Despite the sticky heat and fast-approaching thunderclouds, my husband and I decided to barbeque our dinner again today. My father recommended a recipe he found in July’s issue of Bon Appetit Magazine (which I also subscribe to), saying he tried the dish over last weekend and that it was “excellent.”

 

I’ve placed an asterisk on ingredients and methods that we improvised:

Pepper-Crusted Steaks with Worcestershire-Glazed Portobello’s

*4 New York strip steaks, 14 oz. to 16 oz. each, cut 1” to 1¼” thick

*3 TBS black peppercorns, cracked with a mallet

2 tsp. coarse kosher salt

½ C + 2 TBS butter (1¼ sticks)

4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1¼ tsp. Balsamic vinegar

1 LB Portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/3” slices

 

Sprinkle steaks with cracked peppercorns and coarse salt; let stand at room temperature for thirty minutes. (*We used two rib-eye steaks and one seven-blade roast instead of New York strips steaks; the seven-blade was added so we could have extra meat for leftovers during the week. *Since I don’t own a mallet, I placed the measured peppercorns in a sturdy, sealable plastic storage baggie and crushed them with the backside of a heavy soup ladle).

 

Melt ½ cup of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and vinegar; stir in mushrooms and sprinkle with salt. Remove from heat.

 

Prepare barbeque (medium-high heat). Grill steaks until cooked to desired doneness, about five minutes preside for medium-rare. (We like ours well-done, so grilling the meat took thirty minutes total). Transfer the meat to plates. Top each steak with a ½ tablespoon of butter; tent with foil to keep warm. Grill the mushrooms until soft and beginning to release juices, about three minutes per side. Divide mushrooms among steaks, and serve.

Condiments such as steak sauce or Heinz 57 are not needed with this sumptuous meal. The flavors were superb, and the slight vinegar-tang on the mushrooms was perfect; Portobello’s are so large it’s like having another slab of meat on your plate even when they’re sliced. On the side, we also had plain white rice and halved corn-on-the-cobs.

 

We had a bit of pure culinary heaven today, and my six-month edict of avoiding beef blew up in a stream of barbeque smoke.