With limited equipment, especially when living in a college dorm, a steak dinner is an easy, yet impressive meal you can give to yourself, friends, or even a love interest. Here, you’ll get the ideas and inspiration on how you can piece together your next steak dinner. It will not only be visually pleasing, but also delicious and creative, with minimal to no equipment needed. This article will show you how flexible and easy it really is to make a steak dinner.
It couldn’t be easier, I mean a steak and two sides is all you need.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Rees on flickr.com
If you google image “steak dinner”, your eyes will be pleased to see that the majority of the mouth drooling, beautifully plated steak dinners include a large steak with a variety of two other decorative and nutritionally balancing sides. Although this isn’t some holy rule, it’s just an easy way to get more of a nutritional balance and a plate that’s not aesthetically too full or too empty. With the steak as a definite piece, you’ll have to do double the work in deciding on what sides you’ll like and how/whether you would like to prepare them from scratch.
1. The steak
Surprisingly, the preparation time for the steak will most likely be the fastest and simplest. There are many ways you could choose to prepare your steak for a variety of textures and flavors.
Choose your cut to make your perfect steak dinner today.
Salt, Pepper and A Dash Of Oil
Helen Horstmann-Allen on flickr.com
This method requires minimal ingredients and other than the steak, you probably won’t be buying any extra materials for this.
Preparation takes 5 minutes, and the cooking time is only around 15 minutes.
Marinating Your Steak
Photo courtesy of Gonzalo Vega González-Capitel on flickr.com
Already marinated steaks are readily prepared and packaged in many supermarkets. These are an easy, fast, ready to pop into a pan option. Buying already made marinades to marinate your steak in is also an option. If you’re really feeling creative, you can create your own marinade.
Your own marinade can be made from a combination of oil, acid and seasoning OR be as simple as a dash of herbs. The supermarket is full seasoning shakers of herbs and spices that can be directly sprinkled onto a steak to flavor it for cooking. I personally love these and examples include Weber Spices and alike products, that come in a variety of steak flavors.
2. A side of carbs
A side of potatoes is commonly seen next to a steak. Depending on what you prefer, the equipment and ingredients you have available and as many are wary of nowadays- the nutritional content of your meal, you may choose to go with a simple mashed potatoes or go with a different substitute. Or maybe, skip carbohydrates all together.
Some ideas you could choose from:
Potatoes
Photo by Jenny Georgieva
A side of regular or sweet potato in wedges, chips, or mashed- are all an option, although some may require an additional oven or microwave. A tasty, oven free recipe for mashed potatoes can be found here to get you started on ideas. The internet is overloading with a variety of potato recipes with a variety of garnishes.
Corn
Photo by Jenny Georgieva
Corn can be easily prepared with very minimal ingredients or bought easily in ready to eat cans/cartons. It can be pan seared, pan roasted, or even steamed in a pan and eaten on its own, with some butter or anything else that might suit your taste.
Pasta
Photo by Jocelyn Hsu
Both possible to make with just a saucepan. Pasta can easily be adapted into a pasta salad. Try this recipe out if you don’t want to head to the grocery store.
3. Vegetables and fruits
A side of fruits and/or vegetables can be the key to adding color for a much more visually attractive plate. A salad could make up the majority of the plate for a guilt-free healthy meal. Or, roasting some stalks of asparagus or other vegetables with some salt and pepper could always do the trick.
Salads
Photo by Christin Urso
There are limitless combinations of dried/fresh fruits and/or vegetables and/or nuts. Salad recipes from the internet, magazines, recipe books are abundant if you’re not feeling too creative. Already made dressing or homemade dressings can top any salad.
Frozen vegetables
Photo courtesy of Meal Makeover Moms on flickr.com
Who doesn’t love the convenience of frozen food? Seriously, you can keep it frozen for as long as possible. Nutritionally packed frozen vegetables are also easily cooked in a frying pan. You can eat it with or without any seasoning. I personally love to melt a small block of butter in it.