Ski Trip Ranch Steak

We've all been there right?

You go to cook a meal while traveling--at a condo, VRBO, or family's house and realize you don't have all the ingredients you need to make the great dinner you were planning for. 

We took our first ski trip of the year (last year's ski trip was interrupted by my broken leg fiasco and we hadn't braved the mountains since.)

Lily and Jackson wanted to learn how to snowboard and our three-year-old, Obi, was rearin' to go skiing. 

So, we did what loving parents do and planned booked a last minute trip to the mountains and threw the contents of our fridge in the cooler in order to go ski during one of the busiest weekends of the year--President's Day Weekend. Yay!

It's like going to Disneyland.. a display of pure love in action. 

For dinner, fI had mushrooms and one of our new beef cuts that I'm quite smitten with: the Ranch Steak.

Well, to make a proper sauce you also need butter, and wine, ideally...I had neither. 

And our AirBnB didn't have them either. 

The local store had butter but I was in the middle of making my dinner when the lack of red wine dawned on me. 

If you haven't made a steak-house worthy sauce before, it's really a simple endeavor and a good trick to have in your cooking repertoire. 

A tasty sauce is what elevates a meal from "good" to "amazing!"

I don't follow recipes usually (unless baking) because it takes too much time.

If you know basic principles then you really don't need to.

So, a delicious mushroom sauce includes sautéing mushrooms in butter, add freshly minced garlic in the last two minutes (otherwise it burns). Add some red wine to deglaze the pan (maybe about 1/2 cup). To add volume to your sauce (so there's more) and to thicken it, add a slurry of broth and cornstarch. Watch it thicken and turn into something magical.

Don't have broth? Salt and water will do. You can even add some herbs like thyme or rosemary. 

When you don't have such a crucial ingredient as wine, then something else acidic will work.

In this case there was some Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in the cupboard. I put that in...but not as much because it is way more acidic than wine. Lemon juice would also work. 

It was a little too acidic at first so I added some honey to balance it out...you can just add a small amount to taste until the balance is right.

That's another basic principle. If something is too tangy, add some sweetener. If it's too salty, try adding a little acidity along with watering it down.
 
I also ended up adding more butter because that's what the French do...just add a lot of butter and your sauce will be great. In total it was a whole stick.

Gasp---that may sound "unhealthy" but good, grassfed butter is actually a healthy fat and good cooks don't skimp on that for their standout meals. 

Just do it...your tastebuds will thank you.

The result: an absolutely amazing Mushroom Garlic Sauce that paired perfectly with the slightly smoked Ranch Steak. (Jeff found the grill and a surprise stash of Hickory chips...just a few of those added a little smoke flavoring to the steaks that sent the flavor profile through the roof.)
 

The lighting in this kitchen wasn't great but hopefully you get the idea :-)


I know not everyone enjoys cooking and some have deemed themselves "bad cooks". But, I assure you, good cooking is not a special gene that some of us get. 

With practice, and the right basic principles, you can at least become a decent cook. 

Mealtime is what brings us together as a family, and as friends and neighbors. 

Why not at least open your mind to the notion that you CAN cook better and it will be a great benefit to those in your life who will get to share those meals with you.

To try one of our delicious Ranch Steaks (I think it is comparable to a Flatiron--my favorite!), check out our Colorado Proud Bundle--we are running a special on these for locals this winter, and to hold everyone over until we do our Fall Harvest of Bulk Beef.