New York Strip Steak with Goat Cheese Walnut Butter

First let’s make the butter. To make garlic paste you can do 1 of 2 things (you’ll need about 1 teaspoon of garlic paste):
– Take two garlic cloves and grated them over a microplane. This will make it tiny, shredded and paste-like; OR
– Take two garlic cloves and mince them finely. Then use a sprinkle of kosher salt and the back of your knife to crush it into a paste.

I won’t judge you on what you choose to do, but let me just say that the microplane thing is easier. Set the garlic paste aside.

Using a fork mash together the butter and goat cheese. Mash in the garlic paste. Chop the walnuts and stir them into the mixture. Refrigerate while you make the steaks and whatever sides you like.

For the steaks it’s simple: when you have a great cut of meat you don’t need to add a ton of other flavors. Preheat your oven to 400 F. Season both sides of each steak liberally with kosher salt and black pepper. In a skillet (cast iron preferably) heat a tiny bit of oil over medium-high heat. You want the pan to get crazy hot, so maybe start this while you make the butter. Take each steak and, one or two at a time, sear them in the hot, hot skillet for about 3 minutes per side until it’s golden and caramelized. Repeat with the remaining steaks if you had to do this in batches.

If you have a large enough cast iron skillet to fit all 4 steaks into, you can just transfer the steaks to the oven in that. If not, transfer the steaks to a baking sheet and continue roasting at 400 F for 5-10 more minutes until you reach the desired level of doneness. Let them rest for about 5 minutes, and then serve hot with dollops of the butter on top.