Recipe 12: Pan-Seared Rib Eye

Being on a tight budget, my wife always keeps an eye out for whenever Foodlion has steaks on sale. And then she gets me to buy a couple when I go shopping. We then put them in the freezer until we have a special occasion.

We've had two rip eyes in the freezer for about a month now. And my still very pregnant wife suddenly got a craving for them. Since it was too cold out to grill, I decided to cook them the way I cook T-bones: in the oven.

It's easy to do and the steaks don't need much added flavor. I would put a ceiling fan on or crack a window, though, because it does get a little smokey.

Here are the ingredients:

1 or 2 rib eye steaks (thawed)
High heat cooking spray
Salt
Pepper

Step 1: Stick a cast iron pan or oven proof skillet into the oven. Then pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees.

Step 2: Sprinkle the thawed out steaks with salt and cracked black pepper. Once the oven reaches 500 degrees, take out the skillet (using an oven glove). Leave the oven on. Very lightly spray the skillet with cooking oil and put it on an eye set at high heat. If you don't have cooking spray, lightly brush vegetable oil on both sides of the steaks before seasoning them. Sear each side of the steaks in the skillet for 30 seconds each. This is the smokey part.

Step 3: Then immediately stick the skillet and steaks back into the oven. Cook both sides 2 minutes each for medium (3 minutes each for medium well).

Step 4: Take steaks out of oven and place on a plate loosely covered in tin foil for 2-5 minutes. This gives the juices time to come back.

The steaks go great with potatoes, steakhouse green beans, and a side salad.

If you happen to have any steak leftover, I'll show you what to do with it in the next blog.

And maybe I'll post the yummy green bean recipe another time.

Eat up!