Pan Seared Steak with Mushroom-Cognac Sauce

This pan seared steak has a delicious mushroom cognac sauce and tastes just like it came from a restaurant. Making a steak at home is actually quite easy and pan searing the steaks gives them that great restaurant quality flavor that everyone loves.

This steak dinner is great for when you want to make a special meal at home instead of going out to eat and it costs much less than what you would pay at a restaurant.

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Total Time: 30 minutes

Making Restaurant Quality Pan Seared Steak:

Making your own restaurant meals at home is easier than it looks, especially a delicious steak dinner. If you are like us, we have been staying home more and saving money by not eating out.

We still crave a delicious steakhouse steak sometimes and this steak recipe is just that kind of meal and so easy. This pan seared steak with mushrooms is cooked in butter, garlic and cognac and takes just 30 minutes to make. This is our go to steak recipe when ever we are craving steak. The mushroom cognac sauce is so delicious and makes the perfect sauce to cover these juicy pan seared New York strip steaks.

Ingredients For This Steak Recipe:

• New York Strips - Two of them and make sure they are about one inch thick.
• Baby bella Mushrooms
• Unsalted Butter
• Fresh Garlic
• Cognac
• Olive oil
• Capers (optional)
• Kosher salt and pepper.

How to Pan Sear Steak:

1. Pre-heat a heavy bottom pan- You want the heavy bottom pan you are using to be really hot when you sear the steaks. I prefer using cast iron for this recipe but any heavy bottom pan will work.
2. Pat dry the steaks- Water is the enemy of a good sear on meat. Before you begin to sear the steak, you want to pat the outside dry with a paper towel.
3. Season the steak- Make sure you generously season your steak with salt (I like kosher salt) and fresh ground pepper. That seasoning will crust on to the outside of the steak when it sears.
4. Sear the steak- You want to give your steak enough time to sear and not move it at all. You want to cook the steak on both sides for 3-4 minutes depending on how well done you would like the steak. This yields a beautiful medium rare steak.
5. Remove the steaks- Add the steaks to a plate and cover for 8-10 minutes to rest. This allows the juices in the steak to redistribute and keep the steak juicy. There is also a little carry over cooking happening as well.
6. Add Mushrooms, butter, garlic and capers- You are now into the sauce portion of the recipe and you want to cook the mushrooms until tender about 5 minutes.
7. Add cognac- You want to add the cognac to the mushrooms and let the alcohol cook off and to pick up any extra bits of flavor in the pan for the sauce. The sauce reduces by almost half which should take about 3-4 minutes.
8. Plate the steaks- Now your pan seared steaks are ready and rested and you just spoon a little of the mushrooms and sauce over top of the steak and enjoy!

Tip: Make sure you are using a heavy bottom pan when you are making these steaks. I like using cast iron but any heavy bottom pan will work. If you are using cast iron, make sure you are pre-heating the pan in the oven to help the pan heat evenly. Cast iron is slow to heat all the way through but once it is heated it retains the heat the best.

Steak Cooking Times:

When cooking steak, you want to figure out what temperature you like them at which will determine their cooking time. Meat will continue cooking after it is removed from the pan and resting. There is a safe cooking time for red meat so you want to make sure you always follow that guidance. Here is a chart to help you figure out how long to cook your steak for the right doneness.

• Rare (red center all the way through and seared on the outside)- 120-130 degrees or cooked for about 2-3 minutes per side.
• Medium Rare (red center with a little pink and a seared outside)- 130-135 degrees or 3.5 minutes per side.
• Medium (pink all the way through with a seared outside)- 135-145 degrees or 4.5 minutes per side.
• Medium Well (pink in the center and brown throughout with a seared outside)- 145-155 degrees or 6-6.5 minutes per side.
• Well (brown all the way through and a seared outside). You should never ever cook a steak past medium well.

What To Serve With Steak:

Steak goes so well with so many sides. Depending on what you are in the mood for, here are some suggestions.

• I love making sautéd Brussels sprouts.
• You can also try Italian Brussels sprouts to make it more special.
• A classic is smashed Potatoes to pull off that steakhouse dinner.
• Fluffy Yogurt Biscuits are always a great option with steak.
• Chimichurri Sauce is a great option if you want to just follow the pan searing the steaks portion of the recipe and not make the sauce.
• Rojo Chimichurri sauce is always a great option. This is the red Chimichurri that most people do not know about and it is so good.
• Roasted Broccoli with Whole Cloves of Garlic. Roasted broccoli and steak are a classic combination and this roasted broccoli has whole garlic cloves that come out soft and buttery delicious.