easy-but-fancy steakhouse dinner

perfect filets with mushroom sauce, creamed spinach, and a big ole hashbrown

We are Valentine’s-at-home people, how about you? I know it’s a cliché, but I do think that a steak dinner just feels so over-the-top special and romantic. Especially this easy-but-fancy steakhouse dinner. Make it for Valentine’s Day, or make it on a regular Tuesday, just make this meal ASAP.

This meal was inspired by Keens Steakhouse in NYC, but harkens any fancy steakhouse you may have visited on a special occasion, like House of Prime Rib in SF, Halls Chophouse in Charleston, Ruth’s Chris, on and on. Filet mignon — the most tender and prized cut of beef — is making its WTC debut in brilliant fashion (though of course, you could sub another cut of steak if you wanted!). I have been more of a ribeye or New York strip gal in recent years and wow, developing this recipe made me remember why filets are so special. So tender, like butter!! Definitely pricy, so swap in a ribeye if you can’t find a good price! I placed a big order through Snake River Farm — they're running a nice sale right now.

We’re pairing our steaks with a balsamicky mushroom cream sauce, delectable creamed spinach, and a crispy hash brown for an utterly perfect steakhouse dinner. You will be so impressed with yourself after cooking this meal!

Need to simplify? Make the steak and sauce, but only make one of the sides. It’ll still be a really special, decadent meal.

As for dessert… if you’re up for making a homemade treat, might I suggest

Anne Byrn

of

Anne Byrn: Between the Layers

‘ Grown Up Chocolate Pudding? She was kind enough to share the recipe for it from her book, Baking in the American South! Find the recipe in a PDF at the bottom of this email. Thanks, Anne!

We didn’t include the dessert ingredients in the grocery list or game plan below (we figure many will outsource dessert), but if you go the homemade route, you can make it a day in advance! I will likely be buying a little chocolate treat from Layers, a local bakery that I love.

click here for this printable menu — invite your spouse/children/bf/gf/mom/best friend over for a date night! there’s another version with Anne’s dessert included if you’re making it :)

You know I’ve got some hacks for you. For our skillet hash brown (which, if you’ve eaten the hash brown at Keens, is what we are mimicking!), we’re using frozen shredded hash browns to sidestep having to cook and then grate potatoes. And traditionally for creamed spinach, you’d steam the spinach in a separate skillet before adding it to the cream mixture. But here, we are reducing the cream (aka cooking it until it thickens) an insane amount, then adding the spinach straight to it, knowing that it’ll add back tons of liquid. Honestly, I think it makes for a better creamed spinach than the original method.

This meal serves 2 to 4 people. To serve 4, simply cook 4 filets — there will be plenty of creamed spinach and hash brown to go around. If you’re cooking for 4 ravenous people (I see you, teenager moms!), cook everyone their own steak and double the creamed spinach and the hash brown by cooking it in a 12-inch skillet (just be careful when flipping! You got this! And if it falls apart no prob — it’ll taste just as delicious, just smoosh it back together and carry on!). If you’re cooking for 2, just cook 2 steaks and enjoy any hash brown and creamed spinach you may have left over for brunch the next day! Scramble some eggs, maybe cook some bacon, and you’ll be good to go.

I know this won’t work for all of you, but for anyone who is looking to shake things up this Valentine’s and make it a special little date night in, I highly encourage you to cook this menu TOGETHER! The eating part only takes like 10 minutes — it’s the cooking part that makes a cooking date night in really special.

Here’s the exact plan to follow to ensure pure loving affection and no kitchen brawls!

Before you begin, look each other in the eyes and repeat these words: this is not that serious. We are just cooking dinner. I promise not to critique your chopping technique, get mad if you accidentally burn something, or overcook the steaks. This is going to be fun!

Great, now that that’s taken care of: here’s the playbook for how to cook this meal together! It’ll take you about 45 minutes to an hour from start to finish.

1. The day before, go grocery shopping or have groceries delivered. Go ahead and season the steak and keep it covered in the fridge.

2. The next afternoon, make sure to run and empty the dishwasher if it’s close to full. Nothing worse than cooking a big meal and realizing it’s full!

3. When you’re ready to cook, turn on the above playlist. It’s definitely my dad’s and my best work yet. Taylor, Frank, Ed, and Paul Simon singing us sweet, sweet (upbeat!) love songs. Side note, but maybe someone needs a new speaker for kitchen tunes: I just got this Bose speaker and the sound is incredible.

4. Pour a glass of red wine or make a mocktail! Set the table together! Use your fancy plates! (I don’t own fancy plates, for the record. Normal plates also work 😜)

5. Take out all of the ingredients! There’s a ton of ingredient overlap, because that’s how we do it here, so take them all out, and leave them all out until the end.

6. The person with the best knife skills needs to do the following:

   1. Mince 1 shallot

   2. Mince 8 garlic cloves (4 are for one recipe, 4 are for another)

   3. Smash 2 garlic cloves (with the flat edge of a knife)

   4. Rinse the mushrooms, pop out and discard their stems, and thinly slice them

   5. Prep the spinach: cut off and discard the stems, finely chop it, wash with salad spinner

   6. Prep the thyme: wash it, keep 4 sprigs whole, remove the leaves from 2 sprigs and keep them in a little pile (that’s for the mushroom sauce), measure out 1 teaspoon worth of fresh thyme leaves and keep that in a separate pile (that’s for your hash brown)

   7. Halve the lemon

7. As soon as the shallot and garlic are minced, the non-chopping chef can use them to start cooking the creamed spinach! The cream needs to reduce (thicken) for 10 minutes with very minimal active cooking — just stir it often.

8. Whoever finishes their first job first can now start working on the hash brown. Preheat the oven to 250°F. Go ahead and make the hash brown completely, then throw the skillet in the oven to keep it warm.

9. Whoever is not making the hash brown is now on creamed spinach duty. You’ll finish it entirely, then cover it to keep it warm while we cook our steaks and sauce. If it’s not warm at dinner time, simply warm it over medium-low heat. If it gets too thick, add a splash of water.

10. Now it’s steak time! Everything is prepped and ready, so this will be quick! The steak and mushroom sauce recipe is very detailed — follow it closely and you got this! PS, you have exactly 3/4 cup heavy cream left in the pint of heavy cream after making the creamed spinach, no need to measure :)

11. Whoever is not cooking the steaks, start cleaning!! Put away everything except what is needed for the steaks and mushroom sauce, throw anything in the dishwasher that you can.

12. Light some candles!

13. Plate your meals, garnish with parsley (if you have some!), make it really pretty.

14. While you eat, ask each other the love/connection questions that we’ll send in this Wednesday’s So Into That newsletter. ENJOY YOUR DATE!

If only one person is cooking, or you just want to make the date night cooking easier…

• The hash brown can be made 24 hours in advance, cooled, wrapped tightly in plastic (either in the skillet you cooked it in or by itself), and stored in the fridge. To reheat it, keep/put it in the skillet you cooked it in (if it’s oven safe!) and reheat it in a 400°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until warmed through and crispy again. If your skillet isn’t oven safe, heat it on a sheet pan or in a dish that is.

• The creamed spinach was, I swear, possibly better on the THIRD day. So, make it 100% in advance, store it in an airtight container in the fridge, then warm in the microwave or in a skillet, adding a tiny splash of water if needed to loosen it up.

• You’ll ideally season your filets the night before or morning that you plan to cook them.

To cook this whole dinner, gather the following tools:

• Chef’s knife

• Cutting board

• Your largest cast-iron or stainless steel skillet

• 8-inch nonstick skillet (oven-safe if you have one)

• Tongs

• Meat thermometer

• Salad spinner

• A wide pot or braiser

• A microwave-safe bowl and microwave-safe plate

Also, we’ve written you a grocery list for this meal! Here it is along with a printer version of the recipes, game plan, notes, and subs. Happy Valentine’s Day! 💌