Well hello hello everyone!

Been getting your fair share of watching the Olympics? I watch a bit more on the weekends since more of the coverage is actually live. That shit they do with the weeknight primetime is fucking horrible. Unless you are on full balls out radio silence, some media source out there just can’t fucking WAIT to tell you the live results before you get to watch the events.

Plus I have no additional reasons to watch the Cubs play the rest of this season after they dumped every goddamn player that I care about.

FUCK rebuilding.

Still not 100% sure this Olympics finishes anyway.

I was actually beginning to see an end to this whole pandemic hootenanny and was feeling pretty good about life for a bit but then our old friend “crippling anxiety” decided it hadn’t had near enough of its day in court. That fucker has returned with a quickness and just when we thought we had said farewell to its miserable ass for good.

Covid cases rising, unvaccinated motherfuckers running rampant, ER beds getting filled up again.

Fuck.

That trip to Denver at the end of August is not sounding quite as fun as it did prior to this most recent wave of death. As of now everything is still a go but did I mention it involves a round trip plane flight?

Yeah.

Playing this shit one day at a time again.

 

Just like during the darkest most uncertain days of the pandemic we will once again turn to our real dear friend for comfort.

Food.

And drinks of course.

I’ve got a real simple and extremely delicious menu today.

This shit came about because I really just wanted a goddamn steak.

You ever get that?

Where you can go weeks or even months without a certain food then suddenly your body basically fucking dictates to you what you are going to eat?

My brain said steak and you can bet your ass I obeyed.

Twist my goddamn arm why don’tcha.

Thought we would try something a bit different today.

I wanted to do this as more of a pictorial rather than the more wordy traditional Sunday Gravy format. Also, some of these photos are sexy as fuck so why not show them off?

Shit is easy as can be today but with a step up in sophistication.

Steak. Baked potato. Side salad.

But! With a super delicious and simple to prepare pan sauce.

Take my fucking hand man.

Away we go!

 

We begin with the humble potato. Baked potato to be clear.

Unlike the traditional “wrap in foil and bake in oven” baked potato prep as brother Taj prefers, I like mine a little different.

Start by jabbing a few fork holes in the potato then lube it up with olive oil.

Then we add some kosher salt liberally applied and place it directly on the oven rack in a 350 degree pre-heated oven to cook.

You know the drill. An hour to an hour and 15 minutes for perfect baked potato fluffiness.

Time to gather our proteins.

Please take note of the sticker on this bad boy.

[gulp]

That’s one (1) goddamn steak right there. It IS rib eye but still. Sixteen bucks a fucking pound.

Dude.

Since I’m the steak guy I tried to be accommodating to brother DJ TAJ.

A couple of thin sliced, bone-in pork chops.

The prep we are using today is as magnificent as it is simple.

This is a simple and very quick dish to make and the cast iron skillet is THE preferred vessel to deliver the goodness.

Let’s get after the prep business while the potatoes are baking.

Procure one of these.

The humble shallot. Time to practice your knife skills.

Do the same to a couple of cloves of garlic.

Since a pan sauce is on the agenda, go ahead and grab a really nice bottle of red.

We’ve featured this wine before. That’s a lovely cabernet sauvignon from “Substance” vineyards in the Columbia Valley area of Washington State.

The sauce is already going to be pretty intense so I’ll cut the vino in half with some water. Quarter cup of each today.

Those potatoes should be ready. Take them out and for Christs sake turn off that oven. It’s fucking hot out there.

Thought we could gussy up the sauce a bit by adding in some choice mushrooms.

If you can’t read the label this is a mix of crimini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

We begin by getting the skillet on a medium/high flame and adding some canola oil.

Very simple prep for our proteins. Just salt and pepper and a quick sear on each side. Our sauce will more than make up the flavor difference.

To show you the extent to the “boldness” of our sauce flavors I present two very good reasons for said boldness.

We’ll use 1-2 tablespoons of each for the sauce.

We’ve even got an herbal element to add to the boldness.

Boldness intensifies!

Time to get to work.

Pork chops go first.

These are obviously thin cut so they’ll cook fast.

Give them a turn.

Remove from the pan, cover with some foil and let rest.

Now for the main event.

Oh yeah. Now we’re talking. I’ll show you why we did the ribeye last in just a bit.

Time to season up. Just salt and pepper again but don’t be shy with that shit. Get right after it.

You know what happens next.

Five to 6 minutes per side and flip.

Holy hell. Look at that!

Sear the sides too. Simply use a pair of tongs and sear on the edges of the steak.

When the steak has been seared, cover it up with some foil to rest and let the juices settle.

Here’s why we did the steak last.

See all of that brown loveliness? That’s called “fond” and that will be the basis, the bones if you will, of our pan sauce.

Go ahead and blot out the excess oil with a paper towel.

Not the sexiest photo ever but I still have yet to develop a third hand.

The pan sauce builds quickly.

We begin by adding the minced shallot and 4 springs of the fresh thyme to the pan along with the first 2 tablespoons of butter.

There will be an additional butter application in a moment.

Scrape up all of that fond as the shallots sauté.

The mushrooms are next to the party.

Just a minute or two to cook out some of the water from the mushrooms.

Next, the garlic, red wine, dijon and Worcestershire jump in.

Let simmer a bit to thicken and reduce down.

For a nice silky sheen we finish the sauce with 2 more tablespoons of butter.

We will now slice our rested steak and give you a quick look at what a perfect medium rare doneness should look like.

There it is.

Feel free to torture yourselves by enlarging that photo.

Plate the steak and drizzle some of the pan sauce over the top.

A close up please.

How about we set a plate up for dinner?

Yet another angle.

We have some of that leftover cabernet still on hand don’t we?

Pour a glass or 2 or three of that shit up too.

That’s a mixed green salad that had a “Chinese chicken” style dressing.

Let your imagination run wild.

The steak is a study in perfection. The medium rare element leaves it juicy, tender, succulent and filled with the iron-ey goodness that only a good steak can deliver. The sauce is bold, intense if you will and redolent of the red wine and dijon. That fresh thyme is a full time player in the sauce as well. Just make sure you remove the sticks of the thyme prior to chomping down.

For decades and decades I cooked my steaks outside on the grill. Charcoal grill that is but I think those days are a thing of the past.

This fucking shit is legendary.

I would charge $79.99 for this plate and extra for the wine.

Well? What are you lying around for? Get up and get your ass busy!

You’ve got a steak to prepare!

Hope you like the pictorial style of Sunday Gravy. I forget the exact count but I think I took close to 80 total photos while making this. As a rule of thumb I take 2-3 shots of each image and narrow the images down to the better of the photos. 

The entire Sunday Gravy process isn’t just the cooking and the writing, the photo element is time consuming too. Plus you’ve got your shopping, your planning, the research.

It’s work. A lot of work.

But I do it for you folks.

Because gosh darnit, you’re worth it.

 

Keep soldiering through the Summer folks.

Training camps are in session and the NFL season draws nigh.

See you next week.

 

Be safe.

Be Well.

PEACE!