Steak au Poivre, smashed potatos and spring vegetables. Yummmmmy
I was planning on grilling, but it was rainy, cold and windy yesterday so I decided on the above as an alternative.
I've never acutally made Steak au Poivre which is weird because it's really easy and I LOVE black pepper. It was a perfect choice because I had picked up some India Extra Special Bold Peppercorns from Penzey's the last time I was there. These little buggers are too big to fit through my peppermill, so I've been having to grind them in the mortar and pestle on an as needed basis and this classic French bistro dish was a fitting use of what Penzey's claims is the cream of the pepper crop.
I had to substitute a splash of red wine for cognac in the sauce, but it was still delish. Even boy, who is not a big fan of pepper, loved it. And how can you go wrong with a big pile of smashed potato love? The tender-crispness of the pretty vegetables was a perfect foil to the richness of the steak and sauce.

My Angela Little Kitty is the newest Purrrfect Kitty candidate, (who BTW was driven about out of her little kitty mind by the above meal) so I thought I'd show off her pagent photo:

She's all curled up in the sink because she knows the colors of the counter top flatter her complexion :)