Valentine’s Day Steak Dinner For Two
Dinner For Two, Cheaper Than A Steakhouse, And Better!
Forget the steakhouse this Valentine’s Day and make this easy, delicious, and affordable Valentine’s Day Steak Dinner for two. Creamy parsley and garlic mashed potatoes are topped with a fabulous mushroom and onion gravy and perfectly cooked sirloin steaks.
Better than the steakhouse and a quarter of the cost! This dinner can also be made in about an hour.
I love a good sirloin medallion. To me, it can be more flavorful and just as tender as a filet mignon.
The bonus is it has a much smaller price tag. I get these sirloin filets at Whole Foods and I also have seen them individually packaged at Aldi.
They are a great way to have a budget friendly steak dinner.
Four Is Better For Two
Get four medallions if you like to have leftovers for this meal. I usually serve my Chopped Blue Cheese Salad with this dinner and we eat the leftover sirloins, sliced thin, on top of this salad for lunch the next day.
I make sirloins many ways, another one being my Garlic Bread Steak Bites. This is a great cut of meat that is very affordable and delicious when cooked right.
What Are Sirloin Medallions?
I found this great article about sirloin medallions. They call it Poor Man’s Filet, which I think is accurate.
I personally would not recommend sirloin medallions for anyone who really likes their meat really well done. When cooked properly, to a medium or medium rare temperature, this meat is tender, flavorful, and delicious.
Better Than Bouillon
I have no sponsorships with any brands I use, but I would not mind one with Better Than Bouillon. I use their products in lots of recipes.
You can search Better Than Bouillon on my site and see them all. The product adds really depth of flavor to everything. I like it for this gravy because it almost makes a gravy that has a traditional demi glace flavor to it.
Combined with the mushrooms and onions, this is a rich and delicious gravy that really accents the steak and potatoes well.
Cook Time For The Steaks
The pan, thickness of your meat, and the stove you use will all make a difference in the cook time of these cuts of meat. I give an estimate in the recipe card.
I suggest getting a cheap meat thermometer if you are new to cooking meat. Use it until you learn to get a feel of the doneness of meat.
If you are nervous, it would be better to undercook this meat rather than overcook it.
Once your meat has rested it will continue to cook about ten degrees when resting. Slice into one and see how red it is. Don’t worry, the red is not blood.
There is no blood left in meat after it is butchered. The red is just a protein that turns red when it hits the air.
If it is too red for you, there are two things you can do.
The first is to add the whole sirloin to the gravy and let it cook in the gravy to a more done temp. Alternatively you can slice the sirloin into slices and give it a quick sauté in a another pan.
Both will make it perfect.
Perfect Potato
I give step by step instructions to making these perfect mashed potatoes in the recipe card here below, but if you want to read a more extensive understanding of what it takes to make potatoes perfect, read my post on the Creamiest Mashed Potatoes.
These potatoes are creamy and so so good.
Timing Is Everything, But Actually Nothing
This recipe may seem like it has a lot going on. Do not fret. You can time this however causes you the least stress.
If your potatoes are done sooner, then stop and mash them and keep them warm at a low temp on the stove and covered. You can come back to the meat and gravy.
The gravy can also be easily kept warm if you have to attend to your potatoes. If your meat is sitting, it is easily warmed up with the hot gravy when serving.
It Doesn’t Have To Be All Brown
This plate may seem quite brown to you. I suggest serving a salad with this dinner.
The salad that would go best with this is my Blue Cheese Chopped Salad. What also would be good is a nice asparagus recipe or some steamed broccoli.
But if you want to be all Midwest about, just eat this meat and potatoes and be happy!
Valentine's Day Steak Dinner For Two
Forget the steakhouse this Valentine's Day and make this easy, delicious and affordable Valentine's Day Steak Dinner for two. Creamy parsley and garlic mashed potatoes, a fabulous mushroom and onion gravy and perfectly cooked sirloin steaks. Better than the steakhouse and a quarter of the cost. This dinner can also be made in about an hour.
Ingredients
- 4 Sirloin Thick Center Cut Medallions (sometimes also called sirloin filets)
- 2 to 3 cups of mushrooms of your choice
- 1 medium sized yellow onion
- 8 tablespoons of salted butter
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of beef or onion bouillon *see post for product I use
- 2 1/2 cups of water
- 3 tablespoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning
- 2 teaspoons of dried rosemary
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of dried parsley
- 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon of coarse salt, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire or Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon of corn starch + 1/2 cup of water mixture, combined until smooth
- 4 large russet potatoes
- 1/2 cup of whole milk or 2%
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of cooking oil of your choice, DON'T use olive oil
- *seasoning and herbs are approximate, season to taste
Instructions
- Remove your sirloin medallions from the package and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the tablespoon of oil all over them and then season well on all sides with the Montreal steak seasoning. Set them aside and let them rest on the counter while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Peel your potatoes and cut them into large, even chunks. Fill a pot with water and add a hefty amount of coarse salt, about one tablespoon. Set the potatoes to boil on the stove.
- Wipe your mushrooms dry with a damp paper towel if needed, NEVER rinse them. They are all grown organically so no need to submerge them in water as this is what makes them slimy. Slice or quarter them then peel and chop your onion.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a skillet and add your mushrooms and onions. Give them time to cook low and slow, stirring occasionally. You want to make sure to sweat all the liquid from the mushrooms before seasoning them. When the pan is free of liquid and the mushroom and onions are golden brown, season with some salt, black pepper, and the rosemary. Sauté for a few minutes then add the Worcestershire or Soy Sauce and sauté for a couple minutes. Remove the mushrooms and onion from the pan and set aside.
- Keep an eye on your potatoes to make sure they are not boiling over and are getting soft.
- Add two more tablespoons of butter to the same skillet with a tablespoon or so of the same oil you rubbed on the steaks. Get the pan hot, but not smoking. Add the steaks and let cook for about 7 to 9 minutes. My steaks were about 1 1/2 inches thick and I cooked them for 7 minutes on each side to get them to be medium rare. When they have cooked for the time of doneness you want, flip them and cook on the other side the same amount of time. Remember that the steaks will continue to cook after they come out of the pan, so it is better to take them out just before they are the done temp you want. If using a meat thermometer, pull them out of the pan at about 125 degrees. Put the steaks on a clean plate and cover loosely with foil and set aside on a warm spot on the stove. All pans and stoves cook differently so you may have to adjust cook time for your level of done meat.
- In a small sauce pan, add your milk, the remaining butter, pinch of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and parsley and warm until the butter is melted.
- Add your mushrooms back to the pan you cooked them and the steaks in and sauté for a minute or two. Dissolve your bouillon in the 2 1/2 cups of warm water, add it to the pan of mushrooms, and when it starts to simmer, use a spatula to scrape up the meaty bits from the pan. Let this simmer for about 15 minutes then add the corn starch mixture a little at a time and whisk well as it simmers until it is the thickness you want. Keep warm.
- Drain your potatoes and when they are soft for mashing, immediately add them back to the hot pot so the rest of the water evaporates. Mash a little by hand or with a hand mixer. Slowly add your warm milk and butter mix. Continue to mash or whip until light and fluffy and all the milk and butter is added. You will need to taste and maybe add more salt.
- You can add the mash to the plate and slice your steaks or add them whole. I cut them in half for presentation and then cover the whole thing in the mushroom gravy.
- If you do not like mushrooms, omit the mushrooms and just follow same process with only onions. If you don't like onions either, find a new recipe.