I used to stay completely away from red meat. Not just because I was convinced it was bad for me, but also because I never really knew what to do with it. Save the usual ground beef, steaks were a mystery to me. I then learned (and quite quickly), how truly archaic a man’s appetite can be. At least, I guess, the men I have dated. They love their steak, and learning how to cook it was only adventageous to my relationships.

I started playing around with any steak I could find and had a lot of trial and error moments. Regardless of what I have (or have not learned), I am providing here, some points that are a non-negotiable. My favorite steak to cook is a petit fillet mignon however, the store this evening was out. I did find a smaller fillet to cook and am showing that here.

I decided to use my tried and true brown butter sauce and I added dried rosemary to it. The snow peas were left over from my dinner party and have quickly become a staple with my daily meals, sautéed in basil and olive oil. The mashed potatoes were an obvious side, using sour cream, garlic and more rosemary. The wine was a 2016 La Crema Pinot Noir, Sonoma County. And we used our decanter purchased last May on our cruise.

Under candlelight is my favorite way to eat; everything sparkles and looks glossy and more inviting. Steak should, in my opinion, be eaten the way it has been for years. Under candlelight, with a gorgeous red wine.

You will need:

• Your favorite cut of steak
• Dried rosemary
• Dried basil
• Olive oil
• Butter (not margarine; real butter)
• Minced garlic
• Snow peas
• Potatoes (starchy yellow ones, if you do like them, are best)
• Salt and pepper
• Sour cream

Once you get the steak home, if you do refrigerate it, make sure before you cook it that you leave it out to come to temp. You need to cook meat and poultry at room temperature; never place a cold piece of meat on a hot pan. You will learn as I did, it toughens the meat disagreeably. Once you know the steak is ready to be cooked, put some pads of butter in the pan with a healthy amount of rosemary and heat the pan on medium. Once it all melts and the butter starts to turn brown, place your steak on it and get a spoon. You will want to tilt the pan so that you can take the spoon and easily grab the brown butter rosemary sauce to continuously baste the steak. Do so for a few minutes and then get another pan ready for the snow peas.

The snow peas I always end up finding are in a bag where you can just microwave them however, why miss out on a extra opportunity to add flavor?

Clearly if you’re watching your calorie in-take, you can just microwave them and add some pepper. This is a meal with steak and potatoes… Calorie counting is a mute point.

Take some kitchen shears or a knife and slice the pods in thirds putting them in the pan or pot with some olive oil and dried basil. Add some salt and pepper if you’d like though, I have never been told it’s missing that with just the olive oil and basil. Stir it all around and keep it on medium low / low once they are done (usually takes only about five mins).

In another pot place some potatoes that you have cut up into smaller (as equal as you can get them) pieces. Typically, you want your potatoes around the same size so they all cook at the same time. Add some water and close the lid most of the way on medium to steam or, as I do, I place all the pieces in a microwave safe bowl and use the microwave (f you’re in a hurry just use the microwave. Two larger and two smaller potatoes I have noticed, cooks most of the way if not all the way soft in the microwave at 6-8 mins depending on how high the power is).

You just need the potatoes soft enough to blend them as you’ll be adding them to the pan / pot that has the snow peas to keep hot which will continue to cook them.

Go back and check on your steak, flipping it over and continuing to baste it. If you’re wondering how it’s cooking, go ahead and slice into it. Since you’ll be cutting it anyway, it’s okay to do this and see if it’s how you like it.

When the potatoes are soft enough to blend, throw in some salt and pepper, sour cream, minced garlic and more dried rosemary. You need to decide how much you like of each of these ingredients. I am no fan of chefs telling me the exact amount of everything; what if I don’t like that much garlic or needed more salt?

Blend everything and then place with just a bit more olive oil next to the snow peas, creating a separation first so they don’t touch. Keep everything on low (warm) until the steak is done and before plating, let the steak rest so the juices stay where they should. Inside the steak. After about a min or two go ahead and slice the rest of the steak.

Plating was easy. I am a massive fan of Oleg Cassini. He designed all of the crystal for the White House during the Kennedy administration as well as all of Jackie’s clothes during that time. A lot of my crystal is either Cassini’s or Waterford’s. Keeping things simple by using the same companies for your more expensive items, makes replacing anything that breaks so simple.

The steak was plated sliced with creamy potatoes and savory snow peas. A drizzle of the rosemary brown butter sauce was added to the steak. It looked as good as it tasted… And felt like a scene from Downton Abbey.

Below you will find the table setting for this meal. Bone china is from Royal Worcester. Silverware is from Napoleon Bee. Napkins and napkin ring are from Pier 1. Placemat is Wedgewood. Crystal is Waterford and Oleg Cassini. Wine decanter is by Il Decantino. Glasses are Riedel and Sur la Table.