Steak Diane (but not really)

Steak Diane is a French dish made with mushrooms, stir-fry steak, and seasonings.  My older sister learned this recipe as part of her high school French class, and shared it with the family.  The reason this is "not really" steak diane is because our family has since modified the recipe to suit our own tastes, most noticably removing the mushrooms.

We begin tonight with some crazy cheap steak.  Occasionally, you can find steak this cheap, and when I do, I buy tons of it and freeze it.  On the one hand, it's crazy cheap, but, on the other hand, it's not usually good for grilling.  It's a thinner cut than a "grilling steak".  It's good for stir-fry, however, or steak-and-potato soup, or something like that.  This chunk cost me 6.76, and was HUGE.  (enough to feed my whole family and one adult guest)

I diced the frozen steak and put it in a frying pan.  I added 2 beef bullion cubes (normally 1 but 2 tonight because there was soooo much meat here), some thyme (recipe calls for 1/4 tsp), basil (ditto), garlic (about 1tsp canned garlic), salt (1/2 tsp), pepper (1/2 tsp), rosemary (1/4 tsp), half of a small diced onion, and just a dash of cayenne pepper.  If you wish, you can add a small can of mushroom pieces.  I also added 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of butter, put the lid on, and let it slowly cook over medium-low into absolute deliciousness.

This stir-fry, like any stir-fry, can be served over rice or pasta. I like it over mashed potatoes, but was almost out of potatoes. I had exactly four of them, all puny. So I made them, but didn't bother to "mash" them, just served them boiled and cut into small chunks.

 I knew this wouldn't be enough, so I also boiled some orzo, which is a pasta that looks like rice. In the food groups, it's considered a grain. 

I put my base on my plate, put 4-5 strips of steak on top, and pour on the seasoned buttery goodness (also known as "sauce")  Another difference: actual steak diane has a thickened sauce, where the beef is removed from the pan and flour is added to the seasoned buttery goodness while it's still over the stove, mashed and stirred in to make it more like a gravy and less like, well, sauce.  I, personally, like mine dripping with butter, so that's how I serve it.

The orzo was $2 a box, but I only had half a box left, and the cost of the potatoes was negligible, say 50 cents, tops.  Dessert was ice cream cones, previously calculated here at 38 cents a cone.  Since I had a guest, there were 5 cones, making dessert $1.90.  So, $6.76 (steak) + $1 (orzo) + $0.50 (potatoes) + $1.90 (ice cream) = $10.16, so I went over my $10 limit, but fed one extra person.