Guild Wars 2 will be celebrating its third birthday this week. Over the past three years I have accomplished many of my goals in this game, from making the Minstrel to my personal fractal level hitting 50 (just did that this weekend). As time has passed my main character has changed a few times. A year ago I had my little asura guardian, Slayer Ornstein, running around doing everything. I leveled several characters and slowly fell in love with my charr necromancer, Papa Nito. Unfortunately, as we started hitting higher fractal levels I realized he wasn’t bringing much to the table. He does get a lot of play in spvp so I do get to play him regularly. Currently, I’m playing a sylvari elementalist, Quetzala. She has been really fun and works really well in our current fractal group. From time to time my norn warrior, Elysia Mordio, sees play but since my husband usually plays a warrior, he’s got the phalanx strength covered. I love each of the characters I have and can’t wait for all the others I have to hit 80.
To celebrate the anniversary, I will be bringing not just one recipe but three new recipes this week. We are going to start simple today and work our way to more complicated recipes throughout the week. The first recipe is one that many characters eat in the game to boost their power and precision. Today we will be recreating the plate of steak and asparagus. The recipe does not require too much work and the prep is very simple. Let’s take a look at this delicious meaty plate.
Required Equipment: cutting board, knife, stainless steel pan (or cast iron skillet)
Ingredients:
1 lb asparagus
olive oil
salt
pepper
Per Steak:
1 new york strip (all times will be based off 1 ¼ inch thick strip)
3 tbsp butter
salt
pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
Forty five minutes before you want to cook your steak remove it from the refrigerator and its packing. Pat the meat dry and allow the meat to rest out in room temperature, this will help cook the meat evenly. Preheat your oven to 375℉.
Remove the tough ends from the bottom of the asparagus. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 15-25 minutes. The time is dependent on how thick the asparagus is. You want the end result to just start browning and can be easily pierced with a fork.
While the asparagus is cooking, take the steaks and generously season with salt and pepper on both sides. Place a stainless steel pan (or cast iron skillet) over high heat and allow it to heat up. Add the olive oil and swirl to coat.
The cook time on the steaks depends on how you want them done. For my steak I went with a medium cook which I will explain. Carefully place the steak into the pan. Give it a slight jiggle to unstick from the pan and leave it to cook for six minutes. Do not touch it or flip it, just let it cook.
Flip the steak and allow it to cook for five minutes. After four of these five minutes have passed add the butter to the pan. Allow it to melt and then carefully tilt the pan toward you. Bast the steak with the butter for the last minute. The new york strip has a large amount of fat on one side. After the cook time has finished, flip the new york strip to the fat side and hold until the fat has crisped up. Remove the steak from the heat and allow it to rest for five minutes. This is one of the most important steps. This will keep the juices in the steak. If you cut it immediately the juices will just come right out. Serve and enjoy!
A small reminder that I am currently running a small Guild Wars 2 giveaway this week. Check out the contest at rafflecopter. The contest ends on August 29 at 12:00am CST.
