Ribeye with Zucchini and Mushrooms

Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time:  5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 1 steak/person 

Ingredients: 

2 tablespoons canola oil*

Ribeye steaks, between 1" and 1.5" thick and room temperature**

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 zucchini (~6 oz), cut into even-sized (1") pieces

4-6 large button or baby bella mushrooms, stemmed and quartered

mouf beef seasoning

mouf poultry seasoning 

While prepping, heat a large skillet to the highest temperature your stove burner allows. Don't forget that the pan will be obscenely hot when working in its proximity. Seriously.

Set steak on a paper towel-lined plate, pat steak dry, then generously season both sides with mouf beef seasoning. Drizzle canola oil into the now screaming-hot pan and, with care, lay the steak in the center of the pan.  Sear the steak on one side for three minutes, then using the side of the pan***, sear the outer edges of the steak for ~30 seconds/each.  After all outer edges have a good color on them, completely flip the steak over to sear the raw side for an additional three minutes.  

Once all sides are seared, add butter and crushed garlic cloves to the pan.  Spoon-baste garlic/melted butter onto the steak for one minute, then flip steak over again and repeat.  Remove steak from pan and set aside to rest.  

Reduce heat to medium and add the mushroom quarters to the garlicky, buttery pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes. Add zucchini to the party, sprinkle liberally with mouf poultry seasoning, and continue cooking for another two minutes.  

Try to hold back tears of joy as you tuck into the best damn steak you've ever cooked (and don't even think about reaching for that bottled steak sauce as, if you've followed the above, you won't need it****).

* Canola is a better bet for this than olive oil as it has a higher smoke point (i.e. olive oil may scorch)

**Starting with steaks at room temperature helps to ensure an even cook and solid sear

***This technique both helps support the weight of the meat and allows the center of the pan to fully reheat so as to efficiently and evenly cook the other side of the steak.

****The instructions above, specifically the cook times, resulted in a gloriously juicy, medium rare 1.25" ribeye. Naturally, if you like your steaks more cooked, 1) you're crazy and 2) you've got to cook it longer. BEFORE YOU DO THAT, THOUGH, if the "bloodiness" of a mid-rare steak freaks you out, fear not! The red liquid that pools from beautifully-prepared steaks like the one in the video isn't blood, but a protein that oxygenates muscle tissue called myoglobin. It's harmless, it's delicious, and you should give medium rare steaks a chance.