Steak Supper

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday is to cook. I usually spend the entire afternoon baking and making a special dinner that we wouldn't have during the week. A. loves steak, so today I made filet mignon (on sale at Publix). The filet was served with blue cheese butter, roasted asparagus, caramelized pearl onions, and scalloped potatoes.
—PHH

Essential Kitchen Tool: A few years ago, A. gave me a double-burner grill pan. This is a low-sided, rectangular-shaped pan with ridges that simulate grill marks on meat. It's great for meat, paninis, and pancakes. I used it to grill the filet which was sprinkled with salt and cracked black pepper.

• The blue cheese butter is a terrific recipe from Frank Stitt's Southern Table cookbook. It has real butter, blue cheese, and lemon zest in it.
• The asparagus is placed on an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Then the zest of one lemon is sprinkled over it and the juice of the lemon is added. I toss all of this together and then lay out the asparagus in a single row. Bake at 350° for 15 or 20 minutes.
• For the scalloped potatoes, I thinly slice one Vidalia onion and four Yukon Gold potatoes (I don't peel them). Then I make a white sauce with butter, flour, and milk, and add in 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded (don't use preshredded cheese; it's too dry). Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Pour a little white sauce in bottom of baking dish; layer the potatoes, onions, and white sauce, repeating layers twice. Sprinkle top with 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated, and 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
• Peel pearl onions; cut large ones in half or quarter so that all pieces are similar in size. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender and caramelized. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.