Steak with crispy smashed potatoes
A steakhouse dinner at home: a butter-basted steak next to crunchy, craggy smashed potatoes.
- 55 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $7.44 a serving
- 830 calories
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 lb baby potatoes
- 1 new york strip steak, about 1 inch thick
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, divided
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper, divided
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 830 calories, 40 g protein, 38 g carbs and 59 g fat, and costs about $7.44 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby potatoes? Red potatoes or yukon gold potatoes work.
- No new york strip steak? Ribeye steak or sirloin steak works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No fresh rosemary? Fresh thyme works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 450°F. Put the potatoes in a pot, cover them with cold water by an inch, add 2 teaspoons salt, and on high.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
15 to 18 minutes, until .
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Fork-tender. Fork-tender means cooked until a fork slides in with almost no push. It’s how you know potatoes, carrots or slow-cooked meat are soft all the way through.
How you’ll know: The fork slides in and out easily, and meat pulls apart with very little effort.
Medium-high heatTimer: 17 min
the potatoes and spread them on a brushed with 1 tablespoon olive oil, leaving space between them.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Press each potato flat with the bottom of a glass until it’s about ½ inch thick.
Dolly’s tip: Press slowly. The skins split, and those craggy edges are what turn crispy.with the rest of the olive oil, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and some pepper, and 25 minutes, until and .
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Roast. Roasting means cooking in a hot oven, around 400°F to 450°F, usually spread out on a sheet pan. The dry heat browns the outside and brings out sweetness, especially in vegetables.
How you’ll know: The edges are browned and a little crisp, and a fork slides easily into the thickest piece.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Timer: 25 min
While they roast, the steak dry and it all over with ¾ teaspoon salt and the rest of the pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
When the potatoes have 12 minutes left, heat the vegetable oil in a large over high until it just smokes. Lay in the steak and 4 minutes without moving it.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Sear. Searing means cooking the outside of meat or fish in a hot pan, without moving it, until a deep brown crust forms. The crust is packed with flavor, and it only forms on a dry surface.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the moment it goes in, and it lets go of the pan on its own when the crust is ready.
High heatTimer: 4 min
Dolly’s tip: It will spit and smoke a little. Turn on the fan and leave it be; the crust needs those 4 minutes.Flip, turn the heat to medium, add the butter, garlic and rosemary, and tilt the pan to spoon the foaming butter over the steak for 3 to 4 minutes, until the middle reads 145°F.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Move the steak to a board and let it 5 minutes.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 5 min
the steak across the grain and serve it with the potatoes, with the garlic butter from the pan spooned over both.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
