Steaks are the ultimate in quick cooking.  Fifteen minutes and dinner can be on the table.  Plus if you’re feeling a little sluggish, maybe you need a little more iron, or perhaps a Guinness.  Tonight’s Gaelic version was topped with sauteed onions, watercress and a whiskey reduction.  This is a wonderful combination, perhaps the best way to eat a steak, and like the Guinness it goes so well with, it gives you strength.

Gaelic Steak, Serves 3, Inspired by The Scottish Irish Pub and Hearth Cookbook

1 one pound rib steak

2T butter

2 small onions, sliced

1 c. stock (preferably homemade, if not, just use water)

2 shots whiskey

Salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch watercress, stems removed

In a pan large enough to hold the steak, melt the butter and add the sliced onions.  Cook for eight to ten minutes over medium low heat until softened, but not browned.  Remove onions with a slotted spoon to a plate and keep warm.

Keeping the butter in the pan, raise heat to medium high and add the steak that has been generously seasoned with salt and pepper.  Sear both sides and cook until desired doneness, about eight to ten for medium, less for a lovely rare steak.  Remove steak to a plate and keep warm.

Add the stock to the pan and deglaze (scrape up all the lovely brown bits and incorporate into the stock).  Reduce stock until it is half it’s original volume.  Add the whiskey and cook an additional three minutes.

To serve, slice the steak, drizzle with the whiskey reduction, and pile the onions and watercress on top.  Serve with a simple pub style potato salad.  And a Guinness, of course.

Playlist included They Don’t Know, by Kirsty MacColl the ultimate in sad Irish stories.