Steak with mushrooms and onions in a dijon cream sauce

Peekaboo!

Under that giant pile of buttery, shimmery mushrooms and onions, there is a steak.  Tom swore it was not a quality steak, but I thought it was delicious.  Yes, it was a generic Kroger top sirloin, but it was tender and savory.  Maybe it's because I cooked it in butter.

Butter makes stuff better. So do whiskey and cream.  What a coincidence that they should all meet in my skillet.

We licked the plates.

I am a big fan of going out to restaurants.  However, I always gag a little bit at the bill because I know I could do more or less as well (sometimes better) in my own kitchen.  In no case is this more true than in the case of American food, epitomized by the steak.  While I can convince myself that the knowledge and updated spice cabinet required for that Indian buffet or Thai extravaganza is easily worth the price of a meal out, I just can't for steak.  Take a good hunk of meat and cook it to preference.  Really.  I know, I know, you are supposed to sear and then finish in the oven, but I need to re-season my cast iron skillet and don't have a nonstick up to the challenge right now, so I just cook in my skillet.

I suppose that if I were a true steak connoisseur, I might say differently both on the importance of method and on the benefits of going to a proper steakhouse, but I'm not.  I just like delicious red meat, and I don't think it has to be high brow.

I hate to post a recipe that was inspired by other recipes without posting those inspirations, but I honestly don't remember where I got the ideas for the sauce.  They are pretty universal, though, so I hope I don't offend anyone.

Ingredients:
1 pack mushrooms, sliced (yes, lazy lazy)
1 onion, sliced thinly in half moons
2 T butter
12 oz sirloin steak, preferably in two equal pieces.
1/4 c whiskey
1 T dijon
splash of cream

1) Heat butter in pan til melted.
2) Cook steaks about 3 minutes on med heat, flip, cook 3 minutes, remove to plate and cover.
3) Deglaze pan with whiskey.
4) Add onions and cook until translucent.  Add mushrooms and cook until they're...cooked.
5) Whisk in dijon.  Whisk in cream.
6) Pour over steaks.

cost breakdown:
mushrooms: 1.79
onion: .66
butter: .13
steak: 2.99
whiskey: 1.00 (don't really know)
dijon: .15
cream: .10

Total: 6.82 or 3.41 per person.  Very thrifty compared even to Texas Roadhouse or our local Tex-Mex joint, where a sirloin steak with special topping is about 12.99 per person plus tip.  Tom would tell you that I am an over tipper, so you know that eating at home is a benefit beyond the initial costs.  I'd bet that we'd spend about $32 for the same meal without appetizer, drinks, etc.