Skillet-Roasted Strip Steak with Pebre & Avocado Sauce

A few notes about how I cook: I always have a jar of minced garlic in the fridge to use.  It just saves time that way and chopping garlic, although not by any means difficult, is a pain the ass.  Also, I never measure things so these are just estimates.  If you have extra bit of onion you need to use up, throw it in.  Extra cilantro?  Throw it in. I hate waste and don't like saving small, unusable portions of things, so seriously just use up the contents of your fridge. Also, not having a dish washer makes me lazy and not want to wash measuring devices.  So there.

I made this last night for dinner and was pleasantly surprised that despite the addition of the jalapeno, I didn't find this dish to be too spicy for me - in fact I would have added more!  Because of that, this isn't exactly what I made last night, but it contains the modifications that I would make in the future to make it even better.  Feel free to use any type of beef steaks, as NY Strip is a "special occasion" beef and totally expensive.  Served with fresh corn on the cob / possibly a potato and you've got a meal.

Makes 2 servings.

Pebre Salsa

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1 medium tomato, diced

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 minced jalapeno

2 tbsp. red wine or cider vinegar 

2 tbsp. minced garlic

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Steak

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 5 oz. New York (top loin) steaks, trimmed of fat

1 tsp. olive oil

2 avocados, pitted and peeled

• Combine the ingredients in the Pebre Sauce in a bowl. Keep at room temperature until steak is done.

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

• Mix the steak spices in a bowl and rub on both sides of the steaks as evenly as possible.

• Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat and grill steaks about two minutes on each side.  Transfer to oven for 7-10 minutes (for medium rare) depending on thickness of the steak.  Take out of oven and let rest for 5 minutes.

• Mash avocados in a bowl and mix with a dash of garlic salt.

• Carve steak into this slices and serve with avocado and pebre sauce.