hanger steak with carmelized mushrooms and onions with balsamic reduction and roasted mini potatoes

britany sent me this via email as a menu suggestion for one of our weekend cooking projects.  i headed over to the butcher and asked for hanger steak to feed four.  the steaks looked pretty weird to me but i figured i would give it a try.  the original recipe is based on the bromberg bros. blue ribbon cookbook.  i made some significant changes to the sauce and added my own potato recipe.  this recipe has a big wow factor....it is so delicious you will have trouble believing you cooked it at home.

you'll need:
ask the butcher how much steak you need based upon how many you are feeding
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper

mushrooms and onions
3 tablespoons of butter
2 onions sliced into rings
1/4 lb of cremini mushrooms (baby bellas) wiped clean and sliced
salt and pepper

for the potatoes
1 pound of tiny white potatoes
chicken stock
1/4 stick of butter
drizzle of olive oil
fresh chopped parsley


for the balsamic reduction sauce
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons of sugar

potatoes; use a non stick saute pan that you have a top for.  melt the butter on medium heat, throw in the potatoes and add enough stock to cover the potatoes a little more than half way. cover and simmer....check every now and then to be sure it doesn't dry out...add a little more stock if you need to.  at about 15-18 minutes the potatoes should be almost done let the remaining stock cook down and the potatoes will start to dry and turn very brown.  add salt, pepper, olive oil drizzle and fresh parsley to serve.  these are yummy but take forever to cool so don't burn yourself.  they make a delightful pop in your mouth when you eat them. 

while the potatoes are cooking you need to get going on the mushrooms and onions
put a skillet over high heat, melt the butter and add the onions and cook for 5 min until translucent.  then add the mushrooms.  (to get the mushrooms to brown don't stir them for at least 3 minutes, then toss them to the other side) after 7 minutes turn down heat to warm and start on the steak and sauce.

take the steaks out of the fridge, season with salt and pepper and let sit at room temperature for half an hour. preheat oven to 450. heat a cast iron skillet with the olive oil until very hot.  sear the steaks in the pan about 2 minutes per side.  put the skillet in the oven and roast to desired doneness about 3 min for rare, 5 min for medium rare.  my oven tends to be a bit low so i went 6 min.  remove skillet from oven transfer steak to serving plate and tent with foil and let it rest 3 minutes.  (these steaks would not be good well done...they need to be red- pink to be super yummy and tender)

sauce: put the balsamic in a sauce pan on medium high and add the sugar. keep an eye on it and let it reduce.  it will start to thicken.  2 things to watch...don't stand over it and inhale unless you want to clean out your sinuses....and don't let it turn to molten lava.  take it off the heat before it gets too thick.

serve the steaks w the mushrooms and onions and drizzle w the balsamic sauce!!! sooo good. i serve it with green beans or a good frozen corn from trader joe's. corn on the cob in the summer would be awesome.  Enjoy.