One of my favorite meals when I was a kid was flank steak and potatoes; my dad would make a marinade out of soy sauce and a few other things and grill it to perfection. I wanted to do a quick and easy variation of this when my husband and I would get a craving…. thus the steak and potato skillet was born!

One thing I will use in most of my recipes and I highly recommend getting is, an iron skillet. I have a few small ones from my grandmother and they are my favorite, I however needed a big one so I went out and bought a heavy Lodge. Even though it is a modern rough version I still think it cooks great. There are die hard iron skillet lovers out there that will swear the ones  that cook the best hands down are the vintage ones, like Wagner. Now I will agree they do cook the best but real Wagner’s aren’t too easy to find and they can be extremely expensive. Also there are tons or fake ones out there so if you aren’t familiar with them its difficult to tell what is the real thing. What I use for almost every meal is a Lodge 13.25 inch, it creates a great sear and you can cook large amounts in it with out over crowding the pan. This meal in particular is cooked in this one pan, which is great for clean up! If you do not have an iron skillet don’t fret you can absolutely still make this, just be sure to use a pan that is at least 12 inches and is also oven safe.

I want to go ahead and tell you now that the majority of my recipes I will estimate the amount of ingredients. By this I mean I will give “about” measurements on occasion. I believe every recipe should be made this way just because the amounts of what ever you are cooking will never be exactly the same and just because it’s the same cut of meat it does not mean it will always taste the same. I think learning to taste food along the way and using your senses like sight and smell is one of the most important things about cooking. You need to learn how to make adjustments. Another reason for this is you may really like pepper and want to add more…. don’t be afraid to! There are a few things you need to be careful of like over salting because as you cook something the salt will intensify and it can become over baring. With that said…

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 – 1.5 lbs. of Steak (I use flank steak but sirloin steak or any fairly lean cut of beef will work just fine)
• 4 medium sized russet potatoes (yellow would also work great)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• ½ teaspoon of onion powder
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper
• Several pinches of butcher pepper or fresh cracked black pepper (to rub on steak before marinade)
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil

If using a Flank steak I cut the slab in half to cook it, over crowding a pan will not allow your to get a good hot sear and this is important for this recipe.

Take your course pepper and sprinkle over the meat, than rub it in with your hands, flip and repeat.

I marinate my meat in large zip lock baggies, my dad taught me this trick years ago, there are a few really great reasons to do this. One you can massage in your marinade and also you can easy just flip that bag over, insuring even coating. Place your meat into the zip lock bag and pour in the soy sauce. I marinate a minimum of 6 hours but try to always have it sit over night.

• Pre heat your oven to 425 degrees

Clean your potatoes leaving the skin on. Cut your potatoes in half and then each have into half again, then slice your potatoes, the thinner your slice the crispier they will be.

Add your potatoes to the skilled with the olive oil, stir to coat all of your potatoes evenly. Add thyme, onion powder and black pepper, stir again and put in the oven once it is preheated. Let cook for about 45 minutes, remove carefully and stir and at this time add 2 tablespoons of butter. Butter can burn if you cook it to long and I like crispy potatoes so I always wait a little before I add it. Put your potatoes back into the oven and just keep an eye on them, once they turn golden (this will probably be about another 30 minutes) they will be done but if you like yours crispy like I do you are going to want to keep them in there a little longer.

While you are waiting for your potatoes take your meat out of the marinade (keep the remaining marinade) and pat dry with a paper towel. Drying your meat is necessary because if it is full of moisture it wont get a sear it, and you don’t want to skip that step because that will lock in the moisture…no one likes dried out meat. Once your potatoes are cooked to your liking take them out of the oven and remove them from the skillet. Immediately turn on the burner you are going to use for the meat, to get a good sear it is important to have a really hot surface. Pat your meat dry again on both sides if you pat off to much pepper just ad some more onto it. Add one piece of a time to the skillet, there will be some splatter since you are adding the steak which will have some moisture on it to a very hot pan that still has olive oil in it from the potatoes.

Only turn the steak once, continually flipping it does not make it cook any faster. Cook for about two minutes on either side (if you are using really thin cuts of meat then cook for only a minute on either side), your steak will still be very rare and that’s what we want. After you cook both pieces remove from skillet and set on a cutting board, and turn the heat off on the skillet. Let the meat rest for about 5 minutes. While the meat is resting peal your garlic and lay it on your cutting board, if you have a large chefs knife lay it on its side and strike it with your palm crushing it. If you do not have a large blade knife then just find something like a rolling pen to crush it. I also chop up the garlic slightly so it spreads around a little more. I LOVE fresh garlic so the more the merrier in my opinion!! Turn your

skillet back on (it should still be pretty warm), once you can feel a hot heat while hovering your hand over the pan ad the another table spoon of butter and your garlic until it starts to brown. Be careful to not over cook it because like I mentioned earlier it is easy to burn butter unfortunately. Once that garlic has started to cook turn the heat off and add the potatoes back in. At this point you should be able to slice your meat. Slice it up as thin as you want then ad it back to the skillet, mix all together and slice up the remaining butter and add. Add a tablespoon of your marinade in at this time and add your Worcestershire. Cook for about 8 minutes, and then turn the broiler on, cook with broiler for 2 minutes.

 Remove from the oven and serve!!