sections, which is necessary to accommodate all the shapes and sizes of spice containers.


I organized them by type and use – one organizer is for pure spices, the other is for all our spice blends and mixes. Find the method that works best for you. When we need the spices, the organizers quickly pull out, you can see what you need quickly, and they stow right back away.



It's a neat trick that keeps your spices under control and your cabinets manageable.