Porcini Crusted Beef: Keeping it nice and simple

I need less in my life than more.  With thinking about the Project Food Blog competition, running the book fair at Daughter #1's school, teaching Sunday school, hosting cell group, and whatever else I have on my plate this week - I need less.  Case in point - today I woke up early, made muffins, packed Daughter#1's lunch, corralled the kids so we could take Daughter #1 to school on foot.  As we walked onto the school campus, something looked eerily different - there were no kids on the playground.  I was confused and bemused; Daughter #1 happily skipped to her classroom as I went through my head all the different permutations of what could be wrong.  I checked my watch and the time (we were a bit early, but not crazily so), went through the day of the week (Monday), thought about vacations that were coming (her school's intercession second week of October.)  A quick phone call to friend SH confirmed that I had, indeed brought Daughter school when there was NO school.  My mind has been going so many different directions that I could not get fact in my head.  Clearly I need less going on in my head.

I've been posting more involved recipes, partly due to the blog competition, and the other day decided that I wanted something super simple.  I received a beautiful sampler of dried mushrooms from Marx Foods with the challenge that I try and create a dish and be entered in their blog competition.  (I can win some free mushrooms.)  I thought of the simplest and most delicious way I could use the mushrooms - and I came up with this - porcini crusted beef.

Friend JEL and I sat and tasted several different permutations of the dish, with different dipping sauces, even testing to see how the beef would be WITHOUT the porcini crust - by far, the meat was so enhanced by this tiny little layer of porcini mushroom powder.  It's a simple dish - with 6 ingredients.  It comes together quickly and gets eaten up more quickly.

I did have at my disposal, this very luxurious and posh package of meat. ($25 per pound!)  However, the meat was so enhanced by the porcini powder, for sure a lesser cut of meat will also be incredibly enhanced.

Porcini Crusted Beef
Serves 4

1 1/2 lbs of rib eye, NY strip or other steak type cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt (sea salt if you have)
4 scallions, chopped (cut on the diagonal if you want an extra pretty effect)

In the bowl of a mini prep, add all the dried mushrooms. Grind until mushrooms are a fairly fine powder. Carefully pour mushroom powder into a shallow bowl and add 1 teaspoon garlic powder. Carefully mix.

Heat non-stick fry pan over medium high heat. Add oil.

Take strip of beef and press only ONE side into the mushroom mix. (Two sides is too strong of a mushroom flavor).

  

Carefully place NON MUSHROOM side down first in fry pan., so as to sear the one side first. Cook for about 1-2 minutes and then flip over and cook on the mushroom side for about 1 minute.  (Make sure you have enough oil, otherwise delicious mushroom mixture gets stuck to the frypan and not meat.)   

Remove and place on plate. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt and green onion. Repeat with meat until it is all cooked. Enjoy!

Printable recipe 

Much more than the sum of its parts.