Dinner Courtesy of an iPhone app: Pepper Steak with Squash and Mushrooms

Tim and I had a very long week moving our AdBuyer.com offices from shared office space in Tribeca to our very own space in the Flatiron.  We were planning to drive up to the Berkshires Friday night but were too tired so we drove up Saturday morning.  On our way up we decided to stop at Trader Joe’s in Danbury.  We made the decision to stop about 200 yards before the exit so I had to come up with dinner menus for Saturday and Sunday in about 3 minutes.  I had just installed the new Martha Stewart Everyday Food iPhone app on my phone so I decided to give it a whirl!

Everyday Food’s recipes typically don’t have too many ingredients which was ideal — my shopping wouldn’t take too long and, hopefully, I’d be able to find everything I needed at Trader Joe’s.

This Pepper Steak recipe — an au poivre-style dish, not an Asian pepper steak — was yesterday’s daily recipe.  I thought Tim would really like it and Trader Joe’s typically has prepped butternut squash so I thought the recipe would be quick and easy in terms of prep time.  I used a tri tip roast that Trader Joe’s had and followed the cooking instructions on the package.  I cooked it longer and at a lower temperature (425 degrees) than the recipe below.   The veggies still roasted beautifully.

It was a very tasty one-pot, low prep dinner!

Pepper Steak with Sqaush and Mushrooms
Everyday Food

• 1 package whole button mushrooms, (10 ounces)
• 1 small butternut squash, (about 1 3/4 pounds), halved, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges (along with core)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• Coarse salt
• 1 top round or London broil steak, (1 1/2 pounds, about 1 1/4 inches thick)
• 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coarsely ground black peppercorns

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In an 11-by-15- by-2 3/4-inch roasting pan, combine mushrooms, squash, and onion. Add 1 tablespoon oil and 3/4 teaspoon salt; toss to coat. Arrange vegetables around sides of pan; place steak in center of pan.

In a small bowl, stir together mustard and peppercorns. Coat steak with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil, and sprinkle generously with salt. Spread mustard-pepper mixture over top of steak; press down to adhere.

Roast, turning and stirring vegetables once, until steak is lightly browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted in one side of steak registers 130 degrees to 135 degrees for medium-rare, 15 to 20 minutes.

Transfer steak to a cutting board to rest; tent loosely with aluminum foil. Spread vegetables in an even layer, return to oven, and continue roasting until lightly browned and tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Cut the steak into 1/4-inch thick slices, and serve with vegetables.