Rosemary Garlic Butter Steak (Juicy in 25 Minutes)
A garlic-rosemary-salt rub, butter in a hot skillet, and a splash of wine to deglaze; that's it. My tips for a perfect crust, medium-rare inside, and steak that stays juicy when you slice it.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
- 4 sirloin steaks or NY steaks about 7 ounces each, 1 to 1.5 inches thick, at room temperature
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons white or red wine a splash if you measure by instinct
Instructions
- Mince 2 to 3 garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves. Add 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste) and mince it a little longer. You can also do this with a mortar and pestle.
- Rub the paste evenly over both sides of 4 sirloin steaks or NY steaks. It's not a thick layer, just enough to flavor the meat.
- You can also use the fat from the steaks to grease the pan before adding the rest of the ingredients; see Notes below.
- Heat a skillet over medium/high heat and melt 3 tablespoons unsalted butter. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to prevent it from burning too much.
- Add the steaks, season them with ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste, and cook 1 or 2 minutes on each side.
- Turn it over, cook it 2 or 3 more minutes and add 2-3 tablespoons white or red wine. It will steam furiously. Cook the steak 2 or 3 additional minutes for medium rare. Remove the skillet with the meat from the heat, and let it rest for 3 to 5 minutes. This redistributes the juices and is an important step.
- Meanwhile, cook the wine mixture until reduced and a sort of sauce is formed. It will not be much, just enough to glaze.
- Slice the steaks and serve them with the juices and sauce.
Notes
Temperature: always have the meat at room temperature. That way, it’ll be more tender. If it’s frozen, defrost it overnight in the fridge. The less change in temperature while defrosting, the better.
Should you leave the fat on or not? I do the following for both cuts of meat: I strip away most of the outside fat but use it to flavor the skillet. Grab a piece of fat with a fork and grease the hot pan; it will quickly melt. Or I just leave it on; it will melt and mix with the butter in the pan.
Salting: add salt right before it goes into the skillet. If you want to infuse some garlic and rosemary, rub them on the steaks, leave them at room temperature for twenty minutes, and salt them at the last moment.
Thickness: I like steaks to be two fingers (1 to 1.5 inches) thick if you want it medium rare with a good crust. Some people say up to 3 fingers, which can be too tall in my opinion.
Rosemary: fresh is better, but in a hurry, dried will certainly do. Use about 1 teaspoon dried for every tablespoon of fresh, and crush it between your fingers first.
Searing: The steak must be first seared (cooking it quickly over very high heat to seal in the juices) on both sides over high heat, but finished over medium/low heat, that is, unless you like it very rare inside, almost raw (I'm looking at you, mom!). Otherwise, it will become flushed, as we say here, which means the outside is too dark before the inside gets a chance to cook properly.
