Pan-Fried Steaks with Sautéed Mushrooms & Caramelized Cauliflower

We sure miss having a BBQ available to us, but meals like this can tide us over until then. A note on steaks: The selection at our supermarket is a little sparse. We got lucky with these petite fillets on this day. There are only a few packages of them available, so you never know what you’re doing to get if you go shopping after 5pm. Use whatever floats your boat. On the topic of cauliflower, after reading about it in February’s Bon Appetit, I was inspired to take advantage of this nutritious, winter veggie by eating it with generous amounts of garlic and Parmesan cheese.

For the Steaks with Mushrooms:

2 steaks of your choice
salt & pepper
1 TBS. of olive oil
a generous handful of button mushrooms, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped

Season steaks with salt & pepper.

Put enough olive oil in pan to barely coat the bottom and heat over medium high heat. When hot, add the steaks and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for 3 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of your steaks, of course).

Remove steaks from pan and cover with foil to keep warm. Set aside.

Add the garlic to the same pan and saute for 1 minute.

Add the chopped mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally until they look beautiful to you. Season with salt & pepper. Top your steaks with the mushrooms and serve with cauliflower on the side.

For the Cauliflower:

1 head of cauliflower
1 clove of garlic, chopped
a pinch or more of crushed red pepper
a drizzle of olive oil
1 TBS. or less of butter
a palmful of grated Parmesan cheese

Remove the leaves and stalk of the cauliflower, then cut the florets into similar-sized pieces.

Heat a drizzle of olive oil and a little butter in a pan over medium high heat. When the butter foams, add the garlic, crushed red pepper, and cauliflower and stir to combine.

Leave the cauliflower in a single layer in the pan for about 3-4 minutes or until the bottom of the cauliflower begins to caramelize. Stir again and let cook for another few minutes.