Flat Iron Steak with Potato and Corn Mash, Pioneer Woman Style

Ohmygoodness!  I'm so sorry that these photos are not the quality that I have dramatically improved upon. This was taken with my old point-and-shoot. One of these days, I'll re-shoot the recipe, because the mashed potatoes are really good.

I am so glad that I discovered Flat-Iron steak. Never had it? It's worth a try, because I consider that to be my low-budget Filet Mignon. After my sugar high from the Texas Chocolate Sheet cake that I baked, I had a sudden urge for grilled steak, potatoes, veggies and a green salad.

"The Pioneer Woman Cook's" published a new recipe for Potato and Corn Mash. What perfect timing! I had 1/2 of a red pepper I needed to use, some leftover chopped chives, and plenty of onions. All I needed were potatoes, so I decided to buy Yukon Gold's-- my personal favorite.

I raced off to my local butcher and bought two pretty steaks for $8.99 a pound:


These steaks are on a clear, plastic cutting mat, by the way...and not directly on my counter! I'm really careful about handling raw meat, and I was my hands a lot!

Tonight, I just seasoned them with Montreal Steak Seasoning.

I boiled the Yukon Gold's until fork tender-- about 20 minutes, drained them and set them back on the stove at a low heat...to evaporate any extra water. I don't like watery, soupy taters.

In the meantime, I chopped the red bell pepper, onion and grated some fresh garlic and sauteed that in a little olive oil:


As luck would have it, I had about two tablespoons of leftover reduced fat cream cheese, 2 Tablespoons of butter, about 1/4 cup of heavy cream and some whole milk. I added half of my corn (I happened to have a can of it waaaaaay back in my pantry) and mashed that with the potatoes, butter, cream cheese and (I would guess) a 1/2 cup, total, of heavy cream and milk. The potatoes were a little chunky, and I liked the texture a lot-- especially with the corn.

These sure looked like confetti, once I added fresh chopped chives. I was getting REALLY hungry!

I didn't get a good shot of the steaks, grilling in my cast iron pan. Pardon the unfocused shot, because my natural light was fading fast:

If I'm not using my outdoor Weber (and I much prefer that), I use my cast iron griddle and get it screaming hot! I cook these for about 3 minutes, on each side. I use a thermometer and cook it till 145F. I let the steaks "rest", under foil for a few minutes.


Perfect! Medium, just the way I like it!


The potato and corn mash was really good. I liked that I mashed these, by hand, and they were kind of chunky. This is definitely a side dish that I will make again and again.


The asparagus tips were locally grown, fresh picked for $1.49 a pound. What a deal! We love them, roasted, with olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I set the oven at 450F and they were good to go in 10 minutes. A little squeeze of fresh lemon juice was perfect.

Heaven. I love flat-iron steak. My butcher always sells tender steaks. I hope that you can find this cut of meat. I fed my son (husband wasn't in the mood for steak) and myself for the 1/3 the price of ordering this in a restaurant. With this economy, that was an extra bonus.

Oh. I did have a fresh butter leaf salad with a simple vinaigrette. For dessert, my husband ate three pieces of the chocolate sheet cake I had baked earlier.

As for me? I followed through on my promise-- the rest of the cake was split between my husband's workplace and mine. It's all gone!

Seriously... I need to get back to a lot more fresh veggies and cut back on the dessert. I'm sure going to try! Then again, once I check out what's new in Food Blogosphere, I might not be able to resist.