A Birthday Dinner

Wayne loves steak. So, I usually serve it for Father's Day and for his birthday (and sometimes on other days of the year). This year for Father's Day I tried fixing filet mignon for the first time. It turned out so successfully, that that's the cut we had for his birthday dinner as well. I followed the directions found here and the steaks were perfect.

It's really quite simple, which is even better than trying something complicated. Let the steaks come to room temperature. Heat a bit of olive oil in an oven-proof skillet. (I love our cast iron one.) Season the beef with salt and pepper and place in the hot skillet. Don't touch them for four minutes. Then carefully flip them over and place the pan in an oven pre-heated to 425 degrees. Bake them for 6-7 minutes for medium rare. Immediately place them on a plate to rest for about five more minutes.

Updated Father's Day 2016: These directions were for steaks that are 6 ounces and 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. For 8 ounce steaks that are 2 inches thick, try searing for 3 minutes on one side, an additional 3 minutes on the other, then put in the oven for 6-7 minutes. Today when I took them out of the oven, a meat thermometer registered 120 degrees; after resting for five minutes the temperature had climbed to 130. That was perfect.


On Father's Day, we had lobster tails. Today we tried king crab legs. In the future, I need to remember that small portions can be plenty satisfying!

We realize that filet mignon is expensive. That's one reason why this is the first year we've tried it at home. There are some things you can do when the grocery budget covers two people that you can't when it needs to feed eight. It's also better for us to have smaller portions, and this helps with that mentality. While we don't expect this to be something you try now, I'm posting so that someday when you're ready for a super special celebration, you'll know what to do!

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