The Birthday Meal I Never Had - Pan-Seared Steak with Balsamic Reduction, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Blanched Asparagus

I had such a bad day yesterday.  It was bad enough that I didn't even want to cook myself a good birthday meal, so I ended up getting McDonalds.  Oh man did I get flack from my co workers when they found out.    Don't get me wrong, the Chicken McNuggets I had were fantastic (always are), but nothing beats a well prepared, home-cooked meal.  After all the positive texts and calls I received after I posted this combination of recipes to my Facebook page, I decided to re-post it here. 

In retrospect, this is what I should have made yesterday,  but as I said, it was a bad day and I know I would have ruined this.  Here's a brief synopsis of things that sucked yesterday in no particular order:

1. My beard trimmer got snagged on my stubble - causing immense, tearing pain to my face.  This resulted in me yelling at myself in the bathroom mirror.
2. Took my Apple Cherry juice out of my refrigerator, poured a glass, and put the bottle in my cabinet for some reason and not in the fridge.
3. While in the shower, I put shampoo in my hair.  Without rinsing, I promptly added conditioner.  When I realized what I did, I panicked and instead of rinsing it all out, I just stood there while the soapy combination ran into my eyes.  ("No More Tears" my ass.)
4. Played Jenga with my dishes as I strategically stacked a billion of them into my under-sized dish rack, eventually causing it to tip back into my sink forcing me to re-wash them all.
5. Left one of my box fans in the hallway and tripped over it, crushing it to smithereens under my knees in the most awkward fall in recent history.

Anyways, here is one of my absolute favorite meals.  The balsamic reduction is an extremely savory and sweet element to this.  Later, I'll post individual recipies for the 3 components in case you'd like them.  This was written assuming you'd prepare all elements.  It looks intimidating because of the length, but it really isn't.  It is so good...

Ingredients:

(Pan-Seared Steak):

•       2-4 Your Favorite Cut of Steak (Rib-Eyes and Strip are best)
•       3 Garlic Cloves
•       3 Tbsp. Butter
•       1 Tbsp. Thyme
•       Salt, Pepper, and Olive Oil

(Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes):

•      2# Small Red Potatoes
•      1 Full Head of Garlic
•      3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
•      5 Tbsp. Butter

(Balsamic Reduction):

•      3/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
•      2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
•      1 Tbsp. Butter

Directions:

• Gotta start with the potatoes. Preheat an oven to 425.  Slice the top off a full head of garlic (that's the portion where all cloves come to a point - not the flat part).  Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil.  Place on a baking sheet or in a dish and pop into oven for 30 minutes.  When done, set aside to cool. 
• While the garlic is roasting, slice your red potatoes in half to get even-sized pieces and place in a large pot of water.  Season with salt and bring to a boil.  Once up to temperature, allow to boil 20 minutes - should be finishing up just as the garlic is finishing in the oven. 
• Once potatoes are in the water, create the balsamic reduction.  Combine the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and butter in a small sauce pan and bring to a soft boil.  Reduce heat, stir, and allow to simmer 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and place in a bowl - set aside to cool.  Afterwards, remove steak from the fridge and allow to come up to room temperature.
• While potatoes are cooking,  trim about a half inch off the base of the asparagus and bring a 2nd, medium size saucepan to a boil.  Once boiling, toss asparagus in and cook 3 minutes.  Remove asparagus from water and toss those bastards in an ice bath to shock 'em.   Allow to chill for 2 minutes, remove to a plate and set aside. 
• Once garlic has been removed from oven, lower temperature to 300 degrees and place an oven-safe dish in the oven to heat up.  (This won't be necessary if you have an oven-safe saute pan or cast iron skillet.)  Heat pan on stove over medium-high heat with 2-3 Tbsp. Olive oil.  Season your steak with salt and pepper and place in pan.  Allow to sear for 2-3 minutes on both sides to seal in the juices.
• When steak is finishing up, take hot dish out of the oven - place 3 Tbsp Butter, 1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil, Garlic cloves, and Thyme and stir.  Place steaks in dish, spoon garlic-butter mixture over and place in oven for 5 minutes to cook through.  (Still with me?)
• While steak is cooking, do 2 things:  Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in saute pan over medium heat and add blanched asparagus.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and saute' 3 minutes.  Additionally, remove the roasted garlic cloves from their skin and mash in a small bow AND in a small saucepan, combine the butter, cream, and mashed garlic.  Stir until butter is melted.  Mash the red potatoes that have cooked and pour butter-cream mixture over - stir to combine.

To plate:  Serve steak over asparagus and drizzle with balsamic reduction.  Spoon red potatoes on either side and serve with a chilled Manhattan or dry red wine.  If you made it this far, congratulations.  ;)