Pan-fried Steak, Smashed Potatoes and Roasted Carrots

I got a KILLER deal on a couple of New York Strip steaks a couple weeks ago at the store.  Unfortunately, I didn't record how many ounces each steak was, but I believe they were around 10 ounces each and less than $4 per steak!  Normally I think I see these things for about $6 or $7 a steak so I was really excited to find this steal and snatched them up.  The rest of my ingredients I already had at home.

Cooking the Steaks
You all may or may not know that red meat is best cooked at room temperature so I took these out of their packaging and sprinkled them with kosher salt on both sides and set them aside.  Since its winter and my grill is down in the cellar anyways, I decided I would pan fry the steaks.  A few weeks ago I tried to broil a tougher cut of beef and it didn't work out so well and I wanted to play it safe. 

When getting the pan ready I always hear that the temperature needs to be hot hot hot.  So I cranked it up and put a little bit of EVOO in the pan.  Once the pan was hot I places the steaks in the pan and stepped back cause they were a-sizzling.  Soon they were a-smokin and my smoke detectors were a-beeping.  Our kitchen lacks an over head fan so I find that when I am pan frying things on high I have a little problem with the smoke alarms. 

Cooked the steaks for about 7 minutes on one side and 5 on the other then took immediately out of the pan to set.  Even with the smoke and the beeping, they definetely weren't burned. Though you don't get the same char marks with a grill I really do like pan frying my steaks.  With the directions above and setting for about 10 minutes the steaks came out to be a perfect medium rare.

Cooking the Carrots
The carrots were easy.  It had been awhile since I had roasted carrots and since I didn't have any other options for a vegetable in the fridge, I decided the sacrifice the carrots I usually reserve for eating raw with my delicious store bought dill dip.  In the past I have always bought the already cut and skinned baby carrots, but there was a story about bleach or something like that and while they are more convenient, it's just as easy to buy the carrots whole (one pound bag or organic for 99 cents).

I cut the carrots into "coins" and tossed them with EVOO, seasoned salt and pepper.  The seasoned salt and pepper I have been using like crazy recently.  I received them as a gift from my mother for Christmas. 

Carrots went into the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes give or take.  I use a timer, but mostly thats just in case I step away to watch some TV and get sucked in. Mostly I just got by the way it looks.  If the biggest carrot is tender then they're all done.

Cooking the Potatoes
On the day I made this meal I was watching Giada and she made these smashed potato things that I thought I might like to try in my own way.  I boiled several baby potatoes until they were tender enough to stab with a fork, took them out to cool a bit and smashed them with the bottom of a mug to flatten them, but not so much that they would fall apart.

I got a pan ready with EVOO (Tuscan Herb flavored this time) on medium high heat and attempted to fry the potatoes while trying to maintain the integrity of shape.  It wasn't particularly easy since the potatoes kept wanting to fall apart, but I managed to make a few good looking ones.  And they were tasty and kinda crunchy after being fried with that Tuscan Olive Oil. 

Conclusion
Aside from the smoke detector problem, everything turned out fantastic, and cheap too!  If I could do anything differently I would work on the potatoes more, but just so that it looked nicer.  The taste was outstanding.  The steaks stood well on their own.  No need for a sauce.  And I will remember carrots as more than a vehicle for delicious dill and other vegetable dips.