Ruth's Chris Dinner at home

recipes from thepioneerwoman.com

Huge steak fans, raise your hand!  Okay but seriously, this dinner was soooo good and it all took less then thirty minutes to put together!  Thanks to Pioneer Woman's recipe for "hotel butter", this dinner tasted like a meal at a high-end steakhouse.  Here's how it went down...

HOTEL BUTTER

 --What you need for the butter is softened butter (her recipe calls for 4 sticks, i used 2), a handful of parsley, and a lemon.

 --First, chop the parsley up really finely.

--Next, zest your one lemon.

 --Throw your butter into a bowl of an electric mixer.

 --and toss in your zest and parsley.  (If it looks like it's a lot of parsley, that means you put in a good amount!)

 --Turn the mixer on and mix everything together until it's all incorporated.

 --Now, slice that lemon in half and squeeze in the juice into the mixer.

 --Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

 --Spread out a long piece of aluminum foil with plastic wrap on top.  Form the butter into a straight line down the middle of the foil.

 --Bring the foil ends together,

 --Making a cylinder, and roll it as tight as you can, twisting the ends and forcing the butter to become a tight long log.

 --Have it look like this!  Store it in the fridge and allow it to harden for a few hours before you use it.

--Because once it's chilled, all you'll have to do is slice it up and serve it with your favorite meat!

 --For our dinner, instead of spending hours boiling and mixing potatoes, I went with this instead.

 --Why?  Well, because all I had to do was place it in an oven-safe container and cook it for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

--During the cooking process, I placed a tbsp. of butter split into pieces on top of the potatoes.  The steakhouse I love has very good buttery mashed potatoes.  So I went for it.

 --These here are filets.  I cut one in half because it felt too big.  Now they'll look like petite filets.

 --Generously salt and pepper both sides of the steaks.

 --Make sure it's very well coated.

 --Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and heat an oven-safe pan or skillet (skillet is preferable) over medium heat with 1 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter.  Once it's melted, crank the heat up.

 --Place the filets in the skillet and listen to the beautiful sound of it searing, which should take about a minute and a half.

 --Flip the filets over, sear for another minute and a half, and then place the skillet or pan in the oven and let it cook for about six minutes.  Take them out, and place them on a plate to rest for 5 minutes.

 --Here's the fun part.  Get your hotel butter out of the fridge and slice some good-sized pieces of butter for your meat.  And take some oven-safe plates and place them in the hot 450 degree oven for about five minutes.  Take them out, and don't forget you're dealing with hot plates!  It would be awful to pick up a 450 degree plate.

 --Place the hotel butter on the steak and watch it begin to melt and look beautiful.

--Please serve with your delicious (and simple) mashed potatoes.  And try not to steal bites of steak from your significant other's plate once you've finished yours before him.  Enjoy!

 --p.s. I made peanut butter chocolate soufflés for dessert to top off the night.  I've made them before, but realized I never posted the recipe!  It's from Michelle Huxtable's cookbook The Gathering of Friends, Vol. 5.  I forgot to take pictures for this recipe, but it's super easy and this recipe will make about 8 servings.  To make enough for two, I would 1/4 the recipe.

I N G R E D I E N T S

--1/2 cup butter, +4 tsp. for greasing

--1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

--2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

--8 eggs

--2/3 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup flour

D I R E C T I O N S

--Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Rub 8 small (3/4 cup size) ramekins with 1/2 tsp. butter each and dust with some cocoa powder and set aside.

--Place chocolate chips and 1/2 cup butter in a glass bowl and microwave it for 20 seconds; store well and repeat until melted and completely smooth.  Let cool 3 to 5 minutes.

--In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, peanut butter and salt.  Stir in the chocolate mixture, then add the flour and blend well.  

--Place ramekins on a baking sheet and pour batter into each ramekin, filling about 3/4 full.  

--Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until desired molten center (for a good runny center, I think 17 minutes is just right).

--Serve in ramekins or invert individual cakes onto plates, and serve warm with ice cream.