It’s summer. You know what that means? Beach, frozen margaritas (well, that’s all year round) and dining el fresco. However, we are unable to enjoy cooking food on the grill. Unless you have a terrace, city living is not the ideal place to live if you love to grill. Brian is a suburban boy and grew up with a large backyard and grill. So he’s missing out on grilling burgers and steaks all summer. As for me, I’m a city girl and learned how to make delicious grill favorites on the stove. After six years, I finally decided to make a steak for him.

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Over the Fourth of July vacation, we decided to skip the lake and stay in the city. In a couple of weeks we are heading to Hawaii and wanted to take a break from traveling before the big trip. Usually, we go all out on dinners when we have a long weekend. And what’s more American than a good steak? I’ve had my eye on John’s Marinated Steak in Cravings. If it’s marinated, count me in. Marinating your meat will enhance the flavor. Some of you may say all you need is some salt and pepper on a steak. But, as Chrissy mentions, this marinade will make you change your mind.

Brian and I were determined to make steak.

Finding a good piece of meat in the city, without paying an arm and leg, is hard work. But we were ready to drop some serious cash on dinner that weekend. We ended up making scallops and steak. We took a trip to Whole Foods in search of a good rib eye. A trip to Whole Foods means a train ride and a short walk. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the cut we wanted. Brian and I were determined to make this recipe. We walked ten blocks to another grocery store. Our determination paid off and we found a perfect piece of rib eye.

The recipe calls for marinating the steaks for at least four hours. The next morning, I made the marinade so I could make the steak that night. We had all the necessary ingredients. It’s incredible how simple pantry ingredients can make amazing recipes. I used The Food Lab cookbook to refresh my knowledge on some good stove top steak techniques.

Cravings + The Food Lab = a perfect match.

I used the seared steak technic from the cookbook. We used a cast iron pan and got it very hot to get the perfect sear. Once hot, we placed the steak in the pan and lowered the heat to medium high. We flipped the steak frequent until it formed a crust (about 4 minutes). We added a couple of tablespoons of butter to the pan and let foam. Then we basted the steak with the butter foam and flipped occasionally. Lastly, we cooked the steaks to our desired wellness, using a meat thermometer to check the temperature (120 medium rare, 130 medium, 145 medium well).

Dinner was a success that night. We paired this steak with some sautéed spinach and my mom’s potato salad. Our apartment smelled like meat for rest of the weekend, but it was well worth it.