Pan-Grilled Steak with Olive Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 lean, tender steaks
• Olive oil, to rub steak
• Salt and fresh ground pepper to rub steak
• 1/2 tsp. garlic puree
• Pinch salt
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
• 1 can good-quality pitted black olives
• 1/2 cup pitted green olives, without pimento
• 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 3 T olive oil

Directions

1. Take the steaks out of the refrigerator, coat them with olive oil, and season both sides with salt and pepper. Set them aside until they reach room temperature.
2. While the steaks sit, add the garlic, salt, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, black olives, green olives, Kalamata olives, and half of the olive oil to a food processor or mini-chopper.
3. Pulse just until the olives are roughly chopped, then run the machine briefly at full speed so everything comes together. Stop before the mixture turns into a paste.
4. Transfer the olive mixture to a bowl and stir in the remaining olive oil.
5. Set a cast iron grill pan on the stovetop over medium heat and warm it for about 5 minutes before adding the steaks. When the pan gives off a little smoke, you are there.
6. Place the steaks in the pan on a diagonal and cook until grill marks appear, about 3 minutes.
7. Turn the steaks to a new angle and cook for about 3 minutes more on that same side. Flip them over and cook the second side for 3-5 minutes more, depending on your preferred doneness.
8. For one-inch thick steaks, 10 minutes total will put them right around medium-rare. If you are using a meat thermometer, look for 130F for medium-rare. The original method also allowed for heating the pan in a 500F oven before cooking the steak the same way; the stovetop works well when you do not want to turn on the oven, and you can also cook the steaks on a gas or charcoal grill.
9. Move the steaks out of the pan and rest them for about 5 minutes. Spoon the olive sauce over the top and serve.